On April 30, JPB's band of 22 pilgrims from New England and Texas arrive in Jerusalem to begin our annual pilgrimage. Our encounter with the Lord God, together with the peoples and history of the Holy Land, will take us though central Israel, the Galilee, the West Bank and Jerusalem. The journey together promises to change our lives. Please pray for our insight and safety by joining us with these words of the Methodist minister, Leslie Weatherhead (1893 - 1976): O Christ our Master, Give us confidence. Deepen and increase our trust of you. May we walk with our fellows not as those who have heard of you But as those who are sure of you; Not as those who know about you But as those who know

Summer 2019 is shaping up to be yet another record-breaking summer for JPB, with five summer institutes scheduled to launch for youth and adults in July and August. In total, we received more than 210+ applications and are expecting approximately 125 participants (Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Druze) to attend our programs. The Summer Institutes include highly qualified teens from over twenty schools across the Holy Land, of which several are current partners with JPB in offering JPB's signature Leadership and Peacebuilding courses to their students. The JPB-Retorika EXCEL Institute for adults will include a diverse array of passionate Israeli and Palestinian teachers from both private and

Executive Director, Fr. Nicholas and capstone intern, Tamam, lead experiential learning at Episcopal Church in Connecticut’s Spring Training for Clergy.

In late-February, JPB joined the United Religions Initiative (URI) as a Cooperation Circle. URI's work focuses on bridging differences between people of all beliefs, creating community, and solving local and global challenges. Joining URI has been a longtime goal, as it helps JPB connect with other interfaith organizations and peacebuilders across the USA, Middle East, and world. Through URI, we will be able to share updates about our work, participate in joint peacebuilding projects and trainings, as well as reach a larger audience with our message of reconciliation.

JPB was represented at the recent Project ECHO Immersion training session by JPB volunteer, Dr. Danna Kurtin. At this training she had an opportunity to explain the JPB program to a diverse group of healthcare workers and educators. Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is a collaborative model of medical education and care management that empowers clinicians everywhere to provide better care to more people, where they live. The ECHO model dramatically increases access to knowledge and support. It does this by a continuous learning system and partnering providers with specialist mentors. JPB leadership plans to adapt this model for continued development of the Interfaith

Surviving descriptions of Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land date from the fourth century. If you are a Confrère of the Order of St John and missed JPB's 2019 pilgrimage to Jerusalem, you are invited to join centuries of pilgrims who have made this journey next May (2020). In partnership with JPB, the pilgrimage will be led by The Rev. Canon Nicholas Porter, KStJ. Pilgrims will visit not only Jerusalem and The St John Eye Hospital, but also Bethlehem, the Jordan River Valley, Jericho, and the Crusader city of St Jean d'Acre. Pilgrims will stay in the American Colony Hotel, located between the hospital and Jerusalem's Old City. Other Confrères who have gone on Priory pilgrimages have f

On March 31, JPB convened 30 Jewish, Christian, and Muslim teens and adults from across Houston to give their time and talents volunteering at the local nonprofit organization, Houston Food Bank. The Houston Food Bank leads the fight against hunger in Houston by distributing food donations to needy families that would otherwise go to waste. As America's largest food bank, the Food Bank distributes 122 million nutritious meals through its network of 1,500 community partners in southeast Texas, feeding 800,000 individuals each year. All smiles after a great day of service JPB teens spent the morning sorting food donations and creating gift-packages for children. After a light-lunch, the teens