Cristiane Cardoso

Cristiane Cardoso, born Cristiane Rangel Bezerra, October 31, 1973 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is the daughter of pastor Edir Macedo. Cristiane was the eldest of two daughters and one adopted son, in an evangelical Christian home. Her father became a pastor and founded the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, inspired through the struggles of faith for the sake of his youngest daughter, Viviane, who was born with a severely cleft palette. From 1977 onwards, the Bezerra family was immersed in a life of ministry and service in the church.

In 1986, Cristiane’s family moved to New York where her father established the first of his US churches in the lower east side of Manhattan. She and Viviane attended a public junior high school and were introduced to the high-stress, emotional pressure-cooker of the American school system. She was encouraged to keep a diary and through that, her love for writing blossomed.

Even though her family moved back to Brazil in 1989, she and her sister, and younger brother, Moyses, were able to attend English-speaking schools so as not to disrupt their studies. This time they lived in the city of Sao Paulo where Cristiane was called to serve in the church as an assistant (prayer counselor), and found herself attracted to a young pastor-in-training, Renato Cardoso, two years her senior. Cristaine was engaged to Renato, her first and only boyfriend at 17 years of age, and they married in July 1991, right after her high school graduation.

They moved to work in the church in Brooklyn, NY soon after their wedding, and have continued to serve in ministry all over the world. She and Renato have worked in Miami, Florida, Cape Town, South Africa, London, England, back to Johannesburg South Africa, and back again to London, where they lived a total of 12 years. It was there that they adopted their son Filipe, at 3 years of age, from an orphanage in Portugal in 1997. After many years of having London as their home, Renato was transferred to open the Succeed in Life Center in Houston, Texas, December 2007, where they have been living until present.

Cristiane’s many travels and experiences in counseling women from around the world prompted her to write women’s articles for the church’s weekly paper. She also started a woman’s program on London’s Liberty Radio called, Free Woman that gathered a faithful audience, not only from among women in the church, but outside as well. In 2007, she published a collection of her articles in her book, Better Than a New Pair of Shoes. The book was written in English, but a Portuguese translation is also available, and a Spanish version is presently in the works.

She has drawn inspiration from her mother Ester’s example of a lifetime of service to God, as well as other women of faith that have found joy in missionary work even in the most difficult of circumstances. The insight of author Francine Rivers, into the struggles of Christian women, has inspired much of Cristiane’s recent writings, and whose books she highly recommends. Her blog, in both English and Portuguese, has a growing following among Christian and non-Christian women alike.

Her blog is also available in Spanish and in French. She currently created a group named The Sisterhood, at the SiLC and has been growing worldwide.

In the summer of 2011, Cristiane launched her most recent book, V-Woman, based on Proverbs 31's woman of virtue. She and her husband Renato, moved back to Brazil in September 2011, where they are hosting a daily web program, "The Love School" (also known in Portuguese as "Escola do Amor") that is also broadcast weekly on nationwide TV Record. She has begun things in the UCKG such as the Godllywood challenge, inspiring from very young girls to elderly woman to develop into better people. On her site she is currently writing a book named Love in Ruins, an online book on her blog to help people struggling to have a stable relationship.

1. ^ Douglas Tavolaro, O Bispo a Historia Revelada de Edir Macedo, (Sao Paolo: La Rousse, 2007) 96.
2. ^ http://www.succeedinlife.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=40&Itemid=41