Brazilian evangelist has big plans for U.S.
Apostle Valdemiro Santiago, founder of the Worldwide Church of God’s Power, bellows in Portuguese to a packed crowd in a rented Astoria, Queens, church. RNS photo by Andre Tartar
NEW YORK (RNS) Fourteen years after he started out in Brazil, Apostle Valdemiro Santiago sits at the helm of a booming Pentecostal network of 4,000 churches, including 10 in the U.S. Despite Santiago's personal wealth, his movement's relative poverty and simplicity may be its greatest asset.