Pastor Joel Almeida has a special passion for communicating Jesus. Born in an Adventist family of musicians in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, he was educated as an itinerant evangelist, singing and preaching about the Master’s love throughout the country. At the age of 17, he began to work as a professional video producer at his uncle’s company Centro Educacional Ilustrado. Since then he has improved himself in that area as a student, professional videographer and evangelist.
From 2004 to 2009, he served God at the Miami Central Brazilian SDA Church (Fla.), as an elder and in several other ministries of the church. During that time his wife and he opened their home to a small group that would later become a “little church” at home. That project was God’s first call to a full-time ministry.
From that point forward God provided a series of circumstances to officiate His call. In 2010, Pastor Joel, his wife Christiellen, and their 6-month-old daughter, Stephany, left everything behind and moved to Berrien Springs, Michigan to begin studies in theology, at the Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University. In 2013, he graduated with a Master of Divinity with an emphasis in preaching and special studies in Greek and Biblical Hebrew. That same year he received the divine call by the Potomac Conference to serve as a young pastor at the Community Praise Center Seventh-day Adventist Church (CPC) in Alexandria, Va. In 2015, he was transferred to the Gaithersburg (Md.) area, as district pastor of three churches–two English speaking ones and one Portuguese speaking–Gaithersburg, Clarksburg and Brazilian Gaithersburg. That same year, the couple was blessed with yet another divine gift, their son Jonathan, who came to strengthen the Lord’s team!
Today, the Almeidas praise God for the great challenges He has set before them. They proclaim to everyone around them, with a vibrant heart, that JESUS IS COMING SOON!
Pastor Joel will be ordained on March 24 at 4pm at the Gaithersburg SDA church, located at 7412 Muncaster Mill Road in Gaithersburg, Md.
