Leroy Barber

Executive Director of Word Made Flesh

Leroy Barber has dedicated more than 20 years to eradicating poverty, confronting homelessness, restoring local neighborhoods, healing racism, and living what Dr. King called “the beloved community.”

Leroy is currently the Global Executive Director of Word Made Flesh, an international organization that works among the most vulnerable of the world’s poor. Leroy is on the boards of Mission Year and the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA). He is the author of New Neighbor: An Invitation to Join Beloved Community, and Everyday Missions: How Ordinary People Can Change the World and was also chosen as a contributor to Tending to Eden, and the groundbreaking book UnChristian: What a New Generation Thinks About Christianity and Why It Matters. His third book, Red, Brown, Yellow, Black and White: Who’s More Precious In God’s Sight? launches soon.  

Stephanie Ahn Mathis 

Director of Spiritual Formation at Warner Pacific College

Rev. Stephanie Ahn Mathis is a Tasian: Texas-Asian and is a licensed minister through the Evangelical Covenant Church. She lives with her husband Mark (also a Covenant pastor) in SE Portland. Stephanie currently serves as an adjunct professor in faith, justice, advocacy, leadership, and spiritual formation at Warner Pacific College and is a stay-at-home mama to sweet toddler Noah. Stephanie has a Masters in Biblical Justice and Christian Social Ethics from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and her bachelors in English (with a concentration in African-American Literature) from the University of Texas (Hook 'Em, Horns). Stephanie enjoys consuming good food, laughing with people, laughing at herself, thinking about exercising, ridiculous dancing, thoughtful art, telling people they are loved, having her mind blown by diverse relationships, and kickin' it with family and loved ones.

Ben Sands

CEO of Portland Leadership Foundaion

At Portland Leadership Foundation, we believe healthy relationships should be the framework for addressing systemic change in our City. We are strategic about the relationships we build, and we live by a basic rule that we don’t do anything alone. Passionate about the City, my goal as the CEO of Portland Leadership Foundation is to strengthen our current initiatives while discerning what leadership, mentoring, or education initiatives might be next for our team. My role on the PLF team centers on building strategic relationships and overseeing the quality control of our organization. My joys include: Jesus Christ, my family, Gonzaga basketball, writing (speeches and the like), and the nostalgia of Friday night high school football.

JR Lilly 

Naya Family Center - Development Data Specialist 

JR Lilly was born in Fort Defiance, Ariz., as a member of the Dine (Navajo) Nation.  A passion for serving the Native American community is evident in many aspects of JR's life, most noticeably in his serving as a youth minister with Indian Ministries of North America, leading multiple service trips to his reservation, and guest lecturing in various classroom settings. He has also served different tribes in North Carolina, Alabama, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Virginia, New Mexico, and Arizona with several projects over the years. As part of a new generation that straddles a cultural chasm, JR leads efforts to further the conversation around defining the role of our generation for both Native and Non-Native communities.