You’re Invited To Join Us For This Fall’s Hear O’ Israel! Festival of Jewish Music & Dance
When you read the New Testament book of Acts, do you ever imagine what it must have been like to be there as it was happening in real time? Can you picture what it must have been like to be among the throng on the streets of Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit was poured out that first Shavuot after Yeshua’s resurrection?
Yeshua told His followers they could expect to do even greater works than He did (John 14:12). Most of us who follow Yeshua hunger to live in that reality. We long to participate in a move of God. We desire to see His message of forgiveness and salvation proclaimed in power to many, and to see many respond to Him in faith.
Since 1993, more than 1,500 outreach partners who have joined us for one or more of our 25 Hear O’ Israel! Festivals of Jewish Music & Dance events in Eastern Europe, India, and South America have experienced what can only be described as a present-day chapter of the book of Acts. Our teams have witnessed healings, signs and wonders, and the amazing blessing of seeing more than a quarter million people reconciled to God!
The Hear O’ Israel! Festival is an event featuring world-class music and dance. More than 600,000 people have attended one of these events, and more than half are Jewish. Previous festivals have featured Messianic worship leader Paul Wilbur, violinist Maurice Sklar, and a host of talented, Spirit-filled dancers. While the artists and dancers are rehearsing during the week of the performance, our outreach partners are in prayer and are involved in street outreach. They hand out flyers inviting the community to the festival and share their faith through street ministry, conversation, prayer, home and hospital visits, and mini-concerts.
Long before a festival takes place in a city, the Jewish Voice Ministries International (JVMI) team is working with local Messianic congregations and other groups of Believers in the area. It is our goal to bless and support the work they’re already doing. They serve as intercessors, interpreters, and guides while our team is in their city. They also do the essential work of following up with each person in attendance at a Festival who indicated they wanted to know more about Yeshua or made a decision to follow Him.
One JVMI staff member who has been a part of two Hear O’ Israel! Festivals says said, “People who join us for the Festivals want direct experience sharing the Good News about Yeshua. Some have had a burden for the salvation of the Jewish People for decades. They want to be the hands and feet of this ministry.” The Festivals provide an opportunity for partners from a wide range of ages to make a direct difference in the lives of people who need to know Yeshua.
It’s gratifying to see many outreach partners return for every Festival. They tell us the Hear O’ Israel! outreach is like no other mission trip in which they’ve ever participated. The sense of being on the front lines of what God is doing, and the deep community that forms among the team, truly make it a book of Acts experience.
Richard Brock, JVMI Regional Partner Relations Representative said of his own Festival experience, “People go on these outreaches because they believe not only in the urgency of reaching Jewish people with the message of Yeshua, but because they believe in the ministry of JVMI. They trust JVMI and know that whatever is taking place is always being guided by the highest ethical, spiritual, and moral values.”
Brock said street ministry in the cities in which the Festival outreaches are staged is a “fields-ripe-for-harvest” experience for participants. Highlights for him have included: leading two Ukrainian high school students to their own commitment to follow Yeshua and connecting them with a congregation that would disciple them; speaking assurance of God’s forgiveness to a believing man haunted by the possibility of his family’s involvement in crimes against the Jewish people during World War II; and praying the Aaronic benediction from Numbers 6:22-26 over a Jewish reporter who heard the Good News of God’s love for him in Yeshua.
One volunteer said she was most surprised by the effectiveness of sharing her faith with passersby on the street. She had never done that before, and said, “I was surprised that it worked! People would stop to talk to us, which has not been my experience in the US. It was a very cool experience, and I learned a lot from the people on the teams who are skilled .”
The high point for all of us involved in the Festival comes at the conclusion of each performance when we are able to pray with those who have responded to the clear message of the Good News. Back in 1993 when we launched our first Festival, we never could have dreamed that so many lives would be touched and transformed by the love and power of God. It has been a modern-day book of Acts story only the Holy Spirit could write!
We’re looking forward to the next chapter of the story as we look ahead to this fall’s Hear O’ Israel! Festival. From September 16th – 26th, 2016 we’ll be offering the hope of Yeshua to the war-torn people of Kharkov, Ukraine. You don’t need any special skills to join us – just a good pair of walking shoes and a desire to be a part of the next chapter of God’s kingdom story of reaching the Jewish People with the Good News of their Messiah, Yeshua.
