by John Duncan, EMENA Area Director
Pastor Antonio Pires, Chairman of the Board of Youth for Christ in Portugal, passed away suddenly on Saturday, May 7, 2011, at the young age of fifty. He leaves a wife, Isabel (Bela),and three children: Jonatas, David and Ana, as well as a grieving church family in the Baptist Church of Queluz in Lisbon.
His death was completely unexpected. Antonio died of a heart attack on Saturday afternoon.
Antonio was full of enthusiasm for the relaunching of the work of Youth for Christ in Portugal. He and EMENA Southern Regional Director Allan Grier were together the morning of Antonio’s death; it seems poignant that almost his last act on earth was to introduce Allan to the other members of the new National Board and to commend to them the wider work of Youth for Christ. Antonio was also involved in the YFC Staff Training School in Northern Ireland in January. He was a good man, and will be very sadly missed.
If you would like to leave any messages of condolence, his email address was [email protected] and messages are also being collected on his church Facebook page. For an English translation of messages already showing up there in Portuguese, click here.
Youth for Christ would like to send our deepest sympathies to his grieving wife and children.
Pray for them that Almighty God will bring them comfort and peace.