Cultural Translation

Antonio Lucero
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Antonio Lucero
Director of DOOR Denver

As a third grader, Antonio Lucero held a picture of his private school classroom in his hand, closed his eyes, and prayed that God would make the picture disappear. He figured if the picture was gone when he opened his eyes, it meant his entire private school experience was a dream—and he wouldn’t have to go back.

For Antonio, raised in a poor neighborhood on Denver’s west side, the private school where he mingled with wealthy children felt like an alien world. Friends from his neighborhood made fun of him for going to a different school, and friends from his school made fun of him for being from a different neighborhood.

“My mom wanted me to go to private school to get a good education and go to college,” Lucero said. “I hated it, because it was a bunch of rich white kids that were different. It was a culture shock.”

But he stayed at the school, and by sixth or seventh grade, found a way to live more comfortably in both of his worlds.

“I was an interesting kid to my [school] friends because of the stories I’d tell about my neighborhood,” he said. “People wanted to listen. I learned which language to use with the kids from home and which to use with the kids from school.”

Antonio’s ability to speak two cultural languages is a skill he carries with him into his work as the director of DOOR Denver. DOOR, a joint program of Mennonite Mission Network and Presbyterian Church USA, invites young adults to “see the face of God in the city” through short-term trips for youth groups and longer periods of service for individuals. DOOR has locations in six cities: Atlanta; Chicago; Denver; Hollywood, Calif.; Miami and San Antonio.

Through a connection at his church, Lucero was asked to serve on DOOR’s board of directors. That’s where he first heard about the job opening for a DOOR director in Denver. When a group came to Denver in November 2010 to do a short term project, Lucero helped lead the group with DOOR’s national director, Glenn Balzer.

“I told Glenn ‘I would love to do this,’” Lucero explained, “and Glenn said ‘you should apply. See how far you can get.’”

Lucero removed himself from the board and began the application process. After several interviews, he was offered the position. He started work on February 10, 2011 with training in the Hollywood program and returned to Denver lead a college group from Oklahoma and a high school group from Minnesota.

One of the projects that groups do when they come to the city is a homeless simulation—everyone gets $1 and they have to find dinner—either by getting a free meal or by securing more money. Though the students were uncomfortable, Lucero said the situation accomplished what he’d hoped.  

“People felt uncomfortable, but they felt good uncomfortable,” he said. That’s what DOOR is—we’re here to stretch people and challenge their faith.”

Lucero said that his life experience of moving between worlds reflects what he does every day in his work with DOOR.

“When groups come, a majority of them are white and they come from money,” he said. “I show them the neighborhood where I grew up and the city that I grew up in. I get to show them how God is working through the agencies that have helped me in my life.”

And the job is rewarding in other ways, too.

“I love to see them [the groups] reflect at the end of the day about how they saw God and how they were able to receive more than they gave—from a young child, from a homeless person. I love to see them grow—they thought they were here to give.”