20/20 are the numbers used to designate healthy vision. Those of us outside of that range are desperately aware of our deficiency. With the assistance of trained specialists and at personal cost, we do whatever we can in order to see more clearly. With corrective lenses in place, we marvel as the formerly unseen things come into clarity. Yet, even with 20/20 vision, many of us continue to walk through our diverse world incapable of seeing those who are not like “me.” With devastating impacts, our inability to see how and whom God sees are causing us to prioritize being right over being in relationship.
While many factors have shaped how and whom we see, few have had more influence than our theologies and political preferences. On Tuesday, September 25th at 5pPST, join our friends Tess Clarke and Jenny Yang as they share their practice-based journeys of moving beyond rigid, personalized theologies and partisan politics to embracing a spacious faith, forging uncommon friendships and joining God in remaking our world.
Tuesday, September 25th – 5:00pm PT/8pmET
Panelists
Jenny Yang – SVP of Advocacy & Policy
Jenny Yang provides oversight for all advocacy initiatives and policy positions at World Relief. She has worked in the Resettlement section of World Relief as the Senior Case Manager and East Asia Program Officer, where she focused on advocacy for refugees in the East Asia region and managed the entire refugee caseload for World Relief. Prior to World Relief, she worked at one of the largest political fundraising firms in Maryland managing fundraising and campaigning for local politicians. She is co-author of Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion and Truth in the Immigration Debate, serves as Chair of the Refugee Council USA (RCUSA) Africa Work Group, and was named one of the “50 Women to Watch” by Christianity Today.
Tess Clarke – Co-Founder of Seek the Peace
@seek_the_peace & @welcomerefugee
In the fall of 2008 Tess co-founded the peace-building and advocacy organization, Seek the Peace (SEEK) with her husband, Jason Clarke. Tess has been serving alongside refugees since the founding of SEEK which has included traveling and working in the Middle East with Iraqi and Syrian refugees along with the many refugee communities in Dallas, Texas where she currently resides. Tess has a passion to see refugee and immigrant women and children protected and empowered along with helping the American church recognize and revere the image of God in the vulnerable and marginalized.
In 2017 Tess joined the national advocacy organization We Welcome Refugees as a storyteller, and advocate helping mobilize Christians toward radical welcome of “the stranger and foreigner.”
Tess has trained hundreds of refugee and American women in peacemaking practices while utilizing these opportunities to build bridges between women of different faiths at the same time. She is also the mother of three empowered children.
Facilitator
Jer Swigart – Co-Founding Director of The Global Immersion Project
Jer has been working in the field of peacemaking and conflict transformation since 2005 when he acted as the liaison between an international NGO, the faith community, the Pakistani military, and the United Nations in the aftermath of a massive earthquake in Northern Pakistan.
Informed by that unique multi-cultural experience, his career as a church planter and Lead Pastor in the San Francisco Bay Area, and because of his deep engagement within national and international conflicts, he co-founded The Global Immersion Project in an effort to form men and women into Everyday Peacemakers who are equipped and mobilized to reach across boundaries and seek human flourishing.
He specializes in creating dynamic, collaborative spaces of integrative learning that move students beyond theory and into practice. Jer completed his undergrad work at The University of Northwestern-St. Paul and his M.Div. at Fuller Theological Seminary where he focused his studies on innovative leadership in peace and reconciliation and was the recipient of the prestigious David Allen Hubbard Award. He currently resides in Bend, OR with his family and writes HERE.