News & Stories

Taking Care of Business

April 3, 2007

When a group of Christian businessmen began meeting in an Italian restaurant in Säo Paulo, Brazil, Chef Miriam Dias was listening. One day she approached the group, which was led by Alliance missionary Len Warden, and asked what they were doing. Warden explained that they were discussing biblical principles of integrity in the workplace. Dias became intrigued. “The whole idea of being honest in this business is radical,” she said. As a successful restaurateur, Dias has appeared on national television and has hosted wealthy celebrities in her restaurant. Yet she felt an emptiness that no amount of achievement could fill. “I knew there had to be more,” she said.  
     Dias asked to participate in the integrity meetings, and Warden’s wife, Diane, offered to mentor Dias in a discipleship class. As a result, “I started to be transformed,” said Dias. She is now a baptized member of the Zona Norte (Alliance) church plant and is sharing her faith with those she encounters in the upper reaches of Brazilian society. When customers ask the reason for the joy and peace she radiates, Dias points them to Christ. “I believe God has given me these opportunities so I can tell people about the light of Jesus in my heart,” she said.