JERUSALEM, Israel – After six days, multiple venues, and one finale, the first-ever Ambassador’s Summit in Israel commissioned more than one thousand pastors on Sunday to stand with Israel and combat antisemitism.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee explained the heart of the commissioning.
“You’re not an ambassador for the State of Israel,” he told the pastors. “Nobody is asking you to take on a political role. In fact, I don’t recommend it. You’ve got enough trouble being a pastor. You sure don’t need to get into this business. No, I would say you’re an Ambassador for Christ, His Kingdom, and His word.”
Reverend Johnnie Moore, former director of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, said the gathering marks a defining moment.
“This is an army of pastors, a thousand pastors, the largest group of pastors at one time that has ever come to Israel, specifically for one purpose: to stand in solidarity with the Jewish state and the people of Israel.”
Speaking with CBN News, Moore put it in a historical perspective. “I believe every generation has a test,” he said. “One generation had to face the test of the trains going to Auschwitz, another generation of the Jews in the Soviet Union crying for help. Our generation is facing a resurgence of antisemitism in our schools, on our streets, and the mouths of our politicians, ubiquitous in media. There isn’t a Jewish community in the United States of America that hasn’t faced it.”
“This is our moment,” Moore continued. “The question is whether we will rise to the occasion. And I can tell you, from leaving this room a few minutes ago, we are going to rise to the occasion. We will not let this evil win this time.”
Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, encouraged the pastors to be bold and expressed gratitude for their support.
“Stand up and be counted,” Netanyahu implored. “Tell the truth. Speak to young people. Speak up to be counted. I’m counting on you, and I know you’ll do what has to be done. That’s what our destiny calls for.”
Former Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Fleur Hassan-Hahoum declared, “The fact that we have a thousand pastors here from so many influential communities and churches from around the United States coming here in solidarity and appreciation and love means everything to us. It tells us we’re not alone.”
She calls it a crucial time in the fight for global freedom. “And this is not just Israel’s fight. This is a fight for civilization. We are facing very much a civilizational struggle, like we saw in the 30s between Nazism and the free world, today, that Nazism is Islamism in coordination with Communism, which today’s expression is called woke. But it’s the same thing,” Hassan-Nahoum said.
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Behind the scenes, Shira Mills of the Friends of Zion Museum helped make the summit possible.
(“It’s) never been done before,” she stated. This is something very unique, very difficult. But here we are. From my point of view, it’s miraculous.”
The vision going forward: recruiting 10,000 more pastors in the next 36 months. “Because there’s a lot of misinformation out there – a lot of young people that are not for Israel, and they’re just getting the wrong information,” Mills asserted. “So our whole idea here is to reach the youth of America and around the world and just show the truth.”
One of the most moving moments came from Daniel Lischinsky, whose son Yarom was murdered along with his fiancée, Sarah Milgrim, in Washington earlier this year.
Lischinsky told the gathering, “My message is to pay attention that antisemitism is a problem for all of us, not only for the Jewish people, not only for the Israelis, but also for the pastors in the US, for the Church. Antisemitism is, we know that this is a demonic power, and it’s a spiritual power that is going first against the Jewish people, and then against all the people of God.”
One of the last events took place on the Mount of Olives, where the pastors overlooked the city and prayed for the peace of Jerusalem. Many believe this marked a turning point.
Jon Hamill of Lamplighter Ministries told us, “With a thousand pastors gathered at such a critical moment for the nation of Israel, when antisemitism is rising in our nation, and globally, this has been such a pivotal turning point. I believe we can turn the tide of antisemitism.”
Rebecca Greenwood from Christian Harvest International remarked, “A thousand pastors and leaders that didn’t even know each other, and He called, and we heard the word of the Lord. And this is a season to see antisemitism defeated and to see God’s glory come to His chosen people.”
