Pastor Robert Cordeiro is now captain of his own ship at the River of Life Ministries in Wareham.

The senior pastor of the Main Street church was ordained in a ceremony on Sunday, May 27, that also featured church elders Mark and Jan Porter receiving their licenses for ministry.

Now that Cordeiro has been ordained (he was previously a licensed minister), he can operate his church completely independently from any other churches, he said.

"It's a big step, because now that I am under my own [ministry], all this falls under me," he noted. "There's a lot more responsibility than when you're under somebody else."

Cordeiro previously conducted his church, which he started in January of this year, under the authority of Apostles Tony and Beverly Rezendes and the New Seasons Worship Center in Freetown, he said.

Apostles are like bishops in the Catholic church, explained Tony Rezendes, and provide leadership and standards by which churches under the apostles operate.

With their licensing, Mark and Jan Porter can perform baptisms, marriages, funerals, and similar ceremonies.

There were tears of joy and plenty of bunched up tissues at the Sunday service which, in addition to the ceremony for Cordeiro and the Porters, featured the announcement of an engagement made by two 21 year olds and the decision of a 12-year-old boy to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

Friends and family of the church's leadership, as well as the Rezendes, showed up to offer words of encouragement to the Cordeiros and Porters as well as their church.

"What I heard the Lord say here clearly is that the Lord is proud of you," said Beverly Rezendes.

Rezendes advised the congregation to have faith in God as the five-month old ministry gets off the ground and works to spread its message to the larger community.

Barbara Holmes of Barrington, R.I., a friend of the Cordeiros and the Porters, thought that the River of Life's message, which talks about providing deliverance, healing, and restoration according to its mission statement, was a timely one for the Wareham community.

"People are starving for a place to come and be safe, a place they can come and be loved," Holmes said. "Your love will change them."

Cordeiro said he believes that though his congregation is growing slowly, Sunday's ceremony gave his ministry a more concrete stamp in the community.

"This means that River of Life Ministries is here to stay," Cordeiro said.

River of Life Ministries meets at the Old Methodist Meeting House at 495 Main Street in downtown Wareham. Service is on Sundays at 10 a.m. A "Christian Recovery Program" is held at 2 p.m.