In this episode of We Are Vineyard, Jay talks with Alexia Salvatierra about being born with a sense of justice in her gut, and then meeting Christ and experiencing a hope that power and love can coexist. Alexia shares about wrestling through the obstacles of being a woman in ministry, the scriptural basis for why she believes women can be pastors and preachers, and the many facets of how she sees her call as a person of justice. Alexia also provides some insight into current immigration issues in the US and some easy on-ramps to befriending people in your community who are different than you. 

Rev. Dr. Alexia Salvatierra is the Academic Dean for Centro Latino at Fuller Theological Seminary. She is the co-author of “Faith-Rooted Organizing: Mobilizing the Church in Service to the World” and “Buried Seeds: Learning from the Resilience of Vibrant Marginalized Christian Communities”, and as part of a team, “God’s Resistance: Mobilizing Faith to Defend Immigrants”. She is a Lutheran Pastor with over 40 years of experience in congregational (English and Spanish) and community ministry, including church-based service and community development programs, congregational/community organizing and legislative advocacy.

Dr. Salvatierra is a consultant for a variety of organizations, including World Vision, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, and the Christian Community Development Association. She has been a national leader in the areas of working poverty and immigration for over 25 years and has founded multiple programs and organizations both in the US and overseas. These included a gang prevention program for at-risk immigrant youth, a community computer center, and an intergenerational community garden where the elderly taught at-risk youth to grow produce for sale as well as a collaborative of UC students, homeless leaders, and congregation members providing emergency services in the streets of Santa Cruz and the migrant farmworker camps in Watsonville. In the Philippines, she trained urban poor women in Manila to serve as chaplains to their neighbors.

Show Notes: 

Faith-Rooted Organizing by Alexia Salvatierra and Peter Heltzel

Buried Seeds by Alexia Salvatierra and Brandon Wrencher 

God’s Resistance by Brad Christerson, Alexia Salvatierra, Robert Chao Romero and Nancy Wang Yuen 

Centro Latino de Fuller Seminary