Champions of Justice Award Presented by The NHCLC to Dr. Richard Land, Mat Staver, Matthew Soerens and Robert Gittelson

SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (www.NHCLC.org), also known as the Hispanic Evangelical Association, the nation's largest Christian Hispanic organization, has announced that they will present the Champions of Justice award to recipients at the NHCLC Annual Board meeting's Recognition and Celebratory Service in Los Angeles, Calif. on April 26, 2012.

The Champions of Justice Award will be presented to Dr. Richard Land, Mat Staver, Robert Gittelson and Matthew Soerens for their Biblical and humanitarian commitment to the immigrant community.

In a year when the broken immigration system in our nation has provoked individual states to by-pass federal laws and pass their own controversial immigration laws causing families to be torn apart and racial profiling to run rampant, the NHCLC will present the Champions of Justice award to men who exemplify the fight for justice—using their time and energy to defend the principles embedded in our constitution and founding documents and taking a stand for the "foreigners" referenced in the Bible.

"I applaud the awarding of the 'Champions of Justice Award' to Mat Staver, Richard Land, Matthew Soerens and Robert Gittelson. Each recipient has worked tirelessly and sacrificially to enrich the lives of those living in the Immigrant Community. They are most deserving of this recognition," said Dr. James Tolle, La Iglesia En El Camino.

Mr. Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel (www.lc.org), Chairman of Liberty Counsel Action, Chairman of Freedom Federation, and Dean and Professor of Law at Liberty University School of Law, said, "We were all born into this world as aliens separated from God, but by grace we're adopted and our citizenship is in Heaven. Our Christian faith impels us to act justly and to walk humbly, to care for the poor, to comfort the orphan, and to treat others as Christ has treated us. We are all called to bring justice to those who cry for help. As citizens of the United States, most of us other than Native Americans are immigrants by heritage. America is a Nation of immigrants. She provides a beacon of hope that shines into the dark corners of the earth. We have an obligation to reform our broken immigration system to make it just and efficient. We must unite families, not divide them. We must welcome those who long for the same American dream that we often take for granted. The task before us is urgent. If we build injustice into the walls of America, the Nation will collapse. Injustice has consequences because God's patience will not sleep forever."

"Our current immigration system is an antiquated morass of laws which do not make sense either for immigrants themselves or for our nation's economy, security, and values of liberty and justice for all.  Millions of hard-working families, including many within our local churches, are struggling as a result," said Matthew Soerens, US Church Training Specialist, World Relief (www.worldrelief.org). "It's past time to pass immigration reform, and I believe that the Church—Hispanic, Caucasian, African-American, Asian, and everyone else, operating in unity as Christ calls us to—can be instrumental in urging our elected officials to make it happen. 

"I'm very honored to receive this award and am grateful for the good work that the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference does in mobilizing Hispanic evangelicals across the United States.  I'm convinced that the issue of immigration is a vital concern for the whole of the evangelical Church in the United States—not just for our Hispanic brothers and sisters, though many of them feel the pain of our broken system most acutely—and that if we respond in unity to the challenges and opportunities of immigration in ways consistent with biblical values of justice and compassion, it will lend credibility to the good news of Jesus Christ that we proclaim," Soerens concluded. 

Dr. Richard Land, President of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (www.erlc.org), said, "I am honored and humbled to even be considered for such an award, much less to actually receive it. It is an truly an honor."

"I am sincerely humbled, and most deeply appreciative to the NHCLC for recognizing my efforts on behalf of the immigrant community by honoring me with their Champions of Justice award. Truth be told, I will accept this award most gratefully, but I believe that I am accepting this honor as a down payment on the work that remains to be done. It is only when a fair, just, and equitable comprehensive reform of our Nation's immigration system becomes the law of the land, which I will feel truly worthy of this award. I am humbled by the NHCLC's demonstration of faith--faith in me, that what I am doing is righteous, but more importantly their faith in God that is it His will, and that by and through His grace, our laws will someday change to facilitate and demonstrate the decency and fairness that is the American way," said Robert Gittelson, Co-Founder of Conservatives for Comprehensive Immigration Reform Coalition (www.cfcir.org).

The NHCLC is expecting 3,000 in attendance at the Recognition and Celebratory Service, which will be held Thursday night at La Iglesia En El Camino in Los Angeles, Calif. and is open to the public.

The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference is the Hispanic Evangelical Association unifying, serving and representing the Hispanic Born Again Community via 34,200 member churches and 16 million constituents by reconciling the vertical and horizontal of the Christian message through the 7 Directives of Life, Family, Great Commission, Stewardship, Justice, Education and Youth. 

SOURCE National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference