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There are thousands of pastors in America who care about Israel and even pray for the peace of Jerusalem. But most of these pastors never step up and take action in support of Israel. Pastors are busy people, and they typically have more immediate concerns closer to home. It is difficult to add Israel to their agenda.
If we want to keep growing CUFI, however, we need to find away to make Israel a top priority for busy pastors like these. And we’ve found the solution — we bring them to Israel. There is nothing like a trip to Israel to transform a pastor from a tourist to a lifelong Zionist.
We invest heavily in these trips. So far CUFI has brought 699 pastors to Israel on 25 trips. In the first three months of 2017 alone, we’ve already brought an additional five groups of pastors to Israel.
When these trips return home, we hear the positive reports over and over again. Before the trip, most participants viewed Israel as a place of historical significance or modern controversy. But after the visit, most of them make defending Israel a central focus of their lives. It is the difference between loving Israel as an abstract idea and loving Israel as a tangible member of the family.
We also see the positive effects of the trip. These pastors share their newfound passion for Zion with their congregants, and through their personal experiences transmit an unshakeable love for Israel to thousands more Christians. This unconditional love then translates into action as pastors and their churches partner with CUFI to defend Israel on Capitol Hill and beyond. God has blessed CUFI with miraculous growth in just over 10 years, and the primary reason we have been able to reach 3.3 million members in such a short time is because we have diligently invested in sending pastors to Israel.
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Pastor John Hagee
Nation Chairman
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