God’s Letter of Love is Beit Hallel’s Labor of Love
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide…
John 15:16
There are some days in your life that aren’t just unforgettable, but they mark a before and after on your journey, change the course of things and forever remain in your heart as the day when you embrace your destiny and your history was written.
According to pastor Israel that is how it felt almost 20 years ago when he was driving home after leading a small home Bible study in Ashdod.
God stopped him in his tracks in what felt like a moment out of time, when it seemed the world had paused, and pastor Israel saw a remarkable vision that marked his destiny forever and became the driving force behind the ministry and word that was done for the past nearly two decades.
The vision was for a large Hebrew-speaking congregation in Ashdod to become a spiritual hub for the entire region and land of Israel. The Lord showed pastor Israel a crowd of a thousand people. A number that was as unrealistic at that time as a crowd of a million would be.
However, God was very clear in the vision he showed pastor Israel and the word that He gave. He said a new congregation will be planted in Ashdod and it will be a lighthouse in the region, a House of praise where Yeshua will be glorified. That is how Beit Hallel (House of Praise) was soon born in 2005.
That vision soon came to pass, however, it wasn’t how pastor Israel expected.
The first crowd of a thousand people Beit Hallel drew was a crowd of ultra-Orthodox Jews coming in from all over Israel to protest our very presence in the city.
The persecutions that ensued and that BH has endured throughout its 18 years of existence have only made us stronger and more devoted to our calling because they served as a powerful reminder that God’s vision will always encounter resistance and opposition.
However, God’s vision is always multifaceted and multidimensional.
As the word progressed and grew, next time we would see a crowd of thousands of people at our evangelism campaigns that Beit Hallel would organize to reach the lost.
Beit Hallel was born out of God’s love for His people in this part of the Land, seeing a great spiritual need, without a single Hebrew-speaking congregation in the 6th largest city in Israel. This congregation was a letter of love the Lord wrote to Israelis in Ashdod and surrounding areas. It was also a labor of love for pastor Israel, his family, and the team that has been there day and night, rain or shine, building the Lord’s house and home brick by brick, reaching one soul at a time.
This weekend BH is celebrating its first 18 years of what has been so far a fantastic journey, letting our Lord lead the way and pave the path.
Salvations, healings, miracles, deliverances, victories, breakthroughs; everything came hand in hand with challenges and obstacles, all of which God has been faithful to carry us through, giving us the victory.
Beit Hallel has always been about people. Our work was always focused and geared towards our community, on reaching the lost, helping those in need; showing God’s love in action.
YOU have been an inseparable part of it all. Your commitment to the people of Israel, to the Lord’s promises for this nation, to God’s vision for the land and to His work through Beit Hallel has made a bigger difference than you can imagine. Know that you are leaving a lasting mark on God’s nation through your unwavering stand and support, for which we are forever grateful.
And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.
The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
1 Timothy 1:12, 14
Beit Hallel is a Messianic Jewish congregation in Ashdod, led by pastor Israel Pochtar, serving holocaust survivors and the poor and needy locally and throughout the nation of Israel, while building up the body of Messiah in the promised land of Israel.