October 2010 Connections A publication of Jewish Voice Ministries International Photos from the Hear O’ Israel! Festival of Jewish Music & Dance in Montevideo, Uruguay | Photos taken by Lavi Matesan Life from the Dead!


Hear O’ Israel! Festivals of Jewish Music & Dance—Vibrant Displays of Prophetic Fulfillment for Israel and the Church For if their [the Jewish People’s] rejection is the


reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life fom the dead? —Romans 11:15 NIV When I first went to Russia in May 1990, I had no idea


what to expect. It was more or less a fact-finding mission to understand the condition of the Jewish People there. Little did I know that during those six short days, God would radically change the course of my life. Te team I was leading took several hundred Bibles and


pieces of literature with us. We wanted to distribute them all but we had no idea how to go about it. Tis was the Soviet Union. Besides, we’d only be in St. Petersburg (then called Leningrad) and Moscow a few days.


What happened next amazed us


all. No sooner had we given a bit of literature to someone on the street than we became swamped with Russians, all clamoring for whatever Gospel materials we had. Within minutes, every bit of literature was gone! Even more amazing, it seemed


as if almost every person we met was Jewish. Were there just a lot of Jewish People in Moscow and St. Petersburg, I wondered, or were we witnessing the divine orchestration of the Holy Spirit? I could feel my spirit racing. I knew I was in the middle of something miraculous. Over the next two years, I led several more teams to the Soviet


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Union. Tis time, we not only gave out literature, but we helped some of them establish a Messianic congregation in Minsk, Belarus. My burden for these people was growing. Ten it happened. I was flying home from Moscow when the Spirit of God began dealing with me about making a more serious commitment to Russia—one that would ultimately result in laying down my life and my congregation. Over the next four years, we saw thousands more Jewish


People respond to altar calls and receive physical healings, and were able to minister the love of God on city streets, in hospitals, orphanages and other public facilities. God was using the hundreds of volunteer staffers that, by now, were joining us for


the


festivals—and revolutionizing their own lives as He had mine several years ago. Also, by the grace of God, a


dozen new Messianic congregations were launched or strengthened by the festivals. Messianic congregations are thriving in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia; Kiev, Odessa, Zhitomir, Zaporozhe, Dnepropetrovsk, Chernovtsy and Nikolayev,


Ukraine; Minsk,


Belarus; Riga, Latvia; and Kishinev, Moldova. Many others have been spawned indirectly. Twenty-one separate Hear


O’ Israel! Messianic Jewish Music Festivals have been held with attendance of more than a half


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