Social work and divinity graduate joins FSW to train pastors
Cintia Aguilar graduated from Baylor University’s dual degree graduate program in May 2022 with a Master of Social Work and a Master of Divinity. She was also an intern at the Center for Church and Community Impact last school year.
C3I is a close partner to Fellowship Southwest. Thanks to a generous grant, FSW financially supports a few of C3I’s interns each year. We were able to get to know all the interns fairly well, sharing the articles they wrote and the results of projects they focused on during the year.
One of the projects that Cintia did during her internship was to develop a curriculum on social work for pastors who work with vulnerable populations like migrants. In March 2022, Cintia traveled to the Rio Grande Valley and presented “Social Work 101” to 20 pastors. It was a wildly successful day, and the pastors requested more trainings like it.
Fellowship Southwest has now contracted with Cintia to facilitate this workshop along the entire U.S.-Mexico border in partnership with the border pastors who we support and Jorge Zapata, the CEO of Hearts4Kids and one of our key partners in the Rio Grande Valley.
Social Work 101 is scheduled to be offered twice each month for the rest of this year.
August 8 - Harlingen/Brownsville, Texas
August 22 - McAllen, Texas
September 13 - Laredo/Eagle Pass/Del Rio, Texas
September 27 - El Paso, Texas
October 11 - Tuscon, Ariz.
October 27 (or 28) - Phoenix, Ariz.
November 7 - San Diego, Calif.
November 29 - TBD
Another of Cintia’s long-term projects during her internship at C3I was asset mapping for Spanish-speakers in Waco. You can read more about that here. She is uniquely suited to offer these trainings to Spanish and English speaking pastors alike, and we are grateful for the ways that her knowledge and skills will empower many ministries.
Cintia is a native of Nicaragua, and came to the U.S. eleven years ago to pursue her undergraduate studies at Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio. She attended Baylor’s Garland School of Social Work and Truett Seminary, and upon graduation, continues to call Waco home with her husband and 3-year-old daughter. Cintia is also the associate pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista en Waco.
Fellowship Southwest celebrates the relationships we are able to form because of our partnership with the Garland School of Social Work and C3I, and we are so grateful that Cintia is able to continue serving with FSW in this way.
