Dear Friends of IBJM,

In a world increasingly full of turmoil and trouble, Thanksgiving reminds us to be grateful that we live in a country, despite its problems, that is relatively peaceful and quite prosperous. The Lord has certainly blessed us abundantly in countless ways. We can also be thankful that we live in a nation where the gospel still has free course, one where we have liberty to pursue our Christian faith to the fullest unlike so many other repressive places in the world.

During this special season when our hearts are full of gratitude to our faithful God, it turns our hearts to thinking of others and perhaps to giving to needy people and worthy causes which the Lord may place on our hearts to support.  Last year for Giving Tuesday, we asked for your help in funding our project for the purchase of a Global Outreach Ministry Center in New York City. Our desire is to provide a facility that can serve as a training and evangelistic center which would also provide lodging for guests. It is part of a vision that would enable us to reach out into the whole Northeast Corridor where there is such a large Jewish population.

Thanks to many gifts given throughout the past year, we have a very substantial amount toward what would be needed for such a purchase. Accordingly, we are focused right now on one property which has potential to meet this need. We have begun a preliminary process of evaluating the building further through appraisals and inspections, while also scrutinizing the various ordinances, building regulations, and codes that could affect us. It is a complex and lengthy process. Please continue to pray for the project and we will keep you updated.

Global Outreach Ministry Center Candidate

For Giving Tuesday 2023, we would like to turn your attention to a need that we have been working on more recently. It is a much needed project to refurbish our Gartenhaus Training Center building inside and out. It has been in service now for more than twenty years so it is long overdue for cleaning and repainting which has already been taking place. Inside, certain areas where the carpet was very worn and soiled, there was a need to replace it with more suitable and durable flooring.

Side Wall

Another project is to turn one of the larger rooms into a set-up for shooting teaching and promotional videos that can be effectively used on social media to promote Jewish missions and the various ministries of IBJM. Doing this kind of work correctly requires a more sophisticated approach technologically than we have previously had. With appropriate renovations to the GTC, we can better position ourselves to meet the challenges of some of these new communication modes and realities.

Vandalism

God has given us so many faithful and generous donors. We are grateful for you and how you collectively rise to the occasion to meet our regular ministry needs and special projects. We would like to ask you this year to have a part in this special project that will considerably upgrade our facilities and capabilities.  If you would consider giving your best gift to help us to completely fund this effort, we would certainly be thankful. You can do so by using the special link provided at the bottom of this email. We are full of gratitude for all those who support IBJM and our Everlasting Nation Ministries.

We also want to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year in the Lord’s work, as we all join hands to serve Him with the gifts and means which He has given to each of us. We are filled with joy and gratitude as we remember the many donors whose gifts the Lord brings together to make our IBJM ministries possible.

With truly grateful hearts,

John C. Lawrence

Director of Ministries

International Board of Jewish Missions

Psalm 103:1-2