What does it look like when the Church follows God into unknown territory? Hear Noemi Chavez, a pastor and the co-founder of Brave Global, share what happened when her church committed to serving and empowering at-risk girls, particularly those in foster care and on probation.
Hosted by NAE President Walter Kim, this conversation discusses leading and inspiring social change (despite feelings of inadequacy) and developing the next generation of leaders.
You’ll also hear Noemi share:
Why bravery is essential for healing and for meaningful witness;
How a faithful Christian presence opens doors for gospel transformation;
What it looks like to release control and empower young leaders; and
Why we must have a heart posture focused more on walking with Jesus than on outcomes.
Read a Portion of the Transcript
Walter: If there’s a leader out there, whether a pastor or someone involved in the church, or let’s say it’s a 19-year-old who loves Jesus and is beginning to see a need, how do people get started? What advice would you give when someone is starting to have a growing sense that there’s a difficulty or challenge that they want to tackle, but they just have no idea where to begin?
Noemi: I would say, and this is what I tell myself all the time, every time God invites me into something that’s uncomfortable, I realize that the gospel never invited us as Christ-followers to comfort. The promise was never that it would be easy, the promise was never that it would be safe or familiar. It was never that way for the disciples, and it’s never been that way for me. I’m 45 years old, and God is still inviting me into spaces that seem bigger to me and that stretch my capacity. Those stretched moments in my life allow me to get to know God in ways that I did not know him before.
So, I would say that it doesn’t matter how old you are. I was 12 or 13 years old when I came to faith. I was 13 or 14 when I started a Bible club at my high school, nervous about being bold about my faith because it was going to require a specific kind of lifestyle in front of my high school friends. I know that what that feeling feels like then. I still know what that feeling feels like now when God invites me to step into something new.
But yet, I know that at the end, the win has been to be in step with the Spirit and to be in step with Jesus. It’s not been the outcomes or the results. So, I would say to anybody that feels invited, don’t accept the invitation with the hopes for a result. Accept the invitation in order to be in step with the Savior. Walk with God. The greatest gift we have is to walk with Jesus… I finished having dreams of what it would look like a long time ago. I don’t know what it will look like, but I know that walking in step with God, walking with Jesus, is the win.
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Today’s Conversation is brought to you by Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
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Noemi Chavez is co-founder of Brave Global, a movement that equips the local church to connect and empower vulnerable girls, including those that are on probation and in the foster care system. She and her husband, Joshua, serve as pastors at Revive Church in Long Beach, California, and are committed to raising leaders and bridging generations to serve their communities. Previously, Chavez worked for Los Angeles Unified School District for 10 years before becoming a church planter. She graduated with a degree in English from California Polytechnic State University, Los Angeles.
Walter Kim became the president of the National Association of Evangelicals in January 2020. He previously served as a pastor at Boston’s historic Park Street Church and at churches in Vancouver, Canada and Charlottesville, Virginia, as well as a campus chaplain at Yale University. He preaches, writes and engages in collaborative leadership to connect the Bible to the intellectual and cultural issues of the day. He regularly teaches in conferences and classrooms; addresses faith concerns with elected officials and public institutions; and provides theological and cultural commentary to leading news outlets. He serves on the boards of Christianity Today and World Relief and consults with a wide range of organizations. Kim received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, his M.Div. from Regent College in Vancouver, and his B.A. from Northwestern University.
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