Calvin’s Failed Missionaries Were Just the First Wave in Brazil

When Vinicius Pimentel was 12 years old, his parents got divorced, and he started going to church by himself in Americana, São Paulo.

He didn’t go to the Nazarene church he grew up in, but to a neo-Pentecostal church. At first, there “was not a lot of good theology but not a lot of bad theology—just love for Jesus and evangelism and, of course, the gifts of the Spirit.”

But over the 12 years he spent there, the teaching moved steadily into “more health-and-wealth theology and coaching to be the best version of yourself,” Pimentel said. As a leader, he worked hard to attract more people to the faith, even planning a disco party at the church.

“We tried to attract people with any possible strategy, to convince them to be converted,” he said.

And then he broke his leg. He calls it his “God wrestling with Jacob” moment.

“I had more time to be at home on the internet,” he said. While browsing a Christian YouTube channel, he clicked one that was at the top because it was trending in the United States—evangelist Paul Washer’s “shocking message.”

“It was a shock for me,” Pimentel said. “I remember crying that whole night, and a big hunger started in my heart. I wanted to know more about the Word.”

He clicked on more videos, watching dozens of John Piper videos that Desiring God released for free. “I didn’t know the distinctives of Reformed theology, but I knew I wanted more of the gospel I was hearing.”

In Brazil, Pimentel’s story is typical—he hears other people telling their version of it “a lot.” Because he isn’t the only one. More than 2.5 million have watched the version of Washer’s “shocking message” with Pimentel’s added Portuguese subtitles. Another million have seen it dubbed over in Portuguese.

Some dig in farther. Reformed pastor Renato Vargens’s blog has received more than 21 million pageviews since he started in 2010. Pimentel started a website called Voltemos Ao Evangelho (Let’s Get Back to the Gospel) where he’s posted thousands of Reformed sermons—in Portuguese or with subtitles—since 2008. More than 750,000 follow the blog, while 133,000 subscribe to the YouTube channel.

Last year, TGC launched a Brazilian Council and website. This February, when TGC held its first conferences, about 4,000 came to hear Piper speak in São Paulo. The next week, he spoke to another 12,000 at a Reformed-leaning conference in Campina Grande.

“Ten years ago, I didn’t think I’d ever see [this enthusiasm for the gospel],” said Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) missionary W. Mark Johnson, who serves as theological educational strategist for the International Mission Board in Brazil. “It’s the best moment I’ve seen in my 26 years here.”

“I’m not just hopeful for a revival,” said Yago Martins, who found his way from prosperity gospel to Reformed theology through Piper videos. Today his YouTube channel on Reformed theology has almost 400,000 followers. “It’s already happened. It’s growing in an unstoppable and inescapable way.”

For John Calvin, it would be further evidence of God’s sovereignty. Because when he sent the first Calvinist missionaries to Brazil in 1556, it was an unmitigated disaster. Read More