Meet the Team! Part 2

Meet the Mobilization Team at Mission Waco Part Two!

         Q&A: Featuring NEW staff members  

Jacob Palmer, a self-taught juggler since high school, is now serving as Mission Waco’s Volunteer Service Coordinator, connecting people of all ages and backgrounds with meaningful ways to serve. He guides new volunteers through orientation, helps them find the right program fit, and represents Mission Waco at fairs and community events. 

Viviana Hinojosa, a lover of ocean animals who has even gone swimming with sharks five times,  serves as Mission Waco’s Groups Service Coordinator. She coordinates service projects and educational opportunities for groups of volunteers from schools and churches across Texas and out of state. She also helps plan and lead day, weekend, and week-long service experiences for groups to learn about poverty.

Q: What led you to Mission Waco?

Jacob: I came to Waco to attend seminary at Truett and have now been here for about three and a half years. Early on, I heard about Mission Waco through school, while also helping lead My Brother’s Keeper chapels through my church. About a year ago, I took a class on Christian ministry and community development taught by Jimmy Dorrell, who also founded Mission Waco and leads Church Under the Bridge. Through that experience, I was introduced more deeply to the work of Mission Waco and quickly became passionate about its mission. As part of the class, I began volunteering and spent about six months serving in different programs. Over the summer, I stepped into a part-time role working with groups, and after graduating in December, I moved into a new position where I continue to be involved in this work. 

Viviana: In June 2024, I moved to Waco to pursue a Master of Divinity at Truett, with a desire to serve the city’s communities during my time there. Along the way, I learned about Mission Waco, and when a role opened up, it felt like a natural fit with my previous experience. Stepping into that position became both an opportunity to serve and a meaningful way to better understand and engage with the Waco community.

Q: Do you have advice for someone who feels they don't know how to serve their community? 

Jacob: Start by simply being present in the places where you feel called to serve. We can’t be good neighbors in spaces where we don’t show up, so focus first on being there, opening your eyes to what’s happening around you, and building relationships with people in those communities. Through listening, presence, and genuine attention, you’ll begin to understand what needs exist and how you can help. And don’t hesitate to reach out to me to get started!

Viviana: Mission Waco helped me realize that effective community service is all about relationship building. You can’t truly serve your community until you take the time to get to know the people in it, listen to their experiences, and understand their needs. It also taught me the importance of connecting with local nonprofits and churches to work collaboratively. When service is rooted in genuine connection, the goal is always to help rather than unintentionally cause harm.

Libby: Even if it's just taking time to connect somebody to resources, doing research on how to help someone get an ID, or getting pizza delivered to somebody's house who just had a baby. It doesn't have to be anything massive or life-changing. If you do small things regularly enough, that becomes kind of your pattern. You are gonna come across needs in your community,  that's just the reality of the broken world we live in. But instead of your immediate response being, “I don't know what to do, I don't have anything to give,” take a second and consider how your unique gifts, skills, and talents can be used to show the love of Christ. 

Q: How does your work bring you joy and foster connection in your community? 

Jacob: I really enjoy working with the people of Mission Waco. Whether neighbors or staff, I am grateful to be surrounded by people united by a common mission to love our community. Specifically, in my work with volunteers, I enjoy connecting people with tangible ways to make a difference in their community. So often today people have an acute sense of the pain and problems of the world, but lack the opportunities or knowledge to address the issues that they see. I’m grateful to be able to provide those opportunities. Then, I believe the cliché is true that when we serve, we receive more than we give. That has certainly been my experience and I hope it is the same for anyone who volunteers with Mission Waco.

Vivania: I love meeting new people and building relationships! My role allows me to do exactly that. A large part of what I do is connecting with people, serving alongside them, and hopefully learning and growing together in our knowledge and compassion for people experiencing poverty. This role naturally lends to fostering connection in my community, not just personally, but also making connections between others in my community. We have local churches, schools, and organizations come to serve with Mission Waco, so I get to be connected to a lot of different parts of Waco, but also get to connect them to others in our community they may not otherwise cross paths with. This happens through service projects, chapels at My Brother’s Keeper, and our Street Camp/King’s Club programs. So many ways to foster connection, and each one is such a joyful experience!

Kathy:  Being close to the broken-hearted is a privilege. Author and pastor Barbara Brown Taylor offers this lovely invitation to “look twice” at what might be seen as the mundane and notice how the Lord is revealed in those spaces; “The theological word for this experience is revelation, but the process is imagination … looking twice to see all there is to see. Jesus did it with the parables… lilies of the field, sheep, fig tree, seeds, weeds, coins, nets, pearls, birds, parents and children, farmers and fishermen, stewards and laborers, women sweeping and baking bread…reminding us that the kingdom is to be found in the most ordinary details of our ordinary lives. It may be hidden, but it is there, if we will look not once but twice.” 

Libby: I am humbled and grateful that my role involves work I'm really passionate about; that’s not the case for many people. There's so much opportunity for the church to become more involved in the community and in these issues for the purpose of showing love to neighbors and glorifying God. I find joy in walking with people desiring to live more sacrificially. 

Q: Has there been anything about your job that's challenged your perspective about how service helps or hurts a community?

Jacob: One of the biggest lessons has been realizing that listening well is a skill that must be intentionally cultivated and developed. While we may have a natural ability to listen to our neighbors, we can still cause harm when we assume we are listening well but actually are not. True service requires making sure people genuinely feel heard and seen. When we practice attentive listening and build authentic relationships, we create the kind of trust that helps communities truly flourish.

Viviana: The idea of simply giving handouts has really challenged my perspective. For example, it can be easy to assume that if someone needs money for food or other essentials, the best response is just to provide it without any intention or follow-up. While that may meet an immediate need, it was eye-opening to realize that the issue is often deeper than what appears on the surface. Meaningful service asks how we can come alongside someone, understand the root causes of their situation, and help meet needs in ways that support long-term stability and care. 

Kathy: Our internal motivation and perspective are key to serving in effective ways. We’re missing the point if we are serving with the expectation that what we are doing will make someone change or be received as a blessing. We must serve humbly and with

gratitude for what the Lord has done for us and called us to, as an act of worship unto

the Lord. Any change that results in the world is solely the work of God. There is a challenging truth in the writings of author and theologian Henri Nouwen. These quotes from his book Gracias have “mentored” me repeatedly over the years:

• “Gratitude is the attitude which enables us to receive the hidden gifts of those we want to serve and to make these gifts visible to the community as a source of celebration….” 

• “The great paradox of ministry, therefore, is that we minister above all with our weakness, a weakness that invites us to receive from those to whom we go. The more in touch we are with our own need for healing and salvation, the more open we are to receive in gratitude what others have to offer us… Ministry becomes the skill of active dependency: willing to be dependent on what others have to give, but often do not realize they have.”  

The two most dangerous motivations for serving are guilt and a desire to save, because both remove the power of God. If we are serving out of guilt, we are removing the power of God in our own lives, and if we are serving out of a desire to save, we are removing the power of God for others as we set ourselves up to be the savior. Humility and gratitude are two postures that will better serve ourselves and others.

Libby: Learning how to balance my role in this job and motherhood has been challenging. It’s easy to get discouraged because I don't have as much time and energy as I used to. I feel that God has been showing me that it's really Him that's moving through me. It's not of my own power, but through my weakness, He shows up in bigger and greater ways than I ever could through my work. I think this perspective is so true of service and life. When we get into a mentality that it's of “us” and that we're giving “of us”, there's a limit to what we can offer. But when you're giving through Christ, who's in you, you are giving out of abundance. That mentality is freeing! We can show up in our brokenness, meet broken people, and acknowledge that. This perspective lays the foundation for being able to have mutual relationships with those with diverse backgrounds in our community. 

The mobilization team has seen firsthand the power of connection and the impact of pouring into one's community. If you want to learn how to serve and learn with Mission Waco please visit the Get Involved page on our website!