Not only because I’m Puerto Rican (with African, Taino Indian, European/Spaniard blood lines running through my veins) but as a Christian. My philosophy of ministry and theological stance is just to mixed to be put in any one box. This makes it hard sometimes to find a real “fit” anywhere. What has contributed to this is my roots in Hispanic Pentecostalism and my experiences in church plus my boundary expansion of knowledge in historical research of the “church” in America. Trust me I wish I was not a mutt. I wish I could easily say I am this or that. But unfortunately I am a mutt. I don’t like superstar Christianity, I love a contemporary, black-flavor, urban hip to worship, I need sermons that are organized, to the point and don’t make me work to hard to find the “nugget (s)” of truth, I want to see the church understand that its not the building its the people, I want ministry to be about disciple growth believing that everything else will fall into place i.e. church grows when people who call it home spread a buzz of what is happening in their “lives”… living testimonies you can’t argue with. I’m more “go and do” versus “come and see”, I really despise flaky, no substance clique type of Christianese statements, I wish more people would come to church and not check their brains at the door and so on and so forth.Yeah I am a mutt and with all the I wants and I wishes I just mentioned, I still count it a privilege to serve God in the role I have as Executive Pastor. I still am immensely grateful to God for the opportunity to influence people and I know that being a mutt keeps me learning and evaluating something I wish more people in ministry would do.Yeah, I’m Liz Rios and I’m a mutt. 

I was watching the snippet of the movie, The Bucket List today (always a tear jerker no matter how many times I see it) but for the first time I reflected for a few moments on the closing credits song…John Mayer’s “Say What You Need To Say” and it moved me enough to say what I need to say on my blog (lol).

First so many people wait until until its too late and some never get the opportunity to say what they need to say to the people they love. Why is that? Mostly its pride and/or fear. Both of these emotions fail to make an individual vulnerable enough to share their true heartfelt emotions to others. I remember there was a time I was like that. I never wanted the ones I loved to have “power” over me by knowing how much they could hurt me if they knew how much they truly meant to me. My solution for that ridiculous thought was not to “say” anything. I find that many people do this not only with their close family and friends but even with people they work with on a ministry leadership team. While the emotion or value to you may not be as strong as those friends or family members, there is something to say about those we spend the most time with or who we expect to be “close” too as we do ministry.

So what do I need to say?

Swallow that pride already, let go of that fear

. Not easily done but with a commitment to understand yourself (read Emotionally Healthy Church) that will be the beginning of yanking that root issue out. People need to hear that you value them they don’t read our minds. Do you think it makes you smaller when you express the value of others in your life?

Don’t wait till its too late.

When we go through hard times in life we want people to be there for us but how can we expect “presence” when we never cultivated relationships?

I never want to be in a place in my life where I haven’t expressed myself to those I love and those I minister with and honestly, I hope those around me would do the same for me. I hope we all say what we need to say when we need to say it. We can never rewind a moment.