Our first performance was in Nazareth at the Church of the Nazarene. This church is a fellowship of Palestinian Christians in the middle of a Muslim population of at least 65%. The sign on the outside of their church building is "Jesus is Alive!" in both Arabic and English. This was the most enthusiastic audience we have ever seen in our years of performing, and the Holy Spirit was at work, not only in the lives of those watching but in the tour group as well. There seems to be a special kind of worship from people who lay their lives on the line every day for the right to call Jesus Christ the Lord of their lives!
Bethlehem is under Palestinian control, so we had to change tour buses to make this trip. All went well, and we performed "He Lives!"© at the Bethlehem Baptist Church. The church is 35 years old and has been bombed 14 times, and Pastor Khoury has been wounded 4 times, all because of their stand for the Lord Jesus Christ! This was an incredible experience! The Revelation Ministries cast was at its best! Many responded to the invitation and many more came forward for prayer. What a blessing to be able to present the Gospel in the city where Jesus was born and to be an encouragement to our brothers and sisters in Christ in Bethlehem!
We left Bethlehem and returned to Jerusalem for our last performance. We presented "He Lives!"© on Ben Yehuda Street in downtown Jerusalem. There are no vehicles allowed on this street; it is full of shops, and crowds of people from all over the world walk this street til very late at night. Our mime, Mary Markwark, went out into the public square and began drawing people to the steps of the bank where we were to perform. Ginger Fomby sang the Israeli National Anthem and the crowds began to gather. This was the first time Revelation Ministries had performed outside but what an incredible blessing it was to minister in the streets of Jerusalem! By the time our performance began, we had a large audience but it kept getting bigger and bigger! Because we were on the steps of a bank, people were coming past us to use the ATM! Several Rabbis stopped to ask us what we were doing, and when we told them we were telling the story of Jesus, they even had their pictures taken with us! Even though there were some in the audience who tried to distract the crowd, the majority of the crowd listened; the heckling only made what we were doing more realistic because Jesus Himself was heckled when He preached in the city streets!