Loving Your Neighbor
Providing biblical and practical ways for loving your neighbor well in 2024.
Saturday, April 27th, 2024
Loving God and loving neighbor are essential to what it means to be a Christ follower. In a time of increasing polarization in our country and around the world, Christ calls his church to be a countercultural example of restoration and reconciliation. "Love Your Neighbor" is an event where we will hear how the Bible calls us to love our neighbor and some practical ways we can do that in 2024.
Sponsors
Speakers
Keynote Speaker
Spiritual Formation and the Love of Neighbor – Kaitlyn Schiess, Holy Post
Co-host and Senior Editor of the Holy Post
Kaitlyn Schiess is an author, speaker, and perpetual theology student. She is the author of The Ballot and the Bible (Brazos, 2023) and The Liturgy of Politics (IVP, 2020), and her writing has appeared in Christianity Today, The New York Times, Christ and Pop Culture, RELEVANT, and Sojourner. She is a co-host and Senior Editor of the Holy Post podcast. She has a ThM in systematic theology from Dallas Theological Seminary and is currently a doctoral student in theology at Duke Divinity School.
Senior Vice President of International Programs at World Relief
Lanre Williams-Ayedun MA MPH is the Senior Vice President of International Programs at World Relief leading a team of over 1,000 employees serving in 11 countries. With over 20 years of experience in developing community-based programs, Lanre’s career spans experience in public health, micro-finance, agriculture and disaster response. Lanre recently advised the World Bank Group on the creation of a faith and development research agenda, and in 2022 was named an Emerging and Developing Global Executive (EDGE) fellow by the World Trade Center Institute. Lanre also serves as a board member, coach and advisor for several organizations. She is a sought-after public speaker on faith and development with a master’s degree from George Washington University in International Development and Public Health and a certification in Human Centered Design from Johns Hopkins University. Lanre speaks four languages and currently lives in Sterling,Virginia with her husband Yomi.
Loving Your Neighbor Across the Political Divide – Chelsea Sobolik, World Relief
World Relief Director of Government Relations
Chelsea Sobolik serves as Director of Government Relations for World Relief, a global Christian humanitarian organization and the largest Evangelical refugee resettlement in the U.S. Previously, she worked for the leading evangelical child welfare organization in the country, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and on Capitol Hill. Chelsea has been published at the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Gospel Coalition, Christianity Today, and other outlets. She is the author of Longing for Motherhood: Holding Onto Hope in the Midst of Childlessness and Called to Cultivate: A Gospel Vision for Women and Work. She has a B.A. in International Relations from Liberty University, and lives in the Washington, D.C. area with her husband Michael and their son, Dev.
Loving Your Immigrant Neighbor – Christy Staats, National Immigration Forum
National Immigration Forum
Christy Staats is from Ohio and went to Miami University. She worked as a missionary with Cru for 15 years, 11 of which were in the UK but also spent time serving amidst unreached peoples. She helped create Crossings, a refugee ministry for her church in 2015 and Cru’s IIR (int’l, immigrant and refugee) initiative simultaneously. In her first years back to the US, God developed a heart in her for fixing our broken immigration system. She now does advocacy work that includes mobilizing churches on behalf of the Evangelical Immigration Table, a broad coalition of Christian denominations and organizations focused on encouraging distinctly biblical responses to the challenges and opportunities of immigration in the U.S. She is a consultant for the National Immigration Forum and works with faith, law enforcement and business leaders working for immigration reform. She is finishing her Masters in Theology from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School this spring.
Speaker Panel Moderator — Mekdes Haddis, National Association of Evangelicals
National Association of Evangelicals
Mekdes Haddis is the project director of the Racial Justice and Reconciliation Collaborative for the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). Originally from Ethiopia, she moved to the United States in 2003 and earned a BS in communications from Liberty University and a master's degree in organizational leadership from Columbia International University. Mekdes is the author of "A Just Mission: Laying Down Power and Embracing Mutuality." She founded the online community Just Missions, to elevate diaspora voices and equip Western allies to become mutual partners in creating an equitable and sustainable mission movement. Mekdes and her family live in Fort Mill, SC and serve at their local church.