Brazilian Baptist pastors meet on Southwestern campus, organize as fellowship

A group of over 120 Brazilian pastors met Aug. 1-5 for a retreat and officially voted to declare themselves as the Brazilian Churches Fellowship. During the event, held in the Riley Center on the campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, the pastors elected Ebeneezer Santos the new executive director and made their formal declaration as a fellowship.

Bart Barber, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and W. Madison Grace II, provost and vice president of academic administration at Southwestern Seminary, were in attendance at the gathering of Brazilian pastors to show support for fellow believers.

At the retreat, participants heard the preaching of God’s Word and presentations about missions opportunities, as well as participated in worship. The group met from 9:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. every day for fellowship and worship with one another.

Mark McClellan, professor of missions and director of Hispanic Programs at Southwestern Seminary, attended the event. According to McClellan, “It was the formal organization of this group, but it functioned as if it were an annual conference.”

McClellan said he was excited to see the group of Brazilian pastors on campus as Southwestern Seminary is beginning a Master of Theological Studies degree fully in Portuguese, which will launch in the spring.

“While there are seminaries in Brazil, very few of them have master’s programs that are to the standard we have here in the States,” said McClellan. “This will be helpful for so many people and we believe that it will help further the global missionary outreach as well.”

Ney Ladeia, former executive director of the group of Brazilian pastors prior to the formal organization and pastor of the Brazilian Baptist Church of South Florida, said that he is “very excited” for the master’s degree that will be offered in Portuguese.

“We have some pastors who cannot start theological education because they do not know English,” said Ladeia. “I think we have something here that will help set up pastors in the future, but also for leaders in the church to learn more about biblical theology.”

While meeting at the Riley Center, the pastors enjoyed many excursions during the afternoons on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to give the Brazilian pastors a look at the city of Fort Worth.

Santos led the group of pastors on trips to many different popular spots in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, including a Brazilian pizza restaurant, visiting the campus of Dallas Baptist University, a tour of First Baptist Church of Dallas, a trip to the Fort Worth Stockyards, and some Texas barbecue.

“We had a group of pastors where about 85% of them had never been to Texas,” said Santos. “I thought we could offer them a nice trip around the area as a token of gratitude for their efforts and financial expenses.”

While the pastors had their own retreat, the wives of the pastors also met together for their own gathering for fellowship and fun.

“We wanted to do something special for our wives and the ladies who were with us at the retreat,” said Santos. “We rented out a venue in Burleson that hosts weddings and parties, and we ordered barbecue just for the ladies.”

Santos added that his wife made gift bags to give out to every woman in attendance as a special “thank you” for attending the event.

Santos expressed his gratitude for Southwestern Seminary for hosting the event and for “providing such wonderful service” in the Riley Center and in the Seelig Banquet Hall in the Naylor Student Center.

“We had a nice gala dinner held in the Seelig Banquet Hall and it was beautifully decorated,” said Santos. “The gala dinner was a special event, where pastors and their wives were welcomed and honored.”

Next year, the annual retreat for the Brazilian Churches Fellowship will be held in Ladeia’s home state of Florida.