EQUIPPING LEADERS
OUR MISSION
We are Junior, Bree, and Lucy Souza, we are from Brazil but have ministered in the USA for the past six years. Our home church, East Side Baptist Church, in partnership with ABWE, is sending us as missionaries to São Paulo, Brazil, a city of over 22 million people.
Our mission is to assist a local church plant and equip Brazilian missionaries, pastors, and ministry workers at Logos Baptist Seminary to plant churches in Brazil and in unreached countries around the world.
We are raising support to begin this ministry and you can help us. Click here to partner with us!
OUR GOAL IS TO EQUIP...
MISSIONARIES
Our first goal is to equip Brazilian missionaries to proclaim the gospel in unreached countries. Hundreds of people groups are still unreached, and a key strategy for the US church to advance the gospel is to equip missionaries from countries like Brazil, that have more access to nations that are hostile to Americans.
PASTORS
Our second goal is to equip pastors and church planters who will plant solid and faithful churches in Brazil and in South America. The church in Brazil is growing, quality ministry training for pastors and church planters is key for the church in Brazil to continue to grow strong.
BIBLICAL COUNSELORS
Our third goal is to train biblical counselors. Biblical counseling is a growing movement in Brazil, but many Christians still don’t know how to find help for everyday life. We want to equip biblical counselors to help people in Brazil to live joyful lives that please God.
WOULD YOU PARTNER WITH US?
PRAY
We need people to partner with us in prayer. For us, our ministry, and the people whom we are going to meet. Send us your email here to receive current prayer requests.
We need people to financially support our ministry in Brazil through monthly support or one-time donations. Click here to find out how!
ABOUT US
We both grew up as an MK (Bree) and PK (Junior), which God used to grow in us an enduring love for the church and vocational ministry. Our relationship also started due to our common desire to dedicate our lives to full-time ministry.
As adults, we pursued opportunities to serve our church and to work at Christian camps. Junior started seminary and his ministry at our church, 3 weeks after our wedding day. For 5 years we had the opportunity to serve our church in an official position. During this time our church confirmed our ministry calling.
As we prayed together we came to the conclusion that God is calling us to serve in missions, which was also affirmed by our church. In the beginning, we wanted to go to an unreached country but as we prayed about it and listened to people with experience in missions we started to think, “What if instead of only the two of us going to an unreached country, we go back to Brazil to train more people to go to more nations that we may not be able to go?” That’s when God gave us a desire to serve in Brazil.
We are eager to move to Brazil and begin our ministry there. We are all Brazilian and American citizens, we speak Portuguese and do not need visas for either country, we are familiar with the Brazilian culture and our prayer is that God will use us effectively to equip missionaries and pastors.
Junior’s Testimony
I was born and raised in Brazil, my parents received Christ right before I was born, because of that I grew up going to church and learning about God’s Word. However, it was only when I was 11 years old that I truly understood the depth of God’s love.
I was attending a Christian camp, and my counselor shared the gospel in a way that seemed fresh to me. The Holy Spirit convicted me of my sin and my need for a Savior. I understood God’s love in sending Christ to die, shedding His blood to forgive me. I also understood what it meant to live for Jesus as Lord and the most important treasure in my life.
Since then, my life has been changed because I began a true relationship with Christ. God has produced in me a desire to serve Him, to read and obey His Word, and to live for His glory.
Bree’s Testimony
I grew up in a missionary family where the gospel of Jesus was greatly revered, loved, and proclaimed every day. I accepted Jesus at the age of 9 and from there on, I and my family witnessed a true desire in me to follow the Lord. I was baptized at the age of 14.
Wanting to grow and study God’s word and do ministry in another country I choose to go to Word of Life Argentina for a one-year bilingual program after my senior year of high school. There I was reminded that my faith needed to be my own not just my parents' faith.
As I would come back to visit my family in Brazil every so often, I heard about my neighbor's grandma dying, and it just crushed me to the core because she didn’t know Christ. That moment stirred a desire to pursue overseas missions which continued to grow after meeting Junior who shared the same desire.
Recently, my faith has been challenged with the recent passing of one of my strongest mentors, my Dad. Seeing his example of his joy in the Lord being his strength, proclaiming the goodness of Christ through his suffering and death has me all the more confident that Christ is worth it. That, in everything I do, I may glorify Christ and enjoy Him forever.
Sending Church
East Side Baptist Church (Pastor Steve Whicker)
info@eastsidebc.com 765-362-1785
2000 Traction Rd. Crawfordsville, IN 47933
Missions Agency
ABWE (Association of Baptists for World Evangelism)
info@abwe.org 717-774-7000
P.O. Box 8585 Harrisburg, PA 17105
Education
seminary@faithlafayette.org 765-448-1986
2000 Elmwood Ave. Lafayette, IN 47904
Seminary in Brazil
contato@seminariologos.org.br 55-11-3331-5451
Av. Eng. Armando de Arruda Pereira 2747. S. Paulo-SP. Brasil
STAY IN TOUCH
Your involvement in our ministry is always a great encouragement to us. Please reach out to us here if you have any prayer requests, encouraging words, or questions. Stay connected to what the Lord is doing in our journey.
For more information, send an email to junior.souza@abwe.cc