Vida Velasco

Vida Velasco

Role: Guest speaker

Vida Velasco has been speaking up for Israel and educating audiences on the facts for the past nine years as an individual. She was hired to launch a national internship to train and mentor high school students by StandWithUs, the Los Angeles-based international Israel education organization in recognition of her passion and commitment.  Vida was recently appointed the StandWithUs Multi-Cultural Outreach Director.

As their first non-Jewish Emerson fellow in 2011 at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Vida showed the organization the need to invest in engaging non-Jewish people on the issue of advocating for peace Israel and its neighbors. After a successful year of planning and executing pro-Israel events on campuses around Chicago, Vida joined StandWithUs to continue her work on a larger scale. Not only mentoring and training high school students into being lifelong advocates for peace, but also reaching out to her own community of Asian Americans and Christians around the country. She has been incredibly encouraged by the outpouring of awareness and support bridging different communities has sparked. Since August 2012, Vida has spoken to thousands of people of varying backgrounds and has helped many along their journey of discovering why everyone has a responsibility to speak up and act. It has also been her honor to help shape the next generation with the networking, critical thinking, and leadership skills they will need as they build towards the future.

Vida left her successful career as a real estate broker in Manhattan to give back to the world in a meaningful way. Having grown up with Jewish people, and in a Bible-believing home, she never questioned Israel being the home of the Jewish people. That conviction laid dormant for most her life until she became aware of the growing movement around the country that held her Jewish friends personally responsible for what Israel was doing. This led to several encounters that left her shaken, but awakened the need to learn more. After a careful study of the breadth of the issue, it became clear that her life was meant for educating and inspiring people about Israel, with the goal of peace for all people surrounding the Jewish state. You can reach Vida at .

Latest sermons by
Saturday, September 10, 2016
Series: Israel Today: Understanding Critical Issues Conference (2016)
Duration: 1 hr 0 mins 24 secs
Make sure to visit the StandWithUs website to access the free materials they have available about BDS, Answering Tough Questions About Israel, and other booklets that Vida and Jesse referenced during their presentations.

The video that was included in Vida's presentation is available by clicking the "Transcript: notes" link below. It is a rather large PDF file (73 MB) that you will need to download to your computer's hard drive in order to play it. Click on the play button in the lower left corner of the second page to play the video.

Thursday, February 19, 2015
Series: Misc. Lectures on Modern Israel
Duration: 46 mins 41 secs
Includes a brief presentation by Stand With Us representative, Vida Velasco as well as discussions about Israelis and the Israeli Defense Forces featuring Elad and Tamir, both members of the IDF.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Series: Misc. Lectures on Modern Israel
Duration: 48 mins 59 secs
Real soldiers. Real lives. Real people. Hosted by Vida Velasco with Stand With Us. www.standwithus.com
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Series: Misc. Lectures on Modern Israel
Duration: 1 hr 16 mins 11 secs

Guest Speaker: Vida Velasco from Stand With Us (standwithus.com).

Also includes opening remarks by Elise Newman regarding Israel Bonds (israelbonds.com).