Highlights from the First Annual, AND Historic Israel Summit

If you didn’t make it to our first annual Israel Summit, I’m willing to guess you’ll want to watch the livestream replay after reading this short summary. We had some of our favorite and most qualified advocates for the land of Israel in Nashville this week to share about the past, present, and future of the land and people of Israel. These included: Yishai Fleisher, Congresswoman Michelle Bachman, Knesset Member Ohad Tal, Ari Abramowitz, Nati Rom, Julie Sironi, Joshua Waller, Tommy Waller, and countless others. These passionate individuals all gathered together for each one of you, for the nation of Israel, and to share the good news of the restoration of God’s Kingdom. 

When asked what attendees could take away from the Summit as their homework when advocating for Israel, these speakers had this to say: 

Yishai Fleisher

• Teach your kids the Bible
• Send your kids, and yourself to Israel
• Preach loudly about Israel to the choir

Caroline Glick:

• “The purpose of starting in Genesis with the Patriarchs and Matriarchs is to prove that the land belongs to the Jews.”
• By supporting the Jews, you’re causing the light that comes out of Zion to be stronger.

MK Ohad Tal:

• Get future generations to support Israel.

Each of these leaders in a sovereign Israel echo the same crucial point – that the younger generations have to learn about the Bible, about Israel, and the Jewish people. Keep these points in mind as we explore more about what happened in Nashville this week. 

Monday Night Started off with a Challenge

If anyone assumed that the conference would ease into thought provoking topics about Israel, that was quickly dispelled. Bishop Robert Stearns gave everyone a challenge just a few minutes into his presentation; he said that the question of Adam and all of the Patriarchs is the same question God is asking us today: “eifo ata (where are you)?” This question goes far beyond what you would imagine. “Where are you,” doesn’t have to do with your physical location, it has to do with who you are, it has to do with your identity. When this is asked, God knows that you don’t know the answer. “Where are you Moses? Are you a shepherd or are you the deliverer of My people?” “Where are you, American church, that you’re missing the greatest miracle of the last 20 years, the ingathering of the exiles.” When God asks us this question, we must answer the same way those who came before us did: “hineni (here I am).” “Here I am. I’m listening, I’m hearing, I’m following Your voice.” This is the challenge that Robert Stearns gave and I dare to add, that through this summit, we were able to hear a significant amount of God’s heart, and if God’s heart is towards something, it is easy to assume that his voice is leading to that as well. I suggest that this is a moment for each of us to reply, “here I am,” and follow God’s voice toward the people of Israel.

Soon After, We Were Equipped with the Facts of How to Move Forward.

Ari Abramowitz gave a message straight from his best friend Jeremy Gimpel. “Be prepared to stand alone.” Following the understanding of the significance of Israel and the Jewish people, the world will most likely not be on your side, so you need to be equipped with the facts so that you are strong enough to stand alone in the face of adversity. Ari  also gave us this bit of wisdom: “the greatest revolution is the return to Zion.”

Later, Tommy Waller shared exactly how we can aid in the Jewish return to Zion; by supporting our Jewish brethren as they make the greater exodus back to the land. The Ammonites and the Moabites were cursed because they refused to give bread and water to the Israelites during the first exodus, so we can only imagine how fierce a punishment we would receive if we were to refuse bread and water to the Jewish people during the exodus that we are seeing in our lifetime. Mr. Waller also explained what the “good news of the Gospel” really is. The “good news” is that redemption is happening, vines are growing on the mountains of Samaria, the Jewish people are returning to Israel, and, in turn, this means the coming of our Messiah is soon at hand.

Caroline Glick gave us insight on what exactly is happening in the political world regarding Israel and how it affects the United States. When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th, they expected that the Jewish people would scatter and the surrounding Arab nations would take the opportunity to strike and obliterate Israel. This did not happen. The Jews became more unified than ever before and the surrounding Arabs did not support Hamas the way they had expected. What did happen is that the antisemitism that had been dormant since the Holocaust became reenergized on October 7th. Caroline Glick went into detail on how antisemitism has an undeniable connection to paving the way to get rid of democracy and then shared this haunting revelation:

 “It starts with the Jews, but it never ends with the Jews. Six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, but 60 million people were killed in World War 2.”

In the heart of this conflict, it’s important to see who exactly the players are. In regard to the Arabs, Nati Rom made this point: “the Nazis of Gaza are no different than the Nazis of Judea and Samaria.” Later, Yishai Fleisher said of his own nation and people that, “just like you’re fighting for a better America, we’re fighting for a better Israel.”

Michele Bachmann had an extremely impactful and historically based presentation that revolved around the Jewish people’s undeniable claim to the entire land of Israel. She noted that God’s covenant with the Jewish people is eternal, thus meaning it has no time limit. Michele shared that Israel is second only to God Himself when it comes to central characters in the Bible, that the British Mandate of Palestine was formed for the Jewish people to return back to their ancestral homeland, and then made this show stopping statement:

“As of today and as of April 25th, 1920, Israel, legally, under international law, is the only nation on earth and the Jewish people, the only people on earth, that have the living right to the land of Israel – today undisputed.”

We also need an understanding of how to put this information to action. Zac Waller gave us some tools on how to do and share this. Our role in relation to Israel and the Jewish people is essential to how we move forward. This means it’s essential to recognize how much the Jewish people have given us (i.e. the Bible) and to greet them with this acronym: HUGS – humble, unload, give, and serve. We can see that those who bless the Jewish people are blessed in multiple situations in the Old and New testament; like the Roman centurion who built a synagogue for the Jewish people. Lastly, we need to be careful to not “Greek-ize” what we’re learning. Hebraic learning is relational to God and to others; it’s less about our rights and more about our responsibilities. 

When thinking about how we think and how we’re supposed to relate to others, it provokes the question of if how we say something matters. An example of this is whether or not it really matters if we call it the “West Bank” or “Judea and Samaria”. Yishai Fleisher gave some insight into this by saying that, while terms like these matter, it is important not to get too hung up on it, what matters most is the land.

We couldn’t go through our entire summit without a visit from our very own famous Montana cowboy. Zeke Strain and Ruti Mann shared about the cowboys’ arrival in Israel, the therapy horsebarn and the impact it’s making, and then a challenging word from Zeke from his own experience in standing with Israel and the Jewish people:

“If you can’t stand behind what you say, it doesn’t do anybody any good.”

Just When You Would Have Thought it Couldn’t Get Any Better…

Nati Rom started off Wednesday morning with some powerful topics and points. One of the most humbling points is as follows:

“The Jews need to have freedom of religion… they need to be able to say the Shema anywhere they want, including the Temple Mount.” 

He also gave us some exceptional insight into what is happening today and why. Here’s Nati’s thoughts:

“Amalek smells redemption…it isn’t about border disputes, it’s not about anything personal. It’s about fighting God, it’s about fighting the chosen people, and fighting against the redemption. This is what is happening today…”

MK Ohad Tal ensured that it was known what exactly he is fighting for in this exciting statement: 

“We came back after 2,000 years of exile, not to establish a Palestinian state in the cradle of our existence. That’s not why we came back. We came back to fulfill this vision of the nation of Israel going back to its homeland.”

How Can There Be More from this Summit?

While speaking about the Temple Mount, Nati Rom said this:

“They [the enemies of Israel] know what they are fighting for. The question is do we know what we are fighting for?”

I believe that presents an additional question for us. What are we fighting for? In Nazi Germany one out of every 14,000 Christians stood up for the Jewish people. Joshua Waller noted that the difference in pro-Israel people and Zionists is this: “pro-Israel people are in the bleachers and Zionists are on the fields making the goals,” so in this same breath, we need to commit ourselves to not be like the 13,999 people who may or may not have been pro-Israel, and instead be the one, the one out of 14,000, that chooses to get on the field and fight for the nation and people of Israel. This challenge faces a deeper reality following these chilling words from Tommy Waller:

“We can’t sit in our churches and listen to the trains go by.”

The reality, however, is quite simple, whether the 13,999 and millions more stand with Israel or not, the God of Israel does. So in the words of Ohad Tal:

“We [the Jewish people] will win. I can promise you that. We will win.”

This was only a small portion of everything the Israel Summit had to offer! Some of the other topics included: What happens to the Arabs in the “one Jewish State”? Is Israel ready for sovereignty? How did October 7th happen? What is the minimal end to this war? And countless other extraordinary topics. 

We’re working to make videos as well as the full replay of the livestream from the Summit, available soon. Stay tuned!