In October, Rev. Mark Ignatius Salvacion, Lead Pastor of St. Luke United Methodist Church in Bryn Mawr, PA and recently-appointed Chancellor of EPA, was recognized by the NAACP Main Line Branch with the Oscar B. Cobb Sr. Civil Rights Advocacy Award.

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of sitting down with him to learn more about his advocacy work, his journey from corporate lawyer to pastor, and the Advent Bible study on immigration he will be offering across EPA&GNJ.

Note: This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Emily Wilton: I want to start by saying congratulations on your recent award. Can you tell me a little bit about the work that you were being recognized for with that award?

Mark Ignatius Salvacion: So, as you know, I’m very intentional about immigration here in Eastern Pennsylvania and in Greater New Jersey and I do immigration both inside the United Methodist Church and outside the United Methodist Church. Here the pastor of St. Luke has always been involved with a group called POWER Main Line, as well as the NAACP Main Line Branch. One of the things that I’ve just done in the time that I’ve been here at Bryn Mawr is to really reach out to adjacent communities and help with immigration issues.

And then, something I’ve spent a lot of time working with the NAACP Main Line Branch on is …a new nonprofit called the Freedom Empowerment Academy, and the Freedom Empowerment Academy is all about education equity. In Pennsylvania, POWER Main Line and the NAACP for years have been fighting for the right of poor Pennsylvanians to receive the same level of education as someone here in Lower Merion or someone here in Bryn Mawr. And so, the Freedom Empowerment Academy was started, and I was engaged early on to do all of their legal work. …

The goal …is to offer African American and African diaspora history in school districts in Pennsylvania where they’re no longer teaching African American history, or the history of slavery, or the history of the African diaspora. And so, what Freedom Empowerment Academy does is it provides an after-school special program, or it provides a free activity where students of all races can learn about African American history. …

On behalf of POWER Main Line, I was also on a review team to help write a legal brief to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in a case…involving felony murder called Commonwealth vs. Derek Lee. … Pennsylvania and Louisiana are the only two states that still have such harsh sentences for felony murder, and in Pennsylvania, the sentence is life imprisonment without parole. Groups that oppose life sentences felony murder, like POWER Main Line, argue that an accomplice to a crime where a life is taken should not be sentenced as harshly as a person committing the crime of first or second degree murder.

And so, I think the recognition of the Oscar Award was for all three things…It was a nice honor.

Emily Wilton: That’s amazing. It sounds like your advocacy work goes beyond immigration to equity and justice at a systemic level for everybody.

Mark Ignatius Salvacion: Yes, that’s right. And in my church ministry, I really try to bring the concerns of social justice to our congregation. Just last Tuesday, we participated in Vigils for the Vulnerable right out on the main road here, Lancaster Avenue. I carried a sign that said, “United Methodists stand for peace.” … One of my church members carried a sign saying, “Todos somos inmigrantes,” which means, “we are all immigrants.”

…In my opinion, a good pastor leads their congregation to more justice rather than less justice, to echo what Martin Luther King said about the arc of history bending towards justice. In a way, I went into law to become someone who fights for justice.

Emily Wilton: It sounds like there’s a connection between that first impulse towards justice and then, later on, your call to ministry. Would you say that there’s a connection there?

Mark Ignatius Salvacion: Yes, I do… I never thought that this was going to be the case. When I went to seminary, I thought I’d be a church pastor for the rest of my career. But, you know, starting with Bishop Peggy Johnson, she came up to me in 2019 and she said, “You’re a lawyer. Your family’s an immigrant family. Why don’t you start a JFON here in Eastern Pennsylvania?” … I’d never heard of JFON before. And Bishop Peggy said, “well, it’s an immigration nonprofit that’s associated with GCORR and it’s funded by GCORR,” and she said, “Look into it.” And I did, and then the die was cast.

That was a God moment for me. That was a moment of God opening my eyes up to the possibility that rather than throw away 26 years of being a practicing lawyer, you know, God has sent me the signal that now it’s time to use my legal skills to serve Jesus Christ and to serve God and to serve my community. It’s just, I’m going to be practicing law in a more compassionate  way now than when I was a corporate lawyer.

[When I was appointed at St. George’s UMC in Philadelphia], I started Justice for Our Neighbors—started thinking about it in 2019, pulled the trigger in 2020—and I was the Executive Director for Justice for Our Neighbors for three and a half years… We started clinics in three annual conferences, Eastern Pennsylvania, Greater New Jersey, and Peninsula Delaware. By the time we were done, we were doing clinics in Dover, Delaware, Millville, New Jerey, and Norristown, Pennsylvania. JFON had to close its doors in 2014, and now I’m working on a new immigration non-profit, which is called Sperare Immigration Services, LLC…

We’re doing pretty much the same work as we did with JFON; it’s just a different cost structure. We charge low bono fees rather than have free representation or pro bono for all of our clients.

Since I was appointed Chancellor in July, I’ve had to take a little bit of a step back from my immigration work. …So, my last real focus in immigration for this year is to lead the Advent Bible study, “Vital Conversations on Immigration,” which was created by the UMC General Commission on Religion and Race.

Emily Wilton: What is your hope for the study and who is it for? If there are people who are thinking that maybe it’s not for them, what would you say?

Mark Ignatius Salvacion: Well, I think the class is for anyone concerned about immigration and the biblical foundations for immigration advocacy. … The biblical narrative of immigration begins with Genesis, with Abraham coming into the land, and then, hundreds of years later, the family patriarchs migrate into Egypt because of the famine, and then migrate out of Egypt with the great Exodus. And that’s just the very beginning…

I think a big part of  “Vital Conversations About Immigration” is to put into practice what we need to do for vulnerable immigrant populations. So, I’m trying to really target those people who are on the sidelines, who have this feeling, “maybe we should be doing something about immigration in our community, but what?”

…People who need that little extra nudge to go from, “I’m curious, but I don’t know what to do,” to now “I’m engaged, and you’ve given me the tools for what I can do.” And that’s really where I hope that the “Vital Conversations on Immigration” Bible study leads people. If that’s the main takeaway from the Bible study, then it will have been a success.

Emily Wilton: Amen. That’s awesome. …I really appreciate you taking this time.

Note: Register here for the Advent Bible Study: Vital Conversations on Immigration
Monday evenings during Advent 2025: November 24, December 1, December 8, December 15, and December 22, 2025 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. on ZOOM.