World Federation
World Federation
“Seventh Day Baptist unity in Christ and a vigorous witness throughout the world.” That was the broad goal stated by the founders of the SDB World Federation in 1964.
Seventh Day Baptist groups in all parts of the world co-operate in the purposes and programs of the Federation: to provide increased communication among SDB groups; to promote projects of mutual interest; and to stimulate fellowship among Seventh Day Baptist Christians.
Seventh Day Baptist World Federation
president@sdbwf.org
General Secretary: Andy Samuels
2612 Arcadia Drive
Miramar, FL 33023
general.secretary@sdbwf.org
Donations
If you would like to make a one-time or recurring donation to the World Federation, please click on the link below. You will be given an opportunity to specify that your donation is for World Federation.
President, Luciano Barreto Nogueira de Moura
As part of his testimony, Pastor Luciano Barreto Nogueira de Moura says, “I was captivated by Christ in 1992 and was baptized in Salvador, Bahia, in my homeland of Brazil. I attended a Presbyterian church for some years and after moving to Brasília, the capital of Brazil, I attended the Bethel Brazilian church. In 1999, I discovered the Seventh Day Baptist Church on the Fortaleza SDB church website and began to lead a small group in the home of a Seventh Day Baptist brother in Sobradinho, Federal District. I was ordained as a pastor in 2006. Since then, I have been pastor of the First Seventh Day Baptist Church of Brasília, a small group that met in my home until August of 2014 when we began renting a room in Brasília.”
Pastor Luciano Moura was World Federation Vice-President for South America from 2003 to 2005. He attended the World Federation Sessions in Brazil in 2003 and in 2017, serving as a delegate for his conference. He graduated in Economics and Law, with post-graduate work in both areas and he is finishing Theological Studies by Andrew Jumper Post-graduate Center – Mackenzie University. He is a theological student at the Methodist University. He and Liane have been married for 29 years. They have twins; their daugther Ilara, who is single, and their son Gabriel, who is married to Paula; all of them servants of The Lord.
Following the tragic passing of Pastor Jonas Sommer, late President of the Seventh Day Baptist World Federation, Pastor Luciano Moura was confirmed by election of the member conferences as President in October 2018.
General Secretary – Andy Samuels
Pastor Andrew Samuels has been serving as the Pastor of the Miami Seventh Day Baptist Church in Florida in the United States since June, 1988. Born on the island of Jamaica in the Caribbean, he grew up as a third-generation Seventh Day Baptist and migrated to the United States when he was 20 years old. He made his first public profession of faith at age 11 and was baptized a few months later at his home church, Mountain View SDB.
His very first personal experience with the Seventh Day Baptist World Federation was in 1986 when the Sessions were held in Rhode Island in the United States. He was living then in New York City and working as part of the diplomatic delegation of the Permanent Mission of Jamaica to the United Nations. He remembers being asked by then World Federation Executive Secretary, Pastor Dale Thorngate, to obtain flags for each of the countries represented by the World Federation membership. He was able to borrow a flag from each country’s Mission located in New York City and that enhanced a beautiful parade of flags at both World Federation and the USA and Canada General Conference in Massachusetts that year.
He also attended the World Federation Sessions in 1997 as an Observer, in his native land of Jamaica. Three years prior to that, his local Church in Miami, seized the opportunity to nurture a Church in Haiti which had recently decided to become Seventh Day Baptist. Since then, he has made about 10 trips to that country as a natural outcome of the establishment of that relationship. In 2003, he regards it as an absolute privilege to travel to Brazil for the World Federation Sessions there, and his passion to become a world-class Seventh Day Baptist was greatly enriched. At that World Federation Session, he was elected as Vice-President for North America. He was re-elected to that office in 2008, the year when he also served as President for the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference of USA and Canada. In addition to 31 years of pastoring the Miami SDB Church, he has done a short-term Pastorate at the Mill Yard SDB Church in London, England, as well as pastoring SDB Churches in New York City, New York and Fort Lauderdale and Kissimmee, Florida.
Pastor Andy’s desire to fulfill the Great Commission has led him to engage in mission trips to Malawi, Brazil, Chile, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Haiti, England, Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, Bangladesh, India, and Jamaica. He lists his primary spiritual gifts as Leadership, Teaching, and Shepherding, with a secondary gift of Evangelism. As of March 2019, he undertook a new role as Chief Executive Director of the Seventh Day Baptist Missionary Society, giving him oversight responsibility for Seventh Day Baptist missions in approximately 45 countries of the world.
He believes that his international experience at the United Nations community in New York City, his relationships with the SDB Churches in the United States & Canada, England, Brazil, Malawi, Jamaica, and Haiti, plus his attendance at the past three consecutive Sessions of the SDB World Federation, have prepared him well to serve as General Secretary for this fraternal organization of God’s people called Seventh Day Baptists. He aims to play his role in helping the Federation to achieve among member Conferences, its vision of quality communication services, meaningful fellowship, the coordination of mutual endeavors, and the promotion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Samuels has a Bachelor’s degree from Miami Christian College, and has done graduate studies at Knox Theological Seminary. He is also a graduate of the SDB TIME Program, and has served as an Instructor at both the Florida Leadership Training Institute and the South Atlantic Leadership Training (SALT) Institute, ministries of the South Atlantic Association of Seventh Day Baptist Churches in the United States of America. He was the author of the 2007 World-Federation sponsored SDB Week Of Prayer booklet, and has also authored one book, “From The Foundation To The Pinnacle”, which is a chronicling of three decades of history of the Miami Seventh Day Baptist Church (1981-2011).
He has been married to Kay, an Educator, for 37 years, and they have two daughters, a son-in-law, and two grandchildren.