Meet Your Instructors
Alex Ilie
Born in a Christian family, Alex became a Christian in high school when he found his passion for God, orphans, elderly and service to people.
In college he joined the Organization of the Evangelical Christian Students in Romania (OSCER). He is a founding member and served as coordinator of Christian Students’ Ministry in Pitești until 2006 then as National Coordinator from 2007 to 2011. Alex has been Executive Director of ARFO since 2015.
Alex married his wife, Nati in 2004. They serve together and grow to become a blessing for the city of Pitești and beyond. In 2009 Nati and Alex adopted 7-year old twins. Two years later they adopted again, two siblings, and in 2019 they began to foster a 14-year old girl.
Alex graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary, holds a Sociology and Psychology degree from University of Bucharest, and he is currently getting a master’s degree in Global Leadership at Fuller Theological Seminary in the USA.
Clever Sobrino
Clever was born and raised in Huancayo, Peru (mountain region of Peru). In 2013 he decided to leave his secular career in international business to respond to a call on his life to serve full time with a local church in Lima Peru, called Camino de Vida. He began serving in the outreach area that gives wheelchairs to those in need who cannot afford them.
Clever met his wife Lisa (a missionary from Ohio) while serving in the same outreach ministry giving wheelchairs to those in need, and soon found that they both had a heart and passion to serve those with disabilities. As part of their service, Clever and Lisa volunteered in many orphanages with children with disabilities. It was there where both felt called to learn more about caring for vulnerable children through foster care/adoption which eventually led them on their own personal journey to foster and then adopt their now 7-year-old son, Kaleb.
Clever and his family serve as a missionary family to children and adults with disabilities and their families in various ways including:
• Leading small distributions for people who need a free wheelchair through the outreach ministry of the local church.
• Developing and leading a team of volunteers that serves children, youth, adults with disabilities and their families for the local church they serve under.
• Continual teaching and mentoring church staff and volunteers how to create a culture of inclusion in the church body.
In the past 2 years Clever began serving more specifically the vulnerable children population with the organization Peru Por Los Ninos (PPLN) in the following ways.
• Board member and church engagement coordinator
Clever passionately believes that every vulnerable child/youth has the right to belong in a forever family and that the church is the answer to this global orphan crisis. He believes that every vulnerable person, including those with a disability, has a unique God given purpose in the church body. Clever dedicates his life to sharing this with others every opportunity that he has.