Missions Conference 2008: Part III

Westside's Missions Conference officially kicked off this morning and we heard from Dr. John Howarth of CUFI.

I received some information in my inbox this week from Bob and Lisa Cowling. Lisa will be meeting with the ladies on Thursday night, and Bob will be eating bacon and eggs on Saturday morning with the men. Here's what you can expect from this couple:

For the women, from Lisa:

The topic: "Symbolism in a Jewish Wedding"

Our evening will be an interactive journey through Scripture and a study of the traditional Jewish wedding ceremony. We will not only learn the meanings behind many of our present-day wedding traditions but hope to be renewed and challenged in our Christian walk as well.

And for us guys, from Bob:

In Jeremiah 16: 14 - 16 the Lord declares that He will bring the Jews back to the land of Israel from "the land of the North" and everywhere else He scattered them and that this event will be so amazing that it will eclipse the time He brought the Jews out of Egypt.

In Isaiah 49:22 God declares that he will use the Gentile nations to bring the Jews home to the land of Israel.

At the Westside Men's Breakfast this Saturday, I will share how God called me, a Gentile, to be part of a Christian ministry called Ebenezer - Operation Exodus, whose mandate from the Lord is the fulfillment of these scriptures by bring Jews out of the land of the north (Russia) and back to Israel. According to the latest figures, in 2007 Ebenezer-Operation Exodus has helped and assisted 61% of all Jewish people making aliyah (returning to Israel) from the countries of former Soviet Union (FSU), a number exceeding 120,000 Jews.

In 2004 I joined a team of six from Ebenezer who sailed from Haifa, Israel on a boat through Istanbul, Turkey and the Black Sea to Odessa, Ukraine where we boarded 66 Jews for the return sailing home. This mission was accomplished with great joy and celebration but also under the threat of our ship being bombed and amidst the rising anti-semitism in the Ukraine and all the countries of the FSU.

It was also a journey of personal discovery as I learned the full extent of my father's involvement in keeping the Jews out of Israel when he was a British soldier stationed in Palestine between 1945-1948.

Please join us this week!