CMEP 1835: Intersections of Faith & Advocacy

Fall 2020 Summit

November 14, 2020

 11AM - 3PM EST / 8AM-12PM PST / 6-10PM Israel-Palestine

CMEP1835 engages young adults ages 18 to 35 in advocacy, justice, and peacebuilding in the Middle East. Please join us for our half-day webinar Intersections of Faith and Advocacy: A Focus on Peacebuilding in Israel-Palestine on Nov. 14.
Speakers will include:

Munther Isaac is the academic dean of Bethlehem Bible College in Palestine and the director of the Christ at the Checkpoint conference. He is also pastor of Christmas Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem. Isaac received his PhD. from Oxford's Centre for Mission Studies. He is the author of From Land to Lands, from Eden to the Renewed Earth: A Christ-Centered Biblical Theology of the Promised Land and his most recent work is The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope.

Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon is the executive director of Churches for Middle East Peace and an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC). Cannon formerly served as the senior director of Advocacy and Outreach for World Vision U.S. on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC; as consultant to the Middle East for child advocacy issues for Compassion International in Jerusalem; as the executive pastor of Hillside Covenant Church located in Walnut Creek, California; and as director of development and transformation for extension ministries at Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, Illinois.

Carla Montilla is currently a senior Political Science and History double major and pursuing a certificate in International Relations at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Carla was raised Catholic but became involved in the Jewish community at UMass and has served as an outreach intern for UMass Hillel since her sophomore year, her role includes educating students about the Jewish community, Judaism and Israel and staffing a trip to Israel for non-Jewish leaders. Carla started a J Street U chapter at UMass to combine her passion for politics and policy with her pro-Israel, pro-Palestine, pro-peace advocacy. She currently serves as President of the UMass chapter and as Elections Chair for the Northeast, organizing chapters in the region to elect J Street endorsed candidates that support human rights and a diplomacy-first foreign policy. 

Morghan Cyr is a recent graduate from Duke University and alum of J Street U. Growing up in Oklahoma, she first visited Israel-Palestine with her church, which inspired her work and involvement with J Street. She was co-chair of J Street U Duke for 2 years and a Regional leader for two years as well. While on campus, she worked towards fostering interfaith conversations and work in order to help foster understanding and support for a two-state solution on campus. Morghan also spent some time abroad in Jerusalem, where she helped lead other college students on Ta Shema trips with J Street in Israel and Palestine to help show the side of Israel that study abroad doesn't always show. Now, she is still involved with J Street and is working for North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein's reelection campaign.

Josh Curtis  graduated from Duke University in 2019 with majors in Economics and Asian & Middle Eastern Studies. While at Duke, Josh was active in Jewish life, helped cultivate holistic student engagement with the Middle East, and co-chaired the campus’s J Street U chapter for three years. Since high school, he has travelled to Israel/Palestine and the wider MENA region on four occasions. These experiences have taught him the importance of narrative in shaping conflict and development, and the consequent necessity of grassroots organizing—not just policymaking—to address issues of trauma and identity. He currently works at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, D.C., focusing on transnational democratic challenges and responding to crises. He still volunteers with J Street via the Advocacy Corps and the DC Metro chapter.

To learn more about CMEP1835 and how you can get involved visit: https://cmep.org/about/cmep1835/