Meet Sylvia Alvarez | Holy Spirit-led Kingdom Leadership Coach

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sylvia Alvarez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sylvia, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking

If you’d asked me this question 10 years ago, I would have said I’m not a big risk taker. However, looking back at my life prior to becoming a born-again Christ follower, I can see I took a ton of risks personally and played it safe professionally. The risks I used to take were the wrong kind and I paid for those, as did my kids. Once I started learning how Christ created me to operate, I began to look to Him for my guide in all things. That took my risk taking from one of rebellion and brokenness into one that pushed my faith continually.

In other words, I am not satisfied unless I am growing in my faith and, in the world today, that demands risk. I left my cushy, high-paying job of 15 years because I knew God was calling me to show other Christian business people how to walk in a risky level of faith. Having been a single mom for 10 years when I left and having only helped others build their own businesses while under their umbrella of financial protection – that was a huge risk for me. However, I told God, “Jesus, I want to see what wild faith produces in Your kingdom.” With that prayer, I launched into solo entrepreneurship and have not regretted it for a moment. I am seeing God do unexpected things and I know He is helping me connect with other Christians who are tired of not seeing miraculous power flowing freely in the marketplace. The path of Jesus is super risky: He gave us a mandate to preach the gospel, heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons. That is not something you see in every office today – yet it is most needed. I am one of many believers He is calling to change that and I love seeing what He is doing with my YES every day.

What should our readers know about your business?

I specialize in training Christian businesspeople on how to operate in the marketplace from a deep connection with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God was given to us by Jesus to serve as a Counselor, Comforter, and revealer of things to come. I have walked in this for 10 years and have trained teams on how to access and lean on the supernatural wisdom available to us through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Why wouldn’t we want to consult the Creator of the Universe for direction on how to deal with challenges He already knew were coming before He even established the earth? Living abundantly in a fallen world requires insider information from God if we are to weather the guaranteed trials and tribulations that are a part of every human’s experience. The level of anxiety and fear in the lives of most believers and non-believers alike today is proof that we are failing at holding onto peace because we don’t understand how to partner with God to release His power over our lives. We have the free will to ignore Him or partner with Him. I’ve learned the hard way that partnering with God is the only path to the kind of peace that is present in my life regardless of what I am going through.

This style of coaching is not the norm even in most Christian coaching circles. It is not based on religious, man-made traditions which Jesus said make His power void. Instead, it is 100% based on scripture AND a relationship with the Trinity. It requires a deep dependency and intimacy with the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, few people know how to apply the Word of God through faith to their daily life and work challenges successfully which is why we see so little holy power in the business world. However, God is changing that!

How I came into this style of coaching is directly related to my learning about Jesus through someone in the workplace. Having not grown up as a Christian, I didn’t know all of the religious rules that would tell most Christians what they can’t do, don’t have the power to do, etc. Instead, I was told “read the bible, talk to God, and listen to what He says to you”. For some reason that sounded perfectly rational to me.. so I did that and He replied. God “spoke” to me through His word but also through this powerful sense of knowing that I got as I learned about Him. This was something so exciting to me – having a relationship with GOD – wow! I couldn’t shut up about it so I shared it with everyone in my life. I created a prayer team at work which led to my Jewish boss agreeing to let me pray for him and the other Jewish leaders of our firm often. My team and I saw so many miracles take place – especially during the pandemic. We prayed as a business team and saw our firm thrive as did our employees during that time. Over 600 employees and their families went through the pandemic and yet we did not lose a single person to Covid. I attribute that 100% to the faithfulness of God working powerfully across our organization. Healing miracles, financial miracles, relational miracles, and business miracles all because we brought Jesus into the office with love AND power!

Prior to my salvation experience in 2013, I have to say jobs came easily to me. I can look back now and see that God was guiding me all the way. He knew I would turn to Him so He prepared the road ahead of me. Once I got saved, it was very hard learning to think like God. I realized how broken my thinking was. I had to learn to not be offended by people, learn not to doubt God’s goodness and love for me. I had to learn how to love people who didn’t love God or didn’t like me. The main thing I had to learn was to let go and trust God when things were not going how I thought they should. The only way to overcome (I wish I had figured this out sooner) was to rely on supernatural tools instead of doing it all in my own, puny, human strength. I tried so hard in those early days to be a perfect Christian and that is not what God asked of me. He just wanted me to follow Him and the example He laid out for me through Jesus in the Bible. I learned that the Bible is a supernatural book filled with supernatural power and all I have to do is let the words sink into my soul daily. The miracle is that over time those supernatural words continue to make me look and sound more like Jesus.

I also learned that I had to forgive myself and others quickly when I messed up or else shame, guilt, and unforgiveness would set in. Those are tools created by my spiritual enemy – the hater of my soul. Partnering with that garbage makes it so much harder to walk in mental and emotional freedom. Changing the way I think continually is what has enabled me to also walk in the authority Jesus had to do what He did. Few Christians believe what Jesus said in John 14:12-14 “whoever believes in Me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these”. I believe it, which is why I have seen miracles that are not a part of the typical  Christian experience in the West.  Nonetheless, I have not even begun to scratch the surface of what a small number of sold out Christ followers are already walking in daily. That is what makes living as a biblical Christian so exciting – there is always more to experience with God!

What I would want people to know about my story is that I didn’t start out as this wild faith person. I didn’t know Jesus, I didn’t love God, I suffered at the hands of religious people like so many others do still today. However, I have seen the power of the true God and have experienced His supernatural presence and love so I know it is real. I believe miracles help people see that God exists and that He loves them. I believe His kindness makes them want to draw near to Him and learn about who He is so they can also walk in the way He did. However, if we don’t show people what is possible by authentically representing that in the marketplace – the largest mission field on earth – then they may never know and that will result in an eternal tragedy for many people.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I love downtown Woodstock because my place is within walking distance of everything there. Lunch at Pure Taqueria, dinner at Tenku Sushi, dessert at Kilwins. For a yummy cocktail we would go to Mad Life or wine at Deep Roots Wine Market & Tasting Room.

The walking trails around Woodstock are also gorgeous and they take you into many new and old neighborhoods. Window shopping for homes would be a lot of fun in this area. Every once in a while we will come across bunnies and deer on the trails which just makes me smile.

For awesome people-watching; however, I would take my friend to the Beltline at Ponce City Market. Every inch of the walking areas are covered with skaters, walkers, bordered by restaurants and cafes. The history of this area, as with many others all around Atlanta and the surrounding cities, is so rich and interesting.

For other outdoor activities, we have kayaking, pickleball, tubing, and hiking trails or mountains. There are also dirt biking trails in certain parks. There is always something fun and family friendly to do around Atlanta!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Jesus Christ & my loved ones are my biggest supporters. I am so grateful for their faith in me and for their daily encouragement. Without them, it would be impossible to walk out God’s vision for my life and take great risks. In addition, there are Christian business networking groups like Iron Forum, Woodstock Christian Business Networking (WCBN), and C-Suite for Christ which provide tremendous support to me and other Christian business people. We all need spiritual support and reminders of how to walk in faith and power – these groups really deliver on all of that. In addition, my fellow business brothers and sisters in Christ generously provide practical wisdom on business and networking activities in every meeting.

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