Joe is the founding pastor of The Message Church. With many years experience in ministry, he also has many years experience working in the “real world” that most of us live in. God has given him a vision and a passion for the church in southeastern North Carolina, for helping people meet Jesus and for helping them create a vibrant, powerful faith that has practical application in our daily lives.

As the founder of Gospel for Brazil, he takes multiple trips yearly into the desert northeast where he loves to hug on children living in extreme poverty, train pastors and layworkers and demonstrate the power of Jesus to those without hope. He, along with his wife, are also the senior pastors of the Refuge Grace Church in Fortaleza, Brazil. He is married to his queen, Arimar, has two married daughters, a married son freshly out of the military and eight grandchildren.

Joe’s blog, Ruminations, offers an unfiltered presentation of his thoughts about life, church, Jesus and just about anything else that flies across his radar.

Paul is an attorney who has been practicing law for 30 years (yes, he’s that old), but is more fully occupied with the greatest adventure of life to be a servant of God. With Pastor Joe, Paul and his wife, Sandy, have founded The Message Church to reach hurting and broken people who need a savior, just as they do. Paul’s heart is for people to find more than eternal security in Jesus, but also to find intimacy with God that empowers them with the authority of Heaven against which neither the gates of hell nor the strain of this broken world shall prevail.

Paul and Sandy have three grown children (yes, they’re that old) – Josh, Taylor and Peyton – and enjoy living at the beach because it cuts down on travel time for vacations. Paul is a member of the board of directors of Gospel for Brazil and has accompanied Pastor Joe on trips to northeast Brazil. Paul loves playing music for God and plays guitar, keyboards and bass guitar with The Message’s worship team.

Josh is a transplant from New York City. His passion for music is contagious and his skills with an instrument are astounding. As the youngest staff member at The Message, he hopes to bring a fresh outlook to the ministry through music. His heart and devotion to worship has put a certain electricity in the air that we can’t quite put our finger one. But, spend one Sunday worshipping with us at The Message and you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about!

Shoot him an email via this website on how to be a part of the worship team.

Marcos lives in Curitiba, Brazil, and works all over the country of Brazil. His home base is out of the YWAM (Youth With a Mission) base in Almirante Tamandaré where he trains missionaries. He is a pastor to pastors and is constantly giving seminars in churches to build up their effectiveness and to enhance their growth.

Márcia is a gifted seer, spiritual counselor and pastor. She also presents seminars and has a target audience of women in the church who are not living to their full potential. Her gifts in spiritual counseling have helped free many of the clutches of darkness.

The proud parents of two daughters, the Mouras are a valuable asset to The Message’s outreach.

Along with his wife Sara, Marclei is the lead pastor of the Ministério Refúgio da Graça (Refuge Grace Ministry) in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. The church has more than 1,000 members and is strategically located in the state and regional capital. Marclei is a leader of leaders and a spiritual father to many pastors. He has a missionary vision to reach the entire state of Ceará through what is called in Brazil, “the Model of 12.” This is simply the church doing what the church is biblically charged to do: reaching the lost, making them disciples and releasing them to repeat the process themselves. “M-12” is based on the concept of the “cell church” and Marclei is a regional leader in implementing this successful strategy. The couple’s dream is to grow the church in Fortaleza to 40,000 members!

The proud parents of two children, the Saraiva’s form the nucleus of our work in northeastern Brazil.