Born Rui de São Jose Gonçalves de Oliveira, Pastor Rui was born in the Western European country of Portugal, and at the age of thirteen he immigrated to Canada. He is married to Nancy Oliveira, and has four children named; Sarah, Lori-Ann, Jesse and Janai. While in College he graduated as a Journeyman Electrician working in Toronto and GTA. He later went back to school, and graduated in Theology from the Adventist University of São Paulo, UNASP, in the State of São Paulo, Brazil.
Being a man of character has always been a core value to him. He believe in the words of Jesus when presenting the Beatitudes, that a man of character has this quality found in Matthew 5:3: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The Spirit in the Scriptures is sometimes represented as the wind, and as Jesus is saying this in a rural farming community, and in order to make a point, He likely pointed to the wheat chaff as it bends toward the wind.
Those that bend toward the Spirit are men of character. This is what he strives for.
He has always learned that personality traits are surface-level observations, while character traits are deep-seated, not immediately obvious, and developed over time. Character traits are like core values, and are guiding principles. He has had many achievements in life. The most recent that stands out is; putting together, along with committed church members and community volunteers, a Compassion/Evangelism ministry at the Niagara Falls Church that services the homeless and downtrodden of the city, using a truck, an SUV, and soon a Mini-Van. This ministry grows by leaps and knows no bounds, and now its budget is becoming larger that the church’s budget.
Outside of full-time ministry, he is someone who continues to do what he did before; helping people with their needs using his God-given talents and knowledge, whenever possible. His favorite things are; visiting historical places, learning their history, and possible relationship to Christianity. He loves blue and white, as well the sports teams, especially soccer, books, comedy, history movies, a good symphony, talk radio, and his favorite shows is Handel’s Messiah.