Israel Focus meeting hosted by Jennifer Nevill, Longton Elim Church, Stoke on Trent, 22 June
Journalist and author Charles Gardner was on familiar ground when he was invited to speak to Christians about the impact of his faith on his career and his subsequent passion for Israel. Over 35 people attended, representing four local churches.
Originally from South Africa, he sensed the call of God on his life to become a journalist in his early twenties when he began working mainly in the secular media until his retirement a few years ago.
Looking back, he felt God had been preparing him ‘for such a time as this’. He said that although we are living in turbulent times, it’s a great opportunity to share the ‘Good News’. He went on to describe how he became involved in a Jerusalem conference where Arab Christians from all over the Middle East embraced their Messianic Jewish brothers, clearly demonstrating the reconciliation achieved at the cross by Christ – the answer, he believes, to world peace!
An evangelist at heart, Charles uses many of his online news articles to reach out to Jewish people, and the response – especially at www.israeltoday.co.il – is very encouraging. The increasing recognition of their Messiah by Jews was surely one of the signs of the imminence of Jesus’s second coming, he added.
Jennifer Nevill produces the Middle East Report, broadcast weekly on several internet radio stations including www.flame.org. She began monthly meetings which mainly focus on Israel and the Middle East seven years ago when her then pastor wanted to start different groups in the church