{"id":14799,"date":"2022-10-05T09:49:43","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T13:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/?p=14799"},"modified":"2023-01-31T13:39:34","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T18:39:34","slug":"the-rev-dr-jose-irizarry-the-new-president-of-austin-presbyterian-theological-seminary-discusses-how-to-start-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/es\/resources\/news\/the-rev-dr-jose-irizarry-the-new-president-of-austin-presbyterian-theological-seminary-discusses-how-to-start-well\/","title":{"rendered":"El Rev. Dr. Jos\u00e9 Irizarry, nuevo presidente del Seminario Teol\u00f3gico Presbiteriano de Austin, habla de c\u00f3mo empezar bien"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rev. Dr. Jos\u00e9 Irizarry collects turtles and children\u2019s books and is a salsa dancer when he\u2019s not busy with his new job as president of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Rev. Dr. Jos\u00e9 Irizarry<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Irizarry, the former Vice President for Education at the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)<\/a>, was the guest Wednesday of the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty during \u201cLeading Theologically.\u201d Listen to their 32-minute conversation here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Irizarry even brought along a question for Hinson-Hasty to ask to get the conversation rolling: What is the life story you celebrate today?<\/p>\n

\u201cToday what I celebrate in ways I have not celebrated in past years is community. I have come to value the tie to communities, intentional and deep communities,\u201d Irizarry said. \u201cI was telling my wife the other day that it feels like I have become a congregational pastor again. I knew there would be a pastoral role here, but it\u2019s more than pastoral. It\u2019s being in the midst of leading a community that requests [your] time, time for work and time to be together and to worship together. Worship here at Austin is mind-blowing! It is always a joy to go to worship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irizarry has always taken an interest in what he calls \u201cthe aesthetics of space.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re new in ministry, you have to consistently look at people and the spaces they inhabit,\u201d he told Hinson-Hasty. \u201cThose spaces are embedded with their stories. \u2026 You can feel comfortable, but you have to be aware you don\u2019t own the familiarity. Before you arrived at a place of ministry, God has been there with people inhabiting spaces. You have to enter with the humility of someone who will take his or her shoes off and step into that holy space to encounter some sort of revelation about God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being new enables one to bring \u201ca new lens, a sense of wonder. It\u2019s almost childlike,\u201d Irizarry said. \u201cThings that seem normal to people, for me it\u2019s a moment of wonder. \u2026 You are focusing your attention in ways people who live in that context every day are not focusing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people think we can start anew and see things anew, but we bring traces from prior ministry and prior life. There\u2019s some Philadelphia that\u2019s framing my vision, some Puerto Rico and some Berkeley,\u201d Irizarry said. \u201cThose traces can hinder the way you engage, or they can be an asset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irizarry told Hinson-Hasty he\u2019s using the term \u201cvernacular\u201d more in conversation. When he chooses that word, it\u2019s how an architect might use it.<\/p>\n

\u201cArchitects want to build something new. They don\u2019t want to replicate,\u201d Irizarry said. \u201cBut you have to recognize that when you build something new, it has to be aligned with the landscape. If it\u2019s not, the vernacular, what\u2019s there already, then the building will be useless. People who live in that context will find themselves out of place in that new building.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Irizarry, the focus of leadership is relationships. The first one, of course, is one\u2019s relationship with God. \u201cThat has to be the basis of every other relationship,\u201d Irizarry said. \u201cIt takes time\u201d to form those when one has taken on a new position. \u201cYou look at places in the landscape where you see people working and connecting with your passions and your imagination, making churches places of impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

That moment of wonder, Hinson-Hasty said, can for some people be a moment of fear.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hopeful and the fearful are not a dichotomy,\u201d Irizarry replied. \u201cFear and terror are part of encountering the holy. It\u2019s a good catalyst to become closer to the community. \u2026 We have to do something together to move into the future, to use the fear as a springboard for more creative work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
The Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Hinson-Hasty asked: What are good first steps for starting well?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people ask me that, I get a little anxious,\u201d Irizarry replied. \u201cThere is no formula for starting well, for discovering what you are called to be. It doesn\u2019t matter how many books you read about understanding your vocation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut leadership is relational, and it\u2019s something we forget sometimes,\u201d he said. \u201cWe feel empowered by our call and we create self-expectations without looking at how others can help us identify what gifts we have and how we can use them.\u201d Most of us have community around us, and for many that starts with family, he said. \u201cThose conversations help you discover what gifts people see in you so that you can add value to whatever community you want to serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked by Hinson-Hasty to provide viewers with a blessing and a charge, Irizarry said this: \u201cEnter into the places of your calling to be encountered by the Holy. Be always prompted by the mystery of God\u2019s presence so that in leading, you are caringly led; in listening, you are attentively listened to; and in loving, you are unconditionally loved. Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previous episodes of \u201cLeading Theologically\u201d can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Rev. Dr. Jos\u00e9 Irizarry collects turtles and children\u2019s books and is a salsa dancer when he\u2019s not busy with his new job as president of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":14800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}