Rev. Dr. Andrew & Cari Conklin-Larsen
PROGRAM DIRECTORS | SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Andy and Cari are peacemakers devoted to engaging their “other” as followers of Jesus Christ, believing this is a core characteristic of true disciples of Jesus. Andy uses his camera to build bridges of understanding between groups and to decrease social distance. His photography has appeared in the National Geographic, Christianity Today, and many other publications. He has also appeared multiple times on local television and radio programs sharing about peacemaking with Muslim communities and peacemaking in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 2011 he was involved for three months in the city of Hebron in the Palestinian West Bank with EAPPI (Ecumenical Accompaniment Program for Palestine and Israel). In the summer of 2022 Andy joined a group of Shia Muslim pilgrims on Ziyarah pilgrimage to Iraq to understand up close the spiritual journey of his friends. The group also met with the Ayatollah Sistani in his home in Najaf. Andy has served with the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) since 1988, living in Mexico, Spain, the Middle East and the U.S. in ministries of pastoring, peacemaking, leadership, discipleship, mission and outreach, church planting, and reconciliation. Cari is a community organizer and software engineer who has worked extensively in refugee resettlement, co-founding with a Muslim woman the important “Welcome Home Refugees” to help support and build community around recent immigrants.
Andy and Cari spend much time facilitating encounters with their “other” across the country and in the Middle East, helping disparate communities build relational bridges of understanding, and their greatest passion is to hang out with Muslim friends and get people out of the pew, or off their prayer rug as the case may be, and into relationships with their “other.”
Find more about Andy at his website.
Email Andy at andrew.larsen@peacecatalyst.org.