Shalom from the En-Gedi Resource Center!

With this first update letter I want to share our excitement with you about what Lord has been doing lately. We are feeling blessed in our efforts to establish the En-Gedi Resource Center, and there seems to be no lack of opportunities for things to do to serve Him.

For those of you who haven't heard much about our project, we setting up a ministry with the goal of assisting Christians in finding materials to enhance their understanding of the Bible and the Jewish culture from which it came. Our ultimate purpose is not just to fill our heads with knowledge, but to deepen and enrich our walk with Jesus by understanding Him more.

We will be opening a center in downtown Holland which will have materials available for loan or purchase, and will have a place for study groups to meet. Our aim is to have materials to suit a broad range of interests - from advanced materials to children's activities. We would like this to be an "insula" of a sort - a community center where people can come to study and read and talk, and put their photography or artwork or Israel mementos on display. Along with this we plan to have monthly seminars and weekend conferences with speakers.

Along with our library, we are assembling a collection of teaching illustration materials for loan - shofars, prayer shawls, oil lamps and other items from Israel, etc. We also will have digital photography available to be used in sermons and teaching. We want to supplement and enrich the preaching and teaching that is going on in our area to let people feel and touch and see Jesus as he really was. Several pastors on our board of directors are working with us to tell us what will be most needed and helpful.

Web Site

Our most recent work on the web site is to add some artistic expression in the "Forum" section with poems written by friends of the EGRC. Soon we will also have some art work by a gifted artist - Diane Van Noord. We will be setting up discussion pages on the web site soon.

Children's Hebraic Education Group

We recently began a children's Hebraic education group for teachers and parents. Several people have come to us who have been involved in children's worship, home schooling or Christian school teaching who want to enrich children's education with their knowledge of Jesus' culture and the land of Israel. Several of them have been developing their own ideas, and we also shared some of the resources that we had found. The group will be continuing to meet to discuss ideas and insights. We are thinking of having a weekend conference to make this information more widely available. If you are interested in being a part of this group, please email us at egrc@egrc.net.

Torah Study

Along with our other activities, we sustain ourselves spiritually with a weekly Torah study. We are following the calendar of scripture readings that Jewish people around the world have followed for hundreds of years. We stand and read the whole scripture aloud and then always have a good discussion of the many aspects of Jesus' culture and scriptures that we have discovered in the text. It is open for anyone to join us if you have Thursday nights available. See the Events section of our web site for details.

Come to the Feasts!

Our last exciting piece of news is our plan for a community-wide feast celebration this fall. We will be having an interactive worship service that presents each of the Biblical feasts dramatically and explains what the eternal significance and role of Jesus is in each one of them. Right now we are planning this as a composite effort of several churches that will be held in the Christ Memorial sanctuary. More details will be coming to you soon. If you would like to be involved, please email us!

En-Gedi Email News List

We have started an En-Gedi update email list. If you would like to be included on this list, please send us a message at egrc@egrc.net with the word "subscribe" in the subject line or body of your message and we will gladly include you. If at any time you wish to be removed from the list please respond with an email saying "unsubscribe". Please also feel to forward this information on to friends that you think may be interested. We are always glad to meet people who have the same passion that we have for learning more about Jesus.

Lastly and most importantly, we covet your prayers. We desire that the Lord will work through us to accomplish His purposes, not just put a blessing on some nice things we thought up. Please pray for us as we seek discernment and wisdom for the many decisions needed for our future.

May the Lord's face shine upon you --

Lois Tverberg, Director