Javier De Alva Garza
Hometown: Waco, Texas
Role at Ablaze: Missionary Team Lead, Waco, TX
Contact Info: javier@ablaze.us, (254) 856-2188
Education: Proud graduate of McLennan Community College. I have an associate’s degree, and I am currently working on my second associate’s in American Sign Language to certify myself as an interpreter and continue doing deaf ministry where and when I can.
Ministry Background: I worked in middle school and high school ministry through college. Eventually, I spearheaded the young adult ministry at St. Jerome Catholic Church in Waco for some time while dedicating myself to deaf ministry, where I helped with the faith formation of deaf children and teens. Later on, I served as a missionary under NET Ministries to dedicate myself to full-time ministry. Upon my return, I continued interacting with various types of ministry, including homeless ministry and adult formation.
Passions and Interests: I enjoy school and learning new things, making music and playing the hand drums or the ukulele, running, and writing.
How did you become involved with Ablaze/why are you involved? The human experience is not different between teens and adults: anxiety, worries, and brokenness. It is not that I have been in their shoes; I am in their shoes.Yet by grace alone, I have hope, and if hope is all I can offer to the young Church, then Blessed be God. Otherwise, I have nothing else of worth.
Favorite Quotes/Bible Verses:
“Oh Lord, the greater the sinner, the greater the right to your Mercy.” — St. Faustina
When asked if she was in a state of Grace: “If I am not, may God put me there; and if I am, may God so keep me.” — St. Joan of Arc
“and THAT will settle the Manichees.” — St.Thomas Aquinas
“For there, our captors asked us for the words of a song; our tormentors, for joy:‘Sing for us a song of Zion!’ If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand wither and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not exalt Jerusalem above all my delights.” — Psalm 137: 3-5