I had the opportunity to attend The Justice Conference held at the 
Oregon Convention Center at the end of February, and was able to bring two 
Multnomah University student journalists with me who are writing about the conference for Muse. During the two-day event, I was mining for stories for Christianity Today’s This is Our City blog, focusing on followers of Christ impacting their local communities. 
Between listening to speaker after speaker share stories of individuals and families and organizations sacrificing comfort and wealth and status to reach out to the homeless and the abused and the forgotten from Portland to Palestine, I happened to wander down to another section of the Convention Center where I noticed a sign for a Women’s event.
Curious, I walked closer to read the banner in front of their entryway, and saw their tag line: “PDX Women’s EXPO — Love Yourself First.” 
I had to chuckle as I thought about the contrasting messages of these two events just steps apart from one another at the Convention Center: The Women’s Expo’s was about loving “Yourself First” and “Shopping” and “All for YOU” while the message of The Justice Conference speakers echoed “Love God and others FIRST” and “Give all to OTHERS.”
Now, I am not here to bash any women’s conference, and I am sure there was much more to this conference, but I found the tagline differences quite interesting. The Justice Conference message of giving to others was echoed in speaker after speaker.
Chinese American author and church planter Francis Chan, for example, challenged the 4000 strong, “What are you doing with all this stuff? If we love our neighbors like ourselves, why don’t we spend like it? Give it away!” And, he shared a story of a couple taking in many foster care children. Talk about giving to others.
And, during a panel discussion led by Multnomah Biblical Seminary’s 
Paul Louis Metzger’s, John Canda shared that he was not going to wait for the government to do something about Portland’s gang issue; he sensed the Holy Spirit’s call to be a regular presence in the lives of at-risk youth by “just showing up” each Friday night at the Lloyd Center Mall, 
one of the most problematic gang locations. And, as I wrote about in a recent Christianity Today piece, he has challenged 100 other men to join him in being a consistent presence in the lives of youth, which demonstrates someone cares.
Interestingly, the very day that Canda spoke at the Conference, he headed over to Lloyd Center mall to hang out with kids, just as he does every week. For Canda, life is about OTHERS. And that’s what love and justice are all about.
At the Conference, I soaked up stories by Lynne Hybels
on how she is bringing attention to the plight of Palestinian Christians; and I sat intently listening to Rachel Lloyd’s 
story of surviving being commercially sexually exploited as a teen; and how she is now rescuing other girls who are caught in sex trafficking.
I was able to hear John M. Perkin’s story of becoming a Christ-follower in California, and then returning to his home state of Mississippi during the height of racism to live and impact others in the very state where his brother was murdered. And I had the privilege of sharing a meal with him and Metzger and other speakers the evening before the conference.
Shane Claiborne 
talked about his trip to Iraq to visit soldiers whose lives were devastated by war, and he emphasized that Christians are called to help the vulnerable from the womb to the grave. Shane was joined by Ben and Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen in their talk called, “Jesus, Bombs and Ice Cream.”
I learned of people digging wells in Africa and business owners reaching out to mentor youth in California. And Multnomah Biblical Seminary’s Rick McKinley shared about creating a just world, one neighborhood at a time. “We need to first get over the ‘me’ world. I cannot see my neighbor because I am so concerned about what is mine,” he said.
And, Walter Brueggemann reminded us of how Jesus spent his time with lepers and those who had been disinherited by the power structure. The Son of God was moved with compassion — “These people are so hungry I cannot stand it”– to feed 4000 people and then 5000 in another setting.
Yes, feeding people is a common element of justice. And, even those gathered at The Justice Conference would not argue with being fed. And, maybe, on second thought, that might be one thing that the 
Justice Conference and the PDX Women’s Expo attendees had in common at the Oregon Convention Center — enjoying food. And to the surprise of Justice Conference attendees,1200 mini tubs of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream were handed out after Claiborne and Cohen’s talk. Now, we’re talking justice.
(Originally published in Muse Student magazine Feb. 29, 2012 Muse Feb. 2012 Love Edition
