By Pastor Jarede Souza, ChangeMaker in Brazil

On July 23, 1966, in a missionary conference led by the late missionary Rufus Crawford in Várzea da Palma, Minas Gerais, the Holy Spirit acted in my heart after listening to the message he preached. Brother Rufus invited people to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, and I did not resist the invitation. Soon I was up front giving my life to the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was born in an evangelical home, and my parents attended the Baptist church in Várzea da Palma with the late Pastor John Elliott, a man of God who sacrificed his own life to do missions.

These two great missionaries never measured their efforts to do missions work. Pastor Rufus Crawford was a missionary in the city of Campinas, São Paulo. Once a year he made a point of traveling to the regions of the state of Minas, Gerais, to help other missionaries in the poorest and neediest regions of the gospel. The city of Campinas is 1,100 kilometers from Várzea da Palma, but it was worth it. 

It was on one of these trips that Pastor Rufus came to preach at my church and on that day, July 23, 1966, I couldn’t resist the invitation of salvation. I praise God for the missionary vision of the BMA (formerly NABA), which generously sent missionaries to introduce me to the gospel that saved me.

As you can see, I converted very early at just nine years old, but like the boy Samuel before the prophet Eli, I was raised in the church and followed in the footsteps of these missionaries because I admired them very much for their desire to win souls for Christ. Still very early I started studying the Bible with Pastor John Elliott and soon became a lay evangelist leading many souls to Christ. At the age of nineteen I went to the Baptist seminary and began to prepare myself to be a preacher and soul winner. 

After finishing my studies, I was forced to divide my time to work in the secular area. I worked as a policeman for fourteen years but never stopped preaching the gospel; however, I was always uncomfortable, because my desire was to invest my life in missionary work. The Lord heard my prayer and I pastored a church of our association for twenty years. During my ministry in this church the Lord enabled me and qualified me for his work. In the last ten years of my ministry in this church we organized three new churches in the cities of Porto Velho, Monte Sião and Castelo Forte in São Paulo. In the last ten years, I prepared seven new leaders who went on to lead new churches of our association, some as missionaries and others as local pastors. In 2009 I accepted the challenge of the BMA to be its representative in our association here in Brazil and develop and mentor new missionaries. 

Currently, we have several missionaries working in national fields and others pastoring churches and making new leaders. I thank God for the generosity of our BMA and for the vision of its leaders, directors and all those who work at our BMA Global office who never tire of seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit to broaden the missionary vision and not let the fire burn out. My desire and prayer is that we strengthen our Great Commission partnerships and take this gospel, which is the power of God for the salvation for all who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior.

I ask for prayers because last year, Brother Eliezer (Semedo) and I felt that God touched our hearts to start the new work of missions in Africa in the country of Guinea-Bissau. Currently, we are making connections with a brother who is a native of this country, Reinaldo Alfredo Natcha. He studied five years at the Baptist seminary here in Brazil and returned to Guinea-Bissau in 2021. After talks with his church, Reinaldo is considering a partnership with ABB and BMA. The leaders of our Brazilian Association (ABB) are excited about this idea. 

Furthermore, myself, Brother Eliezer and Brother John David (Smith) are praying on this matter and discussing ways to move forward. Particularly, I am very eager to start this work and look forward to visiting the brothers in Guinea-Bissau, get acquainted with their work, and learn of ways to establish our partnership. Will you join us in prayer?

Prayer Requests:

• Pray that we are awakened as Brazilian Baptists for this great work of evangelization.
• Pray that we will have churches, pastors, and leaders full of spiritual life and sincerely invested in soul winning.
• Pray for my ministry and associational responsibilities with ABB.
• Pray for the Castelo Forte Baptist Church, where I am currently serving as an interim pastor.
• Pray for Brother Leonardo, my disciple, who will be reviewed by the ordination council this June. If approved, Leonardo will be the next pastor at Castelo Forte Church.