Our DVD is now Available
We’re thrilled to announce the public release of our film! As you know, we have had many setbacks (from losing all the footage due to equipment failure after having our hard drive examined by Israeli security to waiting on stock footage to be released to us for public broadcast.) After many months, we’re happy to have the film complete so we can share our experience in Bethlehem with you.

The video is available now on YouTube. You can see it here. We pray you will forward it on to your friends and family to help us tell our story.

Our hope is to show the film in as many churches and bible study classes as possible. Please contact us if you’d like to help us show the film in your church. Our goal is for people to catch the vision and join us in Bethlehem, or to help us make gift delivery possible by contributing to the project. Again, if you think you can help show the film in your church or bible study, please contact us.

Finally, those of you who supported us last year have received copies of the DVD. If you donated last year, please give USPS some time to deliver the DVD to you. If you do not receive it by next week, please let us know so we can send you a copy.

BCP Family Picnic
Mark your calendars, because we’ll be having a picnic on November 22nd at TY park in Hollywood, FL! Some very nice folks have donated burgers and chicken to us, and we also have someone who has volunteered their time to run organized games for the kids.

We’ll be having a bounce house and some prizes, so be sure to come and have a good time with us and meet some of the other folks who have made the project possible

We’re asking folks to donate $10 per adult (ages 10&up) and $5 per child (2-9). You can sign-up online here. Please sign-up ahead of time so we can estimate the amount of food we’ll need.

All the funds raised will go to purchasing Christmas gifts.

More information and other events can be found on our events page.

BCP 2008 Team
Last but not least, we are getting ready to go back to Bethlehem in December. We’ll be in Bethlehem from December 6th through the 13th.

We have a team of 13 people from 3 States. We’re very excited to see what God will be doing this year. We pray you will support us again with your prayers and giving. We can’t do this project without you.

Please pray for our safety and for God’s will to be done during the project. We’ll be blogging daily and uploading pictures, so be sure to check your email and our website. Ali will also be updating his facebook profile with updates along the way (when possible). We’ll also be updating Twitter. Here’s the link to our twitter page.

The best is yet to come!

Well, it’s been busy busy busy with the project. I was only home one night last week and we’re getting closer and closer to December. People have started to talk Christmas and though it’s not yet a forefront topic, it does come up form time-to-time (and everytime it does, I feel my heart beat faster). We’re also getting closer and closer to welcoming the new addition to the family; Jenni is due on October 25th! The next couple of months are going to be a whirlwind…Pray!

So what’s been happening? Last week, like I said, was very busy, here’s all we’ve been up to:

This Saturday and Sunday were for family time. While the week was busy, success cannot be measured by effort. We had a big crowd on Saturday, but the crowds were small on Monday and Friday (very small indeed)

We’re learning a lot about event planning. We have a a lot of great concepts, but we haven’t been doing a good job of executing them. Mainly, the problem is advertising. A successful event, we’ve learned, needs 6 months of planning and advertising (with the first 2 months dedicated to planning). What is also very important is a planning committee (something we need) with expertise in specific areas (i.e. advertising, web, entertainment, marketing materials, food etc).

This is why I’ve decided to plan all 2008 events in February of ‘08. This will give us the opportunity to set the strategy and needs for the year. While this is great for next year, what about this year (you might ask)? Where are we now?

Be encouraged, we’re about 1/3rd of the way on fundraising. We have a long way to go, but we’re optimistic. We know God will provide. How? We don’t know. I keep reminding myself that this project is all about faith in action; And, whenever I forget, Jenni reminds me with her calm and faithful optimism.

The “go-and-do-it” person within me is hoping to do a garage-sale at our church in early October. I’ve been thinking about this for some time. We don’t have a lot of advertising time, so I’m not sure how successful this would be (what do you think? Comment on the blog and let me know!). Perhaps some of you out there can help, or maybe you can do something at your church, school, home, etc?

Another way to help is to checkout our (and then email out) or pledge at PledgeBank see: http://www.pledgebank.com/Bethlehem. I’ve just discovered pledgebank and I like it a lot. You can create and share pledges easily. You can also add pledges through facebook (my new favorite tool as you know). I’ve created a pledge on and off of facebook so let’s see what happens. I created the pledge today and already one person has signed up! 24 to go! We’ll remain faithful and patient. As always, the best is yet to come.

I never got into myspace, but I have been fiddling with facebook and wouldn’t you know it, social networking is indeed fun! I like all the widgets you can add to your profile. I’ve added a map with the places of I’ve been and a list of some of my favorite books. I also added the upcoming events. Not all of them, but most of them (I don’t like adding events unless I have all the information, so no events with TBD). In any case, look me up on facebook.

Speaking of TBD events. It looks like I’ll have the opportunity to speak at Palm Beach Atlantic next month. It’s not definite yet, we’re still working out the date. I’ll keep you posted. And, fear not, it’ll definitely be on facebook (heh) Also in the works is a film showing of Encounter Point at the FIU south campus. More on that too when it’s ready.

Also, for those of you in the Miami area, I’m going to a JADA (Jewish Arab Dialog Association) meeting on the evening of the 16th. I don’t have the location and exact time as yet. Let me know if you want to come and I’ll email you the information once I have it.

Finally, if you have a chance come on out to Nova on the 17th for Perspectives on Justice and Peace in Israel-Palestine or to FIU North campus for a showing of Encounter Point. Don’t forget about Steps Towards Peace on the 29th. See you soon, I hope.

The Steps Towards Peace Walk-a-thon is moving along well. Tonight I spent some time working on the online registration and sponsorship buttons which took a little more time than I had expected.

If you take a look at the Events page, you will now see the ability to register online for the walk. Also, those sponsoring you can do so online as well using a credit card. I’ve also added the registration and sponsorship forms for those of you who don’t like PayPal and would rather download the forms.

It’s pretty late and I had planned on adding the events at Nova on the 17th (panel discussion on “Perspectives on Justice and Peace in Israel-Palestine”) and the screening of Encounter Point (see the trailer) at FIU on the 21st to the site. But doing so is just going to have to wait until tomorrow.

For now just mark your calendars. Expect more details tomorrow. Don’t forget to register for the walk; there are only 25 days till the 29th!

It’s been a while! We have been buried with things to do between the film script, getting the word out, and fundraising.

If that were not enough, our site was hacked this Monday! Apparently, there was a vulnerability in our picture gallery component that allowed an attacker to upload files to our site. Fortunately, that’s been addressed now. Trying to pin that down was trying and those of you who visited our site on Monday had a nice little surprise with the hacked homepage.

Now for the good news. We’re going to have quite a few events coming up in the next few months- starting with this weekend.

This Saturday Ali is going to be in New Smyrna Beach and Orlando. Ali will also be heading to Gainesville in October to talk about the project and show the film “Encounter Point” ( see the trailer here) Let us know if you’d like to show the film in your community. We’ll be happy to speak with you about coming out and working with you.

Finally, the biggest news is the new Events section and our first “Big Event”: the Steps Towards Peace walk on September 29th. Come join us as we walk for peace in Weston, FL

Also, if you haven’t noticed, you can now Donate via Paypal. We’re in full swing now. Truly, the best is yet to come.