Peace Catalyst President Rick Love spoke at this year's Christ at the Checkpoint conference in Bethlehem, and you can now watch the video of his talk. It's about 30 minutes long but worth watching to better understand the situation in Israel/Palestine. Enjoy!

In recent years, I have been accumulating a list of key principles I am learning from Jesus about loving others practically. These are core values that Jesus modeled and taught, and they are not optional for those who would follow the Messiah and wage peace in a broken world.

Are you fed up with hate speech, inflammatory rhetoric, and uncivil discourse in politics and social media? We in Peace Catalyst International are… so we are beginning the Waging Peace Campaign!

When I told my Jesus-following friends I would be speaking in a mosque, testifying to Jesus’ work in my life and how He motivates me to stand against discrimination, hate crimes and oppression, I was met with suspicion and confusion. With Islamophobia on the rise, countering the dehumanization of Muslims is an unpopular stance, but it is the right one. 

What's one thing I can do this week to imitate Jesus' attitude toward me, proactively and creatively loving and blessing all kinds of people - even my enemies?

Don’t believe all the negative press about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Seeds of peace are being sown by both Israelis and Palestinians in this entrenched conflict. 

I was invited to speak at the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference in Bethlehem this year, so I invited my good friend Tim McDonell to join me. We went early to meet with Israelis and Palestinians before the conference. Our natural tendency is to focus on the plight of the Palestinians, so we determined to fight this prejudice by listening to and empathizing with both Palestinians AND Israelis.

When we have been forgiven and covered in God’s grace, we are able to love and forgive those who have missed the mark of God’s perfect love and of faith in their dealings with us. 

Our work is not rocket science. Rather, it’s simply a matter of opening our hearts (and often our homes) to meet people where they are, to build genuine friendship, and to share with these friends the little things in life.