Spirited Away

podcastOPTalks
Written By Open Plaza

HTI Executive Director Rev. Joanne Rodríguez talks to Rev. Dr. Doris García-Rivera, Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico’s first woman president, about her inspirations

Altar in the James A. McAllister chapel at Seminario Evangélico de Puerto Rico, 2017. Source: The Presbyterian Outlook

 
 

Rev. Dr. Doris García-Rivera is former president of the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico (ESPR). The private mainline Protestant seminary in Río Piedras was founded in 1919 by a group of theological schools and biblical institutes of the Protestant denominations that arrived on the island after the Spanish-American War. Nearly a century later, in 2014, Dr. García-Rivera became the first woman president in the history of ESPR.

Today, she is Professor of Old Testament and Mission and Evangelism in the Certificate in Hispanic Ministries at Lexington Theological Seminary, where she also serves as Academic Coordinator for Pathways for Tomorrow Grant. In this episode of OP Talks, HTI Executive Director Rev. Joanne Rodríguez talks to Dr. García-Rivera about the women who inspire her and the experiences that shaped her.

They discuss Dr. García-Rivera’s commitment to service, including her experience of being a missionary in rural areas of Latin American, and how she braved long roads, floods, and landslides to reach those areas. Her experiences as a missionary helped prepare Dr. García-Rivera for the natural disasters to come in her native island of Puerto Rico. When Hurricane Maria hit in 2017, she did not think twice about getting into her Toyota Rav 4 and heading to the seminary, where Dr. García-Rivera had already been serving as president for three years. “Even in the midst of this situation,” she says “we really still have the grace of God and the mercy of God.” Dr. García-Rivera would bring the seminary back to life after the hurricane, collaborating with multiple institutions and volunteers, as well as promoting continuing education and improving the seminary’s information technology infrastructure. “I understood being well meant that I must move forward to be the leader needed at that time.”

Her spirited grandmother Monserrate influenced Dr. García-Rivera in big and small ways. “She was the main model for me because of her resilience,” says Dr. García-Rivera. After becoming a widow at a young age and losing a child at birth, Monserrate did everything in her power to give her remaining four children an education and to expand their possibilities. She washed and ironed shirts for a wealthy family and later worked in the kitchen of a public school until retirement. Dr. García-Rivera remembers her grandmother as always servicing others—with a plan in mind. “She was very small, but you could not dare defy her. She was a strong woman.”

 
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Doris García-Rivera

Rev. Dr. Doris García-Rivera is a Professor of Old Testament and Mission and Evangelism in the Certificate in Hispanic Ministries at Lexington Theological Seminary, where she also serves as Academic Coordinator for Pathways for Tomorrow Grant. Her work focuses on Nonprofit Organizations Management, Fundraising, Preaching, Social Justice, Interculturality, Ancient Near Eastern culture, and Prophetic Literature. Since 1982, Rev. Dr. García-Rivera has collaborated with a variety of journals and digital spaces, sharing valuable biblical and theological knowledge and receiving several awards for her writings. She spent 23 years of missionary service in Central America, connecting Indigenous and Central Americans communities with churches and organizations in the U.S. through the International Ministries of American Baptist Churches (IM-ABC). Formerly, she served as Interim Director at Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America (BPFNA)-Bautistas por la Paz. In 2014, Rev. Dr. García-Rivera was appointed President of the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico, becoming the first woman president in the seminary's history. She holds a PhD focused in Historical & Bible Studies and Sociology from Boston University's School of Theology; an MAR in Cross-Cultural Evangelism from the Andover Newton Theological School; an MS in Microbiology from the School of Medicine of Puerto Rico; and a BSc from University of Puerto Rico. In 1990, Rev. Dr. Garcia-Rivera was ordained as a minister of the ABC – Puerto Rican Baptist Churches. A proud mother of three adults, she enjoys science fiction, writing, and music.

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Joanne Rodríguez

Rev. Dr. Joanne Rodríguez is Executive Director of the Hispanic Theological Initiative (HTI) and an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church USA. Since 1999, Rev. Dr. Rodríguez has collaborated with students, faculty, deans, presidents, and directors of non-profit educational programs to ensure that HTI doctoral students graduate as influential leaders in theological and religious education and the broader educational landscape. She holds an honorary doctorate from the Iliff School of Theology, where she served as the Commencement Speaker for the class of 2024. She also earned ThM and MDiv degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary and a BA from Pace University. The Association of Theological Schools (ATS) recognized her contributions with a 2024 Women in Leadership Trailblazer Award. Additionally, Rev. Dr. Rodríguez is a teaching elder at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Trenton, New Jersey.

 
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