The third annual Justice Conference drawing attendees from nearly every state and dozens of countries around the world is officially underway this weekend in Philadelphia, where Christian organizers and speakers hope to promote discussion about social justice issues and equip participants to engage those areas theologically.

"The Justice Conference is interesting [because] we're not really cause-based, we really try and have a conversation about justice ... the theology of justice with the idea that hopefully, being able to speak to that and help people as they go into different causes, they're going to be able to do that from a different perspective," Ken Wytsma, who helped found The Justice Conference in 2010, told The Christian Post via phone Friday.

Wytsma is also a creative adviser for World Relief, president of Kilns College School of Theology and Mission in Oregon, and lead pastor of Antioch Church. more >>

Every year since 1978, the Coalition for Christian Outreach (CCO), has hosted the Jubilee conference in Pittsburgh, Pa., to inspire students to live out their Christian faith in every area of their lives.

More than 70 speakers, authors, artists and musicians conducted lectures and group classes to engage students and challenge them to think about the public implications of their personal transformation, as they reveal Christ's love through their actions on and off campus.

The theme for this year's conference, which was held on Feb. 15-17, was "Transform Everything," which is a call to action, asking students to "…take a deeper look into the truth of the Gospel and how we are called by God to be agents of change – of transformation." more >>

Nikolas Toocheck is a boy on a mission. The 9-year-old, who hails from West Chester, Penn., has made the altruistic commitment to run a marathon in each of the seven continents on behalf of his "Running the World for Children" campaign, which raises money for Operation Warm, a nonprofit organization which provides new winter coats for underprivileged children throughout the U.S.

Toocheck completed his first full marathon in December 2012 in Lewes, Del., and will be running again come Feb. 25, 2013 in the 26.2-mile White Continent Marathon & Half in Antarctica.

Throughout his world adventures, Toocheck hopes to raise $1 million for Operation Warm, which was founded by his grandfather, Richard Sanford, over a decade ago and successfully provided 200,000 children in 40 U.S. states with new winter coats in 2012-2013. more >>

The Christian community is currently mourning the death of Richard Twiss, CEO and founder of Wiconi International, a nonprofit organization which seeks to unify the country's evangelical community with the Native American community.

Twiss, 58, died on Saturday, Feb. 9 after suffering a heart attack on Wednesday, Feb. 6 prior to attending the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.

As Wiconi International posted on its Facebook page, Twiss "passed into the eternal kingdom of the Creator as he took up the journey of life on the other side, to be with the Lord whom he loved and served so diligently on this side of life." more >>

The commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield recently hired two men who specialize in dealing with faith-based non-profit institutions. The firm recruited Eric Knowles, who will serve as Senior Director and will oversee the company's Religious Facilities Group, and Rob Fletcher, who will also aid in this department.

Knowles has worked in real estate for 27 years and has spent 14 of them years working with churches.

"When you serve church clients, their unique property types along with their unique situations, you have to have a certain amount of tolerance, patients, and you have to be willing to put the client's interests first and foremost," Knowles told The Christian Post. "A lot of our business is honestly counseling church leadership on how to make well informed decisions regarding their facilities." more >>

An interfaith atheist activist has claimed that the modern atheist movement in the United States and Europe lacks concern for the poor. Walker Bristol, a blogger for The Huffington Post, wrote an essay posted on Saturday arguing that the "new atheism" of the 21st century has been rightly stereotyped as "elitist" and "self-satisfied."

"The atheist movement, in composition and purpose, has in the last decade failed to demonstrate a meaningful dedication to fighting economic inequality and building a safe space for nontheists regardless of their socioeconomic class," wrote Bristol.

"Despite all their talk of building a better world and upholding diversity, contemporary atheism and humanism's most prominent authors and leaders have been suspiciously silent on the topic of poverty." more >>