February 9, 2006
“David accepted Jesus as his Savior and Messiah!” exclaimed Abe Sandler, Alliance Jewish Ministries missionary. Sandler’s excitement was evident but not because David’s salvation is any more important than anyone else’s. “He is an official in a synagogue, very knowledgeable of the Old and New Testament, and very influential among the Jewish people.”
Sandler, who was raised an Orthodox Jew, was 15 when he found Jesus to be his Messiah. Today, Sandler and his wife, Janet, lead the Alliance mission to reach Jewish people in the United States for Christ. As Sandler builds friendships and nurtures relationships, he is impacting the lives of many Jewish people in the C&MA Metropolitan District, where he is planting a new Alliance Jewish congregation.
One of those friendships is with Gail, a Jewish woman, who continued to ask Sandler questions. When he called her recently, “God had prepared her heart,” Sandler says. “I prayed with her and she accepted Jesus as her Messiah.” Gail has asked Sandler to meet with her unsaved Jewish friends, who have questions about Jesus.
Currently, Sandler is preparing for the third annual Awake O Israel evangelistic campaign that will take place in August 2006. Volunteer believers spend one week walking the streets of New York City, home to more than 2 million Jews. Sandler and his team distribute tracts and talk to people about the Lord. They not only gain interested contacts through this event but also are confronted by much opposition, ridicule, and harassment.
There are only nine U.S. Alliance Jewish congregations, with nearly 8 million Jews nationwide. Sandler is seeing more Jewish people embrace Jesus as their Messiah, but there is much work to be done. “The most important ingredient is prayer,” he says. “We need your prayers.”
O LORD, God of heaven . . . hear the prayer . . . for the people of Israel (Nehemiah 1:5–6).
“For more information about Alliance Jewish Ministries and/or help in witnessing to Jewish people contact the AJM office at: Rev. Abraham Sandler, Alliance Jewish Ministries, 9820 Woodfern Rd., Philadelphia, PA 19115, phone: 215-676-5122, E-mail: [email protected]