Reverend Clay Peterson - Backbone to the Brazilian community

Aside from the hustle and bustle of Queenstown’s tourism buzz, a humble South American man – the spiritual backbone of the local Brazilian community, is quietly beavering away, ensuring the wellbeing of our migrant community.

Reverend Clay Peterson is a kind of spiritual DIY guy for Queenstown’s South American community. From preaching and leading Global Community Church music and singing, to translating and counselling local South American couples and families through the struggles of setting up a new life with a new language, Clay has it covered.

You won’t catch him bragging, but Clay, who just turned 51, has performed before crowds of up to one million in Brazil. He’s performed around the world, as a guitarist and vocalist in Latin America’s largest Christian band, hugely popular in Brazil having sold over 15 million albums.

Prior to emigrating to New Zealand in 2011, Clay and his wife, Graziela, travelled the world performing in Europe, Japan, Brazil and Indonesia, where the large worship band packed out a stadium of 30,000 to 40,000 people.

Before The Throne’ (Diante do Trono) was very well known, founded in 1997 in his home city, Belo Horizonte. “I was only a small part of it, but had the privilege of all that travel,” he says.

The youngest of four boys, Clay’s music career all began after the “simple gift of a guitar from my father, aged 10”.

“Music wasn’t in my family, but I’d play air guitar and sing, and my parents saw something different in me.”

His dad was his hero – a senior police officer, who became a private bodyguard to the rich and famous, who worked long hours. “I so treasured the times he took me to his workplace for the day as a boy in that beautiful uniform. I saw how respected and valued he was.”

Sadly, his dad passed away in November last year, Clay mid-flight home as he passed. “I was leading his funeral less than 28 hours after the call. That was extremely hard being so far away from family and going back without my wife and kids while I was grieving,” he says. He stayed four weeks to support his widowed mum.

“Language is the main challenge for us migrants, but even harder is coping with the distance from close family,” he says. “When you lose someone like that it’s the biggest pain.”

A shy kid, Clay was encouraged into drama – ironically taking on the priest’s role in the school production, shot dead, tomato sauce splashed under his shirt. By his teens, music and drama had become “an instrument for life” and at 15 he was awarded second in his whole school. “I had to raise the flag for my state - a moving moment.”

By 1999 he’d met Graziela, who was performing in a Christian band. “From a young age I played and sang at our Baptist church of 50,000 people. They’re big in Brazil.”

At 20 Clay went to Bible College to study a Bachelor of Theology: “I wanted to search the truth, the Scriptures, and be sure exactly what I believed in,” he says.

Then in 2011 he felt drawn to missions and NZ where his brother and sister in law had settled in Queenstown in 2008. “I wanted to go somewhere and help people and I saw a real need here.”

He’d become associate pastor at Wakatipu Presbyterian Church by 2014, working with the local Global Church community, through a partnership with his home church in Brazil. In 2018 he was inducted as a NZ minister.

Moving to Queenstown – a whole new language and culture, was extremely hard for his two kids, especially his six-year-old daughter. “We had to cope with the tears. She was doing very well at school in Brazil and came to a school not understanding anyone,” he says. “But Arrowtown School did a fantastic job. We were all extremely well supported and loved.”

Clay’s biggest challenge was overcoming the language barrier to deliver up to three weekly church messages with something meaningful, at times needing to lead three local churches on a Sunday, and the music and worship.

In April last year he took on major responsibility for the rest of the church becoming interim senior minister, when wonderful mentor, senior minister Reverend Ian Guy left.

With the sale of the iconic St Andrew’s site downtown and the new Frankton location, Clay’s kept busy with three Sunday services and music.

He’s seen an increase in couples and families seeking counselling support, something he trained in at college.

“We dealt with the peak of mental health issues during the pandemic. That was very tough for all ministers in town.

“Very small issues can become complicated when you don’t have the tools. I try to help couples find understanding and forgiveness, mediate and listen,” he says. “We love singing carols about the coming of Baby Jesus at Christmas, but I remind people he came and went to the cross to give us forgiveness – that’s the message of Christmas.”

Clay welcomes all to the Christmas services at St Margaret’s Church, Frankton – Christmas Eve – 6pm; Christmas Day – 9.30pm