New Director for Freedom and Justice to be Appointed

Eron Henry, Associate Director of Communications
Neville Callam, General Secretary
Baptist World Alliance

March 4, 2009

Raimundo César Barreto Jr. of Brazil is being recommended for the position of Director of the Division of Freedom and Justice (F&J) for the Baptist World Alliance (BWA).

The recommendation, which was made by the Executive Committee of the BWA on March 4, will be presented for a vote at the next meeting of the General Council (GC) in Ede , Netherlands , in July.

If appointed by the GC, Barreto would be the first person to become director of the F&J Division, which was established on September 1, 2008, following the decision of the GC in July 2008 to create the newest division of the international Baptist organization.

An ordained Baptist pastor since 1993, Barreto holds a doctoral degree in Christian Social Ethics from Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey in the United States , as well as degrees from the M cAfee School of Theology at Mercer University in Atlanta , Georgia , also in the US , and from the North Brazil Baptist Theological Seminary in Recife . He also studied at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague , Czech Republic .

He has worked extensively in academia in Brazil and in the US , including at the North Brazil Baptist Theological Seminary, the Northeast Baptist Theological Seminary in Feira de Santana , the Christian Education Seminary in Recife , Lancaster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania , and at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Barreto has conducted research on Christian and social justice issues in Latin America . He has special interest in working with organizations in human rights, and in advocating for those who have special needs.

Currently the pastor of Igreja Batista Esperança ( Hope Baptist Church ) in Salvador , Bahia state, he worked as General Coordinator for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Social Ethics in Brazil , among several other appointments in church and community organizations.

The F&J Division addresses issues of human rights and religious freedom, and will coordinate the relationship between the BWA and the United Nations, with which the BWA holds membership in several UN agencies.

Barreto is married to Eliã, a nurse working in public health, and is the father of two sons, Caio, 14, and Cauã, 2.

See: http://www.bwanet.org/default.aspx?pid=1025