In the summer of 2000, my wife and I visited the Holy Land with a small group of graduate students and college professors. Like most Christians (and especially as a pastor), I had always wanted to see Israel. However, at the time I didn’t realize the personal significance this nation would assume in my life. Seven years later, during a time of prayer and Bible study, the Lord placed on my heart the blessings that stem from supporting Israel and standing with it.

As I studied Genesis 12, God opened my eyes and gave emphatic instructions for me and my young African-American Pentecostal church. I sensed Him saying we were to bless Israel and the Jewish people, and I was directed to this passage:

The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

—Genesis 12:1–3

That same weekend during three morning worship services, I shared with the congregation what I believed the Lord had prophetically revealed to me. As the Old Testament states, “Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”(Amos 3:7, KJV).I told the congregation I believed God had instructed me to befriend the Jewish people and stand with them, offering prayer and moral support. There was just one problem: I had no Jewish friends and had never been inside a Jewish synagogue or associated with Jews, with the exception of shopping on Lower Manhattan’s East Side, an area populated by discount stores and Orthodox-owned men’s clothing shops.

Despite my lack of familiarity with the Jewish community, within thirty days of my pronouncement, I spoke at the annual convention of my denomination, the Church of God in Christ. There I met nationally known Pastor John Hagee and his wife, Diana, who were speaking to the delegates before hosting a book signing. At the time, the mutual friend who introduced me to the Hagees was also soliciting help for a startup organization called Christians United for Israel (CUFI).

The organization just happened to need assistance in North Carolina, where I lived. I recognized this was no coincidence. I had heard from the Lord, with this vision sealed and affirmed by friends and members of my church, and now the Lord was opening an effective door for ministry. Six months later, during a church leaders’ “familiarization tour” of Israel, Pastor Hagee and I talked about the scores of African American Christians who believed in supporting Israel. Many of these believers remember hearing while growing up in church that they should bless and love Israel and the Jewish people. Many heard their preacher instruct them to keep their eyes on the “fig tree,” which speaks prophetically of the importance of Israel in the end times (Matt. 24:32). As we talked, I expressed the need to build on this good foundation to motivate and mobilize African American Christians nationwide in a unified commitment to support Israel. Pastor Hagee agreed; this vision has been coming to pass ever since.

From those days of humbled beginnings, I’ve traveled over 25 times to Israel taking hundreds of pastors and ministry leaders.  Over the last 15 years, I’ve spoken in numerous churches, conferences, synagogues about my unconditional love and unwavering support for Israel and the Jewish people.

I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, ⁷ And give Him no rest till He establishes And till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Isaiah (62:6–7)