The Rev. Rafael Malpica-Padilla

Denomination: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
Organization: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

The Rev. Rafael Malpica-Padilla is executive director for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Division for Global Mission, Chicago, IL.

He oversees a global program cooperating in approximately 70 countries with 309 missionaries and volunteers, 47 Chicago-based staff and annual expenditures of $28.2 million.

Malpica-Padilla has served ELCA Global Mission since 1993, as Area Program Director for Latin America and the Caribbean (1993-2000), Director for International Programs and Planning (2001-2002), and as Associate Executive Director (2002-2003). From 1987 to 1993, Malpica Padilla served as Bishop of the ELCA's Caribbean Synod. Ordained in (1981), he holds a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Puerto Rico and a Master of Divinity from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.

With his wife Luz D. Malpica, an occupational therapist working with children with learning disabilities, he is the parent of Rafael, Felix Javier, and Karla Marie. The Malpica Padilla family are members at Bethany Lutheran Church, Crystal Lake, Illinois.