The show was a wonderful success and moved many in the audience to joy and tears. Their interpretation of scripture and the deliverance of the Jewish people from Egypt was a perfect example of what it is to use dance as worship. Coupled with their incredible skill, the dancers performance was a gift to all who attended.

For more pictures of the Ballet Magnificat performace, visit the KKCJ Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/King.of.Kings.Community.Jerusalem

The group consisted of young adults from all over the world, some of whom are in Israel for only a few months as they volunteer with various organizations. The trip was a great opportunity for local young adults to make new friends and for volunteers and students to see a little more of Israel. It is an annual trip that we always look forward to!

If you are a young adult living in, or visiting, Israel, please join us for our weekly group meeting on Thursday evenings at 7:30pm in the Jerusalem Prayer Tower. You can also join the Facebook group here. 

Photo courtesy of Elias Nawawieh, a student at Kings School of Media. 

People from all over the world and of all ages gathered at The Garden Tomb this past Sunday to celebrate Easter together at the Sunrise Service. King of Kings Community was honored to be a part of the event as our worship team led the group in songs of resurrection and Pastor Wayne delivered the main message. 

He noted how often we take for granted the significance of the Passover holiday in conjunction with the Easter celebration. In other countries, Easter comes and goes with colored eggs and candy and the significance of the Passover is overlooked. In a city like Jerusalem, however, the connection is blatant and beautiful. The Lord's salvation of His people through sacrifice is an unmatched gift. We were blessed to gather together as believers and worship in the garden through song and a time of recollection on how truly significant this is, not just during the holidays, but throughout the year.

If you were not able to attend the service in person or watch it online, it can still be seen here: http://new.livestream.com/kkcj/sunrise-service-2013

Café Forte, located just outside the doors of The Pavilion is starting to claim its space in Jerusalem. Menu preparation is underway, the chefs are hard at work to perfect each dish and the team at King of Kings is eagerly awaiting the open doors of this up and coming café.

Not only is the café a breath of fresh air in the Clal building, but the methods being used to prepare and cook the dishes are unparalleled in Israel. Truly living up to the café’s name, the goal is to present dishes that will be the best in the area, literally the forte of the business. The ingredients are fresh and the methods used to prepare the meals are state of the art, many of them never used in this country before.

Set to open up sometime in April, come expecting fresh brioche, muffins and scones with new flavors each day, savory lunch pies adapted from English cooking, salads and desserts set to convince you that you stepped into a Parisian café.  You can also follow the progress of the café and see some pictures on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/CafeForte

The evening began with dinner, while guests took photos in the photo booth and mingled while watching the 2013 Oscars playing in the background. After dinner, the crowd gathered to watch the films and the award ceremony, where winners received miniature Oscar awards. The crowd was visibly impressed with the caliber of work that was on display as students utilized many jobs both in front of and behind the camera. Their editing skills, directing abaility and production were a clear example of the amazing work being done at KSM. At the end of the ceremony, Yoram Honig, Director of the Jerusalem Film Fund, presented the award for Best Picture and encouraged the students to continue on in their work, even inviting them to submit it to the fund. 

If you would like to view the films, they can be seen by clicking on the following link:http://vimeo.com/ksm

The Kings School of Media plans to make this an annual event, we are looking forward to 2014! 

Praise the Lord! Yuval had it's Purim party this past Monday and we were thrilled to see over 200 people celebrate with us! 

The children sang songs to showcase their singing and performed with various instruments, such as the violin, accordion, clarinet, saxophone, percussion and more. Those in attendance also enjoyed funny drama skits and a touching musical based on the story of Esther trusting in God. Students even had a small parade around the room to show off their costume costumes to family and friends. We are so proud of our talented students and look forward to seeing more of their gifts and talents. What a wonderful time of praising our God for the gifts He has given us! 

We are pleased to introduce you to another couple that has recently joined the team here at King of Kings! Matt and Daniela Escobar come to us from the United States. Matt is originally from Michigan and Daniela is from Texas, we are thrilled to have them here in Jerusalem with us!

Matt received the Lord at the age of six and received a prophetic calling for the ministry when he was eight. He grew up with music, learning guitar as a child and playing drums as a teenager. After high school, he taught himself to play the keyboard and has since delighted in writing prophetic worship songs, co-leading worship with his wife. Matt first traveled to Israel with a tour during his senior year of high school. He returned to Israel several times after, once using tips from his job as a pizza delivery boy to fund a three-month volunteer stay at Succat Hallel.

Daniela grew up in Killeen, Texas. She received the Lord at the age of seven and knew, since then, that God wanted to use her powerfully. She began singing before she could talk, trained by her dad since before she could remember. She was singing in a Texas based worship group called “Committed to One” by the time she was 14. In 2008, Daniela graduated from Alliance Master's Commission in St. Joseph, Michigan. She has since had a heart to see the nations praising God in one voice. Today, she leads worship in English and Spanish. Daniela first visited Israel during her first year of Master's Commission, where she worked at King of Kings.

Matt and Daniela first met when they served together on the same worship team in Michigan, during Daniela’s time at the Master’s Commission. When they married in 2009, Israel remained on their hearts and they returned as short term volunteers to the Prayer Tower in 2011. Following their time in 2011, God opened the doors once again to volunteer for 2 more years!

Matt and Daniela currently lead or assist in leading watches on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. They have a passion to see new music and creative expressions released in prayer and the prophetic, and recently started the New Wine watch on Wednesdays. In addition to the prayer tower, Matt and Daniela also serve in the Worship and Young Adults ministries. Outside of their expansive musical talents, Matt also enjoys writing and teaching the Word and Daniela loves to cook and learn about other cultures. Look for Matt on the keyboard and Daniela singing in worship during Sunday service! 

The team here at King of Kings is continuing to grow! This new year has brought us a handful of new additions to the group and we would like to take a moment to introduce you to two of them, Kurt and Maggy Vetterling.

Kurt is originally from Seattle, Washington and moved to Colorado in 1994. From then until now, Kurt developed his talents working with Dr. David Jeremiah at Shadow Mountain Community Church and with Pastor George Morrison at Faith Bible Chapel. At Shadow Mountain Kurt launched an inner-city, junior high and high school youth outreach. At Faith Bible Chapel, Kurt was the director of high school ministries, but also had a hand in tasks as an Associate Pastor with Faith Bible Chapel's pastoral team. His passion and heart for ministry, along with his willingness to learn provided him with many skills that we have put to use here at King of Kings! In fact, you might see Kurt ministering to congregants, meeting with volunteers or running our lights during Sunday service!

Maggy was born and raised in Rhode Island and moved to Massachusetts for college in 2002. She began working for Dr. Marvin Wilson, a renowned scholar in Jewish-Christian relations, and visited Israel for the first time in 2005. She returned to Israel in 2006 with Robert Stearns' Israel Experience Program. Kurt and Maggy met back in 2008, when she was working at The David Project, a non-profit organization that focuses on Israel advocacy. Maggy traveled to Colorado to network with Faith Bible Chapel at their annual Israel event and there she met Kurt. In a way, you could say that the networking trip was a success! They were married in 2010 and began serving together at Faith Bible Chapel.

Earlier in 2012, Kurt and Maggy felt the Lord calling them out of their jobs and towards a new direction of ministry in Israel. Unsure of exactly where the Lord was leading, they sold their house and left to visit Israel to see what the Lord had in store.  They began serving with us at King of Kings and before long they were packing up a few more boxes to move to Israel and stay with us! Kurt will be working closely with Wayne and Veikko as a member of the pastoral team. Maggy will be taking over the majority of the writing and editing as well as helping with reception. They will work together with incoming volunteers and service groups that come to serve at King of Kings.