Christ Lutheran Church, Baltimore
Corporate giving specialist, Global Refuge
I moved to Baltimore in the summer of 2021—primarily for my job with Global Refuge (formerly Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service). I was very involved with my church in my hometown, so finding a community where I could plug in and ask all the questions about faith and God was important, even if I wasn’t an “every Sunday morning” attendee. Global Refuge shares a building with Lutheran World Relief and is owned by Christ Lutheran Church. The connection was simple. Here I am, a lifelong Lutheran in a new city, and here is Christ Lutheran, a big, welcoming church within a mile of my new house.
I’ve always found my connection to God and my faith outside the four walls of a church—though the music and stained-glass windows bring me back often. In the last year, I’ve gotten involved with a young adult group at Christ Lutheran. We began gathering for pub theology at the local brewery and, as our relationships have grown deeper and stronger, have moved to more gatherings at each other’s homes. This group of young adults at Christ Lutheran is open and accepting to all walks of life. We challenge each other with difficult questions. We pray together, cry together and celebrate milestones together. Involvement in this group has kept me grounded and still tied to my life and commitment to Christ Lutheran.
A church community goes beyond Sunday mornings, weekly newsletters and an old building. Being a part of a church community means having a foundation to lean on when life is hard and when life is easy. It’s meeting at each other’s homes, sending birthday cards, sharing meals and trying new things. My church community was there when I lost my father at a young age. They were there when I graduated from high school and then college. They were especially there when I lost my grandmother right before leaving [to volunteer] for Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM). I shopped around for other churches at a time, and even different denominations. But when I landed back where I started, I was welcomed with open arms.
This also goes beyond one church versus another. It’s a mixture of my hometown church that baptized and confirmed me, with my new church helping me settle into a new city, mixed with my YAGM community and church in Budapest. [That’s] in addition to all the people who have come in and out of my faith journey throughout the past three decades. We might be separated by time and distance but will always be tied by our faith.
I was very involved with the congregation I grew up in, Peace Lutheran in Las Cruces, N.M., from the moment I was baptized. I started as a lector, then joined the choir, then slowly learned just about every role in the church aside from playing the organ. Around the age of 16, I was asked to first serve on my congregation’s call committee to call a new pastor. After a longer-than-expected process and calling a wonderful couple to join us [as pastors], I was asked to join the council, served for four years, and was elected to vice president during that time. After returning from my year of YAGM, I joined the council again for a year before making my move to Baltimore.
Having a voice at the table as a young person was invaluable.
Having a voice at the table as a young person was invaluable. I was nervous to speak up at first, but over the years I found more of a voice. I learned I wasn’t in the room just to “have a young person,” but because my opinions and ideas were valued. I had a different way of thinking about the church than my peers in older generations. I saw the changes we could make in the community and [when] to stray away from the “this is the way we’ve always done it” [notion]. This experience early on set me up for success in my career and how I enter rooms now, even if I still am “the young person.”
I attended my first Youth Gathering in 2009 as a bright-eyed high school freshman, not knowing anything about the Lutheran church outside of small-town New Mexico. It really shook my whole world. I began to learn about how the church worked throughout the world and through the young people it was equipping. I learned that there were youth groups larger than just the three people I knew. I learned that there were careers within the church and the Lutheran world outside of being a pastor. Most of all, I learned I could serve others on a larger scale—that I could make a career out of it.
I then went on to attend the 2012 Youth Gathering as a senior, ready to take on the world. I came back in 2015 and 2018 as a servant companion, leading the younger groups through their days of service within the Gathering. It was a fantastic leadership experience and a new way of seeing the Gathering that helped shape me. I grew in the way I spoke about my faith with others and walked alongside other young people through their own teenage discernment years. I was able to attend the Gathering in 2024 with Global Refuge. And you’ll likely find me at Gatherings to come.
YAGM was, and still is, a life-changing experience. The community I’ve built through this program are folks I will walk with until the day I die. We’ve rejoiced, cried, prayed, sang and laughed until we couldn’t breathe. And that’s just scratching the surface of my experience with fellow YAGMs.
I served in Budapest, Hungary, through YAGM, beginning in August 2019. I was welcomed into a house of six and learned the customs and traditions of Hungarians. I worked for half the week at a Lutheran secondary school assisting with English classes, and the other half with Phiren Amenca, a nonprofit network serving the Roma population throughout Central and Eastern Europe. I learned so many new skills from the people around me and dove into new ways of living. Coming home, I couldn’t simply slide back into my old way of living. I needed to do more, to be more. I was placed onto a trajectory of serving others in any way I could for as long as I could.
I began at Global Refuge as an entry-level development coordinator with no formal fundraising experience but a heart for service and learning. Today, I have the joy of stewarding the majority of all corporate partnerships Global Refuge currently holds—from writing grants and reports, building out unique ways to give, preparing volunteer opportunities for companies’ employees, sharing best practices for hiring newcomers, and “other duties as assigned,” of course. My role allows me to be creative and dream with others about how they want to make a difference in the world.
Being able to work for a mission I truly believe in and would be involved in outside of work feels like I won the jackpot.
Growing up, I thought I wouldn’t be able to dive into something I loved until retirement. I thought I’d be stuck in a job, waiting for the time I could commit myself to serving others and living a fulfilling life. Boy, was I wrong. I actually get to say I love what I do. Being able to work for a mission I truly believe in and would be involved in outside of work feels like I won the jackpot. Is it still work, and still hard? Absolutely. But we show up every day because it’s something we believe in. This work gives me life.
My faith has always been lived out through my service to others. I was the kid showing up to the service projects, lending a helping hand to my grandmother’s friends. Worship has a special place in my heart, but I feel more connected to God when God is working through my hands and feet.
The Association for Christian Fundraising (ACF) has welcomed me with open arms since day one of serving with them. And by year one, they asked me to join the board. ACF is a professional organization for fundraisers of all backgrounds, rooted in our faith. For me, being a part of ACF is recognizing that God is working through me to walk alongside donors wanting to make a change in the world. How can my actions and words and guidance help others live out their faith through their giving?
Now, as vice president of the ACF board, I am honored to be trusted as a leader in this space. I have newer ways of fundraising, while still honoring the older ways. I bring new perspectives, ideas and opinions to the table, and learn immensely from my knowledgeable peers. I hope to support the organization in its desire to build a bigger and more diverse table.
I pray for a world where the fighting ends. I pray for a world where all are welcome, regardless of where they’ve come from. I pray for those I love, and for those who rub me the wrong way. I pray for peace—within myself, within my community, within this world.
Grace is love, when it comes easy and when it comes hard. Grace is the greatest love we’ve been given and makes everything OK. Grace is a warm hug after a terrible mistake and knowing I am loved regardless.
I’m a Lutheran because I believe in a world where all are loved and treasured by God.
If you’d like to nominate someone for “I’m a Lutheran,” email livinglutheran@elca.org.
