Friends, the blessings are flowing at The Joshua Fund’s Epicenter Briefing! What amazing reports from people on the ground in Israel, and what inspirational contacts we have made during mealtimes and fellowship around the tables during the briefings.

Friday had an interesting beginning! We were a few minutes late for breakfast due to an incorrect alarm setting. However, that delay was simply the groundwork for another divine encounter. Because of the timing, when we arrived for breakfast all tables were either already full or totally empty, so we sat down at an empty table. God then filled in the spots! A couple soon arrived, followed by a young man who quietly took an empty seat at our table, not wanting to interrupt the conversation. I got a glimpse of his name tag: Gal (clearly a Jewish name).

Gal soon entered the conversation and confirmed he is Jewish and has been working for a year with The Joshua Fund. The conversation had been centered on our love for Israel and each person’s desire to make that known to the Jewish people. As Gal entered the conversation, he told us how heartwarming it is to speak face-to-face with evangelicals who are not ashamed of Israel but are fully committed to stand with them. He told us how all alone many Israelis feel as they fight for their very existence, seemingly without the backing of anyone. What a blessed time we had sharing God’s love with him and asking him to share our love and concern for the Jewish people.

As my friend and I entered the conference room, we ran head on into Aaron Shust who happened to have no one around him. We took the opportunity to thank him for so gloriously leading us in worship, and mentioned our appreciation of his hit song, Zion, written in 2018 in honor of Israel’s 70th anniversary. Then, with tears welling up in his eyes, he told us the backstory of earnestly seeking the Lord, how the Lord led him from one passage of Scripture to another, and how he added the shema to the end of the song without even knowing about the meaning of shema! “I’m just a Gentile boy! I knew nothing about the shema!” But God had put that passage so central to Jewish life on Aaron’s heart to close out the song! Amazing!

All that before the first session of the day!

The sessions were jam-packed with God’s story as well. We heard from Jonah Rosenberg, who heads up the Humanitarian Aid segment of The Joshua Fund and found out:

• 1/5 of Israelis live in poverty and 1/3 of Israeli children are in poverty.
• More babies have been aborted in Israel than Jewish people killed in the Holocaust.
• Palestinian work visas are severely restricted, making it difficult for those who worked in Israel to make ends meet.
• Many Israelis (Jews, Arabs, Druze, Bedouins, etc) have lost jobs, loved ones, homes, etc.

The nation is in great need in so many ways, and these are some of the needs The Joshua Fund helps to meet: providing food and clothing to those in need, giving resources to young pregnant women to promote their ability to have and raise their babies, hygiene kits to poverty-stricken, and various other aid to all people groups in need in Israel. In addition, they repair bomb shelters, provide emergency medical kits, work with displaced families living in hotels, and provide safe housing.

We also heard from Messianic and Palestinian pastors serving in various places. Their stories, which can’t be shared because of safety concerns, are absolutely miraculous, but they need our prayers. It is incredibly complicated to be a Jewish or Palestinian follower of Jesus.

The day wrapped up with a 40-minute mini-concert by Aaron Shust in which he closed with everyone’s favorite song, Zion. So much Biblical truth and so moving!

Tomorrow (Saturday, as I write this) is another day of fantastic opportunity to hear about what’s happening in Israel, the epicenter of the world! I’ll do my best to provide updates!

Have a great weekend!