In the midst of this pandemic, God stirred up many Israelis this year to search for answers and to seek their Messiah - maybe more so than any single year in almost 2,000 years!
In the last year, we had an explosion of video views, and by God’s grace and your prayers and support, we reached over 23 million views of all our videos by the end of 2020!
And the result? Thousands of non-believers have contacted us, and most importantly, more people than ever before have decided to follow Jesus, Yeshua!
As fears were rising all around due to this crisis, we sensed God’s guidance to focus our efforts on producing a new video called “How to Overcome Fear and Anxiety.”
Israelis really connected with this video during this time of chaos, as they’re looking for something with unshakeable foundations. And they’re starting to see that Jesus, Yeshua, is the Rock of our Salvation.
Maybe the greatest surprise this year is that we’re beginning to see an awakening among those who were most antagonistic to the Gospel: Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews.
When one ultra-Orthodox woman named Shlomit first called, she whispered as she talked with us and could hardly say the name of Jesus. But she was thirsty for a real relationship with God, and kept talking with us secretly for months.
She was amazed to see all the Messianic prophecies pointing to Jesus. She knew that choosing to follow Him could mean losing everything, but she recently decided that He is worth everything, and gave her life to Jesus!
She’s been growing rapidly in her faith, and is even worshipping Jesus out loud in an ultra-Orthodox home! She’s also been sharing the Gospel with a family member, Matan, who then began speaking with us too.
At first he attacked us for “stealing” her away from religion, but slowly he became quite open, and has even begun studying the New Testament together with Shlomit! (See more of their story here and here.)
Not only that, but we also had the privilege of baptizing several other Orthodox Jews this year, who watched our videos, talked with us and asked tons of questions, read the Scriptures together with us, and realized that Yeshua is indeed their Messiah. (See a few of their stories here, here, and here.)
We’ve been personally discipling some of them, and we've connected several other new believers from all sorts of backgrounds to local congregations.
A woman named Liora who had been in the New Age started searching and asking many complicated questions. God helped us to answer and she ultimately found that Yeshua is the only Way, the Truth, and the Life.
She excitedly shared with us, “I received Yeshua into my life - that’s the most important thing there is!” We rejoiced as she told us recently after her baptism: “Now, every lesson, every meeting, every message - I’m there and I’m growing stronger in faith!” (See more of her story here.)
But it’s not only Israelis viewing our evangelistic videos. The word of the LORD is going forth from Zion again and bearing fruit! God used our evangelistic websites in English and Russian to bring people in several countries around the world to faith in Jesus this past year.
One of them is a former Muslim lady in Egypt named Varisha! Since leaving Islam, her life has been threatened and she’s been beaten, but she’s courageously held onto her faith. She said that she’s willing to die for Jesus if necessary - knowing that she now has eternal life! (See more of her story here and here.) Please pray for her and all the other new believers!
This year we also began regular outreaches to the poor together with Carmel Congregation’s Hadar haCarmel Center. Even though we've had three lockdowns and many restrictions throughout the year, we were able to show God’s love practically and share the Gospel with many Israelis.
Five Israelis said “Yes” to Jesus during the first lockdown, and since then, many have received New Testaments and heard the Gospel. And during the last three outreaches of 2020, each time a new person received Jesus!
To all of you who have been praying for us and supporting this work, we want to say: “Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, because this fruit is your fruit as well!”
What’s Next?
We’re excited about what God has in store! We’re just about to launch our Pro-Life and Gospel Campaign, Lord-willing (click to watch the promo) in Hebrew, English, and many other languages. We already have two powerful testimonies ready and are working on a website and more videos for the launch.
We’ve also begun working on an apologetics series, and on an evangelism equipping series.
But we can’t do all this without your help. Would you please consider supporting us as a monthly partner, so that we can reach even more Israelis with the Gospel in this coming year? If the Lord lays that on your heart, you can support us here.
Please Pray with Us:
- For victory against censorship from Big Tech: we’ve shared several times how Google/Youtube, Facebook/Instagram, and Twitter have blocked us from advertising our evangelistic and pro-life videos. We’ve had some breakthroughs thanks to your prayers, but are still in a major and constant battle. Please pray according to God’s promise: “But the word of God is not bound!” (2 Timothy 2:9)
- For victory over government persecution for our faith: Avi and Liora Hyde have been married for six years, but Liora hasn’t received an Israeli ID - not even a temporary one. This creates difficulties in all sorts of everyday issues, such as in receiving healthcare after their new baby, Ezra, was born. Both she and Shayla have been illegally denied their rights for years because of our faith. Please pray for God’s justice and resolution.
- For all the new believers - that each one would be grounded in God’s Word, filled with His Spirit, and connected to vibrant congregations and solid discipleship.
- For more laborers in the harvest - we’re so grateful for your generosity and God’s provision that enabled us to add on more team members. The harvest is so great that we’re believing and asking for more during this next year!
- For great breakthroughs in 2021 - for anointing and wisdom to complete our Pro-Life and Gospel Campaign and all other evangelistic videos, signs and wonders to confirm the word of the Gospel, and many more salvations this year!
