The Bluffton University Pathways to Mission and Vocation project will host a conference on immigration, Beyond Borders: The Role of Immigration in a Global Community, March 19-21, on the Bluffton campus,

Those interested in attending should register soon by contacting Susan Collier at 419-358-3435 or [email protected] for registration information or visit www.bluffton.edu/beyondborders. The registration deadline has been extended to March 10.

The three-day conference is open to all who would like to participate and has been planned especially for those in the academic community, church community and immigrants and will explore issues relating to immigration and ask the question: How can the Church be faithful to Jesus' call to "welcome the stranger"?

The keynote speaker will be Daniel Carroll Rodas, author of Christians at the Border: Immigration, the Church, and the Bible. Baldemar Velasquez, president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, will also present a plenary session. The weekend will conclude on Sunday with a church service at 10:30 a.m. at Lima Mennonite Church.

Carroll is a distinguished professor of Old Testament at Denver seminary and adjunct professor at El Seminario Teol'ogico Centroamericano in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

The theme of the conference comes from Matthew 25:35, "For I was a stranger and you welcomed me." There will be more than 25 workshops and panel presentations including speakers from Bluffton University, Defiance College, a video focusing on connections between Goshen College and Ap'a'on, Mexico and others.

The Beyond Borders Conference is sponsored and hosted by Bluffton University. Co-sponsors are Ohio Mennonite Conference and Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Great Lakes. Co-hosts are Lima Mennonite Church and Brazo en Brazo Mennonite Church and Ministry.