On September 16th, members of a Louisville Islamic Center arrived at the mosque to find it vandalized with disturbing messages spray-painted across the building.The malicious act, presumably intended to cause division in the community, actually had the exact opposite effect. Just two days after the vandalism nearly 1,000 Louisville residents from all faiths, including over 100 from the local Jewish community, gathered to stand in solidarity with the mosque and help paint over the graffiti.

For the past five years I have been working with Muslim refugees in the Phoenix area and trying to get the Church to faithfully love the neighbors that God has brought to our city. On this journey God has been faithful to teach me, through many failures, how to effectively move people toward loving the neighbors they would never otherwise spend time with. Here are some lessons I've learned.

When Muslims and Christians - even nice Muslims and Christians - spend time together, we are actively overcoming a very powerful tension that reaches beyond language or culture. A tension with a volatile potential to end in violence, prejudice, hate, and fear.

For Jesus, what counts is obedience, not the confession of correct theology.I can imagine what you are thinking as you read this. "Sorry, Rick, but I am saved by faith not by obedience to the great commandments." Really?

“Do all Christians around the world really believe that Love of God and Neighbor is that important? I thought for sure Ahmad’s question was merely theological. He wanted to make nice, to talk about important sounding topics that never impact real lives. But Ahmad later came up to me and wanted to talk more.