Joyful Co-Creation with God - An Interview with Vicente Del Real

In this episode, Andrew sits down with Vicente Del Real, founder of Iskali.  Vicente tells Andrew about Iskali’s ministry with Latino young adults, and they discuss the importance of vision and community in ministry.  They also chat about Iskali’s specific fundraising successes in recent years, and how Vicente views Iskali’s role in ministry as a that of co-creator with God.        

Show Notes

Background

Vicente was born and raised in Mexico, and he moved to the States when he was 15.  He became involved in his local parish when he was 18 years old, and he felt called to improve and grow the ministry to Latino young adults in his local parish.  Vicente wanted to be sure the parish was intentional in its efforts to engage and serve Latino young adults.  

Iskali

When starting to work in ministry at his local parish, Vicente never imagined that the ministry would grow to be what Iskali is today.  Iskali is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that works with Latino young adults, specifically those born in the United States, and offers faith formation, retreats, mentorship programs, and scholarship opportunities.  Vicente shares statistics about Latino Catholics that highlight why Iskali’s ministry, ministry that is intentional in its service to Latino young adults, is vital to the growth of the Church.

Co-creation with God

Andrew and Vicente discuss both the fundraising successes and challenges that Iskali has seen in recent years.  Vicente shares the successes they’ve had in cultivating young adults to be a large majority (90 percent!) of Iskali’s monthly donors, and he tells about Iskali’s ability to get and maintain their Our Lady of Guadalupe retreat campus.  Vicente shares about his joy in ministry, in seeing how God blesses Iskali’s ministry, and how Iskali’s vision allows participants and donors to be co-creators with God.

Community Investment

Andrew and Vicente close by talking about the importance of engaging Latinos in fundraising as donors.  Iskali intentionally cultivates and develops relationships with Latinos who have the capacity to give.  Vicente acknowledges that while community members have varying abilities to give, everyone can give something.  And, for Iskali, community investment is essential.  As Vicente explains, “if our own community doesn’t invest in us, we will fail.”

Lightning Round

1. If you could fundraise for any organization or cause at any time in history, what would it be?
• I would have loved the opportunity to work with Mother Teresa.  
2. If you could get a donor meeting with anyone living or dead, who would it be?
• It’s such a privilege to talk to anyone who is willing to give back, but I would love to speak with anyone who hasn’t yet realized that they can be a donor, that every dollar is important.  
3. Is there enough money out there for every organization that's doing good work?
• Absolutely!  We have enough resources to solve our own problems, we just need to help people realize it.  
4. What is one piece of advice that you would give your past self?
• Surround yourself with people who care about you and care about your vocation.  They’re going to support you through the ups and downs in a healthy way.    
5. Who are 3 people who have most influenced you professionally?
• My mother:  She showed me hard work and honesty.  
• Carlos de la Rosa:  He opened my eyes to see that ministry work, nonprofit work, is good work.  
• Fr. Diego Campuzano:  He’s the first one who awakened in me the call to serve.   
6. What is one fact about you that most people don’t know?
• I’m very Mexican.  I fully live my culture even though I live in the U.S.  
7. What is a book that you would recommend?
• The Gospel of Mark:  It’s my favorite Gospel because all of the parables are messages of hope.  

If you would like to connect with Vicente, check out the Iskali website at iskali.org.  

Andrew’s Takeaways

I’m so glad I got to have this conversation with Vicente.  I’m a big fan of the work Iskali is doing, and my first takeaway comes from our discussion about Iskali’s focus on leadership.  I loved Vicente’s quote about how an organization is really doing well when they can hire their own talent.  Vicente shared that, in the next 10-15 years, Iskali will have no shortage of talented volunteers who are ready to lead in a variety of ways.  While Vicente is speaking about the beneficiaries of a ministry eventually becoming part of its leadership, I think the same idea is applicable to our work as development professionals.  As we work alongside nonprofit and ministry leaders, our goal is to engage and inspire our participants, our donors, so that they can also work on behalf of the organization in the future.  If we’ve fully engaged our donors in the vision of our work, they, in turn, will be effective advocates for their friends, their community members to become new donors in the future.

My second takeaway revolves around the importance of financial buy-in from the community being served.  Vicente mentioned that if his target community, the Latino community, doesn’t invest in Iskali, Iskali will fail.  In talking about this, he mentioned, however, that he absolutely understands and appreciates that different people have different abilities to give, and that’s okay.  I’ve seen this in my campus ministry development work as well.  Texas A&M’s campus ministry started a monthly giving class gift campaign for new graduates, and I loved seeing campus ministry alumni turn around and invest in the ministry that, presumably, added so much value to their college experience.  They decide to offer monthly donations so that other students can receive the same benefit.  This community investment is absolutely essential.

In a like manner, my third takeaway also revolves around these same, relatively small monthly donors.  We, as development professionals and nonprofit leaders, need to learn to celebrate these small, sacrificial gifts as much as we celebrate the major gifts we receive.  As Vicente and I discussed, these small monetary gifts, over time, build a habit for donors.  In accepting and rejoicing in these small gifts, we are building a culture of philanthropy that can be grown over the years  As alumni become successful and further their careers, their giving capacity increases.  The recent graduate who gave $5 a month 10 years ago, might be the ministry’s newest major gift giver.  We never know how the seeds we plant with donors who give small amounts of money to start will grow and prosper with larger gifts in the future.  

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

00:19.70

aggierobison

Well howdy everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Petrus Development Show. I am Andrew Robinson and I'm thrilled that you're with us.

00:39.32

aggierobison

I have a special guest today Vicente Del Real is the founder of Iskali and he is calling in from Chicago today and we're going to have a great discussion about ministry, about fundraising, about the work that he's doing and hopefully you will be. I know you'll enjoy the conversation but hopefully you'll be able to find some takeaways for your business and your work so Vicente. Thank you so much for being here.

01:05.11

Vicente Del Real

Yeah, no thank you for the opportunity. I'm looking forward for these conversations.

01:07.41

aggierobison

Yeah, very good so Vicinte we usually start these out the same way tell us a little bit about your background. How did you come to be the founder of Iskali.

01:17.21

Vicente Del Real

Yeah I'll tell you a little bit about myself. I was born and raised in Mexico. I actually came to the US when I was 15 um, then I got involved in my parish when at the age of 18 right after high school. Had a very strong experience of God and I realized that my local church did not offer anything to um latinos that were US born. most of what we offer was in Spanish and I just felt that. You know us were latinos didn't feel at home. I realized that most of young people in our parish were US born and we were not doing anything to serve them so I thought to do something about it. I talked to my pastor and ah. I had no idea what I was getting myself into ah I never thought this will become a national organization national ministry I never thought that it was going to become an organization I just wanted to do something at at the local level. And then realized that what I was looking at in my parish was happening as a country that had no tools. No ministry noise space in the church for US born latinos and that we needed to be intentional about…

02:45.40

Vicente Del Real

…Serving them, investing in them, paying attention to them, welcoming them, making sure that they knew their fate, that they knew God and um, you know four years later I began the process to become a 501c3 and…

03:04.88

Vicente Del Real

…Forming a board of directors and all of that stuff and now this is what I do full time with another 9 employees. Ah.

03:11.86

aggierobison

That's awesome. So tell us I have but you tell us a little bit about what Iskali is and what exactly it sounds like I wreck it the problem you're trying to solve is clear. It's about how to minister to latino. Ah, latinos born in the US, right? And maybe it's more broad than that but tell us a little bit about what Iskali is and some of the programs that you guys have.

03:35.61

Vicente Del Real

Yeah, so yeah, so we work with young adults. Um, so as you know ah Latinos are the youngest ethnicity attending mass every Sunday ah we are also the youngest ethnicity in the fastest growing ethnicity in the United States so we believe that what we do will we latinos today will heavily impact the church of tomorrow. Um, so this is what we do: we do evangelization and faith formation with…

04:09.34

Vicente Del Real

…Young adults usually in the first second year of college but we do all the way to thirty five thirty seven. We also have a mentorship program because we are committed and we know that this country and that the church needs professionals. So ah, we match first generation latinos to a professional latino. So they can help them advance in their professional development. We also invest in an education because the church has a rich tradition and invest in and educating generations and we believe that as a catholic ministry we have a responsibility of investing in the education of this. Generation of immigrants given the fact that 83% of young latinos that registered to school don't graduate so we know that as people of faith we need to be part of this. We need to make a difference. So like this semester we are paying the helping paid the education for 32…

05:08.50

Vicente Del Real

…Ah, you know, ah young latinos that would not be in college with our support. They also have a mentor and then we provide a space for young people in the Midwest to practice a sport so we have basketball soccer volleyball. Ah, very low cost usually partnering with local parishes and their gyms to ensure that you know young people have the ability to stay active to stay healthy to be in relationships to do something healthier on their afternoons. Ah so that's in a nutshell that's.

05:47.86

Vicente Del Real

What we do as as programming comes but we also happen to own the only Latino Catholic Retreat Center day and the country as that case Iskali Our Lady of Guadalupe campus and through this campus which are about 4000 ah young people in the Chicago land every year

05:56.60

aggierobison

Ah, okay.

06:06.28

Vicente Del Real

So about 3000 youth and about a thousand young adults from different ministries.

06:12.20

aggierobison

Wow! So um, so let's put some numbers to this right? So I've had other guests on the podcast that have talked about the catholic population and the latino population. What are the numbers that you share typically with regard to. How many are the percentage of Latinos who are catholic and then the percentage of the church that is catholic and um I know you were saying that the youngest you know the younger generations. Um, the youngest group largest group ah in the Catholic Church is Latino. So what are some numbers that you could share with the audience?

06:46.31

Vicente Del Real

Yeah, so first of all, you know, very very safety I can say that over 50% of the of of the catholics and the country are from a latino or hispanic heritage over 50% of the Catholic Church ah

06:55.50

aggierobison

Wow.

07:01.97

Vicente Del Real

After that we can say that about 60% of young catholics are from a hispanic latino but background. So the majority of young catholics in this country are hispanic ah so ah, there is a huge need.

07:07.93

aggierobison

Wow.

07:19.38

Vicente Del Real

To be intentional about how we invest the resources and about how we look at this not as a problem but as an opportunity. Um, but we also know that third generation and second generation latinos are leaving the church at a faster rate. Um.

07:38.26

Vicente Del Real

So just as their parents came into the Catholic Church in the US as immigrants and helped the church grow they are now helping the church shrink because they were leaving the church. Ah so what? That's our mission. That's why we come in, right? ah to ensure that…

07:57.70

Vicente Del Real

…We share the beautiful values of our faith, the beauty of faith. Ah the great contributions that we can make as people of faith to this country. Um, and also they they great contributions that the church has made on education and. And of lifting the lives of of immigrants throughout centuries in this country and we want to make sure that we do that for for for Jung Latino so

08:26.68

aggierobison

Yeah I think that's incredible. What are some of the um examples of good ministry within the church that is serving Latino catholics?

08:37.58

Vicente Del Real

Well I think there is a lot of a lot of um, ah, ministries out in the country that are now paying a lot of attention to how they serve with intentionality to to Latino Catholics what I would say is that any ministry to not mention just 1 or 2 I think any ministry that embraces their culture any ministry that embraces the the Guadalupe experience or you know Our Lady of Guadalupe is is is is very important for for latino catholicism. Um, that embraces the values of community and family and the ministry that also embraces the need to invest in the educational professional development of young latinos. Not only as the future of the church but as the future of this country I think any ministry that does. Any of this I will consider you know is an important ministry for the church and for the latino population.

09:39.76

aggierobison

That's awesome. Um, so you mentioned you know it sounds like you guys focus on education and then recreation right through sports the the basketball and the soccer programs and then retreat Ministry right? Have you seen that so part of…

09:56.84

aggierobison

…Ah, you know one of the statistics that I found is like you said over 50% of the church is latino but it looks like um ah ah the percentage of catholic priests who are Latino is still pretty small right? and and um you know and I don't know the numbers for other leadership positions you know, um…

10:06.62

Vicente Del Real

Oh yes.

10:15.26

aggierobison

…Ah, youth ministers and you know other people within the church. Um, but I would presume if the if the numbers of Catholic priests is small. The the numbers of other Catholic leaders are small is that an intentional effort of Iskali with regard to some of these programs because it sounds like you're really trying to invest in the youth. And are you seeing um seeing a and are you experiencing any sort of wins or successes with specific regard to latinos considering those leadership type of roles?

10:50.19

Vicente Del Real

Yeah, ah you ask a question that I've been asking myself in the last two weeks particularly and I believe one of the biggest signs of health as an organization and is when you are able to hire your own talents right.

11:05.49

Vicente Del Real

But you have volunteers that are committed to you and then you're able to hire them I believe that for the next you know 10-15 years we're gonna we're gonna have no shortage of talent at Iskali you know we have about 94 young adults in positions of volunteer leadership leading a small community leading a ah. Ah, committee like this the scholarship committee, the mentorship committee leading an effort to fund raise for the mission of the organization and this is you know latino professionals some of them are you know chemical engineers some of our are in the finance industry. And they are very gifted and very passionate about both their faith and their community and we are lucky to to see that. However I'm beginning to see parishes and ministries hiring Iskali talents. You know 2 or your 2 our young leaders were recently hired by another catholic ministry in Chicago. Um, so you know that's our mission right? We are equipping these young latinos to go out and go and serve the church.

12:09.87

aggierobison

Yeah I think that's awesome and that's incredible and I love that quote that you said a successful mark of a good organization is when they can hire their own talent right? So you are investing in the youth that come through is Iskali and then now you're seeing you know.

12:27.48

aggierobison

These are people that I would like to bring into our mission in ah in ah in a real way but then otherwise like you said you're preparing them for work and ministry as well. Um, so I want to talk a little bit about fundraising and it kind of approaches from 2 angles right.

12:46.50

aggierobison

The first is just give us a snapshot of what fundraising looks like for Iskali? what are some of the things that you're doing that are working really well and what are some areas of growth for you guys?

12:59.81

Vicente Del Real

Yeah, well I think the 1 thing that is working well for us is the young people that are participating in Iskali are committed to the missions. Um, they are committed to the mission by giving back I mean. I think like 90% of our monthly ley more monthly givers are job adults. However, ah, you can imagine that young adults cannot give very much so anywhere from $5 to $35 a month so that's a big success. The other big success that we are having is that whenever we are.

13:35.78

Vicente Del Real

We have the opportunity to get in front of big funders of big private foundations. They are excited that somebody is actually doing the work because we've been talking about investing in latinos and pay intention about developing latino leadership for the last fifty years in the church.

13:54.28

Vicente Del Real

But we are doing it. We are not talking about it. We are not writing documents about it. We're not doing videos about it. We are doing it and I think that's a big gift. Um the other the other the other. I mean just to share one success we were able to buy a retreat center um, and first keep the retreat center to this core mission right? to stay as a catholic retreat center but we were able to do this because.

14:29.26

Vicente Del Real

A huge in-kind donation from the previous owners of of the center that were a religious order. They saw the importance of having latino serving as a retreat center right? and also huge commitment from people around us to say yeah this is gonna cost us I don't know. Few million dollars to be able to fix it for the next 5 to 6 years but we are committed. Let's do it. We are together with you and ah and that's huge. You know when you don't have energy when you don't have people that believe in you you will have you won't have in kind donations. But also you won't have people that say you know this is important for me. I'm with you.

15:11.59

aggierobison

Yeah I Love that and I think that like you're saying you know donors are always going to be more inclined to support an organization that has a vision right? So you say here's where we are. But here's where we're going and when you can share that vision with your, with your donors. Whatever the cause is then that's when people say all right? I'm excited about this and I'm willing to support you in a big way to make that happen.

15:37.47

Vicente Del Real

Yeah, and to be honest for us as a ministry and as a faith based organization I think to see the hand of God right to see the hand of God within like he he's picking you up with. With ah you know with opportunities you know this this opportunity to buy the retreat center really came as a gift from the Holy Spirit and when you are able to see that and then share that with other people people get excited. So you Co-cre it with God I mean we don't talk about this enough. But. That's what God wants; he wants to co-create with us.

16:17.25

aggierobison

Yeah I Completely agree. Um, so let's talk about fundraising kind of from a different perspective right? from? Um, you know in some of my in in a lot of my work and then a lot of conversations that I've been having recently. It's it's clear that everybody each culture. Sort of approaches fundraising approaches philanthropy in a different way right? And um, you know Latinos being now a huge part of the the Catholic population there. There hasn't really been at at large really well developed strategies for how to engage Latinos in fundraising um is that something that you guys have seen and have noticed through your own work?

16:59.18

Vicente Del Real

Of course I mean one of the things that we want allies. We want big big deep packets to invest in us. But if deep pack the best in us and our own community doesn't invest in us. We will fail right? so.

17:16.71

Vicente Del Real

1 of the things that we've been very intentional about is cultivating a developing relationships with latinos that have capacity to give but those know that everybody has capacity to give just ah on a different level to ensure that or the very people that we serve.

17:36.46

Vicente Del Real

Very young adults that are sometimes working part time are giving back and to it in a way to call to share the good news that if we want a strong institution in our community to serve our own community. We have to be a little around and I'll connect this to. Ah. The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady appeared to an indigenous man of 5031 ah Juan Diego and he was rejected by the bishop of office 3 times he was so embarrassed that he went around the mountain to see Our Lady again and. You know 1 thing you learn about Our Lady of Guadalupe if you are a bad follower of her is she doesn't let you go very easy. So what did you do she encountered this indigenous man taking his new way of trying to avoid her and he tells her please I beg you…

18:33.75

Vicente Del Real

…Send somebody that has a boy send somebody that has a title said somebody that will be able to take your message to the bishop and the bishop will listen to and Our Lady’s response. It must be you. It must be you and that invitation to the I must with you I think.

18:45.83

aggierobison

Wow.

18:53.69

Vicente Del Real

Our Lady’s calling everybody not just the millionaires not just the people that have the pockets. It's everybody to participate in and the mission is It's not a people that that have a privilege perhaps that are are going to be able to participate. Everybody gets to participate, especially it does not have less and I think that invitation of Our Lady of Guadalupe to what she invited all of us to participate to give to be engaged to build because that's that's the dignity of a human being. When you are able to give back you know and everybody's able to give back so you know we are very appreciative and very lucky to have the the support of of small businesses. We have our gala coming up in in. Ah, next Saturday we have about 40 45 is more businesses giving us $1000 that's beautiful is maybe they cannot write five thousand ten thousand dollars checks but to having 40 you know 45 is more businesses giving us $1000 that's huge. You know.

20:06.38

aggierobison

Yeah, well, it's like you said you know in relation to your monthly gifts right? 90% of your monthly donors are young young donors and so you know I love opportunities to get young individuals involved in monthly giving and when I was at. The catholic center of Texas a and m we started a class gift program where we asked our graduates right out of college to commit to thousand dollars pledge they paid at $50 or $ 20 a month and the first year we had 52 students so it's a $52000 gift and every year at at St Mary's Texas a and m they've continued that tradition and now other. Campus ministries are doing that but getting young people involved in giving and allowing them to see what your amount might be sacrificial to you but you know it's in relation to this. Ah, this organization you know it's smaller. But it's still extremely extremely meaningful right? And um, that's where I think we struggle sometimes in the fundraising world is. It's easy to celebrate those big gifts right? and it's natural too right? We should be, you know, somebody gives you a million dollar show organization. Yeah, you should celebrate right?

21:21.16

aggierobison

But I think the challenge is getting just as excited about the 22 year old who signs up for a $20 monthly gift to your organization when you know their annual salary is $26000 for the year right? So you know it's about being mindful of those. Ah, those gifts especially from the younger generation because we know that that's building in them a culture of philanthropy that they will only grow from there and it is inspiring to those their peers and also to ah you know. All donors to see those gifts come in.

21:57.97

Vicente Del Real

In my own experience I'm teaching my parents how to give back right? because as I what I have done with my parents is every gift I give to Iskali I ask my parents to match up and every year

22:09.61

aggierobison

Wow.

22:13.87

Vicente Del Real

They now know they like oh so how much are we gonna give this year and that's beautiful right? when the younger de generationion is teachinging the the older generation had a gift and one of the things that I mean that I mean telling or young leaders I give twenty thirty dollars have like you should ask your parents to match it.

22:17.36

aggierobison

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

22:32.87

Vicente Del Real

Because our parents have all the right to teach you stuff but we also have all the right to teach them stuff especially when it's good and I can guarantee you that the young leaders of Iskali are now giving to Iskali but maybe. Later in their lives they can evolve in an organization on our ministry that is closer to them to their hearts and I know they will be giving back I know they will give you giving back to their parishes. So what we are doing is not teaching them just to give to Iskali. We are teaching them the Christian way.

23:07.55

aggierobison

Yeah, absolutely and you know one of the um sort of mindset shifts that I've had in my life and in my career is recognizing that you know we think that our donors know everything about giving right? and we think that our donors know everything about charity and. Our donors know everything about how they can be most impactful to our authorization to their parish to those run and the truth of the matter is you know that that's not always the case right? learn giving Philanthropy Charity is a learned behavior and if we…

23:41.67

aggierobison

…don't have somebody in our life that is modeling that that is showing that then oftentimes you know people kind of just continue to progress through life not recognizing and not being able to experience the joy of truly giving and truly practicing generosity and so you know as fundraisers as leaders in the nonprofit world. We have to recognize that part of our job is just simply education. It's about showing people the ways that they can give the ways that their gift can be impactful and you know for the truth of the matter is that a lot of our donors myself included right? flip it around and and I'm a donor if I'm giving. You know a hundred dollars to an organization and they come and they say Andrew we really appreciate your gift. Um, we have a way that you could make a profound impact on something that we know you're passionate about with one hundred and fifty dollars to a monthly gift I would be you know I'd be a thousand times likely to. Consider that because it's about I. Once I know that information then I'm more inclined to give a similar example with your you know with your parents and then you know teaching your your donors. Sometimes we have to model behavior up and we have to have model behavior down.

24:55.16

Vicente Del Real

Is is the way to do it. Um, and just as you were talking about giving I think the better the matter is and this is this is just an opinion that I have I might be wrong is a lot of us. Don't Know. Don't have a good relationship with your money and what happens when we don't have a good relationship with money is we end up using our money and wastefully and things that don't have an impact don't have an actual impact in our Lives. Don't have a healthy impact on and the lives of our family. Don't have a healthy the impact in our own financial life right? However, when we are give with purpose or money will have impact or money will have impact So I I Sometimes feel that is better.

25:35.80

aggierobison

Yeah.

25:46.83

Vicente Del Real

To give out my money to use it myself because sometimes I don't have healthy ways to use it right? and I think is is the Beauty The beauty about giving is that you ensure that your money has had a positive impact in society.

26:03.10

aggierobison

I I love that I'm gonna write that down when we give when we give with purpose our money we'll have more will'll have impact I think that's it's true I mean it's very um, you know it's obvious but it's one of those things that we don't really think about you know? Ah so.

26:15.74

Vicente Del Real

Yeah, of course.

26:20.37

aggierobison

Ah, let me ask you a couple more questions and then we'll shift over to our lightning round. What are some of the big challenges that keep you up at night that you are hoping to address in society and the world and in your sphere either through your work with Iskali or otherwise.

26:40.40

Vicente Del Real

Yeah, well I'll tell you 1 thing one is we have gone and now we have people that depend on the organization I want to make sure that they are paid um with dignity salaries and they are they have.

26:56.85

Vicente Del Real

Ah, you know a good package of benefits. Ah so that gives me up at night when I think about the way we pay our own employees. Ah, the other thing that I will say that keeps me up in mind is that we only have presence and three States. Illinois Indiana and Wisconsin and I know that there is a huge need for what we do across the country and my fear is that we will not be able to grow fast enough to be able to to serve this this generation people that are 20 between 20 to thirty years old

27:34.88

Vicente Del Real

Before we lose them I wish that we will have the proper processes, the proper profit model and the proper donor plan in place to be able to scale to the next fifty states in the next 5 to 7 years. That's not the case. And I I just know that we will make a huge difference in a lot of young people's lives. And yeah, sometimes that's hard to think of that. Yeah.

28:00.69

aggierobison

I get it so on the flip side you may have sort of answered this question in a way though. What do you love most about this work. What get you up in the morning every day ready to do it some more?

28:12.41

Vicente Del Real

Well, every person I talked to that becomes a donor for Iskali, I just provided an opportunity for them to do something good and I really believe that like every person that I get them to donate to or organization I Firmly believe that. Is funding the the God’s work and I know that if they kept that money they maybe would have not done something as good as they did So. That's that's exciting for me. Ah, the other thing that I'm very excited about is when I.

28:50.87

Vicente Del Real

You know here a young adult sharing how he or she was impacted by her ministry. Um, and I'll tell you a little church story, one over young. Um, a small community was meeting about 2 2 Wednesday cycle. Here in in their offices and I forgot something so I have to come after hours to get something in my office and I saw that they were meeting and I just put my head in there and say hi and one of the members said we said that when am I going to be able to have an opportunity to share my story. So what do you mean he like I have a powerful story. He said I leave my retreat in March and he's a that actually got divorce. He's like since the day that I got the divorce on the last day before the retreat I used cocaine every single day and said I lost my license I lost my. My child's ah um, the right to see my child is like in this six months I haven't used drugs. I haven't used alcohol. I got my license back I'm working. I'm seeing my children every weekend and I was just like wow I just wanted to say hi.

29:58.69

aggierobison

My gosh.

30:06.75

Vicente Del Real

Right? And so I hear the stories and I'm like Wow like this is this is powerful because we just impacted a man's life that is going to have repercussions and his children if you know in his own family for generations.

30:25.40

aggierobison

Right.

30:25.95

Vicente Del Real

For generations and imagine how many stories he's gonna you know how many people he's gonna be able to aspire through that story. But yeah.

30:33.42

aggierobison

Was powerful. I could see why that type of work. Yes, very inspiring and I could see why that gets you up in the morning to do it good? Well Vicente, This has been a pleasure. It's been great learning about Iskali and the work that you do and.

30:50.50

aggierobison

Ah, you are truly on a mission and I wish you all the best for not just what you're doing now. But also where that vision is going to take you.

31:00.20

Vicente Del Real

Yeah, no thank you so much for the opportunity to um to share a little bit of of our ministry and a little bit of my passion with your audience. Well yeah, this this's do I don't know how well I'm gonna do. But.

31:10.60

aggierobison

Great. So how about we do our lightning round questions now let's ah yeah, well you don't have a choice. So ah, all right? all right question number 1 of the lightning round.

31:17.85

Vicente Del Real

Do it? Yeah yeah, yeah.

31:26.57

aggierobison

If you could fundraise for any organization or cause at any point in history. What would it be?

31:32.72

Vicente Del Real

It's hard for me to think about anybody else other than Iskali I um but any other organization.

31:33.84

aggierobison

Yeah, what if you went back in time, is there another a cause or movement or organization in the past?

31:46.70

Vicente Del Real

You know I a person that I admire very much in and the church's mother's Teresa’s work is recent I would have loved to work for mother theresa if I mean if I had the opportunity to work for anybody I would have loved to work for Theresa ah

32:00.79

aggierobison

Yeah I would have that would have been amazing question number 2 if you could get a donor meaning with anyone in the world living or dead who would it be with?

32:11.30

Vicente Del Real

I don't have anybody in mind. But 1 thing that I would say is I know there is a lot of people that care out there and a lot of people that have capacity to give even if he's. dollars a month and when I'm able to talk to anybody about giving back even if it's not to Iskali but just giving back in general I I feel privileged to be able to have those conversations. So maybe to anybody that is listening in this and this podcast and. Hasn't realized that they also have the opportunity to give um like every donor is important. So anybody that hasn't realized that they can be donors and I help them realize that.

33:04.50

aggierobison

That's awesome question number 3 is there enough money out there for every organization that's doing good work?

33:09.98

Vicente Del Real

absolutely absolutely I think ah we have enough resources to be able to solve all problems and issues out there. We just we just need to help people realize it. Um. Just think about how much money we wasted things that have no impact imagine that we use the the money that I mean I'm just thinking taxes I'm thinking people that don't realize that they can be yeah, of course 100 %

33:41.20

aggierobison

Great I love it question number 4 if you could go back in time and offer yourself one piece of advice. What would it be?

33:50.87

Vicente Del Real

Um, or I have a few What is um, surround yourself with people that care for you and care for your vocation.

34:05.55

aggierobison

That's a good one.

34:06.15

Vicente Del Real

Because if you're surrounded by people that care for you and your location they go to support you through the ups and downs in a healthy way.

34:15.39

aggierobison

I like that one a lot question number 4 or question number 5 excuse me who are 3 people who have most influenced your professional development?

34:28.36

Vicente Del Real

My mother first. My mother showed me hard work and honesty. Um the other I will say there is a man named Carlos de la rosa who you don't really open my eyes to see that. You know ministry work and nonprofit work is good work and that I should not only think or consider corporate world work. But ah, you know that ministerial work can be a real thing. Um and then a priest. And his name is father guillermo campuzano um, he was really the first one that awakened to me they they called to serve. Um I knew that I was called to serve in. Like that keep bugging me and it was all because of conversations that I had with him about serving others.

35:34.65

aggierobison

That's awesome I love it question number 6 what is something interesting about you that people may not know?

35:43.50

Vicente Del Real

Oh well. Um I'm very mexican.

35:51.93

aggierobison

That's not a secret. Yeah.

35:52.89

Vicente Del Real

I like I fully live my culture. Even though I'm in the US you know I usually when people come to Chicago they have like let's go eat tackles and I take him to ah the tackle shop like I'm culturally very very mexican. And ah but I continue to practice my culture traditions with my family Christmas and um, yeah, that's for me that defines a lot of a lot of what I am yeah.

36:30.13

aggierobison

That's awesome. Ah question number 7 what is 1 book you think everyone should know everyone should read?

36:37.28

Vicente Del Real

Well, ah I mean I want to say a lot but you know the gospel of Mark is one of my favorites in the the Gospel of Mark is my favorite because.

36:54.62

Vicente Del Real

Ah, it was written for christians that were persecuted under the Roman Empire under hard times and I don't know who you are. I don't care who you are, you will go through hard times and as you read the gospel of Mark. You notice that Jesus is sending every parable with a hope with a message of hope and for me whenever I go through hard times I always find myself going back to read the gospel mark.

37:28.25

aggierobison

That's awesome. Yeah that's ah I like that people have said the bible but I love like dialing in on the gospel of Mark as a real point of you know, like you said people were struggling with real things in that time and so how do those. Struggles apply to your life today and they do that's great. Well Vicente. It has been a pleasure I have enjoyed our conversation. It's been fun to learn about Iskali your background about some of your insights on where the church is.

37:59.67

aggierobison

Where it is today and where it's going and where it needs to go and I certainly do appreciate all the work that you do and if people want to learn more about that work or they want to connect with you. Where should we send them?

38:11.40

Vicente Del Real

Yeah, you should send them to our website is that www.iskali.org they can learn about Iskali they can donate to his scali. Ah they can become mentors with us. They can get above.

38:21.29

aggierobison

You think great.

38:28.83

Vicente Del Real

Um, and thank you for your ministry. Thank you for what you do for the church, for what you do for a lot of nonprofits across the country and also for creating this space to share the stories of others. So I appreciate it.

38:42.77

aggierobison

Awesome! And for all those listening I hope that you enjoyed this as much as I did. Thank you so much for tuning in and check the show notes for links and um for ah, sorry. And check the show notes for links and information about what we talked about and ah God Bless you and we'll see you back next time all right?