[Denver, CO, October 11, 2021] WorldVenture President, Jeff Denlinger, announced the hiring of Soraya Marin to the role of Vice President of Operations/Chief Operations Officer (VPO/COO), anchoring WorldVenture’s Global Operations. Ms. Marin starts January 1, 2022.
“We are turning a significant leadership and ministry corner with Soraya joining our team,” Denlinger shared with the WorldVenture Leadership Community. “Soraya’s prior corporate world experiences and her heart for people have been instrumental in her missionary service in Spain. This leadership role requires the VPO/COO to listen well to the needs of individuals and teams within WorldVenture as well as our external partners while at the same time keeping our eyes fixed on the mission of WorldVenture. God has wired Soraya for and developed her to live in this tension of relational ministry sensitivity with organizational integrity.”
While serving in Barcelona, Soraya Marin has served in multiple leadership roles with the IBSTE Facultad Internacional de Teología (International Theology Faculty), a seminary in Spain. She has been the Chaplain, Dean of Students, and instructed classes in spiritual formation, leadership training, and lay counseling. She also took on the role of Director of Finance and Administration, helping to revamp accounting, human resources, and administrative services. In addition to serving in prayer and radio ministry, Marin has a heart for evangelism.
“This is by far one of my favorite activities,” said Marin. “Walk into town, drink coffee in the local coffee shops, pray with moms at the plaza, share Christ with teenagers and whomever the Lord prepares for me. This is where the Lord has given me so many gifts… each of these gifts come wrapped in a name and a particular journey.”
Without question, Marin’s personal and professional journeys are gifts to WorldVenture. Growing up in Venezuela, working in the US and Mexico, becoming a missionary in Spain, and serving in high-demand, influential, and relational roles have prepared her for the varied, challenging, and unique role of VPO/COO. Her life is a testimony to what it means to be fully committed to engaging the world for gospel impact.
Marin and her youngest daughter will relocate to Colorado where the WorldVenture headquarters is based.
[Denver, CO, October 11, 2021] Solidifying a new strategy for church partnerships, missionary mobilization, and resource-partner development, WorldVenture President, Jeff Denlinger, announced the hiring of Mark Harris to the role of Vice President, Partner Ministries. Mr. Harris started August 1, 2021.
“One of the pressing needs of WorldVenture is to integrate a wholistic approach to Partner Ministries,” Denlinger declared to the WorldVenture Leadership Community. “A core question at the heart of our partnership [is] ‘what is your next step of obedience to Jesus?’”
Mark Harris knows what it means to ask and answer that question. Professionally, Harris has spent over a decade inviting individuals and organizations to grow in their commitment and generosity toward nonprofit organizations, particularly in the realms of spiritual and medical care. He has enjoyed the opportunity to lead large ministry teams and to work across large territories, bringing together donors and ministry partners to support and accomplish important projects and campaigns. Personally, Harris knows what it means to answer challenging calls to obedience in his own life, including setting aside personal ambition in more lucrative financial fields to embrace a ministry calling.
“Mark is the one to take the baton of Partner Ministries leadership,” Denlinger shared as he expressed his enthusiasm over the unanimous agreement from the interview committees, and that Mark spoke “humbly and purposefully on the foundation of relationship building with partners for their spiritually transformative acts of partnership.”
Harris will lead the newly structured Partner Ministries team, overseeing mobilization of candidates, alumni reengagement, church partnerships, and individual donor development. This new strategy will help bring to life WorldVenture’s vision of seeing multitudes of disciples compelled by the love of God and willing to risk all so that people are transformed by God, impacting their families, communities, and world.
Harris and his family are looking forward to relocating to the Denver area to be close to WorldVenture headquarters in Englewood, Colorado.