Rondell Trevino, executive director and founder of The Immigration Coalition gave opening remarks that set the tone for the first day of the Conference.
Daniel Darling, Senior Vice-President of Communications for National Religious Broadcasters, and an author and pastor offered a scriptural reference to the issue of immigration.
One point he made, early on, was that a government has a right to establish borders, but scripture commands compassion. "Immigrants are seen [scripturally] as vulnerable and deserving."
Darling noted that God's love for immigrants and refugees is unchangingly compassionate. Loving your neighbor is equated with extending hospitality to the stranger among us. Therefore, any legal system established regarding immigration should be fair and compassionate.
Darling said that "it's up to Christians to help shape the rule of law. Not just obey it."
He pressed the point that "Justice isn't just a cause, it's a mandate." He mentioned the "violence of indignity," that has warped our current immigration system in the U.S.
Towards the end of his presentation, Darling said that "we must be open-hearted. We must look for common ground" in considering this very complex issue.
He summarized: "A faithful Christian cannot see their immigrant neighbor as an intrusion on their way of life."
Darling was followed by Quina Aragon. She is an author and spoken word artist. She is also an assistant editor and administrative assistant for women's initiatives with the Gospel Coalition. Aragon told a powerful story of a Honduran mother, separated from her child. "Where is my baby," she anguished. "Please, bring my baby back to me!"
Aragon's emotional appeal was followed by Christina Edmondson who has a Ph.D. in counseling psychology and is a Certified Cultural Intelligence Facilitator. She spoke on Resisting Racism.
She began by pointing out that the United States has developed a caste system, primarily based on color, which reinforces racism, placing indigenous people and people of color below whites.
But, to counteract this reality, for Christians, "love is our chief command."
She talked about Jesus' reminder to love God and love each other as the essence of his message. And it's not an easy love. "Racism is a sin... and every sin must be resisted."
Edmondson spent a large part of her time on Acts 6:1-13, which describes how the twelve apostles dealt with a complaint among the Hellenistic Jewish women, who felt they were being ignored.
She gave nine points for consideration of this scriptural account:
1) Whose report do we take seriously? The early church leaders made a choice to believe the Hellenistic Jews.
2) Because the complaint of the Hellenistic Jewish women was taken seriously, it provided an opportunity for "the beauty of God's grace to push through social barriers to pay attention to the marginalized."
3) Spiritual people have physical needs. "We tend to spiritualize people's needs," she explained, "but how do you convince someone that you care about their soul if you don't care about their body?"
4) Avoid cookie-cutter solutions because they tend to favor those who already have social power.
5) Don't minimize shared identity. The solution to everything is not found white maleness.
6) Strategize to build diversity and inclusion. And, in doing so, Edmondson cautioned, "we need to do what is right. Not propose [superficial] friendship over action."
7) Create systems that confront racism. "We must do justice. It's a verb." We're called to be action-oriented.
8) "Equality and love are part of the witness of the church."
9) Despite our sincerest efforts to do the right thing, "the story might not end well... Our faithfulness doesn't always lead to success [in the eyes of the world.]"
After Edmondson's presentation Anna Rodell, The Immigration Coalition's editorial director interviewed Sophia Lee, who is the senior reporter for WORLD Magazine.
Lee answered questions pertaining to two years she spent following asylum-seekers and refugees after they were turned back at the US-Mexican border.
She made the point that, under the orders of the present administration in the White House, they are turned back to Mexico, with no network or social system in place to help them.
Interestingly, Lee said that many U.S. Border Patrol agents see themselves as victims in the working out of immigration policy. She gave the example of talking with one Border Patrol agent who likened the situation to the U.S. immigration system being the soccer field, and the Border Patrol agents being the soccer ball.
Lee said that most of the agents see themselves as having nothing to do with what happens in immigration courts. And from her experience, it seemed as if the agents had little desire to understand or know what's happening in the countries [mostly Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, not Mexico] where the asylum-seekers came from.
Lee summed up, "I wish people could come down to the border and see these people gathering every evening to pray and sing hymns. I wish they could see these people as human beings who are desperate for opportunities for their children."
Erikah Rivera then presented. She is an associate pastor of The Brook Church in Chicago.
"God's view of immigrant women is dramatically different," from the world's view she began.
She gave the examples of Hagar, Ruth, and Esther to show how God was "radically compassionate in pursuit of immigrant women."
Rivera closed her presentation by encouraging us to seek God's compassionate plan.
Justin Giboney followed Rivera. He is an attorney and political strategist based in Atlanta, and founder of the AND Campaign.
He began by stating "law and order without justice is violence."
Giboney's presentation was riveting.
He made the point that "evangelism and social action are not rivals fighting for our attention."
And he proceeded to make a point that politics should not be more important than faith when considering immigration reform. "No one should mistake a Christian for a generic Republican or Democrat."
"Christians shouldn't fit in within conservative or progressive constraints."
He spoke to the heart of the divisiveness so prevalent in today's world around the issue of politics. "Where's the level of integrity and dignity in Christian politics today? Does your political party know that you're not seeking their validation?"
Giboney said that the church needs "to demonstrate the passion and compassion of Christ... We need moral order and justice."
He summed up by observing that "we've allowed our political affiliation to become religious in nature... Don't strive to be conservative or progressive. Strive to be faithful."
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