With this second update letter I hope that your summer is starting off well and that the Lord is blessing all that you do. The major event of the En-Gedi Resource Center is that our Director (Lois Tverberg) and Administrative Assistant (Mary Okkema) are in Israel studying Hebrew. More about this later.

Come to the Feast! News

Last month I told you that we are planning to have a community-wide feast celebration this fall in Holland. We will be having an interactive worship service that presents each of the Biblical feasts dramatically and explains what the fulfillment and role of Jesus is in each one of them. You will read your Bible through new eyes after this rich and meaningful service! Pastor Keith Doornbos, of Providence Christian Reformed Church, will be the narrator. This worship service/celebration will be the combined effort of several churches and sponsored by the En-Gedi Resource Center. Two (identical) services will be held in the Christ Memorial Church sanctuary on consecutive nights - Thursday, September 20 and Friday, September 21. Mark one of these nights down on your calendar, and tell your friends! We will have more information soon on our web site. If you would like to put announcement leaflets in your church, email us at egrc@egrc.net.

Children's Hebraic Education Group

In the last month we have had a growing number of people contact us about learning how to teach their children about Jesus' Jewish culture and the land of Israel. We are still in the planning phase, but we will tentatively have a monthly activity night this fall for parents and interested adults to try out creative ideas and discuss their relevance and background in Jesus' culture. We may make seder plates and discuss how to have a home seder meal, or make quill pens and ink and learn to write a scroll. We will discuss how to adapt ideas to different sized groups and age levels. This will be a good way for you to get to know other interested folks, and learn how to enrich your children's understanding of the Bible. If you are interested in being a part of this group, please email us at egrc@egrc.net.

News from Israel!

As I said before, I am writing this update sitting on a hill in the Judean mountains. I am currently taking a six-week intensive Biblical Hebrew class that is equivalent to a year of university-level Hebrew. The class is being held at Yad HaShmona, a Christian retreat center about 10 miles outside Jerusalem, and taught by Dr. Randal Buth, a professor from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The center has constructed an elaborate Biblical garden that has a watchtower, an olive press, a threshing floor, a tomb, and a basalt synagogue built with archeological remains from a synagog in Galilee. (More information about the center is at http://www.israelpoint.com/yad_hashmona/) Often sessions are held outside to see, touch, and feel the context of the biblical stories. Soon I will be sending out a director's page with descriptions of some of my experiences here. Check our Director's page soon for the pictures on our web site.

Along with studying Hebrew I am also working on finding resources to bring back to Michigan for the En-Gedi Center. I've found a professor of Biblical history who has published a large amount of beautiful, high-resolution digital photography from Bible Lands on a set of CD-ROMs. I've also made contact with an artist in Jerusalem who does beautiful sculpture, photography and paintings, and we will make some of her materials available too. Last week was "Ha Shavua Ha Sefer" - the week of the book -- so a national book fair was held in Jerusalem where I found some excellent resources for reasonable prices. We are working on collecting materials for Bible study and teaching in our area. Please consider supporting us financially to make these items available.

If you are interested in more information about our ministry, please contact us at egrc@egrc.net. We wish to provide materials and study opportunities for anyone who wants to understand Jesus' Jewish culture and biblical context more fully. We also wish to apply this to our own lives, to become better disciples as we know more about our Rabbi, Jesus.

May the Lord's face shine upon you --

Lois Tverberg, Director