Our second day at LCJE was pretty exciting. Dave Bennett, a neat guy from Grace Baptist Church in Hudson, MA, began the day with a brief, well-spoken message. Stephen Katz from Jews for Jesus, was the first speaker and presented “What Israelis Think About You, Me, and You Know Who.”

Stephen’s presentation was an extremely interesting look at current perceptions about Christians, Yeshua, and Messianic Jews. Jews for Jesus conducted polls for their research, and the results were interesting. For example, the poll results showed that many Israelis do not know who Yeshua is, or who He claimed to be. They also don’t know much about His central message and work (i.e., salvation through the final and ultimate atoning sacrifice). The presentation obviously went deeper into the issues, and it drove home the need to share the Gospel with the Jewish people―particularly in the land of Israel. Please pray for Jews for Jesus as they work toward this goal, and that God will open hearts and use them to reach Israelis with the Gospel. For updates about their research and work, check out their website at www.jewsforjesus.org.

Today we were lucky to have Wes Taber of AMF International come to LCJE and share with us “Blackstone’s Vision: The Influence of a Humble Friend of Israel.” “Blackstone” is William E. Blackstone, an extremely influential nineteenth-century evangelist. Wes focused on Blackstone’s vision for and efforts toward Jewish evangelism, as well as establishing a Jewish state in Palestine (which, at the time, was still a long way off). In fact, Blackstone’s call for a Jewish state in Palestine actually precedes Theodore Herzl’s famous publication Der Judenstaat.

Blackstone’s work was both pioneering and instrumental in gathering United States and international support for a Jewish state in Palestine. The Blackstone Memorial of 1891 was a published petition for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, and it was signed by 413 prominent Christian and Jewish leaders in the US―including then-Ohio Congressman and future-US President William McKinley, as well as the grandfather of author Ernest Hemingway.

Wes’s presentation was well researched and a wonderful resource for anyone interested in the foundations of Christian Zionism. To learn more about the presentation, or AMF International, visit their website at www.amfi.org.

Kirk Gliebe, Henry Morse, and Ellis Goldstein all presented interesting and engaging topics as well, but if I went into detail about everything, my blog entries would be novel-length. If you’re interested in LCJE and what you’re reading about it, I encourage you to consider becoming a part of the consultation. Visit www.lcje.net to learn more. I feel blessed to be a part of this conference, and I definitely recommend learning more about it to anyone interested in or currently involved with Jewish evangelism.

-Michael