April,
2011
Dear
Friends,
As the turmoil in the Middle-East increases, those of us with
connections to Eretz Israel keep an ear open and beseech the God of Israel
for her safety. Reports indicate that Hezbollah now has many longer
range rocket launchers in Lebanon that can strike almost anywhere in
Israel. For many of us this is a real danger. Our own Messianic
Congregation has seen 2 of our families make Aliyah to Israel in the
last 3 years.
Regarding this, I believe that God has opened up an opportunity for us,
as Messianic believers, to show the people of Israel the love of Messiah
in a meaningful and tangible way while, at the same time, opening up
doors to share the good news of Yeshua with them! Several years ago, one
of our Israeli Jewish brothers in the Lord, Rony Jordan, and his wife,
Cindy, were given a vision to go back to Israel and refurbish existing
bomb shelters (many of which are in terrible condition, some completely
unusable) without cost to the residents. The goal is to earn the right –
through relationship – to share the good news of Yeshua with the Israeli
people. The money to pay for this work has, so far, come from churches
who wish to demonstrate their love for Israel. To date, they have paid
for almost a dozen bomb shelters (see www.sheltersofhope.org). Recently,
the Ben David Messianic Jewish congregation in Orange, California (www.BenDavidMJC.org),
became the first Messianic congregation to fund one, as reported in the
Messianic Times.
The Board of Directors of THE ASSOCIATION OF MESSIANIC CONGREGATIONS has
voted to make SHELTERS OF HOPE an approved project.
We are proposing that AMC congregations join together to fund one. The
cost to cover a single refurbishment is now about $20,000. Instead of
asking any individual congregation to bear this burden alone, we would
like to have 10 AMC congregations band together and split the cost (only
$2,000 per congregation) and thus become the first Messianic
organization in the world to fund a bomb shelter refurbishment for the
Israeli people.
We're
also inviting individuals to partner with us to fund this important
project. SHELTERS OF HOPE is a USA 501c-3 organization, registered in
California.
If you are willing to join
with us in this very needed and worthwhile effort, please let us know as
soon as possible. email:
Mottel Baleston,
Associate Messianic Rabbi, Beth Messiah Congregation NJ,
Board Secretary, AMC
PS See the photos and information below, taken from the project website:
http://www.sheltersofhope.org |