Palestinian College President Speaks
Dr. Bishara Awad, president of Bethlehem Bible College, located in the West Bank of Palestine, will be speaking about challenges to peace between Israel and Palestine at a range of churches and in various venues over the next several weeks in Michigan and elsewhere in the United States.
On Thursday, April 16, Awad will be speaking at Fair Haven Ministries in Jenison, Mich., at an event jointly sponsored by the Christian Reformed Church’s Office of Social Justice and the Reformed Church in America. The event is free and open to the public and begins at 7 p.m.
One of the issues he will address at Fairhaven Ministries is, “Ways for Christians in America to Support the Church in the Holy Land.” Awad will be joined in Jenison by Marlin and Sally Vis, RCA missionaries to Israel.
Awad is the founding president of Bethlehem Bible College. In the fall of 2009, Bishara will have completed 40 years of service on behalf of the Christian community in the Holy Land, 30 of these at Bethlehem Bible College.
“Orphaned as a boy in 1948 when a stray bullet killed his father, Dr. Awad's personal journey has taken many turns. He now leads a remarkably effective educational institution bringing light into the conflict and confusion at the crossroads of the Middle East,” says promotional material from the CRC’s OSJ.
Having lived several years in the United States both as a student and then later as a teacher but now based in Bethlehem, Awad has an unique perspective when he speaks about “life on the ground, behind the headlines” in Palestine, says David Adams, a Grand Rapids-area pastor who serves in the United States as a representative of the college located in the town in which Christ was born.
Awad holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and chemistry from Dakota Western University and a master’s degree in Christian education from the University of Missouri. He attended seminary at the Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary in Fresno, Calif. He also has an honorary doctorate from a university in Jerusalem.
“We are in Bethlehem in order to be the light of Christ to the community. As an interdenominational organization, we strive to help bring about Christian unity in the face of divisive pressures,” says Awad in a letter published on the college’s website.
“We engage and serve the Muslim and Christian communities around us… We are tremendously blessed to be able to be a part of God's Kingdom in the Holy Land, and pray that His light would continue to shine from Bethlehem.”
Bethlehem Bible College, he says, seeks to minister to the local community through its Al Aman Counseling Center, the Shepherd Society, Bethlehem’s first public library located at the college, an English as a second language program,, a tour guide program and a mass media program.
While in this country, Awad will be speaking to a wide range of denominational groups and meeting with various church leaders. He will also be attending a pastor’s conference in Florida.
For more information about Awad’s itinerary while in the U.S., as well as background on his ministry, contact David Adams, 1-616-437-7141, or via email: <[email protected]>. For more information about the college, visit: http://www.bethlehembiblecollege.edu/.
