Our Passion
Odir loves preaching the Word of God. Our vision is to reach the lost and equip local churches across São Paulo by using preaching and teaching as our primary ministry. Cynthia’s passion includes teaching children and women’s ministries.
Together we also have a heart for youth ministry. We desire to challenge and counsel young adults during this critical age through camp ministries, small groups and more.
Where are we serving
Good News Baptist Church (Igreja Batista Boas Novas):
a revitalization ministry
This is a local church on the outer suburbs of São Paulo. While we were still in the States in 2020, this church communicated to us that their pastor resigned, whom had been pastoring this church since the beginning . This change in the church also brought much division among them and at one point they ended up with an attendance of 15 or less. We started to pray more specifically for the possibility of helping GNBC. God confirmed this opportunity and we arrived in São Paulo to serve primarily at GNBC in September 2020.
We praise the Lord for His work in this local church. It went from a major split without a pastor to a church that is now, in 2022, healing from those wounds, learning to forgive and growing much in spiritual maturity. Also, we now have a new Brazilian Pastor that started as a interim when we came and later was unanimously voted in to be the lead pastor of the church.
Odir and Cynthia are serving alongside the lead pastor to reestablish this church. Odir is mainly preaching, teaching Sunday School and seeking opportunities to disciple and counsel. Some other responsibilities we have are: restarting fresh ministries such as youth, ladies, prayer group, a love for global missions and evangelism in the neighborhood through relationships.
New Life Baptist Church (Igreja Batista Vida Nova):
a Partnership and Strengthening ministry
From 2015 to 2017 we served in São Paulo as missionaries in our first church-plant ministry. At that time New Life was the newest church in our Regular Baptist movement, very well located in a metro area.
We served alongside a Brazilian Pastor and helped organizing the church legally. Being very well located, the church grew quickly and now has more than 100 people in attendance. In 2020, we did not feel the need to return to New Life BC because the church reached a stage of maturity that was our initial goal when we first arrived; and they now have lots of capable Brazilians serving diligently.
Throughout all of this, God blessed us with a strong bond with that church. Even though we don’t serve there as our primary ministry anymore, Odir is still invited to preach there regularly, and sometimes we even do joint projects between New Life BC and Good News BC as sister churches.
We call our great relationship with New Life BC a partnership where we still have opportunities to strengthen that church. Since 2019 they decided to support us prayerfully and financially, which has being a huge blessing.
