Evangelical leaders from US visit Hamas atrocity sites on Joshua Fund/Faith Wins solidarity mission to Israel
At Kibbutz Be’eri & Nova site, pastors pray for hostages, survivors, and Israel’s future
RE’IM, ISRAEL – To walk the grounds where the Nova Music Festival was held on the weekend of Oct. 7, 2023, is to walk the site of the bloodiest and most deadly massacre of Jews in the history of modern Israel.
On that horrific day, 344 Israeli young people – those who had come to sing and dance and be with their friends – were murdered by upwards of 100 Hamas terrorists invading from Gaza.
Another 34 Israelis working security at the Festival were also slaughtered.
Still another 44 Israelis were taken hostage that day by Hamas operatives and dragged into the terror dungeons underneath the Gaza Strip.
BEARING WITNESS TO ‘SHEER EVIL’
Yesterday – Day 548 since the massacre took place – four-dozen Evangelical Christian pastors, ministry leaders, and their spouses, came here to see and hear and try to understand the story first-hand.
They did so amidst experiencing the jarring booms of Israeli artillery being fired at Hamas terrorist positions just a few kilometers away.
“This is a site where sheer evil happened,” Pat Propster, a pastor from Nevada, told his colleagues at the Nova site as he shared from the Scriptures and led a time of prayer.
“Abhor what is evil and cling to what is good,” he continued, citing key verses written by the Apostle Paul in chapter 12 of the New Testament letter to the Romans.
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.”
“Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.”
“Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.”
Fortunately, no rockets were fired from Gaza while we were touring the border.
But just after we left, sirens did start sounding as Palestinian terrorists fired 10 rockets at Israel, the largest salvo in months.
By God’s grace, no Israeli casualties were reported.
THE JOSHUA FUND: HELPING EDUCATE PASTORS ABOUT GOD’S LOVE FOR ISRAEL AND HER NEIGHBORS
My wife, Lynn, and I and our team have been deeply honored to be hosting and leading this solidarity mission on behalf of The Joshua Fund.
We’re especially touched that the group came even after we warned them that it was increasingly likely that the ceasefire would unravel and the IDF would have to go back to war in Gaza.
That’s exactly what happened, yet not a single member of the group canceled.
Lynn and I founded the non-profit Evangelical Christian organization in the summer of 2006 “to educate and mobilize Christians to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus, according to Genesis 12:1-3,” widely known among Jews and Christians as the “Abrahamic Covenant.”
Over nearly two decades, The Joshua Fund has been able to invest more than $100 million in strengthening the Church in the Epicenter, helping local congregations care for the poor and needy with food and other humanitarian aid, and educating the global Church to better understand from the Bible God’s love and prophetic plan for Israel and those in the Arab/Muslim world.
Over the past two decades, we’ve brought thousands of Christians to tour Israel and organized “Epicenter Conferences” all over the world.
The war has made the education of the Church far more urgent.
But it’s also changed what’s possible in terms of bringing leaders to the Land.
NEARLY 50 CHRISTIAN LEADERS FROM 11 STATES
The last solidarity mission we organized and led for The Joshua Fund and ALL ISRAEL NEWS was in December 2023 – not long after the Oct. 7 war began – with Gov. Mike Huckabee was smaller and more intimate, with just seven prominent Evangelical leaders.
This time, the group is larger – nearly 50 – and consists of pastors, ministry leaders, and their wives from 11 different states.
They landed in Israel last Monday – many for their very first time – and immediately participated in a Joshua Fund humanitarian aid project with elderly Holocaust survivors.
The Evangelicals came eager to stand with Israel, study the Scriptures, walk where Jesus and the apostles and the prophets walked, and bear witness to the Hamas atrocities that were committed here.
They came to pray for the immediate release of all the remaining 59 hostages being held in Gaza – 24 of whom are believed by Israeli intelligence to still be alive – and to pray for the full healing, recovery, and redemption of all Israelis and Palestinians, with a heart of compassion for all those who have been uniquely traumatized by the events of Oct. 7 and the brutal war that continues raging to this day.
Many have told me they have also come seeking the Lord’s wisdom on how they and their churches can bless the people of the Epicenter in real and practical and eternal ways in the months and years ahead.
WALKING THROUGH HOMES RAVAGED BY HAMAS
Before coming to the Nova site, Lynn and I brought them to Kibbutz Alumim for lunch and then to Kibbutz Be’eri.
Both are Israeli communities close to the Gaza border that were invaded and ravaged by Hamas on Oct. 7.
As we toured the burned, bombed, bullet-ridden homes in Be’eri, we were led and briefed by two of the kibbutz residents.
They shared their personal stories – and those of their families and neighbors – from that ghastly day.
They also shared the numbers, which by themselves help paint a chilling picture.
Of the 1,200 residents here by on the kibbutz:
102 were murdered by Hamas
31 were kidnapped
some of been released but 6 are still in Gaza and all of those are confirmed dead
100 members have recently returned to the kibbutz to begin living again and begin rebuilding
approximately 800 are still living in temporary government-built housing outside the kibbutz and don’t expect to return for another two years or so
FAITH WINS: ENCOURAGING PASTORS TO COME TO ISRAEL, MANY FOR THEIR FIRST TIME
“It’s just staggering to really be here and see this horror with my own eyes,” Chad Connelly, and Evangelical leader from South Carolina, told me after seeing the wreckage and carnage. “It’s hard to process but it’s so important.”
The Joshua Fund is working hand-in-hand with Connelly, a former political strategist and grassroots operator, who is the founder and CEO of Faith Wins, a non-profit ministry “dedicated to educating, activating and mobilizing faith leaders, helping them leverage their influence and impact within the governmental and political arena.”
Since 2013, as his website notes, Connelly has “traveled to 43 states and spoke to more than 82,000 pastors and faith leaders about the importance of pastoral leadership in the public arena.”
Helping pastors understand the importance of standing with Israel and combatting antisemitism are core biblical values that Connelly, his wife, Dana, and their colleagues hold dear.
Faith Wins first allied with The Joshua Fund to organize and lead a pastors tour of Israel in August 2023.
That went so well – and had such an impact on the pastors who came, many of whom, again, came for their first time – that we had all planned to organize a second tour in 2024.
But when the war erupted, The Joshua Fund became consumed by meeting urgent day-to-day needs here in the Land while Faith Wins became increasingly focused on voter education and registration back in the States.
Lynn and I could not be more grateful that Faith Wins has now brought their second group.
In the days ahead, we’ll publish more coverage of our travels throughout the country and meetings with Jewish, Christian and government leaders.
Joel C. Rosenberg is the editor-in-chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS and the President and CEO of Near East Media. A New York Times best-selling author, Middle East analyst, and Evangelical leader, he lives in Jerusalem with his wife and sons.
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