God has blessed Brazilian Baptists with great preachers since September 10, 1871, when the first Baptist church was planted in the land of the Southern Cross. Any single choice of Brazil’s greatest Baptist preacher ever should be questioned. In his book Historia dos Batistas no Brasil (History of Baptists in Brazil) the late Rev. Jose dos Reis Pereira, a noted Brazilian Baptist historian, highlighted a few names whose preaching skills had national impact. One such preacher is Dr. Rubens Lopes. He is my choice as Brazil’s greatest Baptist preacher.
Born on October 1, 1914, Rubens Lopes earned a Bachelor of Theological Sciences from the Theological College of the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil, Sao Paulo, in 1936. He also earned a Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of Sao Paulo in 1959. His ordination to the Ministry of the Word took place at the Vila Mariana Baptist Church, Sao Paulo, on January 14, 1938. On December 31, 1939, Rubens Lopes was formally inducted as the senior pastor of Vila Mariana Baptist Church. It was his only pastorate, which he so admirably conducted for 40 years until his death on November 3, 1979. Rubens Lopes married Mrs. Hercy Botelho Lopes on April 4, 1940. God blessed them with four children--Neide, Lucia, Rubens Eduardo and Saulo Ricardo--and three granddaughters: Silva Regina, Simone and Lucia.
Rubens Lopes was also an exceptional denominational leader. He served as president of the Brazilian Baptist Convention, president of the State of Sao Paulo Baptist Convention, founder and president of the State of Sao Paulo Baptist Pastors’ Conference. He was also a Baptist World Alliance (BWA) vice-president.
He became internationally known among Baptists in the 1960s when he led Brazilian Baptists in their historical National Campaign of Evangelization and then the Baptists of the Americas in the Crusade of the Americas. Both of these evangelistic campaigns used the same theme, “Jesus Christ, the Only Hope.” On August 4, 1969, he challenged the BWA Executive Committee meeting in Baden, Vienna, to carry out a World Crusade of Evangelization, which resulted in the World Mission of Reconciliation of the '70s.
Above all, however, Dr. Rubens Lopes was a great pulpiteer, a respected sacred orator, and an articulate communicator of God’s Word. His ability to be succinct, his mastery of the Portuguese language, his voice, his gestures, his demeanor in the pulpit, and his spiritual anointing made him a revered name among Brazilian Baptists to this day.
His pastoral ministry and denominational leadership were linked together by his preaching, because he exercised his leadership through preaching. The idea that resulted in both the National Campaign of Evangelization and the Crusade of the Americas was born out of his sermon entitled “Neo-Pioneirismo” (Neo-Pioneer Spirit), which he delivered at the Southern Baptist missionaries’ meeting in Salvador, BA, on May 23, 1963. He was a preacher-leader and a leader-preacher!
Here’s how he concluded a reflection entitled “A Whole Life in Two Pages: My Life”: “Such a small life, it can be written on two pages! This is my life. God knows that I did all I was able to. By His grace only. What about now? Well, I will keep walking till the end. Doing a little bit more. With weapons in my hand, so I will die at work. I am wearing a military campaign fatigue. I will only wear a military parade uniform in Heaven.”
On Saturday afternoon, November 3, 1979, the Lord called Dr. Rubens Lopes home in his study at his beloved church. Time had arrived for him to wear the military parade uniform.