BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN TZID:America/Anchorage X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Anchorage BEGIN:VEVENT UID:241@alaskaworldaffairs.org DTSTART;TZID=America/Anchorage:20170907T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/Anchorage:20170907T203000 DTSTAMP:20231222T085644Z URL:https://alaskaworldaffairs.org/archived-events/world-religions/ SUMMARY:Practice What You Preach: Can World Religions Coexist? || A conver sation featuring leaders of multiple faiths DESCRIPTION:\nFaith Leaders -\nPastor Michael Bunton (Baptist Pastor at Gre ater Friendship Baptist Church)\nPastor Michael Andrew Bunton was born to William A. Bunton Jr\, Senior Pastor of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Buffalo\, New York\, and First Lady Wanda Lee Bunton. Pastor Bunton is the youngest of five siblings. Three of his siblings currently are pastori ng in the lower 48.\n\nPastor M.A. Bunton was licensed in 1989 and ordaine d into ministry in 1992 by Senior Pastor William A. Bunton Jr. who has bee n pastoring for over 60 years. Pastor M. A. Bunton preaches and teaches th e word of God with conviction and has led numerous lost souls to Christ.\n \nPastor Bunton worked in full-time as an Associate Pastor at Shiloh Missi onary Baptist Church under the leadership of Dr. A.B. Patterson. Pastor Bu nton has served in ministry at Shiloh for twenty (20) years in various cap acities and continues to share the love of Christ in the community\, such as the Rescue Mission\, Bro. Francis and Beans Cafe. He also ministered at the 4th Avenue Jail/Correction Facility\, conducting 2 hour Bible classes every Friday.\n\nWhile employed at Shiloh\, he was the Associate Pastor f or the following Ministries: Youth Young Adult\, Membership/Congregational Care\, Parish\, Assimilation\, as well as the Worship Pastor. He is a ful ly devoted disciple of Christ and on fire for the Lord.\n\nPrior to workin g full-time in ministry at Shiloh\, Pastor Bunton worked in the Anchorage School District for five years and for the University of Alaska Anchorage as the Director of the Upward Bound Program for seven years. The Upward Bo und Program was a program that catered to First Generation and Low Income Students around the State. In his tenure there\, the program was regarded as one of the most successful in the nation in spite of a significantly lo w GPA in the State of Alaska.\n\nPastor Bunton is married to First Lady/De aconess Nathalie Bunton for 14 years. First Lady Bunton is employed with t he Federal Aviation Administration as a Manager for the Air Traffic Organi zation and fully supports her husband in ministry. Pastor and First Lady B unton have three daughters\, Tatiana\, 8\, Thalia\, 10 and Tamia\, 12 who are baptized believers and are great testimonies in their schools.\n\nImam Imad Enchassi\, PhD (Muslim Imam at the Islamic Society of Greater Oklaho ma City)\nImam Imad Enchassi grew up in the Palestinian refugee camps in B eirut\, Lebanon. His experiences as a child surrounded by war and conflict have shaped his passion as an adult for promoting unity and understanding . When asked about living through the massacres in the Sabra and Shatila r efugee camps\, Enchassi says\, “Sometimes\, I think God exposed me to so much hatred and violence so that I can be a voice for love and peace.”\ n\nAfter moving to the United States at the age of seventeen\, Enchassi be gan a long journey in education\, receiving business management degrees fr om South Plains College and Southern Nazarene University and\, then\, comp leting his masters in management from the University of Phoenix. He used t hose degrees to excel in the restaurant industry as a regional director an d advisor for nearly two decades.\n\nIn 2004\, Enchassi made a career move \, turning his previous part-time volunteering activities into a full time commitment by becoming the founder and executive director of the Mercy Ed ucation Foundation – a multi-million dollar project creating the first a ccredited Islamic school of Oklahoma City. During that time\, he also beca me the founder\, imam and president of the Islamic Society of Greater Okla homa City (ISGOC). In that role\, he studied overseas at the Daawa Univers ity Institute and the University Institute for Islamic Studies in Lebanon\ , where he received his bachelors\, masters and doctorate degree in Islami c Studies. In addition\, he earned a certificate of “Apostolic Successio n”* earned by a selected few.\n\nBesides being the senior Imam at ISGOC\ , the chairman of Islamic studies and Chaplain at Oklahoma City University \, an adjunct professor of Islamic studies at both Phillips Theological Se minary and St. Paul School of Theology\, advisory board member of CAIR\, a dvisory board member of Wilbery School of Religion (Oklahoma City Universi ty)\, Enchassi is also in charge of organizing outreach and curriculum wit h the Muslim and non-Muslim communities throughout the state of Oklahoma. He is a highly sought after public speaker\, and he is regularly booked to address audiences at academic institutions\, government functions and int erfaith events to offer his expertise in Muslim principles\, comparative r eligions\, interfaith dialogue and human rights.\n\nAmong much recognition \, Enchassi has received the Interfaith Alliance “Community Service Awar d\,” CAIR “Lifetime Achievement Award”\, CAIR “Inspiration Award\, ” Dialogue Institute “Dialogue Award\,” Oklahoma Center for Communit y and Justice “Humanitarian Award\,” Oklahoma Conference of Churches “Interfaith Award” and was named a “Visionary in Religious and Educa tion Outreach” in The Daily Oklahoman’s Progress Edition.\n\nRabbi Mic hael Oblath\, PhD (Jewish Rabbi at Congregation Beth Sholom)\nRabbi Oblath has been a Rabbi of Congregation Beth Sholom in Anchorage for 10 years. H e earned his doctorate in Ancient Near Eastern Religions from Graduate The ological Union and UC Berkeley in 2001\, with emphasis (and dissertation) on the exodus from Egypt. His academic\, and rabbinic\, interest is primar ily in the critical analysis of the biblical text (and teaching it within its original\, as well as evolved\, context).\nRabbi Oblath was born and r aised in CA and has two adult sons and one granddaughter. He loves living in Alaska and enjoying the out of doors.\n\nAjahn Sompon (Buddhist Monk at Wat Alaska Yanna Varraran)\nBorn in Roi-Et\, Issan\, Thailand in 1973\; c ame to Pasco\, Washington in 1998 after serving as a Buddhist novice in Ro i-Et beginning at the age of 13 upon completion of Middle School. Before c oming to Alaska in July 2017 served at the Wat Richland Buddha Wanaram for 18 years.\n\nAfter seven years service as a novice\, took the title of Aj ahn (teacher) as a forest monk in Chonburi\, Thailand at Wat Yanangvararam .\nModerator -\nMalcolm Roberts After graduating from Princeton University in 1958 with a history degree\, Malcolm began his career as a photo journ alist\, speech writer\, issue correspondent\, policy advocate\, author\, m onthly columnist\, and editor. His work for PACE Magazine in Los Angeles i n the late 1960s led to speech writer and staff assistant for Interior Sec retary\, Alaska Governor and global citizen Wally Hickel. Since moving to Anchorage in 1971\, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Cabinet Secreta ry in Juneau for Governor Hickel and later as Special Assistant to Anchora ge Mayor Rick Mystrom. He was twice a candidate for the Alaska legislature \; an advocate for Anchorage hosting the Winter Olympic Games\; and a dedi cated supporter of the Alaska natural gas pipeline. He was a founder of Br idge Builders of Anchorage and served as president for several years.\n\n\ n\nPost-Event Podcast\n\nIf you were not able to make it to this event you can now listen to the podcast\, courtesy of Alaska Public Media\, by clic king the link below.\n\nhttps://www.alaskapublic.org/2017/10/03/practice-w hat-you-preach-can-world-religions-coexist/\n\n\n\n \; ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://alaskaworldaffairs.org/wp-content/upload s/2017/08/Coexist_SQ.jpg CATEGORIES:Global Conflict & Complexity LOCATION:East High School Auditorium\, 4025 E Northern Lights Blvd\, Anchor age\, AK\, 99508\, United States GEO:61.20059759999999;-149.8043601 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=4025 E Northern Lights Blvd \, Anchorage\, AK\, 99508\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=East High School Auditorium:geo:61.20059759999999,-149.8043601 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Anchorage X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Anchorage BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20170312T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0900 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:AKDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR