Pastor Sam's Biography
Pastor Sam Medeiros was born in São Paulo, Brazil and grew up in a Christian family that attended a church from a Swiss missionary organization called Action Biblique. His parents had met while in Bible School and were strongly involved in bivocational ministry.
At age 3, Sam knew that he wanted to be close to God. It was with his mom that he invited Jesus into his life, and that light was ignited.
One afternoon, at age 14, after reading an article in a Christian magazine, Sam was shocked to find out about a group of people that wanted to find a legal way to ban bibles from a province in Canada using the claim that bibles would promote hate. This led him on the same afternoon to start praying for Canada... and while praying, God laid on his heart in a very powerful way that one day He would be sending him to Canada. Over the next years, there were many confirmations of this call.
After high school, Sam enrolled in a Mechanical Engineering program at a university in São Paulo (UMC), and also became very involved in youth ministry at his local church, which included serving God in a Christan Camp every January and July (that’s camp season in Brazil).
In these camps he had served in several different positions over the years, starting in the cleaning team, serving in the kitchen, and eventually he became a camp counselor, and even later on, became responsible for the Camp Counselors Training Program.
Late 80's were difficult times in Brazil and that led Sam to look for an upgrade in his education. That was when he moved to Philadelphia, PA in 1988 to study English as a Second Language. When he returned to Brazil at the end of that year, God led him to pursue a second degree in Business Administration focused in publishing and graphic arts. This education was fundamental for the ministries God would call him to in the years ahead.
From early years, Sam knew in his heart that God was constantly calling him into ministry. And the Lord had opened a door for him to serve as the General Manager of the Bible House. The Bible House was a ministry devoted to providing resources to help Christians and churches to grow.
And a couple years later, he started working as Managing Director for Lifeway Brazil, a Brazilian branch of the Southern Baptist Convention’s publishing house (Nashville, USA). This gave Sam the opportunity to help other churches develop small groups and discipleship programs for their churches, which drew him to seek out further biblical training.
It was not until after he married his wife Alessandra (Ally), and had been blessed with two daughters, that God’s call about Canada became clear once again. Was God really asking them to move their young family to Canada?
After a year of confirming that this was exactly what God wanted them to do, they moved from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to Cochrane, Alberta, in 2005 in order for Sam to study at the Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary & College. In 2006, while studying at the seminary, God blessed them with twin boys.
Sam was also privileged to work at the seminary—first in maintenance and then later in the Public Relations department, where he served under Lou Leventhal, at the time the Vice-President of the seminary, who had been a transitional pastor at South Calgary Community Church.
During his time at the school in Cochrane, Sam had the opportunity to serve in Westbrook Community Church, Bow Valley Baptist Church, and later on in the Brazilian Ministry at South Calgary.
In 2009, Sam graduated with a Bachelor of Christian Ministry (BCM) and continued his studies pursuing a master's degree in Christian Education (MCE), which was briefly interrupted when he had to move from Cochrane to Calgary to start his new position at South Calgary as a youth pastor, at the end of 2010.
Today, after finishing his studies in the Master in Christian Education (MCE) program, Sam has been working on a 'mestrado em teologia' (master of theology) in an online seminary in Sao Paulo, Brazil (Ryrie), with a special focus in 'Revitalization of Churches'.
Over the years serving in South Calgary Community Church, Sam has been involved in many ministries such as youth pastor, Sunday School coordinator and teacher, Kids In Praise teacher, and small groups coordinator. Sam has also led prayer meetings, preached, taught, trained, and performed weddings and funerals. And since January 15, 2019, Sam has been the Acting Senior Pastor in South Calgary.
Sam and his family are excited with the possibility of continuing to serve God in South Calgary and they are looking forward to seeing what God has prepared for us as a church.