The chaplain position for the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion ministry at Whitworth University has been filled by Lesly Acevedo.
Acevedo was born in Guatemala and moved to Los Angeles, CA in 1994. She met her husband at a church in California and they were married in Los Angeles while both working in a Presbyterian Church. Together they started studying to be ministers.
After planting their first church in Filmore, CA, Acevedo and her husband continued planting and working in Hispanic Churches in the area.
“We were helping two churches over there,” said Acevedo. “Busy, it was very busy.”
Acevedo and her husband had three daughters while they were in California: Allison, Hazel and Jamie.
In 2008, Acevedo’s husband came to visit a close friend who was a pastor in Spokane. There, her husband saw this pastor’s family bounce from church to church, helping as many as seven churches in a day.
“My husband said, you’re crazy, you are going to burn out you and your family,” said Acevedo. “He said, ‘I’m doing this because no one want[s] to do it.’”
After that trip, Acevedo’s family felt a calling to support Spanish ministry in Spokane.
“No one from [the] Spanish Ministry likes it here because it’s cold,” laughed Acevedo. “They like hot weather, like California.”
After much planning, Acevedo’s family moved to Spokane three years later.
“We were looking for a place to have service that first Sunday here with my family, but I couldn’t find any,” said Acevedo. “There wasn’t Hispanic Churches.”
Once settled in Spokane, Acevedo and her husband started planting a church.
“I said, ‘Lord, I think I misunderstand your voice because you send me here to open a Hispanic church but there is no Hispanics here,’” said Acevedo. “But later on, we realized the Lord was just sending us to prepare.”
Now, Communidad Christiana de Spokane has a congregation of 300 people.
Acevedo is now working at Whitworth as of the start of fall semester at Whitworth while also continuing the work at her church.
“When this position opened for being a chaplain for Hispanic students, I felt a calling,” said Acevedo. “I’m busy at the church right now, really busy, but I said, ‘Lord, if you send me there, maybe you have something I have to be doing there.'”
Acevedo’s office, in the chapel, is open to students on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“I’m here to help you, to hear you,” said Acevedo. “If you want to talk, have a friend, I am here.”
