print this page
close this page

Rev. Bennie L. DeMerchant

1941-2017

Rev. Bennie L. DeMerchant
Bennie Leigh DeMerchant was born on January 31, 1941, the son of a potato broker and grocery store owner in South Tilley, New Brunswick. His godly parents, Harold & Beatrice DeMerchant, brought up their family in the Perth-Andover church and often hosted missionaries in their home, and Bennie would hide behind the sofa at bedtime so he could hear their exciting stories from around the world. After being baptized in Jesus’ name at the age of 10, Bennie had a dream that he was on a raft in a great river where two distinct colors of water converged and flowed as far as the eye could see. He had no idea that it was a prophecy of his future.


At the age of 16, Bennie received the baptism of the Holy Ghost at a church convention in Plaster Rock. It was also at this young age that he felt God calling him to go to the nation of Brazil. He graduated from high school in 1959 and started flying lessons that summer, then enrolled in Apostolic Bible Institute in St. Paul, Minnesota the same year. It was there he met the love of his life, Theresa Shomberg, an accomplished pianist and teacher, who had also felt a call to the nation of Brazil during her teenage years, and had also chosen to attend ABI. She graduated before Bennie arrived in St. Paul, but was still working at the school … and when he saw a picture of the beautiful Theresa playing the piano in an ABI advertisement, Bennie prophesied his own marriage.

They became friends and began their courtship during Bennie’s years at ABI, and were married on July 22, 1961. After his graduation in 1962, he acquired the private pilot’s license that would eventually become such an integral part of his ministry. Bennie & Theresa returned to New Brunswick later that year, and were installed as Pastor in River de Chute and Plaster Rock by founding Pastor William Rolston, whose burden for missions made a huge impact on the young couple. They stayed for the next 3 years, and then in October 1964, the DeMerchants were appointed as UPCI missionaries to the country of Brazil at the General Conference in San Antonio, Texas.

On October 29, 1965, the DeMerchants arrived in Manaus, Brazil with their 6-month-old daughter Beth. They didn’t speak Portuguese and they didn’t know anyone in the city … but they had a call from God! And when Bennie saw the world-famous “Meeting of Waters,” where the blackwater of the Rio Negro and the whitewater of the Rio Solimões converge to form the mighty Amazon River, running side by side without mixing for nearly 4 miles, he knew that his dream as a 10-year-old boy had been a sign from God. Over the next few months, the DeMerchants studied Portuguese and built the humble home on Rua Ramos Ferreira, where they would raise Beth Therese, Pamela Bea, and Bennie Jonas, and spend the next half century.

The Amazon River became an integral part of Bennie’s ministry when the Sheaves For Christ program of the United Pentecostal Church International helped the DeMerchants purchase a Cessna 172 seaplane in 1970, and a larger Cessna 206 seaplane in 1977. With these, he would be able to fly into hundreds of remote villages and preach the Gospel, raising up a strong national church in the country of Brazil, literally in every corner of the Amazon basin. Brother DeMerchant spent so much time in the air that he was fond of saying, “I’m 75 years old, but I’ve only spent 72 years on earth.” He would make his final flight to Heaven just eight days after his 76th birthday.

When he was not flying seaplanes, Brother DeMerchant also evangelized using a fleet of wooden and aluminum canoes. He made and distributed thousands of his unique Fly Fishing tracts, and trained hundreds of workers to build many churches using his own portable cement block forms. Multiplied thousands would be added to the Kingdom of God as a direct result of his efforts.

There were many times over the years that the DeMerchants could have given up and come home, due to setbacks and discouragements, but they remained faithful to their calling. On August 31, 1976, his seaplane engine stopped suddenly on takeoff in a strong cross wind, turning the plane upside down and hurling Bennie and his three passengers into the Amazon River. He and his cousin Clayton Goodine survived; fellow missionary Margaret Calhoun and young minister José Cinque did not. This tragedy plunged Bennie into a deep depression, until a man in white appeared to him in the middle of the night and said, “I am the Pilot in command of your life. Have I not called you to this country? Get up and leave this to Me. Go on with the work and I will bless the work.”

On June 15, 1992, the DeMerchants’ only son Bennie Jonas (BJ) went home to be with the Lord after a long struggle with cancer. He had dreams of someday pastoring a church in Saõ Paulo, and told his dad while he was dying in the hospital that the Lord had given him a vision of a great revival in Brazil. Both Bennie and Theresa battled depression after BJ’s death, but after long bouts of loneliness Theresa decided that she would start an Apostolic Bible Institute in the central church, just a few blocks from their home. It would become the largest UPCI Bible School in the nation, and Theresa would go on to serve as President over all the “Instituto Bíblico Apostólico” campuses in Brazil for more than 20 years.

In 1989, Bennie was elected President of the United Pentecostal Church of Brazil (IPUB); several years later, these brethren who loved him so much would vote to make him President for life. In 2011, the DeMerchants celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary (July 22) by renewing their vows in Plaster Rock, NB where they had pastored. Later that year (October 10), the United Pentecostal Church International inducted Bennie into the Order of the Faith at the General Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. In 2015, the DeMerchants were honored for 50 years of missionary service in Brazil, in a massive 3-day Jubilee Celebration held in Manaus. They hold the distinction of being the UPCI’s longest serving missionaries, and the only ones to evangelize a nation using seaplanes. Bennie loved to say that his call letters PT-LEE stood for “Praise The Lord, Evangelize Everywhere.”

The DeMerchants’ missionary story has been told in the books “Full Throttle!” and “Still Flying Full Throttle!” (with co-author Dolly McElhaney), but only eternity will reveal the full results of their ministry. There are now over 3000 ministers, and more than 1300 congregations with over 140,000 members in Brazil, with 124 IBA campuses training nearly 3000 students every year. Manaus alone now has 250 United Pentecostal churches, and its Jerusalem Conference Center (one of several in the nation) accommodates up to 12,000 people. The Brazilian church has even begun sending their own missionaries to other Portuguese-speaking nations.

Truly, Brother DeMerchant’s missionary motto will outlive him to impact future generations in Brazil and far beyond: “Make disciples, open Bible Schools, teach the Word, keep the doctrine, and remain in the Truth.” Multiplied thousands will live in Heaven forever because one young man from New Brunswick, Canada followed his dream and obeyed God’s call to be a missionary.

Bennie Leigh DeMerchant passed from this life on February 8, 2017 in Manaus, and the United Pentecostal Church of Brazil celebrated their beloved elder statesman in a beautiful Memorial Service on February 11, 2017, with a capacity crowd gathered at the Jerusalem Conference Center in Manaus. One month later, his family and friends now gather in his beloved New Brunswick to also say a fond farewell.

Bennie Leigh DeMerchant was predeceased by his parents, Harold & Beatrice (Goodine) DeMerchant; by his son, Bennie Jonas DeMerchant; by his siblings, Harold (Jr.) DeMerchant, Jacqueline DeMerchant, Norma Evans, Robert DeMerchant, and Vaughan DeMerchant; and by one grandchild, Anthony Sievers. He is survived by his loving wife Theresa (Shomberg) DeMerchant; by his daughter Beth and her husband Rev. George Sievers from Llano, Texas; by his daughter Pam and her husband Rev. Carl Schuessler from Houston, Texas; and by his granddaughter Bethany Sievers from Llano, Texas.

His life and ministry will be celebrated in a Memorial Funeral Service at 1:00 PM on March 9, 2017 at Capital Community Church in Fredericton, with Rev. Anthony Mangun ministering (webcast at www.CapitalCommunity.ca); and in a Homegoing Committal Service at 2:00 PM on March 10, 2017 at Calvary Tabernacle in Perth-Andover, with Rev. David Ferrell ministering. Friends will be received by the family during the two hours immediately preceding each of these services. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be given to PayPal account [email protected]. These funds will be used for a missions project in honor of the DeMerchants.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Brunswick Funeral Home, Perth-Andover.

Burial Location
Hillcrest Cemetery, Perth-Andover, NB