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Our Story
Our
Background
Through the umbrella of Shores of Grace, Nic and Rachael have founded three non-profit organizations in Brazil and one in the United States. Before moving to Brazil, Nic and Rachael had been in pastoral positions in local churches in Pennsylvania and Texas for nine years. In 2010 they moved to Brazil and founded Shores of Grace and since that time they have continued to keep the first thing first – loving God with all they are and from that overflow loving others well.
Nic and Rachael have been leading worship together since they were 13 years old and have ministered all over the world, writing over 150 songs and have released 12 albums. They love worshipping with their children in their living room or on the streets with friends, just as much as they love leading thousands of people in worship.
Nic regularly teaches and preaches in Brazil and around the world while also providing training for missionary bases and leaders of missions organizations. Nic is the author of “Between the Flowers and the Broken.” Nic completed a Master’s in Theology in 2022 from United Theological Seminary, after completing his Bachelor’s degree in Theology and Biblical Studies from Regent University.
Our founders Nic and Rachael Billman are lovers of God and lovers of people.
Their daily prayer is, “Father, teach us to love like you love and to see like you see.” They have been married since September of 2000 and they have four children, Christian, Forrest, Leila and Cássia (who was born in Brazil) and two grandchildren.
The
Call
Shores of Grace started as Invade ministries in 2008 with Nic and Rachael Billman. They had one goal, to invade the streets with the love of God. In the fall of 2008, Nic attended the Global School of Supernatural Ministry. During the school, he joined Randy Clark on a mission trip to Brazil. On this trip, the Lord showed him a vision of his daughter, Leila, on the face of each of the women who were prostituting themselves on the streets and asked him a simple question, “Who will rescue my daughters?” Nic was broken by what the Lord had showed shown him.
One night, when Nic was ministering at a church, he challenged the church with a word from the Lord. “If you do not care for the prostitutes in this city, I cannot bless this church.” Half of the congregation came forward.
Throughout this trip, Nic continued to be broken as he saw the many women in prostitution, lost children, lonely widows and people suffering from conditions like blindness and deafness. He could hear the Father singing, “There is nothing but my love.” He saw the oceans of the Father’s love and the shores of His grace, yet many people were trapped on earth and could not find the oceans of His love. This is how the name “Shores of Grace” was created. After a night of surgery with the Lord, the Lord woke Nic up saying, “I have given you a heart for this nation and a clarity of vision.”
It was done. He was called to Brazil. As he called Rachael to give her the news, she had already known. The Lord had already asked her if she would say yes. So she did. Luke, Nic’s brother, had also left Nic a voicemail saying the Lord had shown him the poor of Brazil and given him a heart for them.
The
Move
In 2010, Nic, Rachael and their children moved to Curitiba. They started the Global School of Supernatural Ministry in Brazil to awaken the church to the suffering on the streets and equip them to answer. They took the students to the red-light districts to love the unloved. They shared prophetic words from the Lord and took flowers and poems to give out to the women. They faced months of rejection. As they showed up consistently over time, the love of God touched the hearts of these people as they were reminded that their lives were of more value than any man could ever pay.
They spent their time in the local slum, the favela. Through this work, they realized that in addition to our outreach to the red-light district, they needed prevention work at the root of where all of this was beginning: in the slums where most girls are recruited into the sex trade. This began to shape the ministry’s well-rounded care founded in gospel hope and exercised through practical care.
The
Ministry
In 2012 Nic and Rachael felt God was calling them to move to Recife. In 2013, Bethany was birthed as our team actively pursued training to create a safe house for children. Bethany had been carried in the hearts of Nic and Rachael even before their feet had touched Brazilian soil. It would be a place where girls could come freely, just as Mary Magdalene had at Bethany, to wash the feet of Jesus with their tears.
Today, Bethany is home to up to 20 girls (up to the age of 17) and boys (up to the age of 2) who have nowhere else to call home, a beacon to our community, and is becoming a model for rescue homes. We continue to make weekly visits in the favelas and the streets. We continue to declare over those we serve that they are not slaves but their blood was bought with the blood of our Savior. We continue to challenge the church to find the Father’s sons and daughters where they are. We continue to equip the church to do the work of Christ and impact their communities. Our mission is continuing to grow, but still resounds what it was in the beginning — to invade the streets with His love and to love the unloved.
Our Leaders Around the World
Recife Fortaleza Philadelphia
Recife, Brazil Staff
Somos a Casa Pastors,
Nilton and Kimberlly Abreu
Shores of Grace Philadelphia Leaders, Todd and Joanna Keim
The Best Is Yet To Come
Our story continues to be written as we follow the leading of the Lord!