Meet Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez
Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez
Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez has dedicated over two decades to ministry, marriage, and missions, including 12 years as missionary in Peru. As a former pastor, she is passionate about serving ministry leaders. Through her nonprofit, Footrock, she hosts retreats for Spanish-speaking pastors and missionaries and is a regular marriage conference and retreat speaker. Stephanie holds an M.A. in Human Services Counseling and is a certified life and leadership coach and spiritual director. She is the missionary resource manager for Modern Day Missions® and hosts the Modern Day Missionaries podcast.
Stephanie's Story
Stephanie never set out to become a voice for missionaries navigating the emotional terrain of the field, but years of serving cross-culturally, raising kids overseas, and walking with fellow missionaries through their most vulnerable moments changed everything. In the quiet spaces after team conflicts, in the teary conversations over coffee, and in the loneliness of leadership, she saw the deep need for safe spaces and honest dialogue about the things missionaries often feel they can't say out loud. So, she began to speak, to write, and to create room for healing.
Today, Stephanie Gutierrez serves as the host of the Modern Day Missionaries podcast and as a trusted voice to missionaries around the world. With authenticity, humor, and grace, she draws out conversations on the unspoken struggles of missionary life—anger, grief, identity, leadership, burnout—and offers pathways toward wholeness and hope. Whether on stage, behind a microphone, or sitting with someone in their struggle, Stephanie’s greatest joy is seeing missionaries discover that they’re not alone and that God meets them in every part of their story.