Former hostage to recount ordeal, share belief in ‘futility of violence’ Feb. 28-March 3 at Kanuga

HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. — International peacemakers Jerry and Lucille “Sis” Levin will share the story of how a hostage ordeal taught them the value of nonviolence during Kanuga’s Bowen Conference Feb. 28-March 3.

A former CNN bureau chief, Jerry Levin was kidnapped in 1984 by extremists while on assignment in Lebanon and held hostage for nearly a year. Sis Levin played a crucial role in forging the nonviolent effort that led to her husband’s escape and told the story in her best-selling book Beirut Diary, which was made into the television movie “Held Hostage.”

The couple says the experience forged their belief in “the futility of violence” and launched them into careers as international teachers and advocates for nonviolent reconciliation. From 2001 to early 2009, they served on Christian Peacemaker Teams working on projects promoting nonviolence in the Middle East. Sis Levin, a certified professional mediator with a doctorate in peace education, dedicates much of her work to helping schools and universities develop comprehensive programs for teaching alternatives to violence.

The Levins’ keynote addresses will focus on the theme “Nonviolence: A Faithful Reponse.” Workshops will offer new ways of addressing and overcoming violence as well as provide tools and techniques for changing today’s thinking, policies and teaching about violence and conflict resolution.

They will be joined by the Rev. Dr. Kevin Higgs, senior pastor of the groundbreaking United Methodist Church of the Reconciler, a multicultural, multiracial congregation in Birmingham, Ala., which incorporates the principles of scriptural-based nonviolent living in all aspects of church activities including staff development, outreach, teaching and preaching.

The Rev. Dr. Titus Presler, a missiologist of the Episcopal Church with experience in global conflict, will serve as conference chaplain. He has taught mission studies at several seminaries and is past president of Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest and academic dean of General Theological Seminary in New York.

This event is coordinated by Sallie Craig Huber of Newton, Mass., an international public health specialist who has worked in more than 30 countries throughout Africa, Asia, the Near East and Latin America.

The Bowen Conference was created through the generosity of Buford Bowen as an annual conference to explore Christian commitment. Since the first was held in 1989, the Bowen Conference has grown into one of Kanuga's premier conferences.

Affiliated with the Episcopal Church since 1928, Kanuga is a 1,400-acre camp and conference center in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Hendersonville, N.C. For more information, visit www.kanuga.org or call 828-692-9136.