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ALEJANDRA ORTIZ
Alejandra Ortiz is a Regional director for Compa (Christian university ministry) in México, serving communities of staff and students in the Northwest of the country. She encourages the formation of communities of disciples who share and live out the gospel and kingdom values in their universities. She is passionate in helping students live out their faith in the whole of life, and use their studies to serve their communities.
For the past 6 years Ale has been leading students from México and the U.S. in learning and exposure projects to understand more about life in the border, and immigration issues. She is a bridge builder between churches, students and local NGO’s. She and her husband are active in a church that serves a shelter for migrants and refugees. and they are also a part of a small intentional Christian community.
Some of the most important events in her life have happened in border cities. She was born in San Diego; USA, grew and got married in Tijuana, México- her hometown- and her daughter was born in Vancouver, Canada (while she finished her MA in Theology and Church History at Regent College). Ale loves to have coffee, chai, traveling, walking and writing in her blog about theology and life.
AMBERS AYERS
Amber Ayers is a Jesus-following pastor and coach with a leadership strategy to help people envision and embody a hope-filled future – a future in which their unique gifts are mobilized in the missional community movement for the coming of the Kingdom. Formerly the co-founder and executive director of GreenHouse Ministry, an intentional community for vocational discernment with twenty-somethings, and pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Colorado Springs, Amber has extensive experience in spiritual guidance and personal and professional coaching. In addition to joining the coaching staff of Thresholds, she currently works for her alma mater, Fuller Seminary, as a Vocation Formation Team Leader, and the denomination in which she is ordained, ECO, as a discipleship coach. Along with her husband Matthew, son Zeke, and soon-to-be daughter, she’s invested in their local Park Hill neighborhood through an intentional community nestled in southeast Colorado Springs.
ELLIE ROSCHER
Ellie Roscher is the Director of Youth and Story Development at Bethlehem Lutheran Twin Cities and writes, teaches and speaks about gender, faith, bodies, justice, parenthood and simplicity. Author of Play Like a Girl and How Coffee Saved my Life and co-founder of 12 Tiny Things movement, she is also a Teaching Artist at The Loft Literary Center. Ellie holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence in Creative Nonfiction Writing and an MA in Theology from Luther Seminary. She lives in Minneapolis with her spouse and two sons. Find out more at @ellieroscher and ellieroscher.com.
GILBERTO MARTINEZ
Bio Coming Soon…
HAILEY MITSUI
Hailey was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. She credits her love of Birkenstocks, coffee, independent music and all things weird to her Northwestern upbringing.
Hailey has been doing fundraising, communications and mobilization in the non-profit sector for nine years. She spent five of those years at Invisible Children working on raising awareness about the use of child soldiers by the Lord’s Resistance Army in Central Africa and fundraising for the organization’s lifesaving programs. Some highlights from her career include leading a march of 10,000 people to surround the White House, working with students to activate their communities for change and learning a lot of choreographed dances (because you have to learn how to maintain joy in the midst of working with difficult issues).
She is mixed race and has spent her life integrating her identities and navigating the realities of privilege and marginalization. She is on the founding board of The Mystic Soul Project, is currently a student at the Living School and is focusing on how to ground her passion for racial justice and social equality in contemplative spiritual practices and self-care.
HECTOR BARAJAS
Hector Barajas was born in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, Mexico in 1977, entered the U.S. with his family in 1984, and received LPR status through the Family Unity Program in 1992,. Mr. Barajas immediate family are all naturalized citizen’s or LPR’s. In 1995 , Mr. Barajas enlisted in the U.S. Army after graduating high school and until his Honorable Discharge in 2001. He served with the 82nd Abn from 1996-1999 putting his Life during Airborne exercises & eventually PCS’d to Fort Bliss, Tx. with William Beaumont Army Medical Center.
He was Deported in 2004 after serving a prison sentence of 3 years with half in a California state prison. Mr. Barajas re-entered the U.S. around July 2004, He is the father of a 11 year old daughter Liliana Barajas. He was eventually Deported in 2010 for a traffic violation and had prior removal reinstated. Mr Barajas has since continuously resided in Mexico to this date -where he now provides support for Deported Veterans like himself as the founder and director of the Deported Veterans Support House. DVSH has come into contact with Deported Veterans facing or deported to 51 plus countries around the world who served the United States Military. Mr. Barajas was also granted a Full Pardon for his crime in the state of California by the Honorable Gov. Jerry Brown & became a U.S Citizen on April 13, 2018. He continues to advocate for & run the Bunker for the Deported Veterans.
Hector Barajas was born in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, Mexico in 1977, entered the U.S. with his family in 1984, Mr. Barajas enlisted in the U.S. Army as a LPR after graduating high school and until his Honorable Discharge in 2001. He served with the 82nd Abn. He served from 1996-2001.
He was Deported in 2004 after serving a prison sentence of 3 years with half in a California state prison. Mr. Barajas re-entered the U.S. around July 2004, He is the father of a 11 year old daughter. He was eventually Deported in 2010 for a traffic violation and had prior removal reinstated. Mr Barajas has since continuously resided in Mexico to this date -where he now provides support for Deported Veterans like himself as the founder and director of the Deported Veterans Support House. DVSH has come into contact with Deported Veterans facing or deported to 51 plus countries around the world who served the United States Military. Mr. Barajas was also granted a Full Pardon for his crime in the state of California by the Honorable Gov. Jerry Brown & became a U.S Citizen on April 13, 2018. He continues to advocate for & run the Bunker for the Deported Veterans where DVSH operates as a resource center.
JER SWIGART
Jer Swigart is the cofounder of The Global Immersion Project. A peacemaking training organization, Global Immersion is cultivating an everyday peacemaking movement that’s restoring what’s broken in our world. As a modern-day peacemaker, Jer has found himself contending for peace in beautifully bizarre corners of our global village. Whether in the tribes of northern Pakistan, the slums of India, the red-light districts of Southeast Asia, the conflict between Israel and Palestine, or the racial divides within his own neighborhood, Jer loves people in a way that disarms violence and eliminates divides. His engagement within national and international conflicts as well as his experience as a faith leader and educator has formed him into a guide for individuals, churches, and organizations that are yearning to leverage their influence as instruments of peace in the places they live, work, and play. When he’s not navigating alpine life with his family in Bend, OR, Jer travels the country and world as a practitioner, coach, and speaker. He’s written for numerous publications, has contributed to several books, is a Pepperdine Cross Sector Leader Fellow, and is the co-author of the recently released and award winning book, Mending the Divides: Creative Love in a Conflicted World (IVP, 2017).
JON HUCKINS
Jon is the Co-Founding Director of The Global Immersion Project; a peacemaking training organization helping individuals and communities move toward conflict equipped to heal rather than to win. He writes for numerous publications including USAToday, Red Letter Christians, Sojourners, and RELEVANT, and has written three books of his own; his latest being Mending the Divides: Creative love in a Conflicted World. Jon has a master’s degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in theology and ethics. He lives in San Diego with his wife, Jan, three daughters (Ruby, Rosie & Lou) and one son (Hank) where they co-lead an intentional Christian community seeking to live as a reconciling presence in their neighborhood of Golden Hill.
KARINA LÓPEZ SARABIA
Captain Karina began her career as an agent of social change in Mexico City in 2001 with her first role as educational assistant in a Home of
Children of the Salvation Army, A.C.
Since then she has served as active officer for The Salvation Army International in 5 different cities, among which the City of Tijuana stands out, due to the challenge of implementing the Refuge Project for Migrant Women and Children. Which is fulfilling three years of its opening, benefiting a little more than two thousand eight hundred people.
She received the position of Capitana in 2004 after concluding two years at the “Training School of the Salvation Army International” in Mexico City.
She is an active member of the Salvation Army, A.C, University Counselor, Technical Advisor, member of commissions, committees and councils for almost fifteen years.
KITCHIE BAKKEN
Kitchie is a proud Filipina from Oakland, CA who now lives in the great city of Chicago, IL. Her passion for peacemaking was ignited when she first visited Israel-Palestine in 2014 and has continued through her work at Global Immersion. She is currently studying at the Center of Spiritual Direction at North Park Theological Seminary and loves to create spaces where people can wrestle with their spirituality and their cultural identity.
She is married to a wonderful human named Tommy Bakken who she adores. Among the many things that make her happy, the top 6 would be (in no specific order): plants, the Chicago Skyline, the SF Giants, all kinds of food, her collection of pins, and hoop earrings.
LIEL MAGHEN
Liel Maghen is the co director of IPCRI, a shared organization of Israelis and Palestinians focused on forming professional partnerships and impacting policy. Working both in top-down and bottom-up initiatives, his experience includes working with the Israeli Knesset, the United States Congress and the EU together with managing programs for leading peace building organizations such as Seeds of Peace, Givat Haviva, MEJDI Tours, and AIES.
Through his role at IPCRI, Liel develops impactful transboundary partnerships mainly through participatory activities, community development and inclusive processes. He holds a M.A degree in International Development and a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Mahmoud Subuh
Mahmoud Subuh, was born and raised in a refugee camp near Nablus in Palestine. He grew up under the Israeli occupation and the harsh living conditions in the refugee camps. He earned his university degree in Palestine in Business Administration before moving to the United States to continue his studies. After working 10 years, in the US, Mahmoud moved back to Palestine and into the refugee camp that he grew up in. He started volunteering at the community cultural center and established a Psycho Social support center in the camp that was greatly needed for the people there. The last 4 years, Mahmoud has joined the German development cooperation in Palestine to extend what he has learned to other refugee camps in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza. Mahmoud lives In Nablus with his wife (Mariam) and 2 boys(Ali, Adam) and my girl Maria. Always believed violence can never solve problems but makes it worse.
MARIA SHEAHAN
Maria was born and raised in Mexico. She has worked with the marginalized in several parts of Mexico, mentoring leaders, leading youth, and planting a church. She now lives in San Diego close to the Mexican/American border where she develops leaders on both sides and visits her family. She lives in a sweet community in a largely Hispanic neighborhood where she teaches English and loves on migrants. Maria also lends her bilingual skills to the medical world where she works part-time as an interpreter.
MILAD VOSQUERITCHIAN
Milad Vosgueritchian is a Christian Palestinian peace worker and education leader guided by the principles of nonviolence. He has spoken to communities around the world about the transformative power of interfaith dialogue, steadfast nonviolence, and compassion. With his wife Manar Wahhab in 2008, he founded Vision Association for Culture and Arts community center and its beloved House of Hope school in the occupied West Bank village of Al-Eizariya. Milad also launched Supporting Hope, an interfaith U.S. nonprofit organization dedicated to investing in House of Hope school and Palestinian civil society. Milad and his wife Manar live in the West Bank with their two young children, Neshan and Narineh.
PABLO ISAAC OLVERA CAMARILLO
Pablo Isaac Olvera Camarillo is the Operational Director for the Shelter for
Migrant Women and Children, in Tijuana, B.C. He runs the shelter with his wife Karina.
Isaac was born in Mexico City, studied Social Responsibility and Management at the Salvation Army Theological Institute International.
He has been married for 18 years and has two sons. One is 15 years old and one is 10 years old.
FR. PAT MURPHY
Fr. Pat Murphy, c.s. was born in New York City in 1952. He carried out his seminary studies in New York, Chicago and Toronto. He graduated from Dominican University, River Forest, Illinois in 1974 with Bachelors in Psychology and in 19979 completed his Masters in Divinity at the University of Toronto. He also received a Masters in Pastoral Studies from Loyola University in Chicago in 1985.
Fr. Pat has been a member of the Missionaries of St. Charles – The Scalabrinians – since his first profession in 1976. He was ordained a priest in August 30, 1980 and is currently service as the Appointed Director of the Casa del Migrante in Tijuana, Mexico a house of hospitality for approximately 125 immigrants and deportees.
ROB YACKLEY
Before creating Thresholds, Rob Yackley was the lead architect and director of NieuCommunities, a collective of mentoring communities sprinkled around the world. He has helped birth and lead communities in over a dozen countries and mentors leaders in diverse cultural settings across the globe. Rob also started and helps lead an intentional community in Golden Hill, an eclectic little neighborhood in downtown San Diego where multiple cultures intersect and all call home. Rob is the husband of 1 amazing wife, the father of 3 awesome kids (plus 3 more by marriage), a doting grandfather, and a God-follower in the way of Jesus. He has a Masters of Leadership and Theology from Talbot Seminary but has learned the best stuff just following Jesus with people he loves. Rob co-authored the book, Thin Places, which tells the story of some of the communities he has helped create and shape.
RYAN CRANE
Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Ryan has spent the last 7 years as a high school teacher in the Seattle area. With an undergraduate degree in History and Graduate degree in Secondary Education, Ryan has led students on a journey through United States History that attempts to amplify the experiences of those on the underside of power. Alongside his teaching of United States History, Ryan created a Social Justice platform at school that seeks to mobilize students toward justice and equity for their community. One of his greatest joys is having the ability to look a young person in the eyes and tell them: “you matter – you are the only version of yourself in the history of the world and because of that you are worth believing in.” The classroom is truly a sacred space, full of uncertain adolescents, each with their own gifts and personalities, trying to navigate what is a crazy time of life. During his time as a teacher, much of his investment – whether in teaching classes or immersive trips to Chicago, Laos and the Borderlands of California / Mexico – has centered around what it looks like to catalyze 21st century young people toward using what they have been given to be peacemakers in their own spaces, engaging conflict with creative tools to restore, rather than to win.
Beyond the classroom, Ryan likes to spend time with wife, Marisa, tend to his Japanese Maples, and explore Seattle’s parks. Some of Ryan’s favorite recent memories are hiking with Marisa in the fjords of Norway, the islands of Greece, and the alps of France.
SAMI AWAD
Sami Awad is the Executive Director of Holy Land Trust. He was born December 4th 1971 in the US. His parents are both Palestinians; his father, Bishara Awad became a refugee at age nine after his father was killed in the 1948 war and the family was forced out of their home in what is now West Jerusalem. Bishara Awad is the founder of the Bethlehem Bible College in Bethlehem. Sami’s mother Salwa is from the Gaza Strip. At a young age Sami was influenced by the teaching of his uncle Mubarak Awad, the Palestinian activist who promoted nonviolent resistance to the occupation during the first Intifadah (popular uprising) and was arrested and deported for his peaceful / nonviolent activists by the Israeli government. Through working with Mubarak, Sami was introduced to great leaders and visionaries of the global nonviolence movement; from Jesus to Gandhi to King.
Sami Awad holds a Masters Degree in International Relations from the American University in Washington D.C. and an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Kansas.
Since his return and establishment of HLT, Sami has engaged himself locally, through promoting and engaging in nonviolence, healing and transformation work and globally through visiting and speaking in different countries, communities, political and religious organizations in places such as India, South Africa, numerous European countries, the US, etc.
Sami is married to Rana Awad and together have three beautiful girls, Layaar, Larina and Lorian.
SAMUEL PÉREZ
Samuel Pérez was born and raised in México City. At age19 left his hometown, lived in a human behavior experimental community in northern Mexico. Lived “legally” in Tucson, AZ. for eight years and two in California’s central coast where he was exposed to experiences of immigrants and immigration. Since 2010 he is a Tijuana based Urban Agriculturist, deportees and immigrants rights activist. He promotes the switch from the old paradigm of helping in a vertical-charitable way which generates dependence, to a new horizontal-solidary way which promotes dignity.
SHAUN SHEAHAN
Shaun’s pastoral heart is drawn to the marginalized as well as developing leaders. He’s been in vocational ministry for over 30 years, where he served in the local church setting for 22 years pioneering several works in Mexico. He is now in San Diego, living in community, developing leaders and continuing in cross-cultural ministries on both sides of the Mexican/American border. He is happily married to Maria, has several young-adult musical kids, and loves filling his home with young seekers.
YOLANDA VARONA
Yolanda Varona Palacio is the founder and Director of Dreamer Moms | USA/Tijuana. She founded the group in 2014 and has connected and supported dozens of deported mothers with children in the United States. Yolanda was born in Taxco Guerrero, Mexico and lived in the US for 20+ years. She has two children in the United States: one son (who is a US Citizen) and one daughter (who is undocumented). She has not seen her daughter in nine years. She currently lives in Tijuana, Mexico.
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