Face-2-Face

August 3, 2006

The group from Eagles’ Wings was called the Israel Experience College Scholarship Program, which equips the next generation of Christian leaders to stand with and support Israel. The participants were Christian student leaders on their campuses in the United States and Germany. Eagles’ Wings brought them to Israel to expose them to Israel, educate them regarding the facts of Israel, and train them to return to their campuses and represent this nation in the midst of the rising tide of anti-Israel bias.

SWU is an Israel advocacy organization based in the U.S. with a chapter in Israel, including Europe. The 19 students from the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya were part of their Ambassadors Program, in which they are trained to adequately and accurately defend and represent Israel on campuses and in the media. Some of them were Jewish students from the Diaspora; others were Israeli students who had never even met or spoken with a Christian before. The five young adults from Bridges for Peace were present to represent Christians who are living and volunteering in Israel on a long-term basis, young believers who have made sacrifices to follow the call of God on their life and bless the nation and people of Israel.

Same conviction & passion

While the Jewish students with SWU are being trained to represent, defend, and advocate for Israel as the Jewish State, there was no need for that on this evening. In a world where they have to increasingly be defensive about their Jewishness and Zionism, it was a great source of encouragement for them to meet Christians––both from outside and inside the nation of Israel––who expressed their same conviction and passion for the nation of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.

In this setting, Zionism was not something that they or we had to be apologetic about, had to be explained or couched in carefully chosen words, but was expressed easily and openly. As Christians who are committed to biblical Zionism and the Jewish people, we had the opportunity to express our passion openly, not to a group of Christians in the nations, but to the people that God has given us a calling to and passion for.

Opportunity to speak

Representatives from each group had the opportunity to address the gathering and explain why we believe what we believe. I also had the opportunity to speak and explain my motivation for doing what I am doing, and why I made the decision to leave my home, my family, and all things familiar to me to live in Israel and serve their people. I told them that I believed in the dream that is Zionism, a Jewish homeland in the same location as their ancient biblical homeland. I told them that God had touched and transformed my life, had changed me, and that the Jewish people are the vehicle by which He chose to do this. And I told them that I was aware that we had some bad history, that Christianity was responsible for so many incidents of anti-Semitism over the centuries, and that I am here because I believe in a better tomorrow.

A Jewish student approached me later and asked, “And you came here for…God?” She found it hard to believe that a non-Jewish young person could have such a commitment to God and passion for Israel. To have the opportunity to openly speak of this passion was a great blessing and privilege.

Expressing Solidarity

At the beginning of the evening, these three groups were unacquainted with each other, but by the end of the night, we had met new people, made friends, and begun to understand that we had a lot in common. Later in the week, when Eagles’ Wings met with the Christian Allies Caucus, Michael Onifer related one of their experiences. On the bus, one of the Jewish students asked him, “While you are here, do you pray?” Michael answered, “Back at our base in New York, every morning we start by singing the Sh’ma, and then we end by turning towards Israel and praying for the peace of Jerusalem and blowing the shofar.” The student asked if they would sing the Sh’ma for them, so they did. Michael reported that there wasn’t a dry eye on the bus when they finished. What a wonderful expression of solidarity!

Each of these groups is passionate about the Land and people of Israel, and it was prudent to bring us together to get a better sense of each other’s purpose and passion. Though on different fronts and from different angles, we have the same vision. We are young, we are passionate, and we are Zionists!

Source: By Gary Blair