Photos from multiple sources

Stephen and Pat Apple are longtime Calvary Chapel missionaries to Israel. Stephen is founding pastor of Calvary Chapel Tel Aviv. They’ve been ministering in Israel for nearly 20 years. Arriving in January 2004, they planted CC Tel Aviv that following July.

We wanted to give you a brief update on what is going on in Israel, and to especially thank you for your prayers. It is such a comfort to the Israelis to know that people are praying for them. 

Israel has declared war for the first time since 1973. Saturday, when Hamas led a full-scale attack on Israel, by sea, air, and land, it was the largest murder of Jewish people since the Holocaust. Over 5,000 rockets have been shot into Israel, including into Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Over 1,300 Israelis have been killed. Well over 3,300 Israelis are injured, and an unknown amount have been captured and taken as hostages into Gaza (including many women and children).

Several towns in Israel had been taken over by Hamas terrorists. For the first time, Hamas is acting like ISIS and going from house to house on the southern boundary of Israel, killing some Jewish occupants in cold blood and taking others hostage. 

We are thankful that the people who attend Calvary Chapel Tel Aviv, Calvary Chapel Haifa, and the new Bible Study in Nahariya are all safe. God’s people there are praying, comforting, and encouraging one another. The people in these congregations are actively checking on each other and helping each other as needed. Some families have invited people who are alone to stay with them for a few days. It’s been a blessing watching the body of Christ ministering to each other.

Israel is now doing a ground offensive attack in Gaza. The Israeli soldiers are trying to rescue Jewish hostages in both Israel and Gaza. Hamas shoots rockets from buildings where their citizens live and work, using their own people as human shields. Despite the devastation that has been done in Israel, the Israelis are dropping flyers into Gaza telling the people to leave the buildings they will be bombing. The problem is that Hamas threatens to kill them if they leave. They want to use their citizens’ deaths as propaganda.

Please pray that God will turn what Satan means for evil into good. Pray that through this devastation many will turn to the Lord. Continue praying for wisdom for the Israeli government and for safety for its people. Also, please pray that Hezbollah in Lebanon doesn’t attack Israel from the north. There have been a few skirmishes in the north, but nothing major. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are proxies of Iran. It’s been known for years that Iran trains the people and supplies arms to both groups. Please pray the Lord stops Iran from funding these terrorists.

My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory; the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.

Psalm 62:5-7

Aid Before & During the War

We operate two nonprofits that assist the poor in rural and urban areas. Small Blessings works with the Jewish poor outside of Israel, carrying them away from the war with Russia into Israel. Here they are sheltered from the horrors of war they have experienced.

To this end, we sponsored an entire commercial jet airliner filled with Jewish refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine as the borders were closing up around that area. When they get to Israel, we start a church plant for them to gather together and learn of Jesus Christ. A couple of the pastors of Calvary Chapels in Russia escaped Russia and immigrated to Israel, and now they are the ones gathering the Jewish refugees arriving in Israel. In Israel, we support them in the establishing of a third Calvary Chapel in the north of Israel.

Once the refugees are in Israel, Small Blessings starts church plants with them and then turns the church plants over to our sister nonprofit, Shepherd's Light, which works with our ministries in Israel, especially in the inner cities.

For the last five years we have been provided a fourth church plant; an online church that reaches the rural areas of Israel and all cities that do not have a church plant. We call this the Shepherd's Light Online Church, where we teach God’s Word Calvary Chapel-style through the Bible. And many Israelis have come to faith in Jesus Christ through this ministry.

Currently, Small Blessings is sending funding to purchase helmets, bullet-proof vests, and medical supplies for the newly called-up reservist soldiers serving on the front lines or fighting on the southern border. This aid includes help for the hurting and injured in the civilian population.

Thank you again for your heart to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with these precious people. The need has never been greater. 

Learn more about this ministry at www.smallblessings.org and www.shepherdslight.org

© 2023 Calvary Chapel Magazine (CCM). All rights reserved. Articles or photographs may not be reproduced without the written permission of CCM. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.® Used by permission.