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A 2005 graduate of Northern Illinois University's doctoral counseling
program, Pastor Efrain Avila, Jr. is the new Director and Campus
Minister for the NIU Wesley Foundation, a United Methodist campus
ministry. As part of his work at the Wesley Foundation, Pastor Efrain is
involved in student recruitment, leading worship, Bible studies,
spiritual guidance, counseling and leadership training.
Pastor Efrain is also appointed to the Kingston UMC, just north of
DeKalb. As a second career pastor (a long-term student being his
previous career) he has been in parish ministry since 2000. Originally
from Puerto Rico and having lived as an adolescent in Maryland, Pastor
Efrain is blissfully married to Dr. Laura Avila, a clinical
psychologist. They are the proud parents of Mikayla & Mischa. They
also have a dog, Moe, and a calico cat, Maggie.
As a Wesleyan Methodist he sees his passion and call to ministry is
to bring others to the saving knowledge and transformation of life in
Jesus.
Pastor Efrain is fully bilingual and bicultural. His counseling
training and interests focused in student development in higher
education and in counseling Latinos. He is a baseball fan and is willing
to go on road trips to most baseball games within North America. In
spite of the picture above, he smiles often and has been rumored to be
funny at times
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