AN ASTONISHING movement of God where contemporary Christian music is spearheading evangelism has gripped the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo. The Fundacao Renascer (meaning New Birth Foundation) church there has grown to 50,000 members. The church, pastored by Steven Fernandez, supports 40 Christian rock bands, puts on an annual Christian festival SOS attended by 100,000 people and runs a Sao Paulo radio station Gospel FM which broadcasts contemporary Christian music 20 hours a day. In addition to these initiatives, Pastor Fernandez presents an hour long Christian music TV programme where videos from the likes of Michael W Smith, Take 6 and local bands, filmed at SOS, are broadcast.

Said British record producer Les Moir who visited the city recently for the Worldwide March For Jesus: "I've never seen such an effective evangelistic music ministry. The church puts on a Christian rock concert every Monday and literally hundreds are coming to Christ through the ministry of Renascer's rock bands. There is also a tremendous social conscience among Renascer believers. For instance for the SOS Festival everyone who came had to bring a parcel of food and these parcels were then distributed to the poor." Speaking about the March For Jesus in Sao Paulo Les Moir said, "To see 850,000 marching through the streets acknowledging Jesus as Lord was an astonishing sight."