Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Winter 2015 | Page 42

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Billy Graham Scholar Carlos Ruiz
M.A. ’13 and his wife, Janeil Nellis
Ruiz Psy.D. ’09, have two young sons,
Micah and Soren.

seek justice, love mercy
by Jessica Allen Bernthal

This alumnus’ journey
from Mexico to the
United States has
uniquely equipped
him for multicultural
ministry in Chicago.

The narrative of the sojourner is a
recurring theme throughout Scripture,
from Abraham’s departure from Haran
to the apostle Paul’s missionary journeys. It’s a narrative that reveals God’s
heart for the immigrant, and challenges Christians to love and care for
individuals from all walks of life.
This subtext takes on a deep and personal meaning for Carlos Ruiz M.A.
’13, a native of Oaxaca, Mexico, who
immigrated to the United States 13
years ago. Today he lives and works in
Chicago as the director of community groups at River City Community
Church. He’s also a therapist, practicing part-time in the city’s Humboldt
Park neighborhood with his wife,
Janeil Nellis Ruiz Psy.D. ’09, and leading therapy groups and private counseling sessions for junior high students
and their moms at a local school.
Carlos says his experiences as an immigrant have provided a foundation for
him to minister, both as a pastor and
a counselor. “Coming from Mexico
and having gone through an intense
period of adaptation has made me
more empathetic and compassionate to
others,” he explains. “I know the sense
of alienation, the struggle to learn a
new language, the feelings of being
the outsider.”

W H EA T O N . ED U / M A G A Z I N E

Six years ago, Carlos joined the through a Billy Graham scholarship
staff of River City, a multi-ethnic designed for students entering urban
church of about 200 members that ministry.
serves the city’s Latino community
through a vibrant ESL ministry. In “Carlos is pretty extraordinary,”
addition to leading several small says Dr. Ezer Kang, professor of
groups in Spanish, Carlos provides psychology. “His honesty and willpastoral care to the church’s com- ingness to ponder questions about
munity group leaders, and preaches race and ethnicity in the context
on occasion. He is ardent about of deeply personal experiences as
relational ministry and promoting a Mexican and Christian living
and serving in Chicago helped our
growth and healing.
community to begin talking ‘bet“If there isn’t that human contact, ter’ about differences and unity in
that incarnation, it can be hard for complicated ministry settings.”
immigrants to overcome feelings of
fear and worthlessness . . . I don’t see Although Carlos says he and his wife
healing without community,” he have found their niche in Chicago—
says, noting that he views interde- which has the fifth largest Latino
pendent community development as population in the United States and
a partnership that helps people own the second largest population of
Mexican immigrants—he doesn’t
who they are.
rule out returning to his homeland.
The youngest of five children, Car- In April he was honored to be the
los came to Christ at age 12 through primary speaker at a pastors’ retreat
an American missionary who would in Oaxaca, and he says he’s encourlater become his father-in-law. When aged by the spiritual awakening haphe first came to the United States, he pening in Mexico.
didn’t speak any English. Now he’s
not only fluent but has also earned “When I think about the doors that
three degrees—a bachelor’s in sacred have opened for me to serve where
music from Moody Bible Institute, God is calling me to serve, I’m just
a M.Div. from North Park Theo- amazed,” says Carlos. “As a kid I
logical Seminary, and a master’s in never imagined that this would be
clinical psychology from Wheaton my life.”
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