Baptist awarded Rio de Janeiro’s highest honor

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Eric Reese, a Southern Baptist representative serving in Brazil through the International Mission Board (IMB), has been awarded the Pedro Ernesto Medal of Merit by the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Also honored was Carlos Novaes, pastor of Barão de Taquara Baptist Church in Brazil.

Presented during a ceremony Nov. 11, the medal is the highest honor conferred by the city to its citizens and foreigners who have rendered meritorious services.

The award is named for Pedro Ernesto Baptista, a former mayor of Rio de Janeiro who labored to improve conditions in the city’s slums during the 1930s.

Reese and his wife, Ramona, work with the urban poor in the favelas (slums) of Rio de Janeiro.

“Into the Favelas,” a video produced by the IMB, helped garner public interest in Reese’s work. While the Pedro Ernesto Medal is an encouragement, Reese said he was even more elated Sept. 6 when 51 city commissioners agreed to help turn Rio de Janeiro “from a place of terror to a place of peace.”

“I feel like Brazilians have honored me as well,” Reese said of their commitment. Many of them, he said, “have become more bold in their faith.”