Standing Strong

Helping Believers in Israel

Isaiah 11:6

2 Thessalonians 2:15

We are pleased to have started baking bread in Bethlehem.  People are suffering due to lack of work and the persecution of being Christians in a Muslim controlled area.  It is reported that Muslim cab drivers and tour guides will not bring tourists to the Christians’ shops.  In an effort to help start a small business that is not dependent upon tourism, we have purchased two bread making machines and are teaching people of this congregation how to use them and sell the bread as a means of additional support.

Seminars on Biblical financial management/home budgeting are being developed for use in churches, synagogues, community centers, and radio programming.

Olive Harvesting—Yo-Natan Oil

We helped a Jewish family in one of the settlements with building an Olive oil bottling business from their home.  They have recently “graduated” from the early stages and are now a proud, independent entity.

 

Things are difficult as the building of the security fence will leave them on the wrong side of the protection barrier.  The additional funds from this new venture should aid them as they have to make decisions as to whether or not they will move while the government moves forward on leaving the “West Bank.”

 

Standing Strong has assisted in consulting with the business plan, marketing, and gathering volunteers to help harvest the olives as well as many start-up costs, and continues to counsel as new challenges arise..

 

Bible Times Center

 

We assist with a discipleship center in Ein Kerem. It is an interfaith organization that teaches on the Jewish roots of the Christian faith. They need donations to keep going.

Standing Strong provides services with assistance in teaching, research, and business consulting services.

It is exciting when you see someone get the “Ah ha” moment of understanding when Scripture is explained in the proper context and Jewish culture.  Many people, including Orthodox Jewish people, have gone through the Center on the garden teaching tours that Dr. Bristol has taught & have said they will never read the Bible/Tanak the same way again.

In July we weren’t expecting it, but we were the conduit through which donated food flowed. As we looked at the crate sitting in our dining area, we didn’t know exactly who the food was going to go to. We had an idea, but we weren’t certain. After some time, it turned out that our pondering was correct, and we hired a taxi to take us and the food to a Jerusalem neighborhood and deliver it all to a most amazed and grateful Jewish woman.  It was a lesson for us, as well, because there was a waiting period of several days while things sorted themselves out “by coincidence” (in other words, while G-d set things in order)! How awesome HaShem is to provide!

A small interest-free loan has been granted so a small Jewish e-business in the north can purchase a piece of office equipment.

Emergency assistance towards rent has been given to a Jewish single mother of three in Jerusalem.

Individual free consultations were each given to a successful Arab Christian businessman and a Jewish storeowner on troubleshooting and streamlining their businesses.

In Arad we assisted a woman with materials for her cottage industry of knitted items and woven rugs.

Roof project

A Syrian man makes a bare amount of money with which to provide for his family of five. He lives in a single room with a tin roof, and a monthly bus pass was impossible for him to even dream of buying. Now he is able to get himself to work as well as around town. Standing Strong supplies him with this monthly bus pass and encourages him in his efforts of self-support. He has found a better-paying job, which relieves some of his pressures. We are launching an appeal for fundraising to get a roof built over his home before the rains come in October.

Another single Jewish woman living alone found herself in need of financial support due to losing her sole income source unexpectedly. She had asked the various agencies and ministries in town, but she too falls through the cracks of the guidelines of most support organizations in Israel.  We have assisted her in a limited manner, but realize that Standing Strong is in need of donations given for this cause to continue to help with this type of need.