Jeremy Rivera
A former evangelical minister who got his start at Hope Chapel-Kaneohe is holding a Lenten mission at a Windward parish.
Jeremy Rivera will hold a three-night parish mission, at St. John Vianney Church in Kailua, March 6-8, 6:30-8:30 p.m. The mission is free and open to anyone.
Rivera’s talks will “explore how the three temptations of Jesus in the wilderness can lead us closer to God and experience deeper healing, conversion, and integration of our life stories” and be “an opportunity for transformation as we discover hidden gems of truth along our Lenten journey” according to the event announcement.
Each night will focus on one of the temptations of Christ in the desert.
Rivera attended college at Hawaii Pacific University, during which time he was mentored at Hope Chapel-Kaneohe. He graduated in 1997. He became a college and young adult pastor at New Hope Christian Fellowship in Honolulu and eventually an evangelical pastor there, followed by pastorships in California and Colorado. But he started longing for his Catholic roots.
After an encounter with Archbishop Charles Chaput, he returned to the Catholic Church in 2006.
In May 2023, he told his story on the Chris Stefanick Show, a Catholic television program. In three months, the interview received more than 250,000 views on YouTube. He was invited to speak at St. Ann Parish in Kaneohe in Sept. 2022.
Rivera is the founder and president of creative agency The Little J Marketing Co. He has produced EWTN documentaries on the lives of St. Damien of Molokai, St. Patrick of Ireland, JRR Tolkien (England) and St. James the Apostle (Camino de Santiago in Compostela, Spain). He lives in his home state of Colorado with his wife, Leslie, and their four children.
For more information about the mission contact Steffanie Beissel at 808-772-5608 or sbeissel@rcchawaii.org.