Shalom Dear Friends,
Such a day!
HaDavar has been spearheading an evangelistic, Bible book table at the University of California Irvine for the last three years. UCI is a very diverse and secular campus. Because of the aggressive and extreme activities of the Muslim Student Association, it was once considered to be one of the most anti Semitic, anti-Israeli schools in the country. That notoriety came to an end when the Muslim Student Association conspired to violate the free speech rights of the students by disrupting a speech by the Israeli Ambassador. They were arrested, tried, convicted and punished. The campus has been noticeably calmer ever since.
With that short introduction to the environment, I feel constrained to share with you what the LORD did during the first Friday in February, 2012. Please indulge me and let me “boast in the LORD” (Psalm 34:2 My soul will make its boast in the Lord; The humble will hear it and rejoice.)
We experienced the most incredible day of the three years we have been present at UCI. Lynn is our most gifted evangelist. As she hands out tracts or Gospels of John, the LORD inevitably leads her to students who have the time and inclination to discuss spiritual subjects. She will spend 15, 30, 45 minutes (whatever it takes) with a student. She will eventually ask them if they would like to pray and receive the gift of eternal life, and many do. On February 3, 2012, Lynn led 9 students to the Lord and Norma led one to the Lord for a total of 10 decisions for the Messiah.
If they pray with her, she immediately brings them to the table so we can rejoice with them and give them a Bible. We are not allowed to gather their personal information, so we give them Irvine Community Church literature and encourage them to get involved in a Bible believing Church. Then we have to send them on their way into the hands of God. Please pray that Ara, Chris, Cameron, Antonio, Brendon, Bryan, Alex, Brenda, Erica and Brittany will find a good church and grow in grace.
Two students indicated that they would pray to receive Christ but later, in private. Please pray that Eddie and Christine will place their trust in Jesus for salvation as they indicated they would.
Since the campus has a significant Muslim population, we see many Muslim girls walk by dressed in their traditional head-scarves (hijab). They usually give us and our booth a wide berth. However, on this Friday we were able to make two significant contacts. Pray for the salvation of the Muslim girl who received a gospel of John from Norma and for Fayida from Saudi Arabia. She received an Arabic Bible and New Testament. Although a Muslim, she was very Western in her dress and considered Muslim fundamentalist terrorists to be as much her enemy as anyone else’s.
The LORD brought two significant Jewish contacts to us that day as well. Olivier talked with a Jewish professor who became irritated and angered by our presence on campus. Also, please pray for Julia, a Jewish girl. Lynn (who is Jewish) informed her that our sins cannot be forgiven at Yom Kippur because the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD and the Yom Kippur blood sacrifice cannot be offered. Julia got upset and walked away. Better that than indifference!
We encounter students from all kinds of racial, ethnic, social and spiritual backgrounds. Pray for Jimmy, an ex-Jehovah’s Witness. He had a very hard heart and wanted nothing to do with religion. He has been deceived by this cult. Please pray that he will come to trust the One who is the truth (John 14:6). Pray for Eugene struggling with alcohol and drugs. He has been coming by the table for months to talk but he is not serious about wanting to quit his addictions. Manny, Noah and Calvin need prayer.
We hand out literature as well. Pray for all the Bibles and tracts distributed. They are precious seed.
Finally, please pray that we have the funds to continue purchasing literature and Bibles in bulk and for this ministry. And thank the LORD for all that He did that Friday in February. Not all our days are that exciting; for example, two weeks prior the common remark from the team members was this, “There are sure a lot of hard hearts out here today.” Sometimes we need encouragement—PRAY! Thanks for being part of our team.
HaDavar on YouTube (facebook & Twitter)
The LORD has granted that one of our major goals is beginning to experience realization. Thanks to the generous gifts of two supporters we have begun to video three of our courses. We have created a channel on YouTube for our lessons. You can take a class by going to www.youtube.com/HaDavarMinistries.
You can also go to YouTube and search for “HaDavar Ministries Channel YouTube.” Look for our logo.
The advantage of the video class lies primarily in three areas:
- The student can relate to the instructor more readily. Your teacher is no longer this disembodied voice coming out of a machine. You will feel that you are part of the class.
- If the instructor is using PowerPoint visuals you will be able to see exactly what he is talking about. Maps, graphs, charts, and photographs will be readily seen and understood.
- Our discipleship instruction and the Word of God can be accessed from any computer anywhere there is an Internet connection. This means that our classes reach out on a world-wide basis to the English speaking world.
- If you were unable to attend class on a particular week, making up for it online just got a little closer to actually attending. Did you know that if you complete 80% of a class, we will award you a Certificate of Completion?
Please pray that we will be able to grow in this area of our ministry, in the quality of our videos, in the quantity of our classes, and in the breadth of our outreach around the world.
Do not forget that you can also access HaDavar on our website as well as facebook and Twitter. We post news of Israel on these outlets and you can watch the Israel channel 2 news program (click on Israel News on our web site menu bar).
Enlarging our borders
I have been asking the LORD to “enlarge our borders.” He has been doing so through our video classes. Another area heavy on our heart is foreign language translation of our website. We are currently at about 40% of our goal in Hebrew. Please pray that we will have the funds and the translators needed to finish the job soon. We have completed our goals for the Russian language.
Thanks for being part of our ministry team.