She is the Bridge between US and Israeli Relations
ORDINARY NO MORE
Heather is candid about the complacency that set into her life and marriage by its ten-year mark. “We were unfulfilled in our spiritual lives, dissatisfied with our daily rituals, uninspired by sermons and Bible studies, and passionless about our future. We knew there had to be more than what we were experiencing,” she confesses.
“I can’t explain what caused this – other than God provoked us to discontentment so that we would seek Him with all we had.” That discontentedness led Heather and her husband, Bruce, already committed believers, to seek the Lord like they never had before.
Bruce fasted for 40 days, while Heather bowed out of all unnecessary commitments, read her Bible, and begged God for directions and refreshment. He responded as only God can --- with loving clarity. Heather will never forget the moment He broke through her thoughts and her heart.
“Heather,” she heard, “this is the moment I have been waiting for. I never want you to forget that I love you. You are Mine.” She says the simple message changed her life, healed her heart, and delivered her from guilt, shame, fear, and powerlessness.
Starting with a meeting with the mayor of modern Samaria, Ron Nachmann, Heather and Bruce both sensed a divine direction to invest their lives in the nation of Israel. Heather later founded USIEA, through which she educates and connects leaders in both the US and Israel for mutual benefit on many issues, including defense, security, energy, technology, economic cooperation, and agriculture.
For example, in 2011, Heather led an Israel tour which included five members of the US Congress, who were able to tour the new Iron Dome missile-defense system site. Afterward, those members of Congress returned to Washington, DC and introduced legislation which tripled US contributions to Iron Dome.
In more recent years, Heather has worked with the two countries following the historic signing of the Abraham Accords in August 2020, between Israel, the US, Bahrain, and the UAE, and since that time, Morocco and Sudan. “None of the Arab gulf states could afford to be unprepared for a nuclear Iran,” Heather states. “The Arab nations needed Israel, and Israel needed the Arab nations, and they will continue to need each other in the face of the Iranian threat.”
Heather has been meeting with US leaders as to the next steps and is knowledgeable of recent developments under the new administration. Heather recently spent several days in Washington DC, where she and the USIEA staff met with 22 members of congress. “They’re seeking ways to reduce US dependency on China and to move our businesses and pharma supply chains home or abroad to ally nations.”
TRANSFORMING ISRAEL’S YOUTH
In addition to USIEA, Heather also founded JH Israel, an American non-profit organization which supports the National Leadership Center (NLC), in Ariel, Israel. Its mission is to train Israeli and Arab youth in biblical leadership and life purpose through unparalleled experiential learning adventures. The NLC, in conjunction with Israel’s Ministry of Education, developed its unique curriculum based on Israel’s biblical heritage, culture, and identity.
The NLC hosts a variety of participants from Israel’s high school students to members of the Israeli Defense Force. Heather explains the initial plan: “We would purchase all of the elements for a national leadership site and would devise the safety structure, which was our expertise, and the city of Ariel would host the nations at a world-class leadership center that would be incomparable to anything in the Middle East.”
To date, there have been more than 85,000 Israeli and Arab youth who have benefitted from training at the NLC. She believes the building of the NLC aligns with one of the unfolding prophecies over Israel from Ezekiel 37:12 and Ezekiel 36:24, which says, “My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries, and bring you back into your own land.”
DISCIPLESHIP TODAY
“We need a radical review of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. In the first century, to be asked by a rabbi to be his talmid, or disciple, was the greatest of all privileges. The decision was consequential. Following a well-known rabbi impacted your finances, your vocation, and whom you chose to marry,” Heather explains. “Those of us who dare to follow Him closely today embark on the same life of uncommon favor and daily privilege.”
Life challenges, she has found, are helpful to bring us to our knees. “Our setbacks are often occasions when Jesus is saying to us, ‘Rome is burning. Drop your fiddle, change your life, and come to Me.’ Yet in today’s world of instantaneous communication, technological isolation, and mega-churches, our most authentic connection with God is easily swapped for five-minute devotions, secondhand opinions, and therapeutic messages,” she says.
The remedy for such shallow relationships with our Savior, is the same as it’s always been Heather believes: time with Him. “In order to actually be Jesus’ disciples, we must undergo a dramatic turning to him and away from all else.” It involves what Scripture refers to in Ezekiel 36:26 as God turning our hearts of stone to hearts of flesh. Heather believes this happens when we undergo what she calls an identity exchange. “As we exchange our fragile identity for the identity of a talmid of Jesus, we become our true selves.”
She goes on to explain that we must make three crucial decisions to follow Jesus fully:
1. Jesus Before People.
“Restated, becoming a disciple of Jesus means that we are to love Him above all human relationships. Obviously, this verse is not about turning up our nose at or isolating ourselves from our relatives (except the crazy ones).”
2. Jesus Before Pursuits.
“In the life of a talmid, a decisive moment occurs when one yields all personal plans and pursuits to God. This opens the path to a fruitful life where God is clearly doing the leading. First-century talmidim surrendered every aspect of their lives: their worldview, career, resources, family, dreams, and expectations.”
3. Jesus Before Possessions.
“Jesus asks us to give our all, which includes yielding up our possessions. She then quotes Luke 14:33: In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. “As Jesus’ disciples, we are asked to transfer ownership of all we have to Him. We also make a lifelong choice to follow His leading in financial decisions.”
