[SOURCE: ChristianStandard.com]

Recent editions of the Christian Standard magazine feature HIU alumni Bethany Anderson (BA ’12) and Tommy Nixon (BA ’01) for their work helping churches transform their cities through their non-profit organization, Solidarity. Solidarity provides leadership development, job training and placement, church planting, parenting programs, English classes, gang prevention and intervention, and their latest endeavor, immigration legal services.

As Solidarity has grown, it has adapted programs and services to the needs of the community. Through the partnership with their neighbors, it has become increasingly clear to the Solidarity team that immigration status has become one of the biggest obstacles.

Alumna, Bethany Anderson, is the Initiative Director and Lead Immigration Specialist at Solidarity. “We have seen the complicated immigration systems and conflicts worldwide that push people to migrate. We have come to recognize the uniqueness of each client we serve, as well as the thread of desperation and dreaming of a better future that connects them all,” Bethany shares. “Most important, we have been challenged to see the dignity in all humanity as we stand face-to-face with people who are really no different from us: equally broken and equally sanctified.”

As a co-founder and the Executive Director of Solidarity, Nixon is deeply committed to his organization, and he is especially passionate about “helping Christians really experience God.” In urban ministry, he said, “if the goal is justice, then I might wind up angry. But if the goal is loving God, then I’ll wind up growing closer to him.”

// To read the Christian Standard cover story about Bethany Anderson’s heart for immigrant families, click here.

// To read the Christian Standard cover story about Solidarity’s growth and Tommy Nixon’s journey toward grace, click here.