LCJE-NA Coordinator’s Report for 2001
By Theresa Newell, LCJE Coordinator for North America

“Everything changed on 9-11” was the phrase heard all over America since September 11. Workers in Jewish evangelism were no less affected than other US citizens. Those working in New York City and Washington DC went to the sites of the crashes which claimed lives - offering help, comfort, prayer, food, socks - and the Word of God. It is a different and more sober America at the end of 2001 than at the beginning. There is a new openness to the realities regarding life, death and eternal matters that may be an opportunity for the Gospel in our land. Please pray that it is so among our Jewish people.

18th Annual Conference
On March 12-14, 2001, over 70 leaders working in Jewish evangelism in America came together for the 18th annual LCJE/NA conference in Los Angeles.
The conference featured reports on topics ranging from ministry among Israeli émigrés in North America to Messianic congregations for Russian Jews in Brooklyn and Philadelphia to the effects of interfaith marriages on American Jewry on reaching Jewish people with the Gospel today.

Young Leaders 
Two pre-conference sessions for Jewish evangelists in their 20’s and 30’s working fulltime in the field began the program. Moishe Rosen, founder of Jews for Jesus, called this group to biblical servant leadership. He exhorted them not to let marketing language dictate the language used in evangelism. Biblical leadership shows people like Moses, reluctant and bewildered, not wanting to be Boss but willing to get something done under God’s direction, Rosen said.
Derek Leman of Light of Messiah Ministries, Atlanta, Justin Kron, Chosen Peoples Ministries, Chicago, and Kirk Gliebe, Devar Emet Messianic Jewish Outreach, Chicago, presented reports on Jewish evangelism among children, college age, and young adults. Due to children raised in single-family homes, the latch-key kid phenomenon, and high percentage of Jewish interfaith marriages today, many Jewish young people are being raised in no church or synagogue, Gliebe noted. He told of after-school and camp programs that he oversees. Advertising talks on current subjects of spiritual interest given in campus hang-outs or Starbucks coffee shops or Borders bookstores draws young people who are eager to discuss and debate such topics in places in which they feel at home, Kron and Leman said.
Tuvya Zaretsky, International president of LCJE, reported on his experience in ministry to interfaith couples and families. The rate of interfaith marriages between Jews and non-Jews has risen from 8% in 1970 to 56% today, Zaretsky pointed out. Most of these families experience pressures especially about how to give their children a spiritual base for life. Many respond positively to coming together in small groups with families similar to themselves to discuss the issues that concern them. Often they find peace in biblical answers to their situations, Zaretsky observed.

Latin America Outreach

Rabbi Yosef Koelner, leader of Temple Aron HaKodesh, Ft. Lauderdale, Latin America Coordinator of LCJE, reported on the large movement in countries throughout Latin America where Jewish people are recognizing Jesus as their Messiah. Many Latin Americans are re-discovering their Jewish family roots, having hidden their Jewishness for generations for fear of persecution. Music and worship is central to bringing a great response to the Gospel in this part of the world, Koelner said.
The Jews for Jesus singers, led by Stan and Holly Meyers, led our daily worship. The Rev. Dr. John Goldingay, Old Testament professor at Fuller Seminary, brought daily Bible Readings. Singing artist Sally Klein-O’Connor of Improbable People Ministries delighted LCJE conferees with a concert of her many original songs and powerful testimony.
 	Zola Levitt, popular television teacher, gave the closing address to the LCJE gathering. Levitt exhorted the assembly to remember the long biblical history of God’s Jewish people and His plan for their salvation.

Oslo Conference
Eighteen Americans attended the LCJE-CEO conference in Oslo August 9-13. Eight sessions covered practical topics for ministry, such as stewardship, recruiting, facing success and failure, training and equipping workers, promoting and defending Jewish evangelism in the media, Jews and gentiles working together in evangelism. Times to simply walk and talk together around a beautiful Norwegian lake built fellowship among the leaders in attendance. A full conference report appears on the LCJE website.

Mission America Conference
Stan Meyers represented LCJE at the LCWE/Mission America conference in Orlando, Florida, in October. Having representation of those working in Jewish evangelism in this wider body of believers is a priority for LCJE-NA, and we hope to continue to strengthen those ties with Mission American and its aims to reach our country with the Gospel.

The Website
2001 saw the development of LCJE’s first international web site. Information on LCJE activities, conferences, papers, and reports can now be found on the Internet at www.lcje.net. Sections for book reviews and profiles of national coordinators also appear there.

The Future
The next LCJE North America conference will be held in Orlando, Florida March 11-13, 2002. For the first time North America and Latin America branches of LCJE will unite in a joint conference with parallel teaching tracks. On Monday morning, March 11, we will share a tour of The Holyland Experience, a biblical theme park developed by Zion’s Hope Ministries under the leadership of Rev. Marvin Rosenthal. We ask your prayers as we meet, share fellowship and encourage one another in the work of Jewish evangelism in the Americas.