No Joke: A Rabbi, an Imam, and a Preacher Do the Unthinkable and Become Friends for Life

A rabbi, an imam, and a preacher . . . it sounds like the setup to a bad joke, but the obstacles these three clergymen from Peoria, IL encounter in their relationship is anything but funny. While their friendship is filled with love, and they enjoy each other immensely, their mission is to stop the troubling increase in anti-Muslim attitudes and, more broadly, the otherization of minority groups in America.

Rabbi Daniel Bogard, Imam Kamil Mufti, and Pastor Jim Powell s unique friendship exists in a space that may be difficult to grasp, but they have cracked the code on staying in the room with difference. They deliberately set out to forge a relationship to cultivate understanding and tolerance.

NO JOKE reveals how their friendship works even when they don t agree on very important issues and explains how you can overcome the polarized relationships in your own life. NO JOKE is the powerful story of how this unthinkable friendship has changed a community and includes reflections from Peorians on what they have learned and how they have grown together.

From what seems like a highly-improbable union a beautiful movement of peace has emerged because . . . when people like each other the rules change.

JIM HENDERSON
USA TODAY describes Jim this way: Henderson has blazed a new path as an innovator, author, church-evaluator, self-professed subversive, and leader in the creation of new ways to be publicly and persuasively Christian in the 21st century.

CARA HIGHSMITH
Cara holds a Master of Arts in English from Belmont University, dabbled in earning a PhD, has worked in the editorial department of a New York publishing house, and is now providing writing, editorial, and publishing consultation for self-published authors. Cara is a master of being a jack-of-all-trades, and currently spends her free time working on script writing. She lives in Los Angeles, CA with her son, Eric.