Leroy Barber, president of Mission Year, an urban initiative that seeks to place 18-29-year-olds in a mission and communal living situation for a year, will speak at Bluffton University's Spiritual Life Week Forum at 11 a.m.,Tuesday, Oct. 26, in Founders Hall. His presentation is free and open to the public.

Barber has spent more than 20 years confronting poverty, homelessness and racism in the United States. In 1990, he served homeless families and children who were living on the streets of Philadelphia and founded Restoration Ministries to carry on his work there.

He joined Focused Community Strategies Urban Ministries in 1997 and was founding director of Atlanta Youth Academy, a private elementary school that provides Christian education to low-income families in the inner city. He became Mission Year president in 2006.

Barber is pastor of Community Fellowship Church in Atlanta and is on the boards of Atlanta Youth Academy and Discovering Opportunities for Outreach and Reflection.

He is also a contributor to the book "UnChristian: What a New Generation Thinks about Christianity and Why It Matters," which addresses negative perceptions people have of Christians in this generation.