Wide-eyed and wholly unaware of what was about to happen to me, I stepped out of the van. The mountain air brushed my 17-year-old face as the heavy clay and rocky soil crunched beneath my feet. Nir Lavi had a special spring in his step that seemed connected to his mischievous, contagious smile. He was a young man of close to thirty. Nir shifted his IDF-issued AK-47 to pull a well-worn Tanach from his pocket.
We were standing at the edge of a vineyard that swept down into the valley and up the opposite hill. The lush green stood in sharp contrast to the grey, brown, and rocky hillsides surrounding it. “You shall yet plant vines on the mountains of Samaria.” Nir’s Israeli-accented, war-toned, land-loving, pioneer voice rang out across the mountain ridge. It was as if I was hearing a long-lost echo of this 3000-year-old prophecy from the 31st chapter of Jeremiah.
“Vineyards had not been planted here on Mt. Gerizim, the Mount of Blessing, for 2000 years,” Nir continued. “Today, I live here in the Jewish community of Har Bracha, and we have been privileged to fulfill prophecy.”
It was at that moment that it began to sink in. I was literally experiencing the redemptive hand of God. That day, my faith grew from just belief to a tangible faith reality carved into a literal mountainside. Honestly, the experience is very difficult to put into words. That vineyard was the fruition of a 3000-year-old prophecy from the Book that I believe to be the inspired work of God. Nir Lavi, the Jewish vineyard owner, was a walking testament to the faithfulness of God. The very existence of the Jewish community he lived in, Har Bracha, profoundly declares that God keeps His covenants.
Prior to that experience, I knew in my heart that God’s word is true and that He will bring it to pass. After that experience, the roots of those beliefs penetrated into the depths of my heart. If there were ever any doubts or room for an argument to take hold, they had just been blasted away, overwhelmed by the deepening roots of faith experienced.
Over the past few decades, many Christians have caved to anti-biblical pressures and fallen away from faith. The Bible is no longer seen as divine truth, and Judeo-Christian values are considered old-fashioned and worthless. Atheism and agnosticism have become prominent anti-biblical religions.
I don’t have to tell you about the many concerns with how technology is affecting our young people. The isolating, relationship-severing, insecurity-ramping effects are obvious. Not only does it damage the person emotionally and psycologically, but it is in direct opposition to the Bible – a book about relationship with God and our fellow man.
In the last few years, there has been a surprising turn in generational culture. Instead of following the trajectory set by the earlier generation, Gen Z Christians are breaking the mold. They are shifting to appreciate tradition, authenticity, and identity, which has led to an interest in spirituality. Incredibly and shockingly to most Christians, according to a recent survey done by Barna, Gen Z Christians are currently outdoing all other generations in their church attendance!
This amazing trend begs a few questions. Will Gen Z be equipped to hold fast to their faith as they go to college, start families, and enter the real world? Will today’s pastors and churches provide the authenticity that Gen Z is looking for? Will the traditions of the church hold up to Gen Z’s need for authentic faith practice? Will Gen Z find a Christian identity that resonates and endures the storms in life?
Is it possible that the perfect solution to all these challenges is being rejected by much of Christianity? Is replacement theology, anti-Israel bias, and anti-semitism causing Christian young people to be wholly unaware of one of our greatest faith-anchors? Is the recent anti-Israel sentiment among Christian conservatives actually taking the wind out of our young Christian’s sails precisely at the moment when our young people are looking for the authenticity that God destined Israel to provide?
I don’t know of a more deeply relational, spiritually authentic, and identity-affirming thing for today’s young Christians than connecting with the land and people of Israel. I am beyond a shadow of a doubt sure that if Gen Z can make it to Israel and experience what I experienced when I was 17, they will go home with roots too deep to be shaken.
To stand on Elon Moreh, where Abraham received the promise of the land to him and his descendants forever, to walk through the Tabernacle site at Shiloh, to visit the cave where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah are buried, to visit Jerusalem’s empty tomb and the Temple Mount where Jesus quoted Isaiah, “my house will be a house of prayer for all nations,” …you just can’t get more authentic than that!
After my incredible experience, my family and I launched a ministry called HaYovel and began bringing people to Israel to experience what I had on that life-changing summer day on Har Bracha. Christians from all over the world have come to serve the farmers of Israel and deepen their own faith roots.
I was just talking to one of our volunteer alumni a few days ago. They came ten years ago as a family – dad, mom, and 6 children, ages 6-19, and volunteered for six weeks. The mom teared up as she told me how life-directing those 6 weeks were. Each of the children is full of faith, walking with the Lord, and doing whatever they can to support Israel. They are standing up for Israel on college campuses and starting their own families, raising their children to love and support Israel.
God has allowed us to live in times with specific challenges, and He has also given us specific ways to meet those challenges. And so I ask, will we do whatever it takes to lay a solid foundation for our young Christians? Will we connect them to the God-given, timely, authentic, miraculous, experiential, prophetic, faith-rootedness of the land and people of Israel?
The redemptive hand of God that I experienced at 17 is still at work. The Jewish people have returned. The Bible is coming alive through prophetic fulfillment. The vineyards are expanding. Imagine your children and grandchildren breathing that mountain air, walking that holy soil, meeting the people of the land, and having their faith grow from just belief to a tangible faith reality carved into the literal mountainsides of the land of Israel.
Today, an unprecedented invitation stands before the Church. Will we accept God’s invitation to bring our children and grandchildren to Israel, where they can be solidly rooted in the tangible, authentic, relational realities of their Christian faith and Judeo-Christian values?
Blessings from the Mountains of Samaria,
Zac Waller
Founder and President
Israel Lighthouse
