December 2002

Shalom Friends!

We are giving thanks for His blessings and faithfulness in the year 2002. We have had so many opportunites to serve with you that is difficult to recount them all. We would like to use this newsletter to bring you up to date on some these activities and those that still lie ahead.

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New Details! -- Weekend with Dwight Pryor
February 27 - March 1

Many will remember the wonderful seminars in the spring of 2002 with Dwight Pryor, President of the Center for Judaic-Christian Studies. He is one of the most well known and respected presenters in the area of Hebraic studies, and teaches with outstanding insight and depth. His many years of association with Jewish and Christian scholars in Israel provide him with fresh new insights into the life, language and teachings of Jesus. We are honored that he wants to come again to the West Michigan area. En-Gedi takes great pleasure in hosting several seminars with him on the weekend of February 27 - March 1, 2003. For more information about any of these seminars, contact us at egrc@egrc.net or (616) 355-2200.

En-Gedi sponsors a breakfast series for pastors and seminarians with the goal of exploring the cultural background of the Bible and sharing it with congregations. We intend this as a way that they can discuss the implications of the Jewish culture on biblical interpretation and how to introduce people to the culture of Jesus. The breakfast will be from 7:30 to 9 AM at Zeeland Community Center, 14 S Church St, Zeeland, MI (Next to the Zeeland Library)

If you are a pastor, pastoral intern, or are in seminary and would like to attend, please email us at egrc@egrc.net, or contact us at (616) 355-2200, to register beforehand.

Dwight will give a presentation entitled:

Israel's Shema, The Torah's Monotheism,
And the Deity of Jesus

Note: Because of this special opportunity, we have arranged that for those who are able to stay, a longer discussion session will follow from 9:15 to 10:30 AM. Also, please note the date - the 27th, rather than the 28th, announced earlier.

Fellowship Dinner with Dwight & Keren Pryor
Friday, February 28, 2003

Once again this year we will take part in the wonderful Jewish tradition of the Friday Evening Shabbat dinner with Dwight and Keren Pryor. This year, however, instead of catering and charging admission, we would like you to bring a dish to pass, to share some community with each other by sharing your cooking! We will provide table service, beverages, challah bread and juice. After dinner, Dwight and Keren will be giving a talk entitled,

The Sabbath and the Healing of the Soul

Location: Zeeland Community Center, 14 S Church St, Zeeland, MI

To attend we just ask that you RSVP by emailing egrc@egrc.net with the number and each of the names of the persons coming. There is no fee - offering baskets will be around. Seating will be limited - sign up soon.

Weekend Workshop:

GOD AND GOD ALONE
The Heritage, Implications and Applications of Israel's Shema for the New Testament Church

9:30 AM - 3 PM, Saturday, March 1, 2003

Zeeland Community Center, 14 S Church St, Zeeland, MI .

There will be three 90 minute sessions. Refreshments and lunch will be provided. Preregistration is required. The fee for the day-long session with Dwight: $50/person, $85/couple. Proceeds will go to support Dwight's ministry and travel expenses. Seating will be limited. Pre-register by using our Online Resource Center. Please give each person's name, address and phone and email.

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Upcoming En-Gedi Class:

En-Gedi will be leading a seven week class called Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Yeshua, January 8 - February 19 on Wednesday mornings, 9:15 - 11 AM for the Women of the Word (WOW!) Bible study at Christ Memorial Reformed Church, 595 Graafscap Rd, in Holland. This is a large Bible study that is open to all women of the community, and child care is available. We will start each week with a time of singing, have small group study and a large group teaching, and end with a time of prayer.

In this class, we will join Mary of Bethany in her first century Jewish home as she sat at Jesus' feet to listen to His words. Sitting at the feet of a rabbi was the way disciples learned, but Jesus didn't discourage her from joining them in study. For seven weeks, we will accompany Mary in praying and learning as Jesus' Jewish talmidim (disciples) did, and we will experience the richness of hearing His words in the setting of His life and times.                 
                                    Click here for more details!

Note: Pre-registration is necessary - please call Ellen DeLong at the church -
(616) 396-2305. The cost is $12 for the notebook, which will be available at the first session.

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Study Trip to Israel with Dr. Steven Notley

En-Gedi is taking a twelve-day trip to Israel with Dr. Steven Notley on March 12 - 24, 2003 through his organization Emmaus Educational Services, which coordinates study tours to the lands of the Bible.

En-Gedi will be co-sponsoring the trip, called The Life and Land of Jesus, that will primarily focus on the context of Jesus' life and teachings, which is Dr. Notley's field of expertise. He lived in Israel for 16 years and directed field study for students at Jerusalem University College for much of that time, and has taken over a thousand lay-people, pastors and students on study trips to Israel. His experience allows him to be wise about potentially unsafe areas.

The price is $2500, and includes almost everything - hotels and two meals a day, and all travel out of Grand Rapids, MI, as well as full insurance for postponement/cancellation because of political events.

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Computer Seminar for Pastors and Church Staff

We are looking forward to hosting a interactive computer seminar for pastors and church staff on

Thursday, February 6, 2003

at the Zeeland Community Center. It will focus on using computers in ministry - especially making Powerpoint presentations, including where to find images for sermons and Bible teaching. There will be 4 sessions throughout the day. You may choose to come to some of them or all of them. The cost is $20 / session or $75 for the day. Bruce Okkema, our executive director, will be teaching. He is a computer networking specialist, a website designer, and has made many Powerpoint presentations for En-Gedi's seminars.

You will have opportunity to learn many new techniques both basic and advanced, as well as ask questions and learn from others. There has been strong interest in this, so please mail us the completed enrollment card below or sign-up online by clicking here. (Please use the quantity for number of persons. Note - you do not need to use a password in the ordering center - that is for returning customers who do not want to re-enter their information.)

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En-Gedi's 2002 Year in Review

The Lord gave us plenty to do in our second full year of ministry, unlocking the rich truth of Bible's message in its original context and helping churches do the same. Here is just a sample of all the things we have been involved in ...

Weekend Seminars

In the past year, we have invited noted scholars, authors and ministry heads from as far away as Israel to teach about the scriptures in their cultural context. Each of these presenters have impressed their audiences with their unique insights on the text and how it impacts our lives. We've made audio tape albums available whenever possible to increase the impact and enlarge the audience.

Dwight Pryor, the president of the Center for Judaic-Christian Studies, taught us about the spiritual background of the Sabbath, spoke to pastors about reestablishing the church's Hebraic foundations, and clarified critical issues about the end-times. April, 2002

Jonathan Miles, head of Light to the Nations, which helps children get heart surgery in Israel, told us about the potent witness that simply following Jesus has had among Jews and Palestinians. Even while he was here, his intervention and our prayers saved the life of a baby in Gaza. May, 2002

Steven Notley, scholar on the Jewish context of the gospels, shared his experience of being present at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and what he thought Jesus' response might have been to an event like this. September, 2002

David Bivin, editor of the journal Jerusalem Perspective, showed us the bold messianic claims Jesus made, and other important insights we find when we understand Jesus' teaching in its Hebraic setting. November, 2002

Giving Our Own Presentations

Jesus' Bible: A New Look at the Old Testament - Bruce and Lois recently finished teaching a 12-week overview of Jesus' Bible that told the story of God's redemption of His people, culminating in their Messiah. We worked to bring new freshness to the Bible by showing the imagery of the stories in their land and time. September - November

En-Gedi Guest Seminars - En-Gedi has given many talks at area churches this year. We have spoken on discipleship in Jesus' day, and everyday life in Jesus' time - Bruce even grew a beard for the occasion! Mr. High Priest entered more than a dozen classes to teach children and adults about the worship of ancient Israel. We have also spoken on the biblical feasts and the year of Jubilee and how they point to Christ. The sukkah we built for the festival of Sukkot was featured in the Holland newspaper on 09/29/02, teaching the whole area about the significance of this feast!

Helping Pastors & Churches

Pastor's breakfasts - We've been sponsoring monthly breakfasts for pastors featuring special seminars from our scholars and presenters - about 25 to 35 come each time to spend time listening and discussing with the scholars. En-Gedi staff have also led sessions on things like using Jewish resources in preaching, making Powerpoint slides, or teaching about Christ in the Passover. About 100 pastors are currently involved in our ministry.

Consulting - We fielded many questions for pastors and teachers, like, "What information is there on the phrase 'the fear of the Lord'?"; "How did Paul make tents, and where can I find materials like what he used?"; "What is the Jewish concept of marriage and family?"; "Where can I get pictures of a sacrificial lamb?" We hope that answers to questions like these made ministers bolder to teach about the Bible in its context, as they have somewhere to go to help with research. We also are getting more questions on technical issues about computer use in ministry, and will be doing a seminar in February about this.

Fellowship / Getting to Know you

We had four potluck style fellowship dinners this past year where we had opportunities to share fellowship over a meal together and listen to a speaker. These have been wonderful times for us to get to know to you and find out what good cooks you are! Please come and join us for our next one on Friday evening, February 28, 2003 at the Zeeland Community Center where Dwight Pryor will be our speaker.

En-Gedi's Online Teaching

The En-Gedi Website, www.egrc.net - We hope you have visited our website, one of the centerpieces of our ministry. Through it we now have readers in Israel, England, Australia, Uganda, Korea, Netherlands, and India. One commentary was even translated into Chinese! We update the site often to add to the hundreds of articles and links for Bible study. In the past year we added the capabilities of purchasing items and donating online as well as a powerful search tool (which you can find just below our menu items). On October 7 we passed the 10,000 visitor mile stone and are rapidly approaching 12,000. We continually get encouraging comments about our site and we praise the Lord that He is using technology to further His Kingdom!

En-Gedi Bible Commentary - About 400 of you were able to take part in our longest project of the year - writing a weekly Hebraic commentary for a "Read Through the Bible" program. (In 2003 we will return to one article a month.) We sent them out free by email, and generated over 50,000 words of Bible commentary! This took many hours of study and writing every week and are looking into publishing them someday. The articles are online and searchable at www.egrc.net [Articles][Bible Corner][Article Index]. Please check them out if you haven't.

"For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea!" Habakkuk 2:14

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En-Gedi Pastors' Breakfast Series Coming up!

January 23, 2003, (Thursday) - Looking at Both Sides of the Jewish Roots Movement. Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema - Directors, En-Gedi Resource Center. The Christian "Jewish Roots Movement" is only about 30 years old but is growing rapidly in size and diversity. Along with some excellent insights, the movement also has weaknesses. The directors of the En-Gedi Center will identify the major organizations in the movement and discuss the positive and negative trends as they see them.

February 27, 2003, (Thursday) - Israel's Shema, The Torah's Monotheism,
And the Deity of Jesus. Dwight A. Pryor, President, Center for Judaic-Christian Studies. Dwight Pryor, one of the most respected presenters in Hebraic studies, will be discussing a topic in biblical study emphasizing its Hebraic context and application to our lives as Christians. He will be going into more depth during a weekend seminar.

March 27, 2003, (Thursday)
- Hagah: A Torah Practice for a Wired Culture
Dr. Timothy Brown - Western Seminary / Hope College. As professor of homiletics, Dr. Brown has an interest in the methods of preaching and looking at them in biblical cultures. He will be giving a biblical/cultural defense of Scripture memorization. He will also examine some of the ancient practices that produced the capacity for great amounts of memorization, and perform an exercise in memorization with the group.

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Ways to help En-Gedi's Ministry

At the end of the year, we hope you won't mind being reminded of our ministry's financial needs. We operate on a very lean budget, with much of our effort contributed by unpaid volunteers, but even so, our annual expenses are in excess of $80,000. There are several ways in which we could have an even broader impact than we do now. We could operate more efficiently if we had physical office space with better technology and a staff person to help with correspondence and regular office activities. (Currently we are operating out of our homes with the occasional use of office space offered by Eagle Design.) If we had enough space, we could hold small seminars and Bible studies as well as provide a place for patrons to access our study materials.We would need at least an additional $35,000 annually beyond that to achieve the above items. We know the Lord will provide in his time, but he will use people like you to do it. Please prayerfully consider a generous year-end donation to the En-Gedi Resource Center. As a 501(c) 3 public charity, 100% of your contribution is tax deductible.

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Thank You! and Happy Holidays!

For all the En-Gedi board members and staff, may we say thank you so much for helping us work toward our goal as partially quoted here from our vision statement:

Left to Right: Rev. Keith Doornbos, Mrs. Marylin Bright, Mr. Bruce Okkema, Dr. Lois Tverberg, Rev. Mike Van Kampen, Mrs. Nancy Brown, Rev. Dan Gritter, Mrs. Mary Okkema, Rev. Bill Boersma

In His service,

Lois Tverberg, Director
Bruce Okkema, Executive Director

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