Brazilian pastor Fausto Aguiar de Vasconcelos has been nominated to lead the evangelism effort of the Baptist World Alliance, succeeding Australian Tony Cupit, who is retiring.
If elected to the BWA's executive staff by its general council in July, he will direct two divisions-study and research, which coordinates the work of six commissions, and evangelism and education. The directors serve renewable five-year terms coinciding with the quintennial Baptist World Congress meetings.
Vasconcelos, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Rio de Janeiro, is a member of the BWA general council and chair of the executive committee for evangelism and education. He has been president of the Union of Baptists in Latin America and is serving for the eighth time as president of the million-member Brazilian Baptist Convention.
Robert Ricker, chair of the BWA personnel committee, described Vasconcelos as a statesman and experienced churchman who “is thoroughly evangelical, and this is one of the great virtues of the Latin America church today.”
He is a graduate of South Brazil Baptist Theological Seminary in Rio de Janeiro and holds a Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
Associated Baptist Press