Rev. Carlos Lopez
I am a lover of humanity - a working professional committed to the ongoing growth of healthy community structures, the social mobility of others, the sanctity of family life and my vocation as an educator. My life experiences reflect a devotion to those, whether child, young adult or parent who live on societies periphery - the impoverished, the disenfranchised and helping them build infrastructures that will sustain as well as holistically provide for the growing needs of their inner-city community.
I began my journey in Chaplaincy in 2001 at Long Island College Hospital while a student at The Blaton-Peale Graduate Institute of Mental Health. I went on to complete a MA in Pastoral Care & Counseling (NYTS, ‘05) while dedicating my young adult life to urban ministry in varying capacities at The Latino Pastoral Action Center (LPAC 1994-2011). As a bi-vocational minister I earned an MS in Early Childhood Education (FCLC, ‘08) and an MS in Educational Leadership (FCLC, ‘13). I have combined my expertise in both fields (Chaplaincy & Education) into my teaching of this sacred vocation.
I have engaged members of low-income southwest Bronx communities of Highbridge and Morrisania, the southeast Bronx neighborhoods of Mott Haven and Hunts Point, the Williamsburg and Bushwick communities of Brooklyn and southeast Queens in planning, developing, and implementing diverse projects to ensure that they are responsive and relevant to the low-income residents being served. I have leveraged community resources from the public and private sectors and expanded community and organizational capacity to sustain such diverse projects. Together with community residents I have learned to listen to the cries of the poor as well as equipping communities of faith with the tools they need to reach self-sufficiency.
My legacy continues to be one interwoven with the fabric of inner-city life, its collective reality, conscious and lament. I remain an active participant in civic and ecclesial circles as a consultant, advocate, speaker and laborer. I vicariously workout and form my theology through the people I have chosen to live among. They are my gift. Community is my theology and its education and renewal my enlightenment, my kairos moment where my vision and mission are affirmed through the reconstruction of authentic and healthy community structures.
I am currently the Queens Borough Supervisor for the New York State Chaplain Task Force; Professor of Theology at the New York Divinity School; Ordained Minister and affiliate member The Council of Damascus Christian Churches, The Council of Holistic Christian Churches & Ministries and Associate Pastor of The Damascus Christian Church of Queens Village.
I began my journey in Chaplaincy in 2001 at Long Island College Hospital while a student at The Blaton-Peale Graduate Institute of Mental Health. I went on to complete a MA in Pastoral Care & Counseling (NYTS, ‘05) while dedicating my young adult life to urban ministry in varying capacities at The Latino Pastoral Action Center (LPAC 1994-2011). As a bi-vocational minister I earned an MS in Early Childhood Education (FCLC, ‘08) and an MS in Educational Leadership (FCLC, ‘13). I have combined my expertise in both fields (Chaplaincy & Education) into my teaching of this sacred vocation.
I have engaged members of low-income southwest Bronx communities of Highbridge and Morrisania, the southeast Bronx neighborhoods of Mott Haven and Hunts Point, the Williamsburg and Bushwick communities of Brooklyn and southeast Queens in planning, developing, and implementing diverse projects to ensure that they are responsive and relevant to the low-income residents being served. I have leveraged community resources from the public and private sectors and expanded community and organizational capacity to sustain such diverse projects. Together with community residents I have learned to listen to the cries of the poor as well as equipping communities of faith with the tools they need to reach self-sufficiency.
My legacy continues to be one interwoven with the fabric of inner-city life, its collective reality, conscious and lament. I remain an active participant in civic and ecclesial circles as a consultant, advocate, speaker and laborer. I vicariously workout and form my theology through the people I have chosen to live among. They are my gift. Community is my theology and its education and renewal my enlightenment, my kairos moment where my vision and mission are affirmed through the reconstruction of authentic and healthy community structures.
I am currently the Queens Borough Supervisor for the New York State Chaplain Task Force; Professor of Theology at the New York Divinity School; Ordained Minister and affiliate member The Council of Damascus Christian Churches, The Council of Holistic Christian Churches & Ministries and Associate Pastor of The Damascus Christian Church of Queens Village.