AIC Warrior News
SAGU AIC Alumna Brisa Ellis-Chino
East Section Youth Leader of the Arizona Ministry Network.
A.A. Bible, 2016
Being of Hispanic heritage, Brisa Ellis-Chino originally believed she would work in ministry to Hispanics. However, after coming to SAGU AIC, she became “more involved in Native youth ministries.” As her excitement and passion grew for Native youth, Ellis-Chino knew her “calling wasn’t going to be towards Hispanic youth, [she] knew it was going to be in some type of Native ministry.”
Brisa has now been a youth pastor for a little over two years at Whiteriver Assembly of God on the White Mountain Apache Reservation in northeastern Arizona. She encourages people, “even if you don’t feel like you have a call… God can speak to you.” Brisa shares about her experience at SAGU AIC stating, “My relationship with God here flourished which was something I didn’t think I could have. I didn’t think I had a calling before coming here, but when I came here God showed me more. Don’t let your past define you or discourage you from seeking more from God.”
It’s one thing to be a part of hands-on ministry and participate in outreaches, but it’s another thing to be outside the classroom. Brisa further explains, “That’s what AIC prepares you for. AIC is the training field; ministry is the battlefield. We have moments of challenge and I know that as I depend on God and the Holy Spirit, I can get through it.”
Brisa reminds us that “God doesn’t just call pastors and youth leaders, He calls businesspeople, teachers, and everyone in every area of study and in every aspect of life.”
She further declares, “I know I’m going to be in ministry. I know I’m not called to live a normal life. I know that I’m called to reach and go look for the one, like Jesus looked for me. I don’t know where that falls…but that’s my heart’s desire, which is to be in the ministry wherever the Lord leads me.”
Brisa’s goal is to efficiently communicate the vision for the Eastern Section Youth District in Arizona, and she wants to have every church in the Eastern section of the district involved. She affirms, “For this section I want to become more unified and to be able to reach every student in our region through the different churches.”
