A Call to Israel

Reasons to Support the Compassion Team in Israel:

• Judith and the children have citizenship in Israel and do not need to rely on visas.  Michael has permanent residency and the right to citizenship as Judith’s Husband.  The Israeli government limits the number of visas they give out and often denies visas for Christian workers.
• Judith and the children speak Hebrew at a mother-tongue leave, allowing the children to attend public school and allowing Judith to communicate with Israelis in their own language.  Michael has also recently achieved a “High Level” score on a Hebrew proficiency exam given by the Israeli government.
• Michael has a ministry certificate with the Assemblies of God, and his secular experience as an Accounting Supervisor gives him the leadership tools and knowledge needed to direct our ministry in Israel.  Michael also served on the council and as treasurer for an Assemblies of God congregation in North East Philadelphia.  
• Michael and Judith have a heart for the people of Israel, and Judith’s gift of hospitality and language skills allow her to build trusting relationship and touch people’s lives.

We are currently the only members of Jacob’s Hope who have the ability to live full-time in Israel and reach the people of Israel in the primary language spoken here.  Our ministry here has recently received a certificate of good standing from the Israeli government, which could not be done from outside of Israel or with short term visas, and gives us a greater ability to work with local believers and serve the needs of the Israeli people.

We have our own budget and need to raise our own support, which is completely separate from Jacob’s Hope.  Although Jacob’s Hope funds many of the projects we do in Israel, they are not able to pay us a salary.  

"For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish.  And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”  Esther 4:14, NIV

We are not being threatened with destruction as the Jews were in Persia, nor have we come to a royal position, but God has placed us in Israel, for such a time as this, with the talents and abilities to serve Him here, bringing relief and deliverance to the Jews.  And He is giving you this opportunity to be a part of this ministry.

We need you to support our family in order to continue the work we started with Jacob’s Hope in Israel. 

 
Commitments to us can be made through the Assemblies of God using the green "Donate Now" button on the right of this post. 

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

We regret to inform you, our faithful supporters, that as of the end of this month we will no longer have a compassion project in Tel Aviv.  Our partners in Tel Aviv, Agape, are no longer continuing this work.  We searched for other partners, however, while we were searching God provided other opportunities to bring compassion to Israel.

Tzfat is a city on a hill with an elevation of 900 meters

As we close one project, we are opening several others.  Two weeks ago we announced the grand opening of our new compassion center in Nazareth Illit.  This week we opened what would have been our tenth compassion project in the town of Tzfat.  Tzfat is literally a city on a hill, and with an elevation of 900 meters, is the highest city in Israel.  You can read more about the rich historical significance of Tzfat on Wikipedia by clicking here.  Tzfat's population of 32,000 is 99% ethnically Jewish.

This week we also signed the lease on a new store front in Hadera.  We have been providing food cards (to purchase food at local stores) for 17 families in this city of 80,000 along the Mediterranean coast.  According to the welfare office, there are 12,000 needy families in this city.  With our new store front, we will be able to supplement our food distribution with the availability of clothing and other household items.  We will have the grand opening of the Hadera center after Passover.

The Compassion Team is responsible for all of Jacob's Hope's projects in Israel, but they are funded independently of Jacob's Hope.  Without their guidance and hard work, many of the opportunities we have to work with local congregations and municipalities would not be available.  It is important to us to have their oversight on the ground.  They are currently raising support for a second term in Israel, but we can't afford to have the work we began together in Israel be interrupted in order for them to return to the States for an extended period of time (to raise the support they need to live there).  Please prayerfully consider supporting this family directly at https://giving.ag.org so they can continue with this important work we have started together.

New Year

There is rarely either fun or glory in administrative work, nor is there much that one is able to share about it, but this has been the bulk of our work here in Israel as we prepare for bigger things. Much of our time in 2011 has been used preparing for 2012; getting the financial and legal papers needed, looking for a location for the Hope Center, raising the funds still needed so that we can remain in Israel, looking for partners for self-sustaining projects and continuing the work we have already started here.

Let's start by catching up on the events of 2011. We opened up two new centers, in Kiryat Shmona (Northern Israel) and Kefar Saba (Central Israel) to bring us to a total of 6 centers. We had several additional holiday events including Passover meals in Karmiel, Maalot and Akko. We made a trip to the States to raise funds and visit close friends and family. While there I attended funeral services for my Grandfather. We gave out blankets to 300 needy families during the High Holy days with Agape Ministries in Tel Aviv. Our children's Bible Club grew from 10 children to 21, and moved from our home to the facilities of a Russian-Speaking congregation in Hadera. We moved the location of our store front in Maalot, much to pleasure of our manager, since the old location had a leaky roof that was destroying the clothing. We hosted a tour group from the Assmblies of God which included the Director of International Ministries and Leadership from the Penn-Del District. We also had a special Chanukah outreach in Karmiel where many elderly Russians are coming to faith.

Although I lost my secular job here in Israel during the summer, the timing seems to have been heaven sent. It allowed me to pack our house before joining the rest of my family in the States as our previous landlords had raised our rent by close to 10%. It has also allowed my wife and I to dedicate ourselves full-time to Tikvat Yacov as the ministry is gearing up for future growth. Unfortunately, this means there is an increased urgency to raise the funds needed to support our family as this is now our only income. Please note that funds donated directly to Jacob's Hope go to support ministries around the world. To support our family in Israel, donations must be made directly to our account at Assemblies of God (click link here).

We are already on the look out to open a seventh compassion center in 2012 as well as laying the ground work for the Hope center and starting a self-sustaining ministry. As always, we will share more information as we work out the details.