Dear Friends,
The University of Colorado’s (CU) football stadium, Folsom Field, is a massive facility. It looks big when it’s full, and it looks a whole lot bigger when it’s empty. I arrived there in advance of a Promise Keepers event in order to participate in a press conference, and checked out the stadium venue. The empty complex made me wonder how on God’s green Earth Promise Keepers would be able to achieve a respectable showing, especially in this suffering economy and given their recent attendance numbers.
At its peak in 1997, Promise Keepers was the world’s premiere men’s ministry. It gathered over a million men in Washington, D.C. and filled mammoth stadiums across America for years. But that was more than a decade ago, and attendance has been dropping since. This year’s attendance at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention was down about 30%, and participation at the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America conference, where I ministered recently, fell about 25%. Most every organization’s figures seem to be down. Considering the trend for people to be financially conservative these days, I wondered how many Believers would participate in this year’s Promise Keepers.
I left the stadium and, in an adjacent building where the press conference was to be held, I bumped into Dr. Raleigh Washington, president of Promise Keepers. He serves as an elder in a church where I spoke in 2008. I had flown to Denver to help the Denver Seminary kick off its new Master of Divinity program in Messianic Jewish Studies. To maximize my time there, Professor Helen Dellaire arranged for me to speak to a few congregations over the weekend, and Dr. Washington’s was one. We became friendly and spent some time in the prayer room ministering together after the service.
Raleigh and CU’s Coach Bill McCartney had retaken the helm of Promise Keepers just the week before I ran into him—after he had taken a few years’ leave. They would be retooling, but it was hard to guess exactly how.
Dr. Washington remembered me and locked arms with me in the elevator. He stunned me by saying that I had played a small part in affirming the movement’s redirection.
“I quoted you at least five times after I heard you, Jeff,” he said. As if to offer proof, he recited some of the points from that 2008 sermon in which I’d emphasized that men in this culture need to recover the warrior spirit. Our ministry’s founder, Zola, could be feisty, and I can be forceful every now and again. Too many churches seem to socialize their leaders into being professional “nice guys” rather than strong leaders, but ZLM hasn’t been smitten with that virus.
My 2008 sermon extolled the virtues of measured confrontation, and apparently it resonated with Raleigh: PK’s new mission statement rolled out soon after. “Our mission,” it says, “is to ignite and unite men to be warriors.” It was a blessing to learn from Raleigh that I had helped inspire that theme, but the principal reason for my excitement about Promise Keepers is more profound.
As many recall, when Coach McCartney and Dr. Washington left Promise Keepers a few years ago, it was the nation’s premiere men’s ministry, bringing well over a million men to Washington, D.C. and filling stadiums across America. McCartney and Washington resigned to start a ministry called Road to Jerusalem, whose stated intentions were to support Messianic Jewish Believers and to combat anti-Semitism and the theological dress it parades around in called “Replacement Theology.” Such callings are important for reasons that are obvious to most who are familiar with Zola Levitt Ministries, and I have always upheld their work.
When they retook the helm of Promise Keepers, its glory days had long since faded. Conferences that easily would have brought 30,000 attendees a decade ago were settling for 3,000 on a good day; their staff of 600 had diminished to 30. Such declines illustrate the dangers and instability often associated with the departure of a ministry’s principal vision-caster.
McCartney and Washington returned to rekindle PK’s engines, with the understanding that they would be allowed to fuse it with their Jewish/Israel-loving ministry. Frankly, I was fascinated to see what the union would produce, and who—if anyone—would respond.
Ten thousand eventually responded to Promise Keepers’s bold new beginning—a substantial start. Messianic Jewish artist Paul Wilbur, who has appeared recently on Zola Levitt Presents, served as the principal Praise and Worship leader for the event. He was assisted by a host of other Messianic Jewish musicians, dancers, and friends—including Marty Goetz, Joel Chernoff, and Kol Simcha. Some other great friends of mine—like Jonathan Bernis, Dan Juster, and David Chernoff—participated in the event as well, giving attendees insights into Messianic Jewish history and experience. All of us Messianic Jews were invited to minister at the altar at the conference’s end, because PK’s leaders wanted attendees to be touched by Messianic Jewish leaders.
This flowing together of things-Jesus and things-Jewish wasn’t simply the 2009 theme of the annual Promise Keepers convention. To the contrary, Promise Keepers announced its new direction—a very Messianic-Jewish direction. Let’s watch together and, along with the worldwide Messianic Jewish community, prayerfully support Promise Keepers as it retools to recover momentum to serve the Lord in 2009 and beyond.
If you find it odd for one ministry to extol the virtues of another, then just remember that we Believers are all in this biblical battle together. Like you, Coach McCartney and Dr. Washington have an abiding love for the Jewish people that they are willing to support with their Spartan resources.
They can’t change the world through their ministry, just as I can’t change the entire world with Zola Levitt Ministries. But we can support each other’s efforts to make a difference in our own worlds, in our own spheres of influence, as we link arms and combine our energies to advance God’s Kingdom.
As noted, PK pretty much tanked after Coach and Raleigh left a few years ago—a departure that set off a rapid decline. A similar decline could have happened when Zola passed away. Yet, you stood by us and supported me as the ministry’s spokesman. I really appreciate that.
Hoping that you still have an interest in helping, I ask you to make an investment in our present venture. A few weeks ago we shot a new television series in Israel, Sar Shalom (Prince of Peace). We actually built a small, first-century fishing village right on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and even constructed an authentic-looking boat for the production. The actors were all Jewish Israelis. The Israeli who played Jesus performed exceptionally well, but please pray that our “Jesus” actor comes to know the real Jesus. It was particularly interesting how much he wanted to play the role, how seriously he took it, and how thoroughly he prepared by studying Jesus’ teachings. His comments to us proved insightful.
This ministry makes an effort to ensure that the Messianic Jewish Gospel Message is presented by Jews and comes from Israel, but there’s an added benefit when we film in Israel: the Gospel Message also circulates in and around Israel through our actors, our set builders, and our associated production staff members, who all get an exposure to the Gospel that they otherwise wouldn’t. Please know that your contributions reach that extra audience—the Israeli Jews who work on the production—as well as the millions who watch the programs in the comfort of their homes in the States and abroad.
If you think you might want to bless the People of Israel and the Land of Israel firsthand, please consider one of our upcoming trips. There is still plenty of room for the October tour. Its four options offer departure dates of October 13 and 18 and return dates of October 28 and November 1. Choose between seeing Israel only or adding an extension to Petra and/or a Mediterranean cruise. You can reach Tracie at (214) 696-9760 during office hours Central Time. Making a refundable deposit now will reserve your space before it becomes challenging to secure airline reservations.
Also, please consider making a missionary donation today—even a small one—to help us bring Israel’s and the Lord’s Message to the millions who experience it through television. Designating a contribution to this ministry’s To The Jew First Fund enables our volunteer missionaries to fulfill Romans 10:1. Thanks once again for backing our anointed endeavors with your prayers and support.
Your messenger,
Jeff Seif
P.S. When you see the new Sar Shalom series, compare our “Jesus” to the “Jesus” in The Passion of the Christ and you’ll see that the Lord really blessed us with this actor. Let’s pray that the Lord now blesses him through his association with us!
Dear Jeff,
It is encouraging to see Promise Keepers renew its men’s ministry with an emphasis on the Messianic Jewish Message and promotion of Israel.
“Here is my gift for September. Praise God that your television productions are reaching Israeli Jews in particular as well as Jews and gentiles worldwide.”
The Warrior King tells the story of King David’s time; but it is also the story of our own time. With challenges larger than Goliath all around us, we need Bible-based leaders now more than ever. In this eight-part series, Dr. Jeffrey Seif speaks to that need. Dramatic re-enactments — shot on location in Israel — complement the teachings in this series.
From the eight-part TV series of the same title, this 86-page transcript of highlights includes dozens of photos and an abundance of Hebrew with translation. It can be used with the series or independently.
The Warrior King is a story about the Old Testament’s David — Israel’s greatest soldier. It’s also about the Bible’s “Son of David” — Jesus. The subtitle reveals that the story is both from all time and for all time. It’s about trials and triumphs, and how God uses abysmal circumstances to improve those who rely on Him.
Compact discs and a workbook that begins with a survey of Old Testament Messianic prophecies. Topics range from Gentile Salvation to the Abrahamic Covenant and Replacement Theology to Messiah in the Passover. You'll learn about the Seven Feasts, Christ in the Tabernacle, Church History, Anti-Semitism, and the Holocaust.
