Just because most of us are not in a time of our lives to travel to Africa or Asia does not mean we are unable to work in God’s power to change the world. Some of the biggest needs in the world are right in front of us. Attorney, professor, and advocate for global justice Jay Milbrandt elaborates on his personal experience,

“The world is coming to our doorstep and there are so many things to be doing throughout the Midwest. I just think of the refugee crisis. So many of the issues I’ve worked with have been human rights in Burma; people whose homes have been destroyed. Now the Midwest is home to so many hundreds of thousands of Karen families from Burma, who fled to the refugee camps in Thailand and then ended up over here.”

Jay was able to see this powerful opportunity that God placed in front of him.

“I jumped on a plane several times back to Thailand and I had actually been staying in the Karen refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border. Then there are these current families flying back, landing in Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and starting a new life.”

“It sort of hit me that it kind of comes full circle. The place I call home is now becoming the home to so many people that I had wanted to serve or tried to serve abroad.”

He and his wife decided to take action and get involved.

“We’ve been trying to get involved with refugee sorts of issues. I’m on the board for Arrive Ministries, which is based out of Minneapolis. They do refugee resettlement, but it casts a broader net for up the Midwest. We get a lot of people involved in their churches, and families who want to adopt refugee families coming in.”

In different seasons of our lives that step of faith can look very different. Sometimes it will mean going and doing, and other times it means staying and investing.


Jay Milbrandt is an attorney and serves as the Director of the Global Justice Program and Associate Director of the Nootbaar Institute for Law, Religion, and Ethics at Pepperdine University School of Law.

Changing the world with God