Leymah Gbowee (pronounced beau we), 2011 Nobel Peace laureate and Liberian peace activist, received the 2016 Community of Christ International Peace Award on Saturday, June 4 during the Community of Christ World Conference. Ms. Gbowee was honored for organizing Christian and Muslim women, empowering them to join in prayer and public protest. Her efforts played a pivotal role in ending Liberia’s civil war in 2003. Gbowee has selected the charitable Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa-USA to receive the $50,000 grant, funded by Community of Christ, which is included with the denomination’s International Peace Award. Gbowee was featured in the 2008 documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell, which included details about her confronting ruthless leaders, and coordinating public protests and a sex strike. Her memoir, Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War, describes how Gbowee’s calling to promote peace began to take shape when she started asking: “Why were women, who bore the brunt of war, expected to remain quiet while men debated how to make peace?” When asked why it was important to her to come to Independence, Missouri, to accept the Community of Christ International Peace Award and speak to people in…