Why don't you start by telling us about your family?Márcia and I were married in 1993 and God has given us two wonderful children, Camila (12) and André (9). Márcia was raised in a Christian home on a farm. I was raised in a poor and nominal Catholic family in a big city. After a long bout with drugs, God saved me. Soon after, I was ordained and worked in several places as an assistant pastor, Bible teacher and editor of a Christian magazine. Márcia received her nursing qualifications and worked as a nurse in several hospitals.
Tell us where you live in Brazil and what it's like to live there. Oh, and tell us about Brazil's love for football (soccer).
Most of Brazil’s population live in the south and the southeast. We live in the southeast region in a city called Belo Horizonte, which is surrounded by mountains. With a population of over 4 million people, Belo Horizonte is the third largest city in Brazil. The closest cities are Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
Brazilians are mad about football which is played everywhere in the country. Although Brazilians support different football teams, they all get together to support the national team at the World Cup. Belo has the second biggest football stadium in Brazil and two major football teams: Cruzeiro and Atlético. My family supports the far superior team, Cruzeiro.
What is the church like in Brazil?
There are thousands of people coming to the Lord each year and churches being built everywhere in the country. Many years ago Brazil was known as a Roman Catholic country, but today it is also a Protestant nation whose population is nearly 40% evangelical Christian. 
The church in Brazil is growing very rapidly, but this is creating many challenges. There are breakaway groups from historic Protestant churches, resulting in many different movements. Some of them emphasize peripheral issues in the Christian faith like exorcism and a prosperity gospel. In addition, there are social ills that contradict the power of the gospel: robbery, prostitution, drugs, violence, and murder all create constant fear with urban residents. The offspring of the poor fear abandonment and face hopelessness.
How are the local pastors responding to these needs?
Many of the pastors of the rapidly expanding new movements have strong faith in the power of the Gospel, but have little education and lack Bible knowledge. While they see people being 
converted, the majority of these leaders are ill-equipped to lead new believers into a deeper faith or to teach how Christian beliefs affect all aspects of a believer’s life. As a result, division occurs within congregations and individuals lose their faith and drift away.
There is a huge demand for the training of these Christian leaders. Most of them are very poor and minister to congregations in very deprived areas. They are unable to leave their families and congregations behind for extended periods of study at traditional Bible Colleges. Training should be contextualized, flexible, and related to their local needs and abilities.
How has God used this understanding of the church to influence your calling?
Ever since Márcia and I were married we’ve had a tremendous burden to train grassroots leaders – economically poor Christians who have accepted God’s call to lead local churches. In 2004 we started ESCALE, which in Portuguese means School For Equipping Christian Leaders. Our vision is,
“To provide learning opportunities to Brazilian Christian grassroots leaders, enabling them to preach the whole Bible, plant churches and strengthen the growth of the gospel in Brazil.”
We have established a training center in Belo where we hold a one-year Leadership and Bible Preaching course. We also have established in situ (in the field) training in Bangu (500 km south), Ecoporanga (380 km north) and Governador Valadares (320 km north). In each in situ location we have around 20 students. The in situ training is one extended weekend a month. There have been many grassroots leaders asking for our help so in May 2008 we started 2 new in situ programs, one among the native Indians in Miranda (1,300 km west) and in Recife (1,900 km northeast).
What do you hope to see long-term?
We would like to see many grassroots leaders trained for ministry and ESCALE courses reach the entire country. We are working toward training teams of teachers to help train different in situ training courses monthly. We would like to respond to the cry of thousands of grassroots Christian leaders in Brazil. Our desire also is to hold an annual grassroots Leaders Conference.
We foresee hundreds of new churches being planted by ESCALE students and our service being extended to their ministries by preaching, teaching and helping build new churches.
How can CrossWay be praying for you?
- Márcia’s father was diagnosed with cancer in his stomach (surgery was on May 26, now he is at our home for post-surgery);
- Camila’s and André’s studies;
- ESCALE’s finances and new challenges (new in situ training bases in Miranda and Recife);
- For my possible visit to Paul Caampued in the Philippines to learn from his ministry;
- For CrossWay’s visit to Brazil for our Grassroots Leaders Annual Conference this year or next year.
