After almost two months of providing meals in the midst of the Israel-Hamas war, Texas Baptist Men feeding teams are returning home as the ministry’s Israeli partners can now meet the needs of people caught in the conflict.
The third TBM volunteer team returned from Israel Dec. 12. TBM will continue supporting its Israeli partners as they serve.
“The need for mass feeding in Israel has declined to the point where our Israeli partners can meet the need on their own with TBM-designed equipment,” said Mickey Lenamon, TBM executive director/CEO.
TBM has worked several years building relationships with Israel’s Emergency Volunteer Project. It involved training TBM volunteers in preparing for specific dietary needs in Israel and using TBM designs to develop mass feeding mobile kitchens and processes.
TBM volunteers headed to Israel shortly after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. About 40 volunteers from Texas, supplemented by Kansans and North Carolinians, worked alongside Israeli workers to meet the food needs caused by displacement during the first two months of the war.
The end of the TBM deployment is “great news, because it means the number of people in need of emergency food is dropping and is not expected to rise again,” said John-Travis Smith, TBM associate executive director and coordinator of Israel ministry.
“There is much suffering still taking place in the region, as we all know, but our partnership with Israel’s Emergency Volunteer Project is confined to the nation itself,” Smith said. “We will continue to communicate with EVP and other TBM partners in the region to determine if any needs arise that TBM can help address.”
During TBM’s response to the war, Lenamon sent a weekly Israel Prayer Update email. He sent the final one this week.
“You have been one of our consistent prayer warriors during this crisis, and that has been essential,” Lenamon said. “This will be the last Israel update but not the last TBM prayer update. I will send you specifics for prayer anytime our volunteers are deployed or if we learn of a special need.”
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Lenamon encouraged people to give three prayers of thanks:
- For raising up Israeli volunteers to handle the food needs in Israel.
- For enabling TBM to come alongside the people in Israel as a testimony to Christ’s care for all people.
- For allowing TBM to bring together other Christian groups in the United States for this coordinated work.
And he asked for three continuing prayers:
- God to bless and strengthen the Israeli volunteers who will continue to provide meals for those in need.
- God to help more people to return to their homes.
- God to move among the millions of Israelis and Palestinians to bring peace to the region.
Training of TBM volunteers continues to be an important part of the partnership with Israel’s EVP. Trips to Israel are scheduled each month in 2024, and seven are already filled. Visit tbmtx.org/israel to learn details.
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