I’m deeply grateful to Israeli President Herzog & First Lady for hosting Delegation of Evangelical Youth Pastors, answering their many questions
The Joshua Fund & ALL ISRAEL NEWS team up with Faith Wins to bring young ministry leaders to Israel
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL — Imagine for a moment how many requests an Israeli President and First Lady receive every week to meet with prominent Israelis, visiting heads of state, visiting foreign ministers and ambassadors, business leaders, civic leaders, and journalists.
Can such demands leave much time on their schedule to meet with a group of young and influential — but hardly famous — Christian pastors?
Hardly.
Yet, to their enormous credit, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and his wife, Michal, just carved precious time out of their schedule to welcome a Delegation of American Evangelical Youth Pastors and their wives that Lynn and I brought to visit and tour Israel, many of them for their first time.
PRESIDENT HERZOG IS CHOOSING TO INVEST IN ISRAEL’S STRATEGIC ALLIANCE WITH EVANGELICALS
Not only did the Herzogs host our Delegation at the Presidential Residence, they invited them share their first impressions of Israel, share about where they had visited, what they had seen and heard, and whom they had met, and to ask any question they wanted.
It was a rare, encouraging, and very moving evening for the 50 young leaders from 14 different American states.
And I’m deeply grateful to the Herzogs for agreeing to the event, given how much else they have on their plates.
Indeed, it is yet another indicator that the President understands how strategic is the relationship between Israel and the 60 million Evangelical Christians in the United States, as well as with the world’s 600 million Evangelicals.
And how concerned he is that young Christians — generally those under the age of 30 or so — are increasingly confused about Israel, are believing the avalanche of lies crashing down on Israel on social media, and are turning against the Jewish state.
The more I’ve gotten to know President Herzog since the October 7th war erupted two years ago, the more impressed I’ve been by his growing knowledge of this important community and his commitment to investing in this strategic partnership.
WHAT DO OLDER EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS BELIEVE ABOUT ISRAEL?
Herzog understands that most Evangelicals over the age of 30 understand, believe in, and warmly embrace God’s love and wonderful plan for Israel and the Jewish people as laid out in the Bible, from Genesis through the book of Revelation.
Such Christians both believe and wholeheartedly affirm the Abrahamic Covenant explained in the book of Genesis, a series of promises in which God:
• sovereignly chose Abram to know Him personally
• renamed him Abraham
• supernaturally gave him a son, despite the fact that Sarah was barren
• gave him a land
• decided to bring forth through him the entire nation of Israel
• vowed bless all the families of the earth through that nation, and
• vowed, “I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse.” (Genesis 12:3)
What’s more, such Evangelical Christians believe that in our very lifetime, the Lord is keeping His promises — found in the biblical prophecies such as those found in Ezekiel 36 and 37 — that in the last days He will bring the Jewish people out of exile and back to the land of Israel, and will help us reestablish the sovereign nation state of Israel, rebuild the ancient ruins, and make the deserts bloom.
They believe in verses like Jeremiah 31:3, in which the God of Israel says to the Jewish people, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.”
And because they believe these biblical truths, such Evangelical Christians choose to show unconditional love towards Israel and the Jewish people, even while so much of the world turns against both.
GROWING DANGER: MANY YOUNGER EVANGELICALS DON’T BELIEVE WHAT THEIR PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS BELIEVE ABOUT ISRAEL
But President Herzog also understands that most younger Evangelicals don’t understand or embrace these truths.
Therefore, it’s critical that Israeli leaders at the highest levels work closely with older Evangelical leaders to invest far more heavily and intentionally in the next generation.
That’s precisely why my teams and I at ALL ISRAEL NEWS, The Joshua Fund, and The Rosenberg Report on TBN are working so hard to educate Christians in the U.S., Canada, and around the world to better understand God’s deep love and prophetic plan for Israel and the Jewish people as laid out in the Bible.
That’s why we’re working hard to help all Christians – and particularly young Evangelicals – better understand how to “speak the truth in love” and counter the vicious lies against Israel, and those who love Israel, that are being pumped into the culture by the so-called “mainstream” media and on social media.
That’s also why Lynn and I and our Joshua Fund colleagues have teamed up with Chad Connelly — founder and CEO of a non-profit Christian organization called “Faith Wins” — to bring delegations of Evangelical pastors and their wives to Israel over the past several years.
And that’s why we appreciate President Herzog so much — he gets it and he’s proactive in doing something about it.
INVESTING IN YOUNGER EVANGELICALS
Lynn and I — together with our colleagues at ALL ISRAEL NEWS, The Joshua Fund, and Faith Wins — want ministry leaders to see Israel for themselves, study the Bible in the very land where so much of it was written, meet Israeli and Palestinian pastors and ministry leaders, see what God is doing in the Promised Land these days, and learn how they can advance the Great Commission here.
We also want them to feel free and safe to ask their toughest questions and get real, honest, biblical answers.
We just co-hosted our third such joint-delegation since 2023.
As noted, what made this one unique was that we focused on inviting primarily youth pastors – rather than senior pastors – along with those who teach young Christians at Bible colleges and seminaries.
The leaders who accepted our invitation – together with their wives – hail from churches and Bible colleges in 14 American states and multiple denominations.
It was an amazing trip, and these are amazing young leaders. Their questions have been deep, probing, and uninhibited. Their courage to seek biblical truth has been encouraging. And their passion to share what they’ve seen and heard here with everyone they can back home — especially young believers — has been inspiring.
This particular delegation arose from a conversation I had with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar over coffee in Tel Aviv in the spring, as we talked about how we could work together to better educate Evangelical young people.
Lynn and I are deeply grateful for all his help and that of his stellar team at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
We’re also deeply grateful to President Herzog and the lovely First Lady for making it a priority to personally meet with and invest in these last two Delegations.
Just as with the group we brought in April, this group was impressed with the Herzogs and grateful for the opportunity to share their experiences with them, ask them important and heartfelt questions, and get direct and honest answers.
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Joel C. Rosenberg is the editor-in-chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS and the President and CEO of Near East Media. A New York Times best-selling author, Middle East analyst, and Evangelical leader, he lives in Jerusalem with his wife and sons.
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