Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, F grew up in a Catholic family but at age 9, his family went to the Presbyterian Church where he spent the next 10 years. At age 10, Fabio opened the Bible for the first time and “preached” to his parents, sister and grandparents in a devotional time that they usually had at home. As a teenager, he learned guitar and helped with worship at church. Later he was ordained pastor by an Interdenominational Church. F loves to study history and theology and he holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business and a Master’s degree in Marketing. He served churches of different denominations and participated in street ministry, community development and preaching.
At age 25 he had his first multicultural experience, giving him the opportunity to learn a new language. Once a week, F helped Bolivians who got together to study the Bible in Spanish. At that time, he had the chance to disciple them, speak on the radio, baptize some and even had the privilege of choosing the names of some of their children.
In 2000, he went to Canada to take some English courses and that experience opened doors and led him to move to Canada in 2004 to help a Brazilian missionary and pastor in Toronto. During the next two years, 2004-5, he worked with several churches – Jamaican, Canadian and Brazilian – playing guitar, preaching and teaching. At the end of 2005, F came to the United States for the first time and had the chance to preach a few times in Spanish and Portuguese. F has been serving as a businessman/tentmaker since he was 21 years old. In Spain, he met his first Covenant contact, having the chance to work with Rob Reed (formerly with Serve Globally) for a couple of years in a church-planting project. After that, he spent two more years in a home group project with a Vineyard church in Barcelona where people from different places, cultures, and denominations got together in F’s apartment. These experiences helped F have an overview about different cultures, learn languages and learn how to work in a foreign environment, especially how to combine ministry and work, life and mission. While living in Spain, he went on vacation in Belgium and met an American who was living in Waterloo…
