SHERMAN, TEXAS—Andy Hein of the International Justice Mission (IJM) will visit Austin College March 28 and 29, providing several opportunities for interested individuals to hear his comments. He is the Central South Director of Church Mobilization for IJM, a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation, and other forms of violent oppression. The organization’s vision is to “rescue thousands, protect millions, and prove that justice for the poor is possible.” ™
Hein will be the featured speaker at the Amnesty International dinner March 28 at 5:30 p.m. in Wright Campus Center’s Mabee Hall. The student organization has invited members of the community to attend, but reservations are required and a minimum donation of $7 per person is requested to cover the meal costs. Any additional donations will support IJM. To make a reservation for the dinner, contact senior Hannah Alexander, president of the campus chapter of Amnesty International, at halexander08@austincollege.edu or call 903-813-2414 by March 23.
Hein also will speak on Thursday, March 29, at 11 a.m. in Hoxie Thompson Auditorium of Sherman Hall, presenting “How to Free 30 Million Slaves Before You Die.” The lecture is free and open to the public.
Members of the campus and Grayson County community also are invited to join Hein for a discussion on Biblical justice at a potluck dinner in Grand Avenue Presbyterian Church’s fellowship hall that evening, March 29, at 6 p.m. The gathering is hosted by Grand Avenue Presbyterian Church and Covenant Presbyterian Church.
Hein was ordained and served as a missions mobilization pastor at Saddleback Church in California for eight years, working to ensure that each of the congregation's 2,800 small groups embraced and engaged in the P.E.A.C.E. Plan, a global effort to motivate Christians to address the "five global giants" of spiritual emptiness, corrupt leadership, poverty, disease, and illiteracy. He previously had served for 15 years as a young adult and weekend teaching pastor at Seacoast Community Church in South Carolina and at Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church in Ohio. He earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from California State University, Long Beach, and today lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and children.
Hein joined IJM in 2010. He teaches that the holistic mission of the church includes seeking justice for the poor who suffer abuse and oppression, and that matters of injustice are integral to the church's mission mandate.
IJM lawyers, investigators, and aftercare professionals work with local officials to secure immediate victim rescue and aftercare, to prosecute perpetrators, and to ensure that public justice systems—police, courts, and laws—effectively protect the poor. IJM’s justice professionals work in communities in 13 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to secure tangible and sustainable protection of national laws through local court systems.
By pushing individual cases of abuse through the justice system from the investigative stage to the prosecutorial stage, IJM determines the specific source of corruption, lack of resources, or lack of good will in the system denying victims the protection of their legal systems. In collaboration with local authorities, IJM addresses these specific points of brokenness to meet the urgent needs of victims of injustice.
Austin College is a leading national independent liberal arts college located north of Dallas in Sherman, Texas. Founded in 1849, making it the oldest institution of higher education in Texas operating under original charter and name, the college is related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church (USA). Recognized nationally for academic excellence in the areas of international education, pre-professional training, and leadership studies, Austin College is one of 40 schools profiled in Loren Pope’s influential book Colleges That Change Lives.