2016 Annual Report
Summary
Take a look back with us in our 2016 Annual Report and see all you helped us accomplish.
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When you pray for us as we go around the world to share the Good News, God answers. We see people saved, healed and delivered! But that is not where our ministry, or your prayers, end. We then begin the process of connecting these new Believers to strong congregations for discipleship.
For this to happen, we need healthy leaders in each congregation. That is why we are excited to take our JVMI Messianic Leadership Training to Africa again this summer. Rabbi Jonathan Bernis and the heads of our Global Outreach and Congregation and Leadership Development departments will minister in three nations: Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.
Here is an important briefing of their schedule including dates, locations and prayer points. We are so excited about the potential we see in these leaders and regions.
Our hope is that this training and ministry helps propel forward these national movements of growing congregations, advancing their ability to spread the gospel and develop healthy, thriving communities of faith. Please invest your prayers in this time of training. Your intercession makes a critical difference.
Travel: Please pray for safe travels and good health before, during and after these ministry times.
Pray that “Ethiopia will quickly stretch out their hands unto God” (Psalm 68:31b KJV).
Pray for open hearts, great relationships and the transformative power of God at work in these meetings to bring lasting, positive impact after we are gone.
Pray for the Igbo tribe in Nigeria. They are among those “from every nation, tribe, people and language” who will stand “before the throne and the Lamb…” (Revelation 7:9 NIV).
Pray for us as we spend time with the Igbo community leaders, get to know them better and listen to the Lord regarding His heart for them.
Pray for the Lemba to fulfill their identity as Jewish Believers and their priestly calling as “a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Messiah Yeshua” (1 Peter 2:5).
Pray for the amazing movement among the Lemba in which the Lord is raising up healthy congregations and leaders. May it continue to flourish and gain momentum throughout the nation of Zimbabwe and beyond.
We pray: Father, thank you that you have promised the nations to Yeshua and called us to help fulfill that promise. Anoint Rabbi Jonathan, and those ministering at his side, with wisdom in situations and decision-making. May the congregational leaders and those who follow them be equipped, strengthened and grow closer to You, enabling them to make disciples of these nations. All glory to You! In Yeshua’s name, AMEN.
God is doing amazing things in Mudanda, Zimbabwe!
Outreach Partners in the Prayer Tent saw God reveal His power and compassion as He worked wonders in several lives who could not be helped medically. We heard from our team photographer who said, “As I left one person, another was giving praise to Yeshua for what He was working in them.”
This is Greatful, who is now grateful as well! She had been unable to walk for the last seven days. She came to the clinic in a wheelbarrow pushed by a family member or friend. When she left the Prayer Tent, she walked out on her own and walked right over to the immersion station to testify her faith in Yeshua by being immersed.
Outreach Partner Eunice prayed for a person named Daina whose hand was healed. The next person in line for prayer was a young lady in a wheelchair. At Eunice’s station (a little cluster of chairs among several others in the Prayer Tent), the young woman explained that she was paralyzed on the right side of her body. Eunice prayed for her, and “after prayer,” our correspondent said, “the Lord gave her use of her right arm!” Eunice continued to pray, and the more she did, the better the woman felt.
Unlock the “unsolvable” mystery and discover how the Lost Tribes and You are vessels for fulfilling biblical prophecy.
Such exciting things are happening in Mudanda this week!
Internet connections are spotty, but we hope to get more updates each day to pass along to you.
Thank you so much for your prayers! Our staff and Outreach Partners are strengthened by the Lord through them. Please continue to lift them up as well as the thousands of people seeking medical and spiritual help.
Pray for the people of Mudanda – for them to come to faith in Yeshua, for God to continue showing Himself mighty and compassionate through the medical treatments and healing miracles, and for all the new Believers to grow strong in the Lord and rooted in His Word.
For day-by-day prayer points, click here.
An excited and energetic team posed for a group photo at the airport before their departure to Zimbabwe.
Before boarding the first leg of their international journey, they circled around for prayer.
“We are now on our way,” our partner-photographer, Bob, said, “and the Lord has blessed us to be here on this trip. All is well, and we need all prayer for the Lord to be magnified in His work.”
They arrived safely in Addis Ababa for their connection to Zimbabwe and everyone was eager to get to the clinic to help with the set-up.
The team traveled to Mudanda today, and the blue skies caused Bob to reflect back to his first Zimbabwe outreach, which was to a different location in the Buhera region. The weather wasn’t quite as nice on that trip.
Shalom, and good morning to all on this beautiful day the Lord has made. We are now on our way to Mudanda, Buhera. As we follow the large bus, my thoughts go back to my first time in Zimbabwe camping at another location in Buhera. We had many challenges to overcome, and at that time I was in security [Line Management].
We had arrived at the campsite, and went to the clinic to work on setup. Late in the day we had storms come through that were so strong that tents blew away. Also, the weight of the rain collecting on the top of the tents collapsed almost all tents at the clinic site.
When I saw this, I couldn't help but think, “This is it! We won't have a clinic, and we will probably have to go home.” Praise the Lord, that’s not the way it ended. We had a break in the weather about an hour before sundown, and everyone scrambled to get all camping gear in order, and we tried to get everything dry.
Habte Mulugeta spent the night at the clinic site setting up all the tents that were knocked down, and with the Lord’s help, the clinic opened on time. Also many locals came to know Yeshua as their Lord.
I now know that times like these help us to strengthen our faith in the Lord, and we need to put all our trust in Him. The Scripture that comes to mind for this is Philippians 4:11-13:
I am not saying this because I am in need—for whatever circumstance I am in, I have learned to be content. I know what it is to live with humble means, and I know what it is to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of contentment—both to be filled and to go hungry, to have abundance and to suffer need. I can do all things through Messiah who strengthens me.
Also, no matter how bad we think things are, we need always to give thanks for it. 1Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
Blessings from Zimbabwe, Bob Aiken
The clinic opened Sunday afternoon with many patients waiting outside for treatment. We expect to see over 1,000 patients each day. Join us in praying for strength, wisdom, health, efficiency and unity throughout the Clinic week. (For detailed, day-by-day prayer points, click here.)
Right from the start, many patients have thanked us for coming. They are grateful for the no-cost medical, dental and eye care they’ll receive at the Jewish Voice Medical Clinic. Local healthcare in this rural region is very limited, and our Clinic will help people from miles around. Patients in line have already asked when we are coming back.
As part of the outreach, Jewish Voice Ministries helped replace the restroom facilities at the existing clinic site around which we have set up our Clinic. The work began about six weeks ago so that it would be ready for the people who would be coming to the Clinic. We are pleased to know that the new construction will be a blessing to the local clinic and its patients for years to come.
We are blessed to be Yeshua’s (Jesus’) hands and feet in this ministry to Jewish people and their neighbors in Mudanda, Zimbabwe. Thank you for being a part of making it possible through your financial support and prayers.
For day-by-day prayer points, click here.
Sign up to cover the Mudanda Medical Outreach in round-the-clock prayer.
Jonathan Bernis’ first encounter with Ethiopia came in 1998, when he traveled to Ethiopia with board member Roger West and other ministry leaders. Roger had received clear direction from the Lord that the Beta Israel Jewish community needed help, and the team went to see what they could do. They spent time in Addis Ababa and Gondar.
Here is how Jonathan described the experience:
When I saw the incredible needs in Gondar, I was deeply moved. One thing I noted, in particular, was that there wasn’t a dentist for 300 miles. Imagine a city of over 300,000 people without one dentist. I felt the burden to organize a Medical Clinic Outreach, something we had been doing already in the former Soviet Union throughout the 1990s in conjunction with our International Festivals of Jewish Music & Dance.
The following year, Jonathan returned with a small team to care for some of the needy Beta Israel. They rented a public health center and quickly realized the overwhelming nature of the situation.
We discovered as soon as we began that the need was so great that people overran us. It was absolutely chaotic. Still, in the midst of the chaos, we were able to help several hundred people with medical care, simple dental care, and medicines.
This clinic in 1999 was the beginning of the work of Jewish Voice in Ethiopia, but it was several years before the vision took shape. “Although the clinic was a very moving experience, I didn’t really have a sense of what the next steps were,” Jonathan explained.
The years following that first Clinic were filled with the needs of existing ministry in other parts of the world. Hear O’ Israel Ministries (HOIM) continued its outreaches in Eastern Europe. For a time, Jonathan was leading two separate international ministries. Then they merged, requiring several years of transition. Jonathan didn’t have the opportunity to return to Ethiopia until 2004, when he went as a delegate for a TJCII (Toward Jerusalem Council II) committee to host a conference. Newly married at that time, Jonathan and his wife Elisangela experienced both the richness of Ethiopia and its intense poverty.
Jonathan tells the story of how God called him and Jewish Voice Ministries to an ongoing work in Ethiopia:
The second night after I arrived, I couldn’t sleep. God began to deal with my heart about the severity of the needs in this land. These were our brothers, our Jewish brothers and sisters, and they lived in squalor, isolation, and persecution. I knew God was calling me to do something, and it wasn’t just another one-off event.
I didn’t sleep all night, and by morning I knew I had to do something for a very specific group in Addis: a Jewish community in the Kechene area – the Beta Abraham, or the house of Abraham. I shared this experience with one of the members of the team, Gerald Gotzen. Gerald had already been working for more than three decades in Ethiopia and was sort of considered the “white father” for the Jewish community and many Believers. When I shared this with Gerald and another team member, they told me—to my surprise—that the elders of this community were joining us that evening at the hotel for dinner.
When I shared with them at dinner and told them that God was calling me to do something to help on a continual basis, they immediately responded that they needed medical care, that their community was too poor to go to local hospitals, and they were so isolated that they were afraid to go anyway.
In 2006, JVMI conducted a two-week, two-city Medical Outreach that served the people of both Addis Ababa and Gondar, Ethiopia. The trip was originally designed to reach out to the Beta Israel in Gondar and the Beta Abraham congregation and community in Addis Ababa. Jewish Voice did not approach the Beta Israel group across town in Addis Ababa because they had never allowed outsiders in before. But God opened the door to serve them as well.
Many of the Beta Israel had left their homes and everything they owned in other areas of Ethiopia. They came to Addis Ababa to be ready for mass, Israel-sponsored aliyah (immigration to Israel). In 2006, most of the Beta Israel in Addis Ababa had been waiting there for eight years or more, living in deep poverty.
The hopes of the Beta Israel for aliyah depended heavily on protecting their “Jewish” status, and Jewish organizations closely watched their community. The Beta Israel did not want to do anything to jeopardize their opportunity to make aliyah, and thus, did not invite outsiders into their community.
But their needs were so great that when they learned of the JVMI Clinic, they reached out to Jewish Voice and asked for help. The ministry was thrilled to add an unplanned satellite Clinic right in the Beta Israel synagogue. There they were able to help hundreds of Ethiopian Jewish people with medical, dental, and eye needs.
“I was humbled and honored to be invited to speak before this ancient Jewish congregation that had given up all for their dream of returning to Israel,” Jonathan said.
By 2006, Jewish Voice Ministries International had solidly navigated the merging of two organizations and was well beyond the transitional years. The ministry had thrived—all the while moving steadily and boldly forward to advance the Good News of the Jewish Messiah to the Jew first and also to the Nations.
The Medical Outreach to Ethiopia that year opened the doors wide to the future, and Jewish Voice walked through to a dynamic new form of ministry.
“When people see that you truly care about them, they are open to hearing why.”
Jonathan Bernis wrote those words in the 40th Anniversary edition of “Jewish Voice Today.” In that January/February 2007 issue, Jonathan reiterated Jewish Voice’s commitment to help the impoverished Jewish people in Ethiopia through regular Medical Clinic Outreaches and establishing a permanent Medical Clinic there in the coming years.
Join us on the Jewish Voice Blog each month in 2017 as we unfold the Jewish Voice story and piece together for you how two ministries with the same heart merged and became the Jewish Voice Ministries International you know today.
Check out Flashback Fridays on our Facebook page, where you’ll see glimpses of our 50-year journey.
Discover the whole inspiring JVMI story with our beautiful, full-color coffee table book, Jewish Voice: A Look at 50 Years. Along with more than 200 photographs and a fascinating narrative chronicling 50 years of ministry, this special edition includes biographies, stories, and reflections from television guests, partners, and staff.
Previous JVMI 50th Anniversary blog posts:
The Early Years – Jewish Voice Broadcasts
