NOTE: In this two-part letter, Jeff shares our ministerial goals for the
year ahead. Then Mark offers highlights of this ministry’s
outreach in general. Enjoy!
Dear Friends,
We humans are destined to spend our lives in whatever future we create—both in mortal life and eternity. Decisions now determine our fate, so let me share with you the bright future this ministry plans in the new year for television production.
To begin with, we’re going to film two major-league TV series on location in Israel in March and June. The early spring outreach series will shed Messianic-Jewish light on Psalms and is tentatively called Turning Our Mourning Into Joy. Featuring Israeli actors in dramatic reenactments, this eight-part production will use God’s light to eradicate fears that depress the masses.
A series on the Book of Ruth will follow in the early
summer (working title: Your People Will Be My People).
As with our 2010 series on Esther, it will demonstrate
ways one bold woman can make a lasting, Earth-shaking
difference to society at large.
Ruth came from extremely humble origins. Her parents married her into a family of first-generation migrant workers. Then, her future security was jeopardized by the untimely death of her husband, the death of her father-in-law, and her mother-in-law Naomi’s plan to flee Moab.
Reduced to begging for her daily bread, Naomi decided to return to Israel, her ancestral homeland, and throw herself on the mercy of the locals. Despite Naomi’s remonstrations, Ruth accompanied Naomi on her journey to Bethlehem and assimilated with the Chosen People. She had no idea that destiny would make her one of the most famous women who ever lived.
Ruth’s faith-filled, rags-to-riches story must be told to each generation. Your faith-filled investments in Zola Levitt Ministries will enable me to teach it to multitudes in 2011. Much as Ruth joined herself to the people of Israel, we need people joining themselves to this ministry’s vital endeavors.
King David, like his great-grandmother Ruth, also fared
from humble origins. Nobody anticipated that he was destined
for greatness. He had no reason to believe so himself. His father
didn’t respect him, and his older brothers disdained him outright.
Unable to succeed socially, David turned inward and developed
remarkable musical aptitudes. His prayerful disposition and
talents enabled him to express his struggles through prayers and
songs that still inspire the despondent today.
God delivered David time after time, elevated him, and used him to leave an indelible imprint on humankind. As you may recall from our 2008 TV series The Warrior King, David rose to become not only Israel’s most famous ruler and poet-laureate. He also continues to be loved the world over through his collection of songs—the Psalms.
The Psalms gave David a refuge where he found solace and spiritual assistance to deal with his tumultuous life. They have done the same for countless other imperiled achievers over the millennia. Through this ministry’s pending audiovisual presentation of Israel’s ancient hymnbook, I will reveal the Savior’s helping hand and heart that turn mourning into joy.
Your faith gift to Zola Levitt Ministries will help bring a multimedia rendition of Psalms to fruition and into households across America and around the world. True to our custom, we will film in the Land of Israel and work with Israeli actors and Messianic musicians. We combine these embellishments and our Jewish reckoning of biblical instruction to offer a powerful perspective that contributes to the Gospel’s global advancement.
The eight-part television series Eretz Israel—the Land of Israel is currently in post-production, to be released in late January. As the title suggests, we explore the modern miracle that is Israel in ways that will stun and enlighten those who already adore it, as well as others who mistakenly perceive it to be a war-torn, backward nation.
Beyond the above three prophetic series crafted on location, this ministry will create an assortment of studio-based, stand-alone programs and miniseries to offer you cutting-edge updates on modern, prophecy-related news. Iran’s nuclear issue needs to be monitored, as do prophetic implications of other Islamic machinations. Your loyal contributions will keep our cameras rolling, and you’ll see a plethora of biblical stories like these. Above and beyond broadcasting missions- and prophecy-related television far and wide, the Lord has opened doors for me to help train the next generation of congregational leaders in 2011.
I participate in leadership training for several organizations in the worldwide Messianic Jewish revival. I stay active in the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations and the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America, umbrella organizations for Jewish Believers. This spring in Los Angeles, I will teach Jewish Studies at Kings Seminary. I maintain a professorship at the Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas. I also assist the Israel College of the Bible and other educational venues that help Jewish people come to know Jesus and Jesus’ people come to know the Jews. If you would like me—or another ZLM speaker—to visit your group, please contact Tracie at (214) 696-8844 or email her at . I would be happy to come your way.
Israel experienced a record tourism year in 2010 and anticipates even more pilgrims in 2011. Advance scheduling is more important than ever to be sure you don’t miss your trip of a lifetime. We have booked airline seats for three trips to Israel this year:
If you’re ready to become a pilgrim, call Tracie at 214-696-9760 or 1-800-WONDERS. She’ll send you information to help you choose which season and extensions will best suit your interests. You can also visit www.levitt.com/tours. Your pilgrimage will bless both Israel and your own spiritual life.
This May will mark five years since I rejoined this ministry. Since many thousands of people like you opened their homes, hearts, and pocketbooks, this ministry has flourished. Thanks from the bottom of my heart for your resolve to make it work. Thanks for helping us serve the spiritual needs of Jews, Christians, and the simply curious who explore the Bible’s testimony through our Jewish eyes. I couldn’t have done it without you last year, and I humbly ask your assistance, once again, for 2011.
Your messenger,
Jeff
P.S. This ministry’s labors are extensions of God’s calling and your humble servitude. Together, we advance Christ’s Kingdom in a world where His ways are in high demand but short supply.
Part 2 — From Mark
Reading this far indicates that you support this ministry. Whether you do so with prayer, accolades to friends, or dollars, I cannot express the depth or breadth of my gratitude for your upholding my life’s work and Zola’s. And I know Jeff feels the same way—especially when he and I brainstorm on how to improve the quality of our newsletters and television programs, and the outreach in general.
Producing twenty-nine new television programs in 2010 was quite a feat, especially since all are appealing to watch, biblically sound, and relevant to modern times. They’re also HD, closed captioned, and jam-packed with an abundance of Holy Land scenes and biblically meaty interviews. The combination of substance and production quality is what keeps our program on enviably far-reaching television networks and independent stations.
The excitement of what’s coming next on Zola Levitt Presents can steal too much thunder from just how far and wide our airwaves go. Just as a restaurant must balance the space devoted to the kitchen and dining area, our ministry monitors the ebb and flow of resources allocated to production and distribution.
Restaurant menus impress diners with their variety of food rather than how far and
wide they serve. You as a ministry supporter, however, differ from a restaurant patron in
that you truly care how many “sheep” feast at our TV buffet. Please brace yourself for some
large numbers. Our Levitt Letter regularly publishes a grid with this ministry’s four national
networks’ airtimes. You’ll find it on page 33 of the January 2011 issue.
Here are the quantities of households our networks reach:
In addition to our national networks, this ministry has over a hundred full-power independent stations (categorized by city at www.levitt.com/airsch.html). You’re welcome to a free hard copy of this airing schedule.
Below are the descriptions of the programs you’ll see on Zola Levitt Presents in January:
United For Jerusalem
Our program’s signal reaches almost every home in the nation and tens of millions of them several times per week! The bottom of our air schedule shows our numerous satellite and international broadcasts. Now consider the massive, complementary footprint offered by www.levitt.tv: Internet television offers free, on-demand broadcasts of the high-caliber programs we market on DVD—over 360 of them. Then think about the hundreds of thousands of DVDs this ministry has shipped to personal and church libraries domestically and abroad. Those will continue ministering even after the Rapture.
Just as it is challenging for American taxpayers to conceptualize how large a trillion is when contemplating our national debt, it can be mind-boggling to fathom how many church buildings this ministry’s weekly viewership would fill. Suppose we had merely a million regular viewers (and the figure probably surpasses two million). Next, suppose that your church seats 500 worshippers in the pews each Sunday. Dividing 1,000,000 by 500 reveals that our broadcasts reach over 2,000 Sundays’ worth of viewers. Or put another way, if your church seats 500, we would need over 2,000 of your sanctuaries to seat our audience each week!
Instead of church bulletins, our “attendees” receive free monthly Levitt Letters—including our mailing list’s 1,700 convicts behind bars. And wouldn’t you bet dollars to donuts that our monthly newsletters are shared farther and wider than most church bulletins? I’m not minimizing the importance of church communities; rather, I seek to emphasize this ministry’s tremendous reach and efficiency at sowing seeds of faith.
While we’re on the subject of stewardship, our independently audited financial report is free for the asking. It shows that we spend only 12% of our revenue on administration—6% for employee compensation and 6% for the rest. Eighty-five percent (85%) of our expenses are ministerial and include TV production and airtime, newsletter printing and postage, www.levitt.com, and the creation and duplication of our DVDs, CDs, and books.
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Our fundraising on television and in the newsletters accounts for six tenths of one percent (0.6%) of our expenses. That leaves 99.4% for teaching. This ministry has always fastidiously sown whatever seeds we receive so that little will remain after the Rapture. The bottom line is that supporting our outreach leads to immediate, efficient, far-reaching results that you can see for yourself: on television, in your mailbox, and via the Internet. What an unbeatable value!
In His service,
Mark
P.S. You who are reading this letter remind me of Gideon’s elite soldiers who, in Judges 7:5, cupped water in their hands and fought in the battle against Midian. Would you prayerfully consider making a substantial gift to benefit your brethren who are cowering with their mouths in the stream? They need our teaching in order to stand for the Bible’s legitimacy and eternal relevance.
Dear Jeff,
I never would have guessed that the Zola Levitt Presents broadcasts alone reach at least as many people each week as 2,000 churches do.
“Here is my gift for January. I’d like to help sow seeds of faith with meaty teaching on television, through the mail, and via the Internet.”
A unique blend of Jewish and Christian perspectives, this self-paced program brings the seminary to you. Each course is designed to be completed in about a month.
