78. Turning Pain Into Purpose: The Way of Jesus with Dr. Robert Carrillo

In this episode of Curious for Christ, we sit down with Robert Carrillo to explore his powerful journey from hardship and violence to finding purpose and spiritual growth through the way of Jesus. Robert shares how his early experiences in gangs and exposure to violence shaped his desire to make the world a better place. Through his testimony, we see how God’s transformative power can take pain and turn it into purpose.

In this conversation, Robert discusses spiritual maturity, the importance of connecting with God, and practical steps for growing in your faith. If you’ve ever struggled with doubt, felt distant from God, or wondered how to deepen your relationship with Him, this episode is filled with wisdom and insight that will inspire and encourage you.

In this episode, you’ll learn:
• Robert’s personal faith journey, including key moments that shaped his relationship with God.
• Insights on the biggest struggles churches face today regarding spiritual connection and maturity.
• What spiritual maturity means and key steps to grow as a disciple of Jesus.
• Advice for those feeling spiritually stuck or wrestling with their faith.
• How serving others can help heal and deepen your connection with God, along with lessons learned from Robert’s work with HOPE worldwide.
• Practical tips for strengthening your faith, even if you’re battling self-doubt, anxiety, or trust issues.

Resources:
• Learn more about The Way Ministry: https://www.thewayministry.global/
• Connect with Robert Carrillo on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thewayministry.global
• Learn about HOPE worldwide and discover how you can make a difference: https://www.hopeww.org/

Scriptures Shared in the Episode:
1. Psalm 46:10 – “Be still, and know that I am God.”
• Robert reflects on how stillness allows us to hear from God and deepen our connection with Him.
2. Luke 10:38-42 (The Story of Mary and Martha) – “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed…”
• A lesson on prioritizing our relationship with God over distractions and busyness.
3. Matthew 28:19 (The Great Commission) – “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…”
• The call to spiritual maturity through discipleship and spreading Jesus’ message.
4. Matthew 5:48 – “Be perfect (fully mature), therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
• Robert discusses how spiritual maturity is about growing in Christ, not achieving perfection.
5. The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) – A model for prayer, trust, and dependence on God.

Call to Action:
If this episode resonated with you, make sure to subscribe to the Curious for Christ podcast and leave a review! Share this episode with anyone who might benefit from Robert’s story and insights on turning pain into purpose.

If you desire a deeper connection with God and want to align your life with His will with confidence and clarity, I invite you to a free 15-minute conversation with me to explore whether Spiritual Growth Coaching is right for you. Book a time to connect at bit.ly/curiousforchristdiscovery.

Stay curious, keep seeking, and let God transform your life!

Thanks for listening! Your support means the world. Join our Curious for Christ Facebook Group and become an Insider for weekly inspiration and encouragement on your faith journey.

Want to go deeper? Let's connect—set up a FREE Discovery Call today. See you next time!

Transcript

0:00

I grew up in California went to mass on Sundays and had a wild childhood and adolescence some hardships that unfortunately gave me a view of the hardness of the world the troubles of, The world being exposed to quite a bit of violence growing up and that gave me a very I would say a very passionate desire to make the world a better place. Welcome back to Curious for Christ. I'm so glad you're here. If you've ever felt weighed down by pain or hardship, struggled with doubt, or wondered how to move forward in your faith, today's episode is for you. We're diving into a powerful conversation about how, through spiritual growth and embracing Jesus's way, we can turn our struggles into purpose. You'll hear about the transformation that happens when we deepen our connection with God and how this journey Not only reshapes our lives, but also empowers us to serve and lead others with purpose. I'm honored to have a special guest with me today, Dr. Robert Carillo. who has dedicated his life to serving God and helping others grow spiritually. He recently earned a doctorate in ministry with an emphasis on spirituality from Fuller Seminary and holds a Master of Divinity from Pepperdine University. Over the past 35 years he has served as a missionary, church planter and leader across the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. Robert has trained ministers, deacons and elders while shepherding congregations worldwide. In addition to his ministry work, Robert served as the Executive Director of Global Operations for Hope Worldwide, leading efforts to serve those in need. He has coached and taught on nearly every continent, equipping disciples to grow in faith and spiritual maturity. Now based in Long Beach, California, him and his wife continue to pour into the church and focus on spiritual formation, particularly within the Los Angeles area. And Spanish speaking communities through buencamino. global. I'm so excited for this conversation today because Robert brings deep wisdom and practical insight into what it means to walk closely with God. Welcome to Curious for Christ. Do you ever find yourself lying awake at night, wondering about God's plan for your life? Maybe you wake up with big dreams, but feel unsure where to start or what your next step should be. If you're curious about exploring your faith and finding purpose, then you've come to the right place. Hi, I'm Alexandra. I too felt lost, unsure of the direction my life was taking. I yearned to understand my purpose and have someone guide me. But I kept telling myself I was too busy, the timing wasn't right, and my lack of clarity prevented me from being consistent, until I found Christ. He brought peace into my life and revealed the way to find purpose, by anchoring myself In this podcast, we'll journey together exploring the Bible to gain a deeper understanding of Him and cultivate your own personal relationship with Christ. So open up your Bible, put in those earbuds and listen up because God is speaking to you. He is making everything new and you don't want to miss it. Let's get started. Before we jump in, I want to take a moment to speak to those of you who feel stuck, whether in your faith, your purpose, or your ability to step into God's blessings. I know what it's like to wrestle with doubt, fear, and the pressure to figure everything out on your own. That's why I offer coaching to help women shift their mindset, deepen their faith, and prepare for the life God is calling them to. If you're ready to take that step, I'd love to connect with you. You can schedule a free 15 minute discovery call at bit. ly forward slash curious for Christ discovery, where we'll talk about where you are, what's holding you back and how to move forward in faith. Now let's go back to my conversation with Dr. Robert Carillo. Good morning, Robert. Thank you for being here with me. Good morning. Thank you for having me. Definitely. Yeah, just so that our listeners can get to know you. Could you share a little bit about your personal faith journey? How you came to faith and what were some key moments that shaped your relationship with God? Sure. Yeah. So, I was born actually in Mexico and grew up in California and I would say a very traditional. Mexican family went to mass on Sundays and had a wild childhood and adolescence and some great stuff, family, but also some hardships that unfortunately gave me a view of the hardness of the world the troubles of, The world growing up and gotten, especially in high school, gotten a lot of trouble and was around gangs and violence and as well as just unfortunately being exposed to quite a bit of violence growing up and that gave me a very I would say a very passionate desire to make the world a better place. And when I got to college. I got very involved in politics, community service, community organizing. But along the way, it was like God was dropping hints. Even all the way back to being a child and sitting in mass. And I remember, suddenly realizing that God was here. That God is real. And I remember it was just a very powerful moment. And, with everything from The art, the candles, the music, everything. It was just like, oh my gosh, God is real. And I remember that moment very vividly. I was probably seven or six maybe. But I think the faith that I saw around me and some of my family members And I think even in getting into college and seeing, I went to a Catholic university, University of San Diego and started going to mass twice a week, which is pretty radical for a Catholic and hearing more about God and beginning to really wonder, even at the same time as I was. Deep into helping the community. I was working, volunteering, helping with kids and gangs, going across the border helping kids in orphanages, and seeing the suffering of the world. And a friend of mine invited me to church, and the message was the radical Jesus, the Jesus who changed the world. And boy, that just blew my mind. And I'd never, Jesus was always the suffering guy on the cross that, really more inspired pity than anything for me. And all of a sudden to see him so powerful and to see that he had the solutions just blew me away. And I was all in. I heard a Bible talk on the parable of the sower, and I knew that I didn't really know God and that I didn't really walk, even though I was going to mass. I thought he was more so distant from me. And boy, I was just all in and studied the Bible. I got baptized and just, I've never looked back since I've loved it. And God has taken me and my wife and my family all over the world preaching and teaching and have loved it. But all the while I knew that God was present. And I knew that he loved me. I don't know why I knew that. I just did. And I think more and more, he's been revealing himself to me and that has just completely changed my life. That's amazing. And it's amazing how he plans things that determine. How specifically he wants to use you and change the world, one person at a time. That's fantastic. And I'm still on the same mission to change the world. That's amazing. Yes. Wow. For sharing. So you and your wife, Michelle dedicated your life to teaching God's way. You've mentioned that churches today suffer from a lack of spiritual connection and maturity. I'd like to dive in a little bit into those two, perhaps we can start with the connection. What do you think, where do you see the biggest struggles In connecting spiritually. Yeah, I think that obviously. Okay. So I've been a Christian now. 41 years and my wife 43 and I think I've probably learned more about connecting with God in the last five years than in the previous 36 years. And not that I didn't have a good connection. I felt like I've always felt fairly close to God, and felt very strong about my belief in God. But I think I had a kind of visit God. mentality like in the mornings I'd visit him for a little bit and then I'd go off and live my life and then Maybe the next day and I was taught right from the beginning to have quiet times You know a time in the morning where I check in with God and talk to him and that was great That was so good for me. But what I'm learning now is how to walk with God how to Live with God, how to be connected to God all day long, how to keep my eyes on Jesus. And I feel for me, it's I realized that I had lived most of my Christian life. It's I'm in a mansion, but I've been living in the foyer. And then recently discovered there's all these other rooms, of knowing God. And then actually, when I went to Fuller and got my doctorate in spirituality, it's like I discovered. There's other floors, there's a stairway you can there's just so much more. And so what I realized was I had a very minimal connection with God, little bit of prayer, a little bit of Bible reading. And honestly to be what I think. Most, all of us Christians want to be filled with love, filled with grace, and compassion, and mercy, and truth, and pure, and holy. Requires a lot more God in our lives. And we have to be able to fill up much more. And I think the perfect example I think of is Mary and Martha. Where Martha was busy doing all the preparations, and I think that's most Christians. That was much of my life, just trying, out of a good heart, trying to serve God, trying to help, trying to do all these things. But not understanding, when Jesus said, Mary has chosen what is better. He said, indeed, only one thing is necessary. And I've thought a lot about what is that one thing is being with Jesus, being with God. And I think that. Much of many Christians life is doing for God, but not being with God and that's where I think I've grown the most and that has been very powerful very transformative and I think That enables me to be transformed the way the Bible talks about it and not that I'm all the way down the road I'm just I've honestly I feel like I'm a kindergartner learning how this all works And somebody asked me What a little while ago? What are you learning in your doctorate studies? I said, I'm learning how to live my life and they said you better hurry. Cause you're getting old. I said, yeah, I know, but better late than never. But I think a lot of Christians live with minimal connection, minimal time with God and prayer, minimal knowledge of scripture and. I don't think it's enough. I one of my favorite quotes Ruth Haley Barton, she said that many of us have more clearly developed plans for finances, for further education, home improvement, physical fitness, then we do for our spiritual lives. We plug in God where we can, instead of choosing what is better, you know, getting that time with God, learning to walk with God all day, which, Opens the door for the Holy Spirit to empower us to be transformed, to be changed. In fact, I even thought that I was supposed to transform myself. Not realizing that's the work of the Holy Spirit. And what I really need is to be filled with the Spirit. What I really need is to be filled with God. And that changes the priority, instead of, because I, in a sense, it's the good hearted mistake. It's not a bad person. It's, Martha wasn't a bad person. She was a great person. She invited Jesus. She wanted it great for Jesus, but it's just. Distraction. I think that's the challenge of our world. We're so busy. We have the quiet time and then we carry our burdens back on instead of being transformed like you mentioned. Inviting Jesus through our day how would I respond? What would be best in this situation? Yeah. Yeah, I think about, Psalm 46, 10 says, be still and know that I am God, right? I was never still. I'm a doer. I'm a go go do a lot kind of person and I think. Many people in churches are like that and again, it's out of a good heart it's not because we want to be bad as we want to do for God But I think God is much more concerned that we be for him I didn't do for him and I think of that one thing Jesus said Mary chose what is better. The one thing that is necessary is to be with God. And that, that requires learning that requires a change of how I live my life. And that's what I've been trying to do now. That's great. Thank you. And that goes along with growing into mature disciples and that's what the ministry focuses about. So you help believers grow into mature disciples How do you define spiritual maturity and that may be connected with the connectedness being? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah What are the key steps for someone also to grow into their faith? What would you sure? That's a great question You know, I think of when Jesus said Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. And I think I used to just dismiss that statement. Nobody's perfect. I'm never going to be perfect, but I think learning and about what is meant by that word Talios in Greek, which probably a lot of people know that or may not know that which does not mean flawless. It means. Fully mature, fully developed. I think a better translation is the word mature, which oftentimes it's translated to mature, the word mature, be mature, and which implies growing up. Which implies Developing spiritually and I think that's what we're called to and there's so many scriptures about this You know be transformed by the renewing of your mind Romans 12 Colossians 3 be renewed in your knowledge of God 2nd Peter add to your faith, which will keep you and so I think what being mature is growing up in the Lord. I think we, we tend to put a lot of emphasis on Matthew 28, go and make disciples of all nations and baptize them. And that's good. That's great. But then the second half of that phrase is teaching them. The NIV says to obey tereo, the word I like the translation to guard or to carry or to practice everything I have taught you and I will be with you to the end of the age. That part, teaching people about Jesus and baptizing them, that could take from one day to. Months, a few months, but teaching them to live out or to practice what Jesus taught that can take 10, 30, 50, 70 years of learning and growing. And that's the process of maturing, and that's to me now I see that's the heavy word. It's growing and learning, you're learning, you're growing your knowledge of God. This is what Paul prayed for. I pray that you will grasp the depth, the width, the length, he just, that we would grow in our knowledge of God. And that's so key to maturing, and reaching, I love how the Bible says it. Fullness in Christ, what does that mean? Fullness in Christ, that you are being filled with the spirit. What the things that we all want, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self control. It doesn't come from us. It's the fruit of the spirit. And so being mature is growing in Christ, becoming like him, being filled with his spirit. And that flows from your life instead of, I'm just gonna. Bite the bullet and grid it out and try to be more loving and try to be more patient and try to be more kind, which is, I think, a lot of how I lived a lot of my life. And so the key, what are the key steps? I would say where the shift has gone from me trying to be something, to me trying to just be with God, and be filled with God, and what's the practicals there? I think meditating on His Word, spending time with God in prayer, learning how to pray. It's remarkable that the Apostles asked Jesus to teach us to pray. They were Jews. They grew up praying. But there was something about Jesus prayers. And I've learned a ton about prayer in the last few years. And, there's just a lot to learn. There's a lot to grow. So I think our daily habits, the time we spend reading Scripture, Meditating on scripture, memorizing scripture, those are key, those are, that's, the Word of God really is living and active, it's powerful, it changes us, trusting that, and living as though that were true, I memorize scriptures. I recite them. I pray through them. I pray through Psalm 23 every day. I pray through the Lord's Prayer. And constantly trying to memorize new scriptures and meditating on them. Those things are changing my heart and renewing my mind. Because it's the Word of God. So I think those are some of the key things that we can do to You know, just keep learning. Keep learning. There's so many great books out there. And a Sabbath rest, listening to the Spirit. Resting. Yeah, that was a radically new one for me. I'm not a rest person, now, I just taught at, we did a workshop on spirituality in Phoenix this weekend. That's why I just got back. And, um, I talked about, hey, Jesus took naps. So when you go take a nap, you're being like Jesus. That's different. That's not what, it's not usually what you hear in a sermon, that's great. That's great. And Listening to your story, I'm not surprised, but you've worked closely with hope. Hope worldwide, which is a nonprofit dedicated to serving the poor and providing disaster relief all over the world. You were the CEO for many years. So how does serving others, because that's very much of a practice of Jesus, right? Serving others how can that help someone struggling with their faith or feeling distant from God? And also, what were your what were the lessons, the memorable, impactful lessons that you've learned throughout these years working with HOPE? Yeah, it's funny, because I, I was involved in serving long before I became a Christian and before I got involved in HOPE, and I found it deeply rewarding and fulfilling, whether it was working with orphanages or working with kids and gangs or people in distress, but now I think I understand the spiritual component of it. When you take the time to be like Jesus in ways that everyday life doesn't require. You take the time to show compassion, to serve somebody who is poor. Or hurting or suffering in some way or a need in some way, which are not the same. Those are different communities. You could be rich and suffering, you can there's just, but helping somebody who's hurting and in need, you experience Jesus, you experience. What it's like to be like him and I'll never forget. I was we were doing a disaster clean up in Baton Rouge after a hurricane and we take groups down there and for four or five days They just work helping people to clean out their homes to get themselves lives back together And it was only three days We've been there and the sister stood up and shared we had every night we'd have a devotion we'd share what we learned what we saw And the sister shared, she said, I've been a Christian. I don't remember. It was like 25 years or something, 20 something years. She said, but the last three days have been the most powerful days of my Christian life. And I thought, wow, isn't that amazing? She's been a Christian 25 years, but the fact that she is just. Really totally being like Jesus. She is serving. She's giving she's loving She's showing compassion and helping somebody that was so that was a powerful effect on her You know, and I think that it's it helps us to be transformed. It helps us to have the heart of Jesus, helps us to understand Jesus and to see things from his perspective, that it doesn't matter the person's political party or race or social economic status. This person is suffering and I get to help them. I get to be like Jesus that I bring hope into their life. I bring a solution. I feed somebody who's hungry or give somebody glasses who can't see anymore or just help somebody clean their house that it's a complete disaster and they can't do it, you get to be like Jesus. How powerful is that, and I think that, I think I've seen it transform a lot of young people with the youth cores where they just, wow. It's Huge change. We took a group of kids one time from the Bronx to Tijuana, Mexico to build a house and they wanted to quit after about the first two hours of working and it was we're building houses for the poor and we didn't let him quit. We made them keep working and four days later. When it was time for them to go, they were crying because they didn't want to leave. They wanted to stay. They had such a powerful experience. And why? They just got to be like Jesus. They got to work for serving somebody else. So I think that's, that to me is, boy, give somebody a chance to spend a few days just focused on serving and giving. But then that, you can incorporate that to your regular everyday life. Yeah, that's what I would say. That's great. Yeah, my son and I went two years ago to Bolivia, La Paz, and we had similar experiences. Ah, yeah. And there was this this lady from our church who suffered from the altitude. She couldn't do much during that week. But in the end, we had, it was during the Thanksgiving week. At the end, we had a dinner. We all shared a little bit, what experience we, we've had with serving and she said best Thanksgiving ever. Take care. Bye. And everybody cried, even though she didn't do much. She was mostly handicapped trying to recover from the, yeah. But it was very impactful nonetheless. And isn't that amazing? It's just I think we're, we are being what we're designed to be, right? Designed, we're made in God's image, right? So we're supposed to love and serve right. Give right. And then when you do that, it's just you it's you're being, your, what you're created to be, right? Yeah. Yeah. I agree. So for those listening here who are battling with self doubt, anxiety, struggling to trust God which is a lot of my listeners is there anything that you would say to encourage them today? I can definitely post the link to Hope Worldwide and SURF is there anything that you would suggest? Just a word of encouragement, perhaps. Yeah, I think that I would say if somebody's, struggling in their faith or struggling in their walk, struggling in their journey, to keep your eyes on Jesus, to don't get caught up in church stuff. church polarity, church politics. Don't get caught up in religion, religiosity. Don't get caught up in people. Keep your eyes on Jesus and grow. In your knowledge of God there, if you ever want to do an interesting word study, study out the word knowledge and knowing there's a lot of key scriptures about the spiritual life that talk about knowing God and knowing God better. This is what again, this was Paul's prayer that we would know God that we would know his love that we would. Why? Because that changes everything and it's not about church. It's not about religion. It's not about people. It's about God. And I think that's a key distinction. I find that a lot of people get tangled up in church stuff. And that's a it's the devil's trap because that's not what it's about. So I would say, read your, read the gospels, listen, sit at Jesus feet, be merry. And don't worry about the other stuff. Let God worry about the church. Let God worry about religion. Let God worry about Christianity. You just, you Connect with God and God is good and you have to keep learning about him until you know that and feel that God is good and that's a fact of life. Thank you. That's great. Could you tell us a little bit about the way ministry and where we can find your work and connect with you? Sure. Sure. Yeah. So we, Michelle and my wife and I feel very called to just teach disciples how to walk with Jesus, how to grow deeper in their relationship with God. And so we've actually Left the regular church leading ministry and are now focused on just helping people to grow. So we set up this website, thewayministry. global. That's the website, thewayministry. global. And we're trying to have it be a resource for people. We do monthly workshops in the spring and in the fall. Like we have one this Saturday at 9 a. m. And you can go to thewayministry. global to get the Zoom link and all that. We want to provide teachings, classes, training for spiritual growth and spiritual strengthening. And it's not just us. We, what we've done is. We've asked different teachers, people, brothers and sisters who, who have been focusing on spirituality, spiritual development, others who've gotten their masters and doctorates and PhDs in spirituality who did offer classes. And these are top notch, high quality. Classes that are given for free. They're just donating their time I mean you would pay lots of money to go to seminar to hear this level of teaching and training but they everybody because we all just we love the church and we love our brothers and sisters So we give ourselves of this. So that's one thing the monthly workshops also have we called spiritual learning labs where for eight weeks, we just, we walk people through the spiritual disciplines of prayer and fasting and all the, meditation, teaching them the basics that they can sign up for and get that training. And we do workshops every once in a while. And and Michelle and I even now are doing spiritual coaching, but that's all at the website. It's all accessible there, and there's lots of classes there. And we have a YouTube channel where you can find all the videos. They're all on the website, but you can go right to the YouTube channel. The Way, it's The Way YouTube channel, and they're all on there too. And we have so many great teachers now in our fellowship that these are not necessarily traditional ministry people. They are people who have really gone and got the education, got the training, and are practicing in these things. And some are ministry, and some are not. That's great. Thank you so much. And I will put all the links in the show notes. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you for all that you do. And thank you for being with me yes. Thank you for what you're doing strengthening us all. Thank you so much. This conversation with Robert has been so powerful, and I hope it's given you fresh insight into what it means to truly grow in Christ. Spiritual formation isn't just about knowing more, it's about being transformed, letting God shape our hearts, and stepping into the life He has. If today's conversation spoke to you, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Send me a message at hello at alexandraavarezcoaching. com, leave a review or share this episode with someone who needs encouragement and spread God's message that way. And don't forget to check out Robert's work with the Way Ministry or buencamino. global. I'll have all the links in the show notes. Thank you so much for being here. Until next time, keep seeking, keep growing and stay curious for Christ. Bye my friend. Hi, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If so, would you like to take 30 seconds and share it with a friend who may also struggle with knowing God and His purpose for their life. Also, leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Podcast, and let me know what topics you'd like to hear about in the future. Your voice matters. I'll meet you back next Friday for another episode.