History of the Baptist Convention In Israel As a Baptist journalist in Israel for the past 25 years, I've often been shocked at how little Israelis know about my denomination. With more than 90 million Baptists in the world, about half of whom are in the United States, and 17 million in my denomination -the Southern Baptist Convention - it's a shock that Israelis, so interested in all things American, overlook this phenomenon. How has the role of America's Baptist presidents in Israel's history been overlooked, many of whom acted out of faith convictions toward the Jewish people? President Harry Truman was instrumental in securing United Nations' recognition for Israel. President Jimmy Carter convened the Camp David accords in which Egypt, the largest Arab nation, recognized Israel. Although some earlier survey work had been done, the single greatest catalyst for the Baptist work was Sukri Mussa, a resident of Safed, who went to the USA to study in the early 1900's. While there he came to faith under the preaching of George Truett at First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. Supported by Baptist churches in southern Illinois, he returned to the Holy Land in 1911.
According to Fuad Sakhnini, pastor of the Nazareth Baptist Church since 1960, "He bought a horse and began preaching in the villages. It wasn't easy because people were fanatical to their community. The first Baptists here were persecuted by the other traditional Christian communities." He witnessed in Tur'an and Eilaboun, villages with large nominal Christian populations - the kind of background he was from. Mussa organized Bible studies and they met in homes for a time, but in 1926 the new believers built Nazareth Baptist Church and constituted as a church. Mussa died in 1928 but "the church already had a vision to start planting churches in the Galilee area," Sakhnini said. Sakhnini, born the same year the church was built, was among a group of young men who continued starting new works "in obedience to the Great Commission." Many of the young men went out on donkeys to preach in Galilee villages. Churches were established throughout the Galilee in villages such as Jaffa, Cana, Tur'an, Eilaboun, Acre and Rama. More recently two other Baptist churches have been established in Nazareth.	Fuad Sakhnini, pastor of Nazareth Baptist Church since 1960, studies the Scripture in his office. Sakhnini was among a group of young men who helped establish churches throughout the Galilee in the 1930's and 1940's.
Narkis Street Congregation Pastor Charles Kopp was the first to arrive the night the church was set ablaze by arsonists in 1982. Kopp stands in the pulpit of the church which was rebuilt on site after municipal officials turned down the church's building request, suggesting they rebuild outside the city center.	During the 1930's a number of American Southern Baptists arrived in the Holy Land to bolster the local work. These included Leo Eddleman, later a college Hebrew professor, who was noted for his mastery of both Hebrew and Arabic. He attributed those skills to the curfew maintained during British Mandate period saying there was little else to do (but study) from sunrise to sunset. By the end of the 1930's Southern Baptists had seven Americans working in Palestine to establish a local work, but World War II forced them to leave and the work floundered for a time. Dwight Baker, who served in Israel in the 1950's and 1960's, wrote, "Had it not been for the stout-hearted courage of the nationals, all would have been lost. A work that was begun by Arab Baptists was just as heroically sustained by these indefatigable souls." In 1945 Henry and Julia Hagood arrived and soon moved to Nazareth to open the George W. Truett Home for Children. That same year Robert and Margaret Lindsey came to strengthen the work in Jerusalem. Lindsey had spent a year in Jerusalem in 1939 as a student and already had "a good working knowledge of the language" according to Baker. Working tirelessly to establish the orphanage, learn Arabic and preach on the weekends, Hagood "was no match for the serious throat infection which hospitalized him in January, 1946 and caused his death three days later," according to Baker. His wife, Julia, stayed on in Nazareth with their young son to maintain the work. Baptist work suffered another setback during the1948 War of Independence and the tensions leading up to it. Many children orphaned as a result of the war found a home at the Nazareth orphanage, necessitating a reevaluation of that ministry.
The Baptist Village, near Petah Tiqva, was originally conceived by Lindsey as a cooperative for Jewish believers in Christ. The land was purchased in 1948 and 1950 toward that end. But failing that venture Baptists in Israel decided in 1953 to relocate the orphanage, which had several children who were orphaned as a result of the war. If the Baptist denomination is not known in Israel, the same cannot be said of its institutions. Baptist Village is well known throughout Israel. Although Lindsey's original vision was never realized, thousands of people have been blessed by Baptist Village's ministry. As the orphans grew older, a school was developed for them. In 1963 Baptists established a vocational school whose 100 graduates would include all ethnic groups in Israel. Believers founded a church on its grounds whose ministry continues. A camp and conference program was established in the 1950's. Annual camps include English, Russian, Hebrew and Arabic languages. More recently Baptist Village has teamed with International Sports Properties to support baseball and softball in Israel. As a result, the 2005 Maccabiah baseball and softball competitions were held at Baptist Village. The village is also the planned home for Israel's profession baseball league beginning June, 2007.
Residents of neighboring Petah Tiqva and Hod HaSharon have enjoyed Baptist Village since its beginning. Every Friday afternoon 15-20 men gather there so play soccer. Yanco Zvi of Tel Aviv, who's been playing soccer there for more than 20 years, says "This place has been great for us. I hope my children can enjoy it as I have." Nazareth Baptist School, opened in the 1930's, closed during World War II and reopened only after the War of Independence. From its modest beginnings it is now recognized by the Israeli Ministry of Education as one of the country's premier educational institutions. In 2006 it was ranked seventh nationally for the percentage of students scoring in the "excellent" category in matriculation examinations. In the youth competition called "First Step to Noble Prize in Physics," Israel has won 22 prizes in the last 10 years. Nine of those prizes went to students from Nazareth Baptist School. When physicist Stephen Hawking was in Israel late last year, three schools were allowed to send students to interview him; Nazareth Baptist School was one of the three. According to Butrus Monsour, general director of the school, Nazareth Baptist School scores in the top one percent of Israeli students in English every year. The school's waiting list is long. Monsour says if they had the facilities, they could double the school's 1000 student enrollment in two years. They are presently considering another site in Nazareth.	Elementary school students at Nazareth Baptist School look on as Inuit visitors from the north of Canada offer a presentation on their native culture.
Although the work has grown exponentially from its 1911 roots, Baptists have suffered setbacks. Beset by wars, terrorism, religious persecution and political tension, the story of Narkis Street Baptist Church is largely indicative of Baptists in Israel. With the resurgence in Baptist work after World War I, a church of 13 congregants began meeting on Narkis Street, near downtown Jerusalem in 1933. These early congregants included Jewish, Arab and expatriate devotees meeting in the chapel that had been largely built by one man, Roswell Owens, for about $1000 in building costs. World War II took its toll and the succeeding revival was cut short by almost immediate Jewish-Arab tensions in the late 1940's. Robert Lindsey, pastor in the mid-1940's, assumed the pastorate in 1949 and worked ardently to build the work, most of which revolved around Friday night and Saturday morning services in Hebrew and English respectively. Others assumed preaching responsibilities at the church during most of the 1950's but in 1962 Lindsey became pastor again as the group constituted as a church. In 1961 Lindsey had crossed to Jordanian-controlled east Jerusalem to retrieve one of the residents of the Truett home whose relatives restrained his return to Israel. Sneaking across the Mandelbaum Gate at night, Lindsey stepped on a land mind, causing the eventual loss of the leg. His biography, co-written by his son in law, spoofs the incident. It is titled, One Foot in Heaven: The Story of Bob Lindsey in Jerusalem. In October, 1982, the Baptist Church at Narkis was burned by arsonists. Police suspected extremist elements from Jerusalem's Ultra Orthodox community. Charles Kopp, senior pastor of Narkis Street Congregation for the last 15 years, was the first member to arrive on the burning scene. He says the members felt "shock and great grief because of our worship center being destroyed. But we also felt hopeful. "Bob (Robert Lindsey) took it as positively as he could and said he had been praying fire of the Holy Spirit would fall from heaven, but (the arson) wasn't what he had intended."
Dozens of residents of nearby towns have enjoyed playing soccer and other activities at Baptist Village since its founding in the early 1950's. Tel Aviv resident Yanco Zvi hopes his children will enjoy the village as he has.	Although the arson was soundly condemned by Israeli politicians and the Chief Rabbis, the government was reticent to allow the church to rebuild, suggesting they move farther from the city's center. Lindsey was prepared to accept the government's offer, but church members declined saying leaving might encourage extremists to step up their campaign against churches. Permission to rebuild on site was approved in 1987 but only after an appeal to Israel's High Court. The church at Narkis Street, from its infancy in the 1930's, overcame these obstacles. Presently four different congregations, representing about 500 believers meeting in Hebrew, Russian and English, meet in the church building. (One English-speaking congregation has a contemporary worship service while another employs a traditional Baptist liturgy.) Similarly, the national work, from its equine-borne evangelists in the early part of the 20th century, presently consists of about 6000 adults and children meeting in 20 churches, the Association of Baptist Churches (ABC) having formed in 1963. Although Baptist numbers in Israel are limited, their influence has impacted the believing community greatly. Dozens of congregations and thousands of Christians throughout the country are Baptist in terms of church doctrine and administration, but do not formally belong to the ABC. Fuad Haddad, chairman of the ABC, writes, "The concern of Baptists today is to witness and be witnesses in the land. The promotion of the Lord's work is a priority ... the local churches have been challenged to double their numbers in a decade. God has blessed and He will continue to bless."