NEWS OF THE CHURCH AROUND THE WORLD To read these and other news stories on your mobile phone, text to 46275 or visit app.charismamag.com to download our free app HOPE FOR THE WORLD Assemblies of God launches global outreach to Jews Jeff Friedman grew up in a Jewish family, attended an Orthodox Jewish synagogue every week and lived in the city with the largest Jewish population: Brooklyn, N.Y. The brief encounters he had with Christians left him with a negative impression of the faith during his first 26 years of life. offended me; they turned me Friedman says. basically hated One day in 1980, after he moved to Miami for his job as a government pharmacist, Friedman went to get a haircut. Mitzi, the hairstylist at the salon, was Jewish and attended an Assemblies of God (AG) church. challenged me as a Jew to study the Jewish Scriptures as they pertain to the Friedman recalls. spoke to me in a way that made A week later, Friedman came to faith in (the Hebrew name for Jesus). He immediately sensed a calling, realizing that the majority of Jews never hear the gospel presented in a culturally relevant CHARISMA Month 2010 way. have a desire to see fellow Jews come to know this blessing I says the enthusiastic and energetic Friedman. He became a licensed AG minister, graduated from the AG seminary and was an AG U.S. missionary for 17 years, while also serving as rabbi of Beth Emanuel, a Messianic synagogue in Philadelphia. During a ministry trip in eastern Europe, Friedman saw Jewish people living in physical and spiritual poverty and was motivated to broaden his vision. After visiting with L. John Bueno, AG World Missions executive director, Friedman discovered that no global outreaches to Jews existed in the AG. He devised the concept of Hope (jacobshope.com), as the first AG World Missions effort to engage the worldwide Jewish community. latent in [the AG] that people want to do something for the Jewish Bueno says. is our only ministry to reach Jews throughout the lot of people are supporting Jewish ministries that are not run by a i a a co