Creating Conditions for the Next Generation to Thrive
With the echoes of the Florida high school shooting dominating the daily news cycle, Patrick B. Reyes will speak at the La Sierra University Church on February 24 at 4 p.m. about what it takes for a generation to thrive.
In his 2016 book Nobody Cries When We Die: God, Community, and Surviving to Adulthood, Reyes tells his story of how the community around him— his grandmother, clergy, educators, friends, and neighbors— saved him from gang life, abuse, and the economic and racial oppression that threatened to kill him before he ever reached adulthood.
Today, he is a Latinx practical theologian, educator, administrator and institutional strategist, the director of Strategic Partnerships for Doctoral Initiatives at the Forum for Theological Exploration. There he works to help communities and individuals excavate their stories to embody their vision of justice and peace.
Reviewers of Reyes book say it is a story balancing the tension between pain and healing, that it takes you to the places that make American society flinch, redefines what you are called to do with your life, and gives you strength to save lives.
The La Sierra presentation is for the 19th Annual Paul J. Landa Memorial Lecture on Faith and Learning.
More information about this year’s Landa Lecture is available online, by calling 951-785-2041, or by emailing divinity@lasierra.edu. The La Sierra University Church is located at 4937 Sierra Vista Ave, Riverside, CA.
Bonnie Dwyer is editor of Spectrum.
Image courtesy of lasierra.edu.
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