Mingo Palacios:

Hey everybody, thanks for tuning into the PD Podcast. You know, from time to time we get the luxury of traveling around the country and actually bringing our podcast to conferences and events that are happening all over the country. This conversation took place at Urban Youth Workers Institute Conference. It was a collaboration podcast where we combined both our efforts and Urban Youth Workers efforts to bring one cohesive podcast. I hope you enjoy.

Gilbert Acevedo:

All right, family. This is Gilbert Acevedo, Aka Gilrilla and we’re at the Urban Youth Workers Institute podcast, mashed up with the PD Podcast because we like to mash it. Like we said before, some like mashed potatoes, we like mashed beans. You know what I’m saying? We got two beans in the room and our homeboy John aka Juan. Now I’m here with my good friend Gabriel. Gabriel, drop your name. What’s up?

Gabriel Zamora:

What’s up everybody? My name is Gabriel Zamora and I’m currently in Fort Myers, Florida right now.

Gilbert Acevedo:

Flo-ri-da. He’s flo-rider. Yes, he is. Now dude, here’s what’s great. What I love about Urban Youth Workers Institute is everyone typically has a similarity or this foundation bro, and it’s called Larry Acosta. So Larry, and we’ve joked about this, Gabe and I have met each other a few times and I would consider you a homie and I pray for you and your ministry and your family. You have a great family by the way. And Larry is this glue to all of us, right? So, how did you meet Larry?

Gabriel Zamora:

So Larry contacted me shortly after my arrival in New York City and was doing youth ministry actually right outside of New York and it was a friend. We were a one degree of separation sort of thing. And so he contacted me and he called me and we had a conversation. If any of those of you have ever met Larry Acosta, there is this attractive, almost like instantaneous just love that kind of oozes from. It was simply just a phone conversation. The craziest thing about is that in a phone conversation you felt like, “I just love this man so much. I want to tell them my whole life and I want to do life with him.”

Gilbert Acevedo:

[laughing] I want to do life with him, yeah.

Gabriel Zamora:

You feel like you’re being hugged.

Gilbert Acevedo:

That’s so true.

Gabriel Zamora:

He’s so loving. You feel like you’re being hugged through the phone.

Gilbert Acevedo:

So true.

Gabriel Zamora:

In one conversation he convinced me to join a cohort that they do with Urban Youth Workers called 90 degrees.

Gilbert Acevedo:

90 degrees. Tell me about that. Tell me about 90 degrees.

Gabriel Zamora:

So 90 degrees came around in a really pivotal moment. My wife and I were leading a youth ministry in New York that was exploding. That went from 40 to hundreds and so like in the short span of time we were seeing God do some really cool things in breathe on something and then didn’t have the pragmatic knowledge to kind of really organize this thing so that we could steward what God was doing well. So 90 degrees came along in this in this moment in time and allowed us to really put some bow ties on, some things that were organically happening with God and allowed us to put together some strategic process and intentional pragmatics to really see that the ministry goes forward. And so it was a side of ministry that you don’t always, seminary or Bible College or even an internship may not always show you.

Gilbert Acevedo:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Gabriel Zamora:

It teaches to love. Most of us love God. We love people but the strategic side and the pragmatics, I can sometimes be a mishap and so 90 degrees came alongside us and really helped us put that together. And then in addition to that, what 90 degrees did is brought us into a family. And I am still friends-

Gilbert Acevedo:

Dude, that’s good.

Gabriel Zamora:

Still family with my cohort that we did that with. And in addition to that, the greater national family of Urban Youth Workers Institute when we were then invited to be a main stage speakers here, workshop contributors and online curriculum contributors. So, it was the vehicle to bring us into a family. And then also the vehicle that helped us implement some things organizations so that we could steward well what God was breathing on.

Gilbert Acevedo:

I love that. And he says, I don’t know if you guys caught that, but he said steward well. Now I’m going to ask you something with that. So, you gained a couple of things and the things that popped out to me were family, opportunity training but yet you said this other thing, stewardship. Can you expand on that? What does that mean? Like if you’re a youth worker out here, you know, and you’re listening to this and you’re checking this out. Gabriel, what does stewardship mean? What is that? Can you expand on that?

Gabriel Zamora:

Yeah, I think it’s bringing increase to the thing that God’s placed on the inside of you. You know, it’s that, if you see the parable of the talents of one, one got one talent, two talents than five talents, and the one that was wicked was the one that ultimately did not bring increase to what he was given. And so I think that stewardship for me is getting what God put in our hands and putting it into an environment that is conducive for Him to continue to breathe on it. So I think stewardship is this: We may not always see the wind blowing, but we better have the sails up and bad stewardship is when the wind comes and the sails aren’t up, to use an illustration, that’s bad stewardship. So to be able to put our best efforts forward every time would be good stewardship.

Gilbert Acevedo:

That’s awesome.

Gabriel Zamora:

We’re never going to be perfect. Perfection is idolatry, but excellence it is a heart posture and so it helped us pursue things in a much greater degree of excellence.

Gilbert Acevedo:

That dude, that’s so good. Yeah. You recommended it. We get that. But how would one get a part of 90 degrees and how would you point them there?

Gabriel Zamora:

Yeah, so I know for a fact, just go to uywi.org. They’re always doing registrations and they’re now implementing an online version of the 90 degree program and so I’m pretty simple. Just visit uywi.org and follow the promptings. You’re going to see probably a tab upfront right there on the front page. Ninety degree certificate program.

Gilbert Acevedo:

So good man. And it’s funny because other than. So let’s go this next level, other than these opportunities because there are great opportunities, you’re part of this family, why should someone come to you UYWI?

Gabriel Zamora:

National conference?

Gilbert Acevedo:

Yeah.

Gabriel Zamora:

Well, and I’m not just saying this tongue and cheek, hands down, possibly the greatest conference in the country. It’s so diverse. It’s so rich. This what I love about you UYWI national conference. You’re going to be inspired. You’re going to be encouraged. There’s going to be some main stage speakers that kind of just hit you with that B Vitamin shot of faith. You’re going to walk out of here feeling like you’re floating on angels’ wings, but then what’s crazy is there’s usually over a hundred workshops offered outside of this and there’s always handouts. There’s always super qualified instructors and so what ends up happening is you don’t just walk away with being inspired and an impartation, but you also walk away with practical tools that can be implemented tomorrow.

Gilbert Acevedo:

That’s good.

Gabriel Zamora:

And then it’s just a place honestly that they’ve created an environment where, again, family happens. There’s a festival going on outside right now outside of this airstream that has food trucks everywhere and you got DJ scratching and people dancing and MC’s getting on the mic.

Gilbert Acevedo:

Graffiti battles.

Gabriel Zamora:

You’ve got graffiti battles and artists everywhere. And so it’s really this eclectic expression of what I really feel like America looks like. America’s urban.

Gilbert Acevedo:

That’s true.

Gabriel Zamora:

And if it’s not urban, so it’s urbanizing in this very moment. And so I feel like Urban Youth Workers is an expression of what America and what the church in America looks like and if it doesn’t yet, it will within the next decade probably.

Gilbert Acevedo:

So let’s touch on that really quick. Let’s touch on that. So urbanizing or it is urban, different diverse viewers, obviously different sides of the tracks. Go expand on that a little bit. So urbanizing. What do you mean by that?

Gabriel Zamora:

So I think there’s two things to urbanizing. I think that one, population shifts are actually happening right now. They’re moving from rural areas, whereas the young professionals kind of like the more downtown feel if you will. So you see a word that’s kind of being tossed around right now, gentrification. So neighborhoods are being gentrified and there’s a whole sociological aspect to that that we can touch on and probably be a whole other podcast.

Gilbert Acevedo:

Whole other podcast. Part two.

Gabriel Zamora:

Part two and so, but simply a population shift. I think in addition to that, what I mean by urbanizing, I think urbanity for me would be defined as urban problems. And so that is single parent homes, under resourced schools, drug addiction, poverty. Well, we know and that you don’t need to be in an urban center for those things to have touched your life. So what’s happening in a lot of rural areas right now to his parents are still struggling with drug addiction. You have under resourced schools and you have a student’s struggling young people, namely struggling for next level opportunities and next level mentors into the next season of their life. And so that’s an urban experience that doesn’t necessarily take part or take place in a densely populated area. So I think it’s good to note that urbanity is really more of an experience than it is a population density location. So what I mean by urbanizing is the social construct of the family has been broken down, whether you live in Midwest, in the South West or the North East. The social construct that God instituted in the beginning, the greatest institution that he ever installed was the family and from the family outgrowth. It will because there’s an onslaught and an attack on the family, America is urbanizing. And what I mean by that is it is becoming to have a universal urban experience. Again, that is single parent homes, drug addiction under resourced schools, young people that don’t have mentors or access to next level opportunities. So it ends up happening in that thing you have an experience that’s becoming really American and not just in an urban center. So, UYWI is fulfilling a need. Honestly, I feel like UYWI is ahead of its time even. In fact, there will be, I feel in the coming years, many people coming to ask for the expertise and on the ground boots level, if you will, that UYWI has been collecting for decades.

Gilbert Acevedo:

Decades. Yeah. I mean, Larry has been in this side of the game. Larry is, look, he’s one of many, but he’s our guy. You know what I’m saying? It’s funny because he’s been talking about that kind of stuff for a long time. What keeps you on fire? What keeps you with vigor to keep doing what you’re doing and your family because your family is involved too. You have a great family. Like I said, wonderful kids, great wife. What keeps you guys on fire to keep doing this?

Gabriel Zamora:

Yeah, so it’s a ministry for those of the listeners. If you’re a minister, you know this, it’s exhausting. If you’re not in full time vocational ministry, if you’re in part time ministry, let me just give a caveat here. I don’t believe there’s full time ministry, part time ministry there’s only full time Kingdom. So, I don’t care. Vocation is what you do and purpose is who you are. And who we are, are ambassadors of the Kingdom. So what keeps me going, I think is Hebrews 12:2 says this, “We keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, for He is the author and finisher of our faith who did not despise the cross, but rather went through it and looking forward to the joy that was set before Him.” He endured the cross looking forward to the joy that was set before him. So I think that we have to know, you have to know this in the core of your being, that we’re not making a difference in a person’s life. We’re making the difference. This is salvific proportions. This is eternity on the line. Even in the present tense that has it not been for the Gospel coming into my life and really I think the person of Jesus is the hope for humanity. It’s the hope for the urban context and every context. And so we have to know we’re making the difference. We carry the timeless supernatural message of Jesus Christ. So when you know that this isn’t just a difference, I’m not just doing a great idea, I’m not just in a great endeavor, I’m in the endeavor of the ages. Now on a practical level, and I would say this to anyone, many times when we do things for Jesus, the world may not always recognize, right? They didn’t recognize Jesus either for who He was. Here’s practical. I write down the compliments and the affirmations I get. Those emails that are seldom sometimes, I get them. I actually print them out and put them in a file. And so when I’m feeling discouraged, I actually pull the file out and I read them.

Gilbert Acevedo:

Ooh. Look at that. That’s genius.

Gabriel Zamora:

That’s literally what I do.

Gilbert Acevedo:

I love your humility in that because you’re saying you’re going, when we are affirmed, which is a rarity in the world, right? Or there’s also the ones that it’s like, “Okay, thanks.” But I know what you mean by that. You’re saying the affirmations, which is true. You’re saying when I am told the truth, it’s so valuable that you write it down to read it again because of everything else that can be said to you. So dude, I have to ask you this because there’s people of different ages, generations doing Kingdom work. And right now they’re discouraged. What would you say to them right now?

Gabriel Zamora:

Yeah and discouraged. I would say this. First of all, 1 Peter 5:7, “Cast your cares upon God for He cares for you.” Hebrews chapter four says, “We did not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses.” And so just to know that God is not just aware of your problem, He’s in your problem with you.

Gilbert Acevedo:

In your problem Johnny.

Gabriel Zamora:

He’s not an abstract thing. And we know this right in theory, but I think when we’re really feeling pain and we’re touched by pain, it can be extremely difficult and really hurt. So I would say this, you know, David, I believe it’s in second Samuel, chapter 17, the Philistines have come and kicked their tails, right? And they’ve stolen everything from them, the Amalekites and it says that David went and strengthened himself in the Lord. And so I think it’s important for us to go back to the things that God has said in times past and really allow that to saturate our minds. So here’s a scripture I actually quote to myself every day.

Gilbert Acevedo:

That’s good.

Gabriel Zamora:

Psalms 116:7 says this. This Is David penning this, he says, “Be at rest my soul for the Lord has been good to you.” So sometimes I think one of the greatest ways I stay encouraged for the future is I actually look to the past faithfulness of God. And the faithfulness of God informs me that my future still looks bright. And so I quote that scripture. Psalms 116:7, “Be at rest my soul for the Lord has been good to you.” And so I’m able to look back on times past and see the faithfulness of God and the tapestry that He’s kind of woven together and the picture that it creates today encourages me for tomorrow.

Gilbert Acevedo:

Bro, I love how Urban Youth Workers Institute has even brought us together that a man who saw other young men worth investing has brought us together. I look forward to further conversations, further connection with you and our families. It’s such a pleasure getting to know you. It’s been awesome to watch you and watch God bless you. And that’s because of your faithfulness. I hope you hear that as affirmation that someone looking on the other side saying, “Man, it’s been great. You’re a great guy. You’re a great man of God. Keep doing it.” How can people have further conversations with you? Connection to you? Social media? Go ahead and spit on how they can do that.

Gabriel Zamora:

On social media I’m on Instagram. My primarily used, that’s Gabriel G A, B R I E L R as in Red, Zamora, my last name, z a, m o r, a. no spaces. @GabrielRZamora. I’m on Facebook too, Gabriel Zamora. Twitter, GabrielRZamora again. I would just love if you want to get in contact with me, you can find me at ZamoraMinistries@gmail.com. You can email me there or I’m newly updating a website if you want to check out that.

Gilbert Acevedo:

Oh, dropping some new stuff.

Gabriel Zamora:

ZamoraMinistries.org. It’s really antiquated at this point, but I promise in the next coming weeks we’ll update it and I just kind of fell asleep on the website for a while. Sorry. Sorry.

Gilbert Acevedo:

[laughing]

Gilbert Acevedo:

He’s grinding. And let’s be honest.

Gabriel Zamora:

Yeah, no I’m always on the grind and moving, but I would just say I want to be a resource to anybody that I can so you can get in contact with. I will give you my cell phone number on this, but I’m really that accessible. So through any of those mediums, please reach out. I want only to see your success. In fact, I’m committed to it. I want to see you change the world.

Gilbert Acevedo:

God bless you brother and your family. Thank you so much for your honesty. I know we’re going to have another podcast in the future with you. There’s so much to know. If you don’t know Gabriel’s story, one, reach out to him. Two, get in contact with the guy. If you’re at the conference right now and you’re watching, find him. He’s accessible like he said. This is Gilbert Acevedo @gilrilla on Instagram. Hit me up. DM me. Create with me, contact me. I’d love to pray with you as well. Thank you for the conversations. Thank you for that information and he encouragement you give to me as well as another brother and appreciate you man. This has been the PD Podcast at the Urban Youth Workers Institute Podcast this year, 2018. Love you Gabriel. Have a good one. Peace out. People. Love you guys.

Mingo Palacios:

We hope today’s insights left you feeling inspired and propelled towards your greatest potential. Thanks again for joining us for another episode of the PD Podcast. Until next time.