Who is Rene?
¡Mucho gusto! Soy Rene.
People are my favorite hobby, but I also love making music, art, bilingual puns, curry, and an especially well-timed ultimate frisbee catch. I’m a Spanish interpreter, Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) practitioner, CBI certified doula, and “favorite Guatemalan aunt” to some pretty awesome kids.
I followed God to Guatemala in 2013 with stars in my eyes and a Spanish degree in my pocket, hopeful to learn and determined to show Jesus’ love to survivors of abuse. God blessed that adventure with much more humility and grace than I entered with, and launched me on an 8-year deep dive into the spiritual, physical, and psychological impact of trauma on the development of a little person, and what healing that kind of devastation could possibly look like. I became a neuroscience geek, a fan of expressing with art what words fail to access, and started praying regularly that God would show me where He was in the dark places.
Mid-pandemic, God opened doors with Iglesia Reforma for me to bring what I’d learned at Kids Alive’s residential program into community spheres outside of our institution. One of my favorite seasons was training foster families from the public child protection system (SBS) in trauma-informed childcare. At the end of 2021, in a surprising turn of events, my home church (and then Kids Alive ministry partner) Iglesia Galilea invited me to direct their Fuente de Esperanza nonprofit organization. To complete this move I needed a new missionary sending organization, and God led me to CCWM. I was excited about this new partnership, but if I’d known then just how precious this support would become to me over the next few years I would’ve wept for joy!
For three years, I had the honor to serve with the Fuente de Esperanza team as we ran two faith-based schools and several other community outreaches in under-resourced villages. We built up a team, challenged ourselves to grow as an organization, made a ton of mistakes, took a few bold steps away from creating dependence in the way we worked with families in our ministry, and stood in awe of how God provided the impossible to keep those doors open. In July of 2025, I had the privilege of handing off Iglesia Galilea’s social outreach to a dear friend and passionate educational professional (under whose leadership it is truly flourishing) and stepped into my current season of ministry in Sacatepéquez, Guatemala.
Teaching on trauma basics for Church leaders
Church leadership team
CONTACT rewolf@ccwm.org
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Working with at-risk children and their families showed me how important it is for the adults in a child’s life to do the heavy lifting of breaking patterns of generational sin, and show up for their child. The single best thing I can do for the children who so desperately need a safe place to grow up, is to walk their parents to the Healer.
I know that gentle and lowly Jesus delights to walk into tombs and call forth life. Each beloved child who answers and walks out into the light brings great joy to his heart. (Matthew 11:28-29, 12:20, Luke 15:7)
To be human in a broken world is to have a cave or two with something buried in it that needs resurrecting. God is patient with each of us in his invitation to walk through death in those areas on our way to abundant, eternal life. (Galatians 2:20, Romans 6:6, 2 Peter 3:15, Hebrews 2:9, Colossians 1:24)
Right now, that looks like starting conversations within local church bodies about the difference between healthy and broken sexuality, and the root causes of addiction and their impact on the brain. These groups become safe places for each of us to challenge old patterns and eventually take down masks of indifference, self-sufficiency, and judgement, and to welcome in the fullness of God’s grace.
This season of ministry reads like an invitation to engage the still-dead places in my own story and invite everyone I possibly can to taste that same freedom. It feels like walking up to the mouth of a glowering cave that has been undisturbed for far too long, with nothing but a little candle, and asking to be let in to the darkness. Fear and Confidence, Devastation and Hope. It feels like discovering hidden treasure that’s to die for, and dropping everything else to pick it up and carry it out. I hope to one day live to see many such caves transformed into cathedrals; if my body was made to be a holy temple where the Kingdom of Heaven touches Earth, these caves are made to burst with light, and truth, and glory!
(Colossians 1:27-29)
- for strong biological, foster and adoptive families in the church
- That the Lord would provide mentoring and discipleship opportunities in our community through teacher/student relationships at school, after school tutoring programs, service opportunities and parent school
- for abundant provision in places where scarcity has become normal, expected, accepted
How To Pray For Rene
Your tax-deductible receipt will be issued by Cup of Cold Water Ministries, a 501(c) 3 Public Charity.
Thank you for supporting God’s calling on Rene’s life.
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Checks can be written and mailed to:
Cup of Cold Water Ministries
P.O. Box 318 Newark, IL 60541
*Earmark René Wolf
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