Pastor Juan Rivera recognized as Ally of the Year
The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) is pleased to announce that our good friend, Pastor Juan Rivera, lead Pastor of Victory Church in Lowellville, will be the initial recipient of the newly-established JCRC Ally of the Year award. The Ally of the Year will be an annual recognition that honors an individual or organization outside the Jewish community for their dedication to combating antisemitism and/or anti-Israel sentiment. Award recipients must be engaged with the Federation and/or its agencies or affiliated organizations within the broader Jewish community and/or Israel.
If you ask Pastor Juan about the origin story of his involvement with the Jewish community, it can start in two different ways. In his early childhood, growing up in a Christian home, the Jewish Bible characters were his constant companions.
“I grew up in a Christian home where the Bible meant everything to us,” said Juan. “My earliest spiritual heroes were Jewish—Abraham, Moses, Esther, Ruth, David. I never saw them as distant historical figures; they were models of faith who shaped my worldview from a young age.”
He also recalled a pivotal high school trip to Normandy, France, where his show choir performed for the 50th anniversary of D-Day. “Before the trip, we had Holocaust education. A Survivor came to speak with us to help us understand the context of the war and the significance of D-Day. “Schindler’s List” had just come out, so we watched that, too. The experience opened my eyes to the very real, not-so-distant plight of the Jewish people during the Holocaust.”
Pastor Juan and his wife, Deidre, became connected with the Federation and the Youngstown Jewish community about 15 years ago after taking their first trip to Israel.
“That first trip to Israel was deeply significant,” recalled Juan.“It was spiritual—almost esoteric—but hard to explain. In some ways, it was simple. Standing on the land, eating the food, breathing the air, meeting people. It grounded what had always felt like an ancient, longed-for place in the reality of a modern nation and people. In Genesis, God tells Abraham, ‘Those who bless you, I will bless.’ We came back asking, how do we live that out? How can we be a blessing? One way, we thought, was through financial support. We wanted to build a bridge to the Jewish community, to say, we’re here. We see you. It may sound strange, but we love you. But when we came back and looked for that bridge, we couldn’t find one.”
Juan began by donating money to Temple El Emeth and attending Federation events to get to know the community. He then became involved with advocating for Israel and creating bridges with Jewish communities through the Evangelical Christian space. He said that October 7, 2023, and the continuing crisis in Israel have been pivotal for him as he has enhanced his activism and commitment to education against antisemitism. He continues to lead trips to Israel with members of his congregation, other pastors, and in conjunction with the JCRC. He has also brought 10/7 Survivors to speak at this church and participated in many JCRC programs.
He has a dream to create the framework for other communities to create interfaith partnerships. In addition to serving as the lead Pastor of Victory Church, Pastor Juan is a commissioner on the Ohio Commission or Hispanic and Latino Affairs, and is a member of the executive board of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, where he was recently named as national President of the Conference’s Hispanic Israel Leadership Coalition. In this role, Juan will oversee strategic partnerships, national initiatives, and public advocacy efforts to position the Hispanic church as a powerful ally to Israel and a bulwark against antisemitism. Juan has been married for 28 years to Deidre, and is the proud father of Denise ( Justis), Olivia, and Hadassah, and overjoyed grandfather to new baby boy Roman.