We welcome Anton Flores to Goshen College. He will speak in two chapels and interact with students and faculty in other settings as well. Anton is a member of Alterna Community and leads trips to Guatemals for Mission Year.

Named ?Person of the Year 2009? by Atlanta Latino newspaper, Anton Flores is a prophetic voice of justice for immigrants. In 2006 Flores left his tenure-track position as assistant professor and chair of the department of Human Services and Sociology at LaGrange College to follow a call to a life of solidarity with newcomers from Latin America, especially unauthorized and unwelcome immigrants. He devotes his full-time energies without compensation to a ministry called Alterna in LaGrange, Georgia. Alterna is a Christian missional community of U.S. citizens and Latin American immigrants devoted to the ancient practices of accompaniment, advocacy, and hospitality.

Currently, Alterna consists of the Flores family, two families from Guatemala, two from Mexico and three young couples who are serving through a residential internship partnership with Mission Year.

Throughout the year you will find Anton sharing common meals and prayers with the other members of Alterna, visiting detainees at the local jail and a nearby immigration detention center, walking alongside immigrants in crisis, organizing public acts of resistance to the dehumanization and criminalization of immigrants, and leading delegations and organizing community development efforts in Guatemala.

Anton and his wife, Charlotte have been married since 1994 and have two wonderful sons, Jairo and Eli. Anton is a former member of the steering committee of Christian Peacemaker Teams and DOOR (a ministry of Mennonite Mission Network). He currently serves on the board of directors of Jubilee Partners, a Christian service community in rural Georgia that serves as a place of welcome to refugees.

Mission Year is a year long urban ministry program focused on Christian service and discipleship where they take teams of people, place them in an area of need, and help them to serve people and create community. Those in Mission Year are committed to the command of Jesus to ?love God and love people,? by placing the needs of our neighbors first and developing committed disciples of Christ with a heart for the poor.

Alterna Community - http://www.alternacommunity.com/

Mission Year - http://www.missionyear.org/