May 2, 2024
By Christie R. House
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA – Missionaries commissioned during the United Methodist General Conference on Thurs. May 2 arrived in Charlotte after long journeys, both physical and spiritual, with intriguing stories to tell about how they found their purpose in God’s mission. Some, like Dr. Pedro Zavala, an author, researcher and professor of theology, were surprised to discover what they had known all along.
“I think the missionary vocation in my life, now that I look back, has always been present. From childhood, in my adolescence and now in my adulthood, the calling in my case has always been to stay on the borders, physically and academically speaking, to be in the borders.”
Zavala, whose mother and father were both medical surgeons, was encouraged by his family to step out beyond the comfortable life he knew in Mexico City to discover the reality of people living without the means to provide for a family, lacking access to food, clean water, education and health care. While he devoted time to studies in philosophy and theology, the impact of discovering this parallel existence in his own country convinced him to concentrate his studies on power, poverty and Liberation Theology, along with traditional and classical studies.
