Hello and welcome to another edition of Confessing Our Hope, the podcast of Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. My name is Zach Groff and I'm your host, and I have with me in the podcast today my good friend Francisco Cordoso. Francisco, thank you so much for joining me. Nice to be here. Pastor Cordoso is currently a THM student under Dr. Paipa by distance, and he's going to tell us a little bit about his research work and his thesis and the topic of it. He's also the pastor of Igreja Presbiteriana Reformanda e Recife. I probably butchered the pronunciation of that. But basically, Reformed Presbyterian Church of Recife, Brazil. And many of our students come from that town, and we're just thrilled to have Francisco here connecting with them, reconnecting with them, meeting some of them for the first time, as well as sitting in on a class. And again, he'll tell us a bit about that. He is married to Soraya and they have four children together and they've been involved in this particular church and as a church plant since 2003. He's a missionary sent out from Woodruff Road Presbyterian Church, a PCA congregation here in Simpsonville, South Carolina. and he's visiting with us for the past couple of weeks. And so the purpose of the podcast today is not only to spotlight one of our current students, but also to introduce Francisco and his ministry to you, our dear listeners, as an encouragement to you and a good work going on in Brazil, but also as a reminder to you that Greenville Seminary is committed to evangelism and to missions. In fact, it is knit into the very fabric of the school that Greenville Seminary would be a powerhouse for the worldwide evangelization of the peoples, of the nations, bringing the gospel to every corner of the world, even into fields that have current churches but just need some more men. And Recifi is one of those places. So before we dive into some of your work, Francisco, I want to hear about your thesis. What is the topic of your THM thesis? Yes, I've been writing on worship. When I first came to the seminary here, I had another subject, but as I took a class with Dr. Piper, I decided to change my subject. That was when I found more helpful and that I would be, you know, more, that would be better for, you know, to put in practice as I went back home. And so, I mean, I just enjoyed the class. I had, it was a great experience. I had never studied that type of subject with, such a deepness, and so I decided to write on worship, on Reformed worship, and that's basically the theme of my thesis. Are you focused on any particular area within that broad topic of Reformed worship, like a particular aspect of worship or part of worship? Yes, I'm trying to lay out the theology, a theology of worship, and try to apply it to our situation in Brazil. That's a subject that is kind of foreign to us, and that's why I got interested in the subject. And so, and I hope to contribute to my country, I mean, to put some discussion, to put the subject to be discussed, and maybe who knows, some people would be more interested in reading on the subject, and even more be willing to apply it to their churches. I remember that John Knox reformed the church in Scotland, through worship and, you know, maybe by God's providence that will be the case in Brazil as well. Yeah, may the Lord bring it to pass. So tell us a little bit about the church in Brazil where you are ministering, your church plant, your congregation in particular. If someone were to visit on a Sunday morning and worship with you, what would they experience? Well, they will experience a worship based on the Bible. We try to please the Lord, our Creator and Savior. We are pretty much into a form of worship that would be simple. biblical, Trinitarian. And that's one thing that has drawn people, some people, to our church. Besides the preaching, that we want to be Bible-based with application, exposition of the Word of God. And so you would experience a joyful worship, but also simple and in accordance with what we understand to be the will of God. And so you emphasize in your worship service preaching, prayer, singing of Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and the sacraments, ordinary means of grace. Yes, pretty much what we learn here at the seminary and some of our churches do, you know, here in the area. I imagine, other than the language difference, it would be very similar to what we experience at Woodruff Road Presbyterian Church. Yes, I mean, you wouldn't find you wouldn't find it different. We pretty much follow the same lines. So you're occupying that nice central mainstream of Reformed and Presbyterian worship down through the ages in the ordinary means of grace. That's exactly. That's a wonderful thing. If you were to visit our church, you would find yourself at home. Very good. I just need a translator. Yeah. So, how do you reach out into the community then? My understanding is that you have a lot of outreach, a lot of evangelism work going on. What does that look like in particular out of your congregation? We try to take advantages of all the opportunities we have. So, we visit people at hospitals, we try to connect with young people. We try to, you know, if we hear that somebody is in need of a visitation or if we engage, sometimes I have engaged in debates and in teaching. And so if we have an opportunity to reach out to people, some of these things, we do some of these things in order to call attention to the church, to the teaching. We want them to be more acquainted with Reformed faith. There is a name that has been more used currently in my country, but not everybody knows what it means. And so, we try to reach out to the children as well, as we do a vacation Bible school. I mean, we try to take advantage of every opportunity we have. If one calls me, if I get to know somebody who lives in the countryside, I may introduce to him or ask him what he knows about biblical Christianity. If the person is interested in reading a book, I would provide one that would be helpful I mean, we try everything we can according to what would be a reformed view of evangelism. And I would say the Lord has been, you know, if we try to do it, if we go after people, if we show interest in them, if we have compassion for the lost, I mean, the Lord would bless and draw his call, the ones he has elected. And he has done that as the church has grown slowly but steadily over the years. Yes. That's extremely encouraging. And again, my understanding is that you actually have coming out of your main church plant several other works around the city and different parts of the city where you're potentially exploring some church plants. Is that right? Yeah, that's right. We have a main church, the first one to be started. And then we have another one in the countryside, about an hour and 20 minutes from where we are. And that has been an interesting experience, because in this town we have been to in the countryside, the town is for the most part Roman Catholic, but also Pentecostal. And so some people, when they hear about Reformed faith or biblical Christianity, at first some of them would be kind of suspicious, but some, when they hear it and when they get a grasp on it, They, you know, when they get committed to it, they seem to be so satisfied. It's like their eyes have been opened. And so that's one of the things that has been encouraging us to keep on going to the countryside. But not only to the countryside. We have a mission church in the outskirts of our city. And it is a very crowded area. We are about to start having worship services there. We have another one that is going to start at the house of one of our ruling elders. And so, like I told you, we have many neighborhoods, many areas in our city, and even in the countryside in our state, where there is no evangelical church at all. And so when I think of what the missionaries did in the past, missionaries from the Presbyterian Church here, how compassionate they were. It encourages us to follow, to go in the same steps they took. In fact, one of Dr. Morton Smith's, he's a founder of the seminary here, one of his ancestors or distant relatives was a missionary to Recife, Brazil back in the 1800s, was he not? He founded the first Presbyterian church in Recife in the year 1873. His son, James Porter Smith, he lived right in the downtown area. He used to engage in debates with the local archbishop. So they were just, the Lord used them mightily. And so, I mean, when we hear about the stories of the missionaries, the one who founded the Presbyterianism in Brazil in 1859, he was a young guy, he was 26 years old. He went to Princeton Seminary in the good old days. He studied under Charles Hodge. And as he listened to one of his sermons on missions, that's when he decided to go to Brazil. And what he did is just impressive. In seven years, he was 26 years old. He died at age 33. But he left a great legacy. He started a seminary. He founded Presbyterianism in Brazil. He would go from one place to another on horseback for years. He did his work. He discharged himself of his work so tirelessly. It is so amazing to see what the Lord did through him, through his faithfulness, through his compassion to the lost, for the lost. And that's an amazing legacy to look back to and to build upon. And here at Greenville Seminary, you know, we self-consciously see ourselves building on the work of Samuel Davies, on old Princeton, and J.G. Machen, and just, you know, I could keep on naming godly men and faithful men, those who founded the PCA and the OPC, those who have served with distinction in the ARP, and these are men that are men to then go on and work with. And you're doing much the same, looking back to this great forebear of Presbyterianism and building on what he's done for an enduring Reformation in Christ's Church today. And that strikes right at the vision of Greenville Seminary. You mentioned that in some of these countryside villages and areas, Roman Catholicism is dominant. And even Dr. Smith's distant relative went and debated against the Roman Catholic Archbishop in his own day. For your part, when you go into these different neighborhoods, either in the city or on the outskirts of the city, what are some of the competing religious influences that you're coming up against? Roman Catholicism, are there other things as well that you're having to face? Brazil in terms of religiosity is a melting pot. But, I mean, we basically have Roman Catholicism mixed up with some African religions. We've got a lot of syncretism in Brazil, in the countryside as well, in the country as a whole. And so the challenge is to present to them biblical Christianity, one based on the Bible, one that would point them to the sufficiency of Christ's salvation, you know, as opposed to mere moral talk or what people would call here a wealth and health gospel. And so the real challenge, the main one, is to reach out to people who are used to a superstitious worldview, you know, to be on the surface of Christianity, and to show them that Christ is sufficient, that his gospel is God's power for the salvation of sinners. And so, but like I told you before, it is not an easy task, but we are not going on our own. And we have seen fruits. The Lord has been saving people. That's our confidence, that as we preach the gospel, as it is presented to us in the Bible, the Lord blesses it. And so he has done. Francisco is one of the missionaries sent out of my church, and I can testify based on what I've heard from our pastors, from our missions committee, from his own recent visit, and the things going on, that he is an amazingly industrious minister for the gospel. And I don't know if you picked up on this, our listeners, but There are several church plants that he is supporting and overseeing. He didn't mention this, but he has several seminary students involved with him down there in Recife, not Greenville Seminary students, but other seminary students who are involved in the work and interested in serving alongside of him into the future. He's been raising up leaders by God's grace and with God's blessing, and we are enthusiastic about supporting him. So Francisco, I want to ask you, How can people get more information about the work you're doing and even coming alongside of you in prayer and in finances? If anyone is interested in getting to know, in getting more information, you can contact me or you can contact Woodroof Road Presbyterian Church and they will be glad to inform you, to let you well informed about what has been done, about what the needs would be. And so you feel free. I will put a link in the show notes in the description for this episode to woodruffroad.com and particularly to the page that has our missionaries listed and with Francisco and his family spotlighted. as well as any other contact information there. If you're interested in introducing your church to the work in Recife or even personally just getting more information and learning about what's going on, we'd love to share that with you. Right now they're in the middle of a building campaign wanting to get some property and to build up so they have a permanent facility that will be welcoming and inviting and also a bit more strategic in its location. And so that's a pressing need for which our church has been praying for a number of years now as they work toward that. And so we want to encourage our listeners, as they have a zeal for missions, to share in the zeal that Greenville Seminary has and to identify and support worthy missionaries all over the world. And Francisco, I really think You are one of them, and I'm so glad that you were able to be here with me, not only for this interview, but also for our biblical counseling class that we shared together last week. Yes, which I really enjoyed. It was a really helpful class, and I'm glad that I came. I'm glad that I have been to this seminary some years ago and that I, you know, I had the privilege of studying here, of sitting in many classes and getting to know the professors better and learning from them and seeing their piety. I was so blessed to be here. Thank you, Francisco, and God bless you. Thank you, sir. Thank you for listening to this episode of Confessing Our Hope. For more information about the seminary, please visit gpts.edu. God bless.