Millions of Christians from 220 nations will unite in prayer and repentance on May 31—Pentecost Sunday—for the annual Global Day of Prayer (GDOP). Event organizers say the day will mark the first time there has been continuous prayer in every nation of the world.

GDOP founder Graham Power told Charisma the prayer day is being held to “saturate the nations of the world with prayer.”

“We believe that as we humble ourselves, seek our Father’s face and turn from our wicked ways, God will hear from heaven, forgive our sins and heal our land,” said Power, who will be praying in Hong Kong on Sunday. “More than ever before the nations of the world are needing God to heal their land. It is as we actively engage in acts of repentance and prayer … that we prepare the way for God to save the lost and transform our nations.”

On Sunday, Christians will gather in venues ranging from stadiums to huts in locations from Hong Kong to Toronto. God TV will air a three-part live broadcast from several prayer services beginning in Bela Horizonte, Brazil, on Saturday at 8 p.m. (EDT), then moving to Hong Kong at 3 a.m. and concluding in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, at 11 a.m.

God TV founders Rory and Wendy Alec will host the broadcast from Washington, D.C., and will interview Power and several Chinese leaders participating in Hong Kong’s GDOP service.

“Last year it is estimated that 500 million Christians prayed the same prayer on Pentecost Sunday, and we encourage many more to participate this year,” Rory Alec said. “This is a unique opportunity for the body of Christ to come together to petition the Father in heaven for our nations.”

Participants in each venue worldwide are being asked to recite a written prayer of praise, repentance and salvation during their GDOP services. “Come and finish Your work in our cities, our peoples and our nations,” the prayer reads. “We lift our voices in unison with believers from Africa and Asia, from the Middle East and Europe, from North and South America, and from Australia and the Pacific Islands-together we cry.”

During the 10-day run up to Pentecost Sunday, participants have been repenting and asking God to move mightily during the GDOP services, patterning themselves after the early believers who prayed in the upper room in Acts 1:14. In London, Christians are praying the Lord’s Prayer every day until Sunday.

GDOP participants will pray not only for global needs, but also for local issues. “This year we want to focus our prayers on the needs of each borough of London and its many social issues, whilst also recognizing the desperate state this country is in, both in terms of those suffering from the credit crunch, and also the apparent lack of respect for our parliamentary system, rocked to the core by allegations of financial misconduct and lack of integrity,” said Jonathan Oloyede, GDOP London coordinator.

Christians from all 33 London boroughs will unite in prayer on Sunday, with many of the services linked by video. London Mayor Boris Johnston is scheduled to speak. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown also has spoken out in support of the event.

“Christians across Britain and the world will be coming together once again in a spirit of fellowship and social witness,” Brown said in a statement. “By offering prayers for your communities and nations you are continuing a long-standing Christian tradition of prayer and action for the common good, and I am pleased to send my best wishes and support.”

Although Sunday will mark the fifth GDOP, the idea was birthed nearly 10 years ago when Power, a Christian businessman from South Africa, had a vision to unite all of Africa in prayer. In 2001 the initial event, dubbed the Day of Repentance and Prayer, brought 45,000 people to a stadium in Cape Town, South Africa. Last year millions of Christians from 214 nations gathered for prayer, and this year every nation is expected to participate.

Minnesota pastor Bob Bakke, a North American director of GDOP, said the unified prayer efforts will be life-changing. “All these great breakthroughs, whether we call them revival or awakenings or major moves of God in a society or in churches or in communities, are preceded by moments like this of united prayer and of earnest pursuit,” he said.

A Texas Christian businessman has a simple plan for evangelizing his community: Lift Jesus up and let Him do the rest.

In December, Norm Miller, CEO of Interstate Batteries, launched I Am Second, a three-year Dallas-area ad campaign that features both prominent and lesser-known Christians proclaiming that Christ is first in their lives. Its companion Web site features video testimonies from Christians ranging from actor Stephen Baldwin to former Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch to virtually unknown Dallas-area residents telling of how God changed their lives after they battled eating disorders, divorce, addiction or abuse.

In its first two months, the campaign generated 280 million impressions from billboards, print ads and TV commercials reaching the Dallas-Forth Worth community. Since it launched in December, has logged 750,000 unique visitors from every state and 188 nations.

“The mandate was lift up Christ and He’ll draw all men to himself, so all we’ve got to do is be concerned with the lifting,” said Miller, who is investing $1 million a year in the campaign, which he formed in partnership with Dallas-based mission organization e3 Partners. Today he was given the first Dream Builder of the Year award from Dream Builders men’s ministry for his work founding I Am Second.

The site has drawn visitors from as far as China, and Welch’s testimony has been posted on YouTube and subtitled in Russian and Italian. In recent months, ministry and Christian business leaders in Atlanta; New York City; Orlando, Fla.; Kansas City, Mo.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Tucson, Ariz., have expressed interest in taking the campaign to their cities. Similar requests have come from as far as Ireland, New Zealand and India.

“My heart was my Jerusalem, and I thought that this was possible, these other cities,” Miller said. “But my thought was, There’s plenty of people like me in these cities, and if God wants to do it, He’ll raise them up. There’s not a lack of money. There may be a lack of giving the money, but there’s not a lack of people having the money.”

Miller said the idea for I Am Second came to him in early 2008 when he was approaching his 70th birthday and began contemplating his legacy. “I started thinking about Dallas-Fort Worth and their need for a real encounter with the truth of Christ,” Miller said. “I thought, Does that really need to be done? And I agreed that it did.”

Campaign organizers said I Am Second can help Christians share their faith with unsaved co-workers or neighbors.

“It says in Ephesians that the purpose of the church, of the evangelists, and the teachers, and the preachers is for the equipping of the body to do the work of the ministry,” said e3 Partners Vice President Nathan Sheets, who helped developed the I Am Second campaign. “And so we view this as a way to be able to strategically come in and help the church executive what’s the mandate of the church, to be the church. It’s been done so well, it emboldens Christians to want to be proud of it and to share it.”

Sheets said the campaign was meant to make Jesus famous and embolden people to live for Christ. But he believes it also can help change negative perceptions about Christianity.

“I want to get away form the religious conversation,” Sheets said. “We don’t live authentic, transparent Christian lives, and people feel like we’ve got it all figured out and we don’t ever do anything wrong, then we end up with people in media who are popular in Christendom that are no different than anybody else. We wind up with Christian marriages with a higher divorce rate than secular society. That perceptionally makes people go, ‘This is all fake.’ Versus just saying: ‘I still struggle in my life … but luckily Christ died for my sins and I’m forgiven and He can help change my heart and my life, so let’s just do this thing together.'”

The I Am Second Web site includes links to small groups that meet in Dallas-area churches, businesses and homes. Miller said churches tell him the campaign’s impact has been “tremendous.”

“This is the part that takes faith,” Miller said. “Normally … I would want to know how many people you’re going to have on the street, how many people you’re going to talk to, how many people have come to Christ. I want to know the impact of the money, to be a good steward. But in this case Christ said, ‘Look, lift Me up, and I’ll draw all men to Myself.’ And I got a freedom out of that.”

“I’m totally shocked at what’s happened outside of Dallas-Fort Worth,” Miller added. “But I’m content with what’s happened inside Dallas-Forth Worth because we’re only six months into a 36-month plan. I really believe God’s going to do a lot more as time goes on because most efforts aren’t that long. It’s almost a dripping faucet. I gotta see what that site is, after a year and a half of seeing [the ads]. What is that? You might forget it after 90 days, but if you see something and you don’t know what it is and you wonder then a year later you see it again, eventually you’re going to say, ‘I’m going to find out what that is.’ And that’s what we’re hoping. That’s our prayer.”

Yonatan Eldar was barely 16 years old, but he chanted from the Torah (the biblical scrolls) beautifully on that Sabbath day in March, in the ancient melodic tradition that so many religious Jews continue to this day. I remember seeing his smiling face beaming with pride as the older congregants congratulated him warmly.

The Eldar family lives around the corner from us in Shiloh, Israel, on a street that could be called Terror Victims’ Row due to the high concentration of child terror victims who lived there.

Avi Sitone, 17, was murdered by a terrorist who shot several boys playing on his high school basketball court. Three houses down on the same street is the Kessler family, whose young granddaughter, Gila Sarah, was killed in a bomb attack on Israeli civilians.

In the very next house lives the Yerushalmi family, whose 17-year-old-son Samuel, Avi’s close friend, was also killed in a bombing attack. It has been a few years since Samuel’s murder, but just weeks ago, Samuel’s next-door neighbor, 16-year-old Yonatan, was added to the growing list.

Yonatan was in the library of his Jerusalem high school one night when a Muslim terrorist infiltrated the library, shooting at everyone and everything in his sight. When the bloody rampage was over, eight young students were dead and many more wounded. Most of them lived in the biblical heartland of Israel, in the idealistic, pioneering communities that much of the world mistakenly calls the “West Bank.”

This region is violently threatened today by an unofficial coalition of Muslim terror organizations. The young people there, who have suffered a disproportionate amount of attacks, are among the most idealistic and courageous Jews in Israel today. They walk in the spirit of Joshua and King David, fighting for the land as officers in the Israel Defense Forces. Yonatan was a prime example.

What will be our response to the terrorists? And what can the average Christian friend of Israel do when all our liberties and freedoms are under attack?

Certainly we can encourage our political leaders to confront both the Muslim terrorist ideology and its armies. But what else can we do as ordinary citizens?

When my then 3-year-old son and I were wounded in a vicious shooting attack several years ago, I asked this question. I believe God showed me through the story of the prophet Jeremiah that in difficult times, He expects us to boldly rise to the challenge, with no thought for personal gain. So after my son and I had recovered from our wounds, both physical and psychological, I established the Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund to initiate and support therapeutic and educational projects for children in Shiloh and the rest of the biblical heartland of Israel.

The goal of the Muslim terrorists was to make us leave Shiloh and run for our lives. My response was that we were going to stay and build for the future. Just as Samuel the prophet grew up into maturity in Shiloh, so will my children and thousands of others. G-d has called His children home, and we are determined to be active partners in that prophecy.

I call on our Christian friends to partner with us in our efforts. Your prayers are very important to us, and I ask you to pray about how you can participate in our struggle.

The Muslim terrorists and their supporters would like to divide God’s land and destroy Western civilization. It is vital in these times for those who understand that the Lord’s covenants are eternal to respond to darkness with light.

I encourage you to speak out to everyone who will listen and ask them to stand with us as we fight the battles on the front lines. Remember: Though the Muslims’ focus is currently on Israel, their ultimate target is Judeo-Christian civilization, so we must be united in our cause.

I also invite all friends of Israel to visit me in Shiloh, to see how important the Israeli biblical heartland is to our shared history and destiny. Be strong, and we will witness the Lord’s salvation together!

Many Christians have a love for Israel and are eager to visit the nation. But often their dreams don’t stretch beyond touring the sites that have biblical significance for both Jews and Christians and perhaps taking photographs of them. However, there are numerous ways visitors can be a blessing to Israel, interact with the people and leave something of themselves behind when they travel there. Here are 10 of them.

1. Pray for Israel in Israel with Succat Hallel.

Facing Mount Zion from across the Valley of Hinnom, Succat Hallel, a 24/7 praise and worship center, faces the very place where King David began round-the-clock worship in the tabernacle. Succat Hallel, which means “tabernacle of praise,” was established in 1999 by Rick and Patti Ridings. The ministry grew from meetings in their apartment a few times a week to full-time worship and intercession at its new location. Worship and prayer leaders intercede on behalf of Israel and the people of the land-both Jewish and Arab.

When traveling in Jerusalem, you can play an active part in calling forth the nation’s destiny.

“Prayer can change a nation. Isaiah 62:6 says that the Lord has posted watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem who cry out day and night,” Patti says. “Since we went 24/7, terror attacks have gone down significantly. We pray protection for Israel as we cry out day and night.”

Indeed, the second intifada (Arab uprising) began to ebb about that time.

Worship watches are open to the public during the day and evening. Volunteering opportunities include three-month, short-term positions; long-term up to five years; and internships. Staffers are required to spend 30 hours in the prayer room-some take the six-hour night watch-and five hours serving with a local compassion ministry.

Although many talented musicians come to volunteer, the main requirement is a heart of prayer. The Ridings say that praying on-site in Jerusalem helps visitors intercede for the nation and the issues there more knowledgeably.

“We desire to pray to see the purposes of heaven come down to earth,” Patti says. “We are preparing the way of the Lord.”

Contact: ; info@

2. Feed the poor with Living Bread Ministries.

Living Bread Ministries puts a new twist in adventure vacations. A stint with Living Bread, whether just one day or a couple months, will put you in places where few will ever tread: the Palestinian refugee camps known for extreme poverty, violence and now a deep hunger for the gospel.

The personality of Living Bread matches that of its founder, Karen Dunham, who actually prefers to run toward, not away from, danger. Because of Dunham’s persistence her work has expanded from one refugee camp in Jericho to several more in Bethlehem, Ramallah and Hebron, one of the most contentious hotbeds outside the Gaza Strip.

“The people are illiterate and poor, and the children are sick and hungry,” Dunham says. “We bring gifts. We bring the love of Jesus.”

Living Bread needs English teachers, workers to help “rebuild the ruins” of homes in dire need of repair, and teams to bring boxes of humanitarian aid, visit the sick in the hospitals and nurture those already turning to Jesus. Another specific program is a photography course for youth in Bethlehem. In the office, the ministry has administrative and media needs.

“There’s something for everybody,” Dunham says. “Even one day for teams and tour groups-they can feed the poor, pray for the sick, paint a house, work a Bible table in Jerusalem.”

Dunham has earned favor among both Palestinians and the Israeli army, which controls access in and out of the territories. She also leads trips off the beaten path to the ancient biblical “high places” and the crossing at the Jordan River.

Dunham’s strategy is to counter the “giant” in each camp through the love of God, then win the city.

“Run after the giants, and all of heaven will come with you,” she says. “Come, let us chase the giants together!”

Contact: ; karendunham7@

3. Bring hope to Ethiopian Jews through Project Sheba.

After wandering for many generations disconnected from their own people, Jewish Ethiopians are finally coming home to the land of Israel. But when they arrive, they come in at the bottom rung of a cruel economy and they’re vastly unfamiliar with the society. Jennifer Kaplan founded Project Sheba to reach out to “this quiet, dignified and respectful people, to help them reach their God-given destiny.”

Today Israel is home to approximately 120,000 Ethiopian Jewish immigrants. They often come illiterate and penniless and must transition from Third World conditions to a developed nation with modern plumbing, electricity and a different culture. It costs the Israeli government three times as much to absorb an Ethiopian Jew as it does a Jew from any other nation.

Their transition also involves learning Hebrew, integrating into schools and finding jobs, which are difficult to obtain until you’ve mastered the language.

Project Sheba assists Ethiopians in the assimilation process by providing tutors for schoolchildren; adopt-a-student programs to pay for vocational training; home visits; seminars on specialized, self-help topics including financial planning and classes for women who are suddenly faced with opportunities to work.

“The idea is not just to give somebody money, which is important, being the lowest socioeconomic level, but we want to teach them to be financially independent,” Kaplan says.

Foreign volunteers at Project Sheba work alongside local Ethiopian-Israeli workers, make home visits, collect information on the communities’ needs and have a chance to impart hope into their situation.

“The families just need to know that somebody cares,” Kaplan says.

Kaplan is concerned with the struggles not only of the Ethiopian Jews already in Israel, but also of those still trying to get there. Part of her mission is to raise awareness for the approximate 20,000 Jews still in Ethiopia waiting for permission from Israel to immigrate.

Contact: ; info@

4. Take Grafted’s Hands On Tour for young adults.

Grafted’s Hands On Tour to Israel was specifically designed by young people for young people. In other words, it’s jam-packed with hard-core, challenging activities.

From the time young recruits deplane, they are whisked into physically demanding projects such as painting and repairing homes, cleaning up city streets and orchestrating a one-day camp for children in the Old City’s Arab Quarter. They also spend emotionally challenging times with Holocaust survivors and assist at a soup kitchen. For one day, the young people don an Israeli army uniform and help out at a military base.

“Young people have the time, and they have a lot of zeal and energy,” says Liesl Maas, Grafted director. “This tour facilitates something for young adult Christians to pour their zeal and passion into. And it’s an opportunity to meet with other young Christians from around the world.”

Grafted, based on Romans 11-Christians grafted into the Jewish olive tree-is a department of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) specifically targeted at college-age Christians interested in Israel. Grafted’s calling, like that of ICEJ, is to comfort the Lord’s people, as described in Isaiah 40:1.

The 10-day, hands-on tour includes some sightseeing, as well as lectures on God’s purposes for Israel and the political climate.

“For our generation it is important for us to understand what God is doing in the world and what God is doing in Israel,” Maas says.

Maas has noted an emerging interest in Israel among younger generations in recent years and says that the hands-on tour provides an outlet for this phenomenon.

“It gives young adults the opportunity to be Jesus’ hands and feet here in the land,” Maas says.

Contact: ; @

5. Visit Israelis at their settlements in the heartland.

Never has there been a more poignant time to stand with Israelis who live in the heartland of the Jewish state. With talk of Israel ceding 91 percent of the land in the West Bank to the Palestinians, the Jewish pioneers who have settled this land feel abandoned by their own politicians as well as the international community.

Christian Friends of Israeli Communities (CFOIC) was established in response to calls for Israel to give land to the Palestinian Authority in what is commonly known as the West Bank-the region that was referred to in the Bible as Judea and Samaria. The organization links Christians with these Israeli communities both through financial support and visits.

Sondra Oster Baras, director of CFOIC in Israel and a Jewish Israeli resident of the heartland, points out that a tour of biblical places would naturally include Hebron and Shiloh in addition to Jerusalem and Galilee. But due to sticky politics, a border crossing and the fact that few tour companies venture there, these places are omitted from the typical circuit.

“It is off the beaten track because it’s a controversial area. ‘West Bank’ is a scary word; ‘Judea and Samaria’ is good,” Baras says. “There is no better way to understand the complexity of these issues than to come and visit and see for yourself.”

CFOIC arranges visits to these places for Christian tourists in Israel, whether for a couple hours or a few days, to show the Jewish settlers they’re not alone.

“In an international atmosphere where people do not understand the biblical connection between Jews and the land of Israel, you can well imagine how it is for Jews sitting in these communities, feeling condemned, to have people come visit them,” Baras says. “It’s an incredible statement of encouragement.”

Contact: (in Israel); kim@ (in the U.S.)

6. Volunteer to be a bridge for Jewish and Arab believers.

Creating a safe environment for two sometimes antagonistic sides to meet is the intention of Musalaha, an organization that seeks to reconcile Messianic Israelis and Christian Palestinians who are equally affected by hostility between their societies. Salim Munayer, a Palestinian Christian, founded the organization in 1990 to allay growing tensions between Arab and Jewish believers in Israel at a time when reconciliation was not a major focus.

Politicians have yet to stamp out a peace agreement, yet thousands of young Israeli and Palestinian believers have made peace with one another through Musalaha’s programs. Munayer has long reckoned that sometimes it takes a trip into the stark Israeli desert to lower one’s defenses, initiate dialogue and ultimately conclude that both sides need each other and the Lord.

Some of the activities sponsored by Musalaha are desert trips, summer camps, sports camps and women’s meetings. During these activities, believing Jews and Christian Arabs dialogue and share experiences that force them to rely on one another, breaking down barriers and instilling trust.

“The distinctive aspect for people who volunteer here is they will be exposed to both sides,” Munayer says. “Most organizations work on this side or that side, but at Musalaha you see the difficulties and complexities of both sides, and how Jesus is the answer for both sides.”

Musalaha, Arabic for “reconciliation,” attracts some 1,000 participants during the summer activities. The high season for volunteers is from April to September, when several summer camps for children are taking place. Camp counselors and long-term volunteers are needed. Office help is needed year-round.

The goal of the organization is not only to bring reconciliation among individual believers but also to bring healing and forgiveness on a wider scale to the communities they represent.

Contact: ; musalaha@

7. Reach out to the needy with Christian Friends of Israel.

When Israel’s northern border was being pummeled by enemy rockets in 2006, Christian Friends of Israel (CFI) raced up to the war zone to provide relief to Israelis. When the rockets stopped there, CFI volunteers headed to the city of Sderot in the south to carry on a weekly outreach to communities under attack.

Established in 1985, CFI’s priority has always been for it volunteers to be personally involved in the lives of the local people.

“The big picture of this ministry is how it gets involved in people’s lives directly, reaching the people of Israel one person at a time,” said Kevin Howard, director of media at CFI.

CFI has a long-term volunteer staff of 40 and facilitates short-term volunteers who want to spend from one day to three months in Israel. All volunteers, even if they have an office job, will have a chance to make periodic personal visits to Israelis who are recipients of CFI aid.

Volunteers on short-term trips get to help out in one of the ministry’s nine departments. They might do repairs in someone’s home, visit lone soldiers at an army base, take medicine and food to Holocaust survivors or help out members of the Ethiopian Jewish community.

The ministry works in conjunction with the local municipalities in identifying people the government cannot afford to help.

In addition to its outreaches, CFI has a distribution center where the poor can collect clothing, household items and furniture. A bridal salon lends wedding gowns to brides who cannot afford a pricey dress for her special day.

Contact: ; cfi@

8. Evangelize in Tel Aviv with Trumpet of Salvation.

Not content with just teaching his “To the Jew First” evangelistic campaign, Yaakov Damkani also runs a working seminar for volunteers with Trumpet of Salvation ministries.

Damkani models his ministry after the first 10 chapters of Matthew. In Matthew’s account, Jesus’ disciples at first heard His teachings and saw His miracles; but then Jesus sent them out on their own to put into practice what they had learned from Him.

“We refuse to bring people here and only let them accumulate knowledge,” Damkani says. “We teach the volunteers, and then we take them to the streets.”

Damkani, a consummate evangelist, leads the charge himself-whether he takes volunteers to an army base, a market or the beach.

A Jewish Israeli, Damkani was saved while reading the New Testament and coming to the realization it is a Jewish, not just Christian, book. He now teaches from that experience how to present the gospel to Jews, which he believes should be done differently from a presentation to gentiles.

An animated and passionate character, Damkani is based in Tel Aviv, a primarily secular city on the Mediterranean.

As an extension of the ministry, Damkani now owns and runs Gilgal, a hotel about one minute from the beach, which houses volunteers, tourists and conferences for up to 250 people. The conference center is open to locals and foreigners for seminars, and a modern cafe in the hotel lobby attracts passersby and beachgoers.

“We have really, as a body, neglected the ‘normal’ people-average middle-class Israelis,” he says. “This building gives us a facility for having people come and get the gospel in a nice environment.”

Contact: ;

9. Build lasting connections through Bridges of Peace.

With massive food distribution, home repair and office work on its agenda, the Israeli organization Bridges for Peace offers many long- and short-term volunteer opportunities, all of which are concentrated on the final goal of building relationships between Christians and Jews.

“We are not trying to meet all the food needs in Israel,” says Rebecca Brimmer, president of Bridges for Peace. “We are trying to change attitudes toward Christianity. We are showing God’s love to people who have never seen it before.”

Full-time, long-term volunteers at Bridges for Peace, based in Jerusalem, are integrated into the staff and, in addition to working office jobs, they help two food banks distribute 55 tons of provisions to individual families, welfare organizations and municipalities.

Bridges also hosts tour groups made up of people who undergo a few sessions of sensitivity training and then spend a week doing hands-on work in a Jewish community. This activity builds upon another one of Bridges’ goals: education of Christians about Israel, the Jewish feasts and Israeli society.

Staffers all pitch in during emergencies. After the Lebanon War in 2006, volunteers headed to the rocket-battered North to help in whatever ways they could. They harvested fruit and collected 30,000 eggs a day for a farmer whose workers had fled during the fighting.

Bridges also set up a warehouse in northern Israel after the war, in addition to its Jerusalem center, in which to store food for times of crisis. Brimmer says the goal is to store at least three months’ worth of food to be used in the event of a war or other emergency.

“If there really is a crisis in this country, money in the bank may not be good,” Brimmer says. “Food is real.”

Contact:

10. Serve at Christ Church, the crossroads of the Middle East.

During the rule of the Ottoman Empire in the mid-1800s, a delegation of British Christians sojourned in Jerusalem to care for the needs of the Jewish community. They built a clinic, the first school for Jewish children and, in 1849, the first and oldest Protestant church in the Middle East, Christ Church.

Standing at a cultural and geographic crossroads, the guesthouse and church complex remain today as a convergence point for Christians from around the world and for Israeli schoolchildren, soldiers and police on official tours of the Old City.

“Any volunteer that comes here is going to end up interacting with all of these people,” says Paul Hames, guesthouse manager.

Operated by The Church’s Ministry Among Jewish People (CMJ), the center includes the 19th-century church, a guesthouse, a coffee shop, a heritage center and a cistern dating back to King Herod’s time.

CMJ played an integral part in modern Israeli history, beginning with two major public institutions-education and hospitals-and sparking Jewish philanthropy to compete with Christian largesse. Because of that, Christ Church is on Israel’s public education national curriculum tours in the Old City.

And just as when it was founded, the Christ Church center is still considered a place for Christians to share their beliefs.

“You may be making beds or chopping vegetables, but our primary focus is creating opportunities for sharing the gospel,” Hames says of the volunteer work.

Located near Jaffa Gate, the Christ Church garden is famous for being the quietest place in the Old City, providing a place of respite, shade and recharging for weary wanderers.

CMJ operates two other guesthouses in Israel also in need of volunteers: Beit Immanuel in Tel Aviv-Jaffa and Beit Bracha in Migdal near Tiberias.

Contact: ; ccmanage@

Nicole Schiavi is a journalist and freelance writer based in Jerusalem and a regular contributor to Charisma.

While I was in Israel in late March, I took time away from my tour schedule to visit Hadassah Medical Center. I’m glad I did. Hadassah was founded in 1918 and is the second largest employer in Jerusalem. But what impressed me the most were the stories I heard about the hospital long before I arrived in Israel.

I got a chance to meet the people who put health and healing before politics and personal agenda. At Hadassah, Jews and Palestinians work together to heal sick people, even when it’s a suicide bomber or terrorist. On the outside, Hadassah looks like a normal hospital. On the inside, you can see God busy at work in the lives of His people. To watch the video, click below.

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Last weekend America celebrated Memorial Day as a time to honor all military personnel who have given the last full measure of devotion for the preservation of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Today, America is at war! We are at war with a radical religious element of Islam that feels they have a mandate from their god (Allah) to kill Christians and Jews.

I feel America is in the greatest danger as a nation that we have known since 1776. The elements that led to the attack on Pearl Harbor are all alive and well in Washington, D.C. and the nation.

There is a sincere feeling among the enemies of America that every effort of our president to placate Iran and bowing before a Saudi prince are signs that Allah is with them and victory over the West is at hand.

We live in a dangerous world! Last weekend North Korea launched two nuclear missiles. As I write this article, Iran is working feverishly to develop a nuclear bomb to attack Israel and eventually the United States of America.

In spite of this obvious danger … America slumbers in a deep deception created by political correctness that all is well and that our enemies are inferior to our military might.

There is a dramatic difference between America and our enemies. They have the absolute will to destroy us … they just lack the weapons. As soon as they have the weapons, you will see a nuclear war breakout in the Middle East and then be transported to America.

If Iran is not stopped from developing nuclear weapons, America will see a terrorist attack that makes 9/11 a walk in the park.

One of the foremost objectives of our television ministry is to shout into the ear of a slumbering America: Wake Up!

This is a fight for the soul and future of America. It is a fight for the future of your children and grandchildren. Whoever wins this war, will have total control of your children’s future.

When you pray—pray for America!

Fifty days after leaving Egypt, the Israelites gathered at Mt. Sinai to hear God proclaim the Torah or Law to them. The sight was awesome and provoked considerable fear in the hearts of all those gathered there, so much so that they asked Moses to speak with God on their behalf (Exodus 19:10-25; 20:18-21).

The lessons for us are clear:

1. Humankind cannot live in the presence of God.

Sin has separated us from God. Sin can only be understood in the light of God’s character. The Torah or Law reflects this character and teaches us how far we have fallen from it (Romans 3:20; Galatians 3:24).

2. Humankind needs to have a healthy fear of God.

The biblical record states that God came down to the mountain and it trembled and shook as lightning, thunder and fire engulfed it. When men and women live as if God never existed, this is more a commentary on their rebellion than their certainty about their position (Proverbs 14:9). The reason all men know that God exists is because this knowledge is embedded in their conscience (Psalm 14:1; Romans 1:20-23). We mock God, as many do today, to our own peril.

3. Humankind needs a mediator.

The state that we live in attracts the wrath of God (John 3:36; Romans 1:18). We cannot bridge the gap between God and ourselves. Hence at Sinai, the Israelites were terrified and wanted to run. Jesus bridged this gap by becoming a propitiating sacrifice for us (Romans 3:23-25).

4. Humankind needs to be clothed with God’s presence and power.

On the Day of Pentecost 2000 years ago in Jerusalem, the Spirit of God was poured out upon the early disciples, filling them with love, power and voice! (Acts 2:1-4). They were no longer fearful but enshrouded in love and fully reconciled to God. They could now rejoice in God’s presence and come boldly before His throne, free from fear (Hebrews 4:14-16, Hebrews 12:18-24).

This is the full message of Pentecost. It is thus important to note that we cannot fully celebrate it without first going back to Sinai.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Corinthians 13:14).

International Christian Embassy Jerusalem;

Psalm 126:1-6 One of the fruit of the Spirit is joy, and whenever we sow love into the lives of others, we can expect to reap joy. There is nothing in this life that brings more joy to me than to see my children blessed and serving the Lord with faithfulness. If this brings joy to my heart, can you imagine the joy God experiences when He sees His children walking in love with others?

This psalm is one of the SONGS OF DEGREES. The songs of degrees were sung by the men and their families as they went up to worship the Lord three times a year. As they climbed upward to Jerusalem, a city set on a hill, they sang these songs. They remembered the great things the Lord had done for them, and this made them rejoice and be glad. Even though there were tearful memories, they knew their tears would reap joy one day. “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (vv. 5-6).

We all have precious seed to bear that brings forth sheaves even if we have no natural children.

Those who have children have the opportunity to sow the seed of God’s Word into their children and then enjoy seeing the results of their planting as their children reach adulthood. Those who do not have natural children also can sow the precious seed of God’s Word into the lives of others, and they can experience the joy of many spiritual children. Any parent will tell you that their years of parenting included many tears, but what they see now is worth all the tears. Whenever anyone cries over a lost soul in intercession, that person also is sowing tears that will reap much joy later.

We can daily add to God’s joy simply by walking in His ways and keeping His command to love Him with all of our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves. The thought of being able to sow joy into the heart of God as we sow love into the hearts of men is something to meditate on daily. If our motivation every morning is to love with the love of Jesus, the Holy Spirit will give us the power and grace to do just that. We will then have the joy of seeing many in heaven upon whom our tears of intercession and our touch of love had an eternal effect. There is a great harvest of souls waiting. Are you willing to spend some time reaping this harvest through weeping intercession? The joy that awaits you when you sow with tears is beyond expression.

Lord, forgive me for not sowing more into the lives of others by declaring Your Word to them and praying for them. Give me the grace and power to love like Jesus today, and I know this will undoubtedly include shedding tears that will later reap great joy.

Psalm 125:1-5 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people” (v. 2). This psalm has great meaning to me since I have had the opportunity to see the mountains surrounding Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a city set on a hill, but there are mountains round about it. The way Jerusalem is positioned gives it a natural security system.

We too have a natural security system. Even as the mountains surround Jerusalem, the Lord is round about us. If we could have our spiritual eyes opened to glimpse into the spirit realm, we would see a mighty host of angels around us. We would never be fearful. A verse I like to speak aloud whenever I am in a frightening situation is, “The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them” (Ps. 34:7). Sometimes I am led to speak this Word in the morning during my quiet time with the Lord. When I remember to do this, I can almost feel an invisible shield of protection surrounding me.

I was so glad I prayed that the morning my car hydroplaned in a rainstorm on our return from our middle son’s wedding. The whole weekend of the wedding we contended with tornado warnings all around. We and our niece had accidents because of the stormy weather. Thank God no one was hurt severely in either accident. I prayed for the safety of all those who would be returning home from the wedding that evening and Sunday. I used this verse of Scripture as a covering for all those who would be traveling in the storm.

As we left early Sunday morning to return to Atlanta in time for church, suddenly I lost control of the car and it spun into the woods. The car did several turns, and then the back of the car hit three trees. All I had time to say was “Jesus.” The car was totaled. The police later shared with us that if our car had hit forward, my husband and I would have been killed. Truly I felt the angels of the Lord spin our car around to hit the trees with the rear of our car instead of the front. A friend later shared with me that she always prays for a chain link of angels to be placed around the vehicles of her loved ones as they travel each day. I have also added this to my morning prayers. What a comfort it is to know the angels are round about me and all those I pray for daily. Join me this morning as I pray for this protection.

Lord, thank You for Your angels who are round about me and all those who fear You. Thank You for the chain link of angels You place around every vehicle my loved ones and I will travel in today.

READ: 1 Kings 2:1-3:2; Acts 5:1-42; Psalm 125:1-5; Proverbs 16:25

Acts 4:1-37 Most of us remember the days in grammar school when we would have “Show and Tell.” Our homework assignment was to bring to school something we wanted to show the class, and then we were to share with the class all we wanted to about whatever we brought to school. The items often included a baby sister or brother, a favorite pet, a special rock, etc. There is something about the combination of seeing and hearing that makes an indelible imprint upon the brain. In this passage in Acts we see how it was now show and tell time for the disciples.

The disciples had experienced many visible demonstrations of the power of God during their walk with Jesus on earth. They were full of stories to tell about the things they had seen and heard. They were just beginning their journey without the physical presence of Jesus, but the power of His Spirit was evident. While they walked with Jesus they were given the power to heal the sick and cast out demons, and now they had the awesome responsibility of carrying the gospel to every nation. Miracles and signs were already happening. The religious leaders of that day believed the fire of the followers of Jesus was put out when Jesus died on the cross, but to their amazement they now had to contend with the roaring blaze of the Holy Spirit. Yes, the Spirit of God had been given, and the fire of the Holy Spirit was spreading uncontrollably. The disciples were asked to keep silent about Jesus, and their response was, “We cannot but speak the things that we have seen and heard.” They could not keep silent about the changes that had occurred in their own lives and the lives of others.

If we are true disciples of Jesus, we also should not be able to remain silent about the things we have seen and heard about Jesus. There is no such thing as a silent witness. A witness always reports everything he has seen and heard. One of the major assignments of the Holy Spirit is to give God’s Word voice on this earth. The Holy Spirit, however, does not have vocal cords. We are the ones who must supply the voice for the Holy Spirit. He tells us what we are to say, but if we remain silent, the message will not be conveyed through us, and we are the ones who will miss the blessing. I’ll never forget a young man in our church who worked his way through Georgia Tech and who had a definite call to China. He worked a night shift as a security guard and then went to school during the day. Every Sunday he was faithful not to miss church or Sunday school, but some Sundays he was so tired he could hardly hold up his head. One Sunday he felt the Holy Spirit’s gentle nudge to get up to the pulpit and give a word for the congregation. He battled with submitting to this nudge and said, “Lord, I’m just too exhausted even to go up to the front.” Then he heard the still quiet voice of the Holy Spirit say, “That’s all right, son; I’ll use another.” He bolted to his feet and delivered the word God had for us that day, and it was anointed. He did not want to miss his blessing. The Holy Spirit wants to use your voice to bless another today. Don’t miss your blessing.

READ: 1 Kings 1:1-53; Acts 4:1-37; Psalm 124:1-8; Proverbs 16:24