José Luis Avendaño is of Chilean nationality and completed his bachelor's degree in theology at the Facultad Teologica Evangelica in Santiago, Chile. His licentiate in biblical sciences is from the Latin American Biblical University in San José, Costa Rica. He has collaborated in theological education in his home country in various institutes. Currently he gives pastoral leadership to La Voz De La Esperanza—a Hispanic mission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in Des Moines, Iowa.