Leadership Expert Ramón Pastrano S’06, S’13 Named Seminary Alumnus of the Year

Ramón Pastrano S’06, S’13 found himself in a moment of tension. He had been building a career in the medical field, but was starting to feel called to a greater purpose for his life. He decided to pursue his M.A. in Theological Studies at Bethel Seminary, and during that time, he developed a passion for people and started to see his military, medical, and leadership backgrounds begin to coalesce. 

Today, Pastrano is an architect of system change and human transformation. He’s the founder of two Twin Cities based organizations, Impact Lives Inc. and Third Sphere LLC. His model for leadership is based on Christ-centered values. While he works with both secular and faith-based clients, he says the teaching, training, and equipping is the same. “Compassion has become one of the greatest tools for me to help people engage,” Pastrano says. “We look at how leaders of organizations can take into account what their employees are going through, and how they can approach that with compassion, with love, with grace, with mercy.” 

Pastrano’s list of achievements is long and diverse—including being a fifth-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. But he says his accomplishments mean nothing if people don’t see Christ in him. “What I believe about Jesus Christ and who Jesus is should be shaping me in every dimension of my life,” he says. “Live your life in such a way that those who don’t know Christ will come to know Christ because they see Christ in you. That’s what this is all about.” 

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