About Us

Our Mission

Making disciples, developing leaders and transforming communities in the Amazon.

Our Vision

A healthy & multiplying church accessible to every community in the Amazon

our history

We have a long history that began in 1952 through the ministry of Pastor Eduardo Lessa. After serving in the Amazon River communities as a translator he felt called to be a missionary on the river.

His ministry has evolved into Amazon Vida under the leadership of his son Pastor Elmer Lessa. The vision was to start a work in the Amazon village of Parintins that would touch other areas of the jungle and eventually the world.

Over seventy years later, First Baptist Church of Parintins is still growing today despite the hardship and persecution that he encountered. The church has seen second and third generation churches planted in the surrounding villages.

Amazon Vida is the result of the outreach ministry of First Baptist Church of Parintins to the surrounding villages. The ministry has expanded to include a network of churches and six seminary extensions that serve three countries with training in theology, community development and vocational training.

Our Leadership

Watch the video and get to know Pastor Elmer.

Elmer Lessa

Pastor, Director

Elmer's parents founded the ministry in 1952 and he continues to lead the mission movement in the Amazon River region to this day.

Elmer has served as the pastor of the Primeira Igreja Batista de Parintins (First Baptist Church of Parintins).

His wife, Elisângela, have two boys, David and Daniel.

Felix Albuquerque Junior

Communications Manager in Brazil

Junior serves as an employee of our sister organization, Missão Batista do Baixo Amazonas.

He, his wife Viviane, and their son Davi live in the large city of São Paulo. He serves the ministry by attending to administrative needs as well as church partnership development with numerous Brazilian churches in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

Our Doctrine

God: There is one God (Deut. 6:4) who exists eternally (Psalm 90:2). God is comprised of three distinct Persons (Father, Son, and The Holy Spirit) in one unified Being (Matthew 3:16-17; 28:19).

Jesus: As the second Person of the Trinity, Jesus is one Person comprised of two natures: human and divine (John 1:1-14; Hebrews 1:7-8). Not considering “equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage,” (Philippians 2:6), Jesus was born of a virgin (Luke 1:26-38), lived a sinless life (2 Cor. 5:21), preformed numerous miracles as a sign of His deity and God’s coming kingdom (John 10:31-38), died on the cross as substitutionary atonement for man’s sins (Matt. 26:28; 1 Peter 2:24), bodily resurrected from the dead on the third day (John 20:1-31; 1 Cor. 15:1-8), ascended to the right hand of the father (Acts 1:4-11), and rules as the Head of the Church (Col. 1:18). Christ will one day return to establish God’s eternal kingdom in full (Rev. 19:11-16; 22:7-21).

Salvation: All humans are tainted by sin (Rom. 3:23) and will, barring saving faith in Jesus, be sent to everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:41-46). However, salvation is a free gift offered to all who place their trust in Jesus as their savior (John 3:16-21). By faith, through grace, all men have the opportunity to be restored to right relationship with God, man, and creation. A result of salvation is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13; John 14:16). Though good works never merit salvation in any way (Ephesians 2:8-9), a true believer will consistently grow towards Christlikeness (Galatians 5:22-26).

Bible: The Bible is God’s Holy Word, communicating His truth without error (2 Tim. 3:16; Psalms 147:5; Num. 23:19; 2 Peter 1:20-21). Though God provides other sources for discovery of truth (reason, nature (Psalm 19), conscience (Romans 2:14), tradition, and history), God’s Word rightly translated and interpreted ought to be the final and most authoritative source of truth in the Christian’s life.

The Church: The Church is the community of all redeemed people (1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Tim. 2:19). Among the Church’s numerous roles and responsibilities is that we be Christ’s ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:20) ushering in God’s kingdom on earth by further restoring all things to His original design (Isaiah 42:1-9; Matthew 6:10).