Why does a Suburban Pastor Visit Israel during a War?

Seattle radio personality Erica Parkerson (Spirit 105.3) asked a Bothell pastor, Philip McCallum, why he has made two trips to Israel during the war.

Skim the interview or listen to the podcast. Yes it is possible to visit Israel, see Bible sites, meet Israelis and offer help where its wanted most. You can learn more about Israel Solidarity Tours with a Seattle-based tour company building a bridge to Israel. Visit PhilipsHouse.com.

Erica Parkerson: Pastor Philip McCallum from Evergreen Church in Bothell. Welcome to Spirit1053.

Philip McCallum: It's great to be here.

Erica Parkerson: You know, it's so ironic that you're here today because I was supposed to be headed on a plane to Israel with a bunch of our listening family, but then this terrible war broke out, and of course, we canceled the trip. But I understand it's still possible to travel to Israel for a very different reason. And that's why you're here today. Why are you going there right now?

Philip McCallum: Some well-known people have recently been to Israel, like Jerry Seinfeld and Franklin Graham. Why would they go? Never have Israelis been more open to people who are interested, helpful, and prepared to listen to what Israelis have experienced.

Among both Jews and Arabs, there is an incredible time of openness right now. There's so much opportunity to do practical things to help.

Philip’s House is doing humanitarian tours. We call them Solidarity Tours. Stand with Israel by staying in Israel.

Erica Parkerson: You started an organization called Philip’s House. What is it, and why did you start it?

Philip McCallum: I live in Bothell, Washington. We're one of the most multicultural places I've ever lived. Ninety languages are spoken in my neighborhood.

How can different cultures connect and relate to each other? The answer starts in Israel.

Philip was a Jewish believer in Jesus and had a remarkable gift for working across cultures. Philip had a house, and with the help of his 4 daughters, he hosted leaders from around the world in Israel. In his home, Greeks and Romans met Jewish believers in Jesus, who prayed over them. They left Philip’s house with a sense of destiny and purpose.

Now more than ever, people need to be awakened to their destiny. Your influence begins in Israel.

Jesus said, I will go ahead and meet you at the mountain in Galilee. I take people to the beautiful mountain where Jesus gave the Great Commission. There, people hear their destiny and go home to live it out.

Erica Parkerson: When you go on these trips with Philip's house, with people like my friend Rich Simms and REACH Ministry, what do you see?

Philip McCallum: Never have Israelis been more open to people who care and listen.

One of my dear friends is an IDF commander. He's a secular Jew. He never met an evangelical Christian before 2016. His responsibility in the Israeli Defense Force was to build a hospital on the border of Israel and Syria for free medical care for the Syrian people. This didn't make much news here, but it was a big deal in Israel. That opened him up to meet believers in Jesus like us. He said, "You Christians are amazing. You are prepared to help people without any thought of return. More Jews need to know about you."

My wife and I had an incredible day with this secular Israeli couple on a trip I took just a few weeks ago. They were shocked when I showed them pictures from my phone of what our church is like. They couldn't get over how normal we are. I couldn't stop them asking questions. They're going to be coming to Seattle on a book tour. I said you should come and check out our church community. So that's one example of what happens when we move toward Israelis. We get a little apprehensive.

If you move toward Israel, there are real people on the other side who want to be heard.

Erica Parkerson: Real people need comfort like never before. October 7th is still so real and painful for them. With us, we move on. There's so much we're dealing with in our own lives. I'm not proud to even admit that, but we let it pass away for these people. They're still dealing with the repercussions. And so when you go there and offer hope to people still in deep grief, what does that look like when you take the time to listen to their stories and comfort them?

Philip McCallum: First of all, thank you for your compassion. The Scripture says, "Comfort, comfort my people."

Jews are surprised to discover that their greatest supporters in the United States are evangelical Christians. Most Israelis have never met an evangelical Christian.

That seems surprising because 4 million Christians visit Israel a year. They're on tours to see Bible sites, but they're usually on the busses and don't meet the average person on the street.

Most Israelis have never read a New Testament. If you were to ask them what's in the New Testament, some might imagine it's a book that teaches Christians how to persecute Jewish people.

That's because persecution is what Jewish people have received over the last 2000 years from some Christians. I went onto Wikipedia, and I looked up the timeline of anti-Semitism. I found 130 pages with 1200 entries of historical events of great pain to Jewish people that were all done in the name of our faith. When you and I move toward Israeli people and show interest, doors open when we help in practical ways.

We can compare October 7 in Israel to 911 for Americans. On September 11, 2001, 3,500 people tragically died in the collapse of the two World Trade Centers. If the October 7 attacks occurred in the United States, by comparison, it would be as if 55,000 people had died. Can you imagine the impact on our country and how we would respond?

Most of the 1,200 victims of murder, rape, and torture, plus the many hostages, were young people visiting or living on the Gaza border to practice co-existence between Jews and Arabs. The terrorists who perpetrated these despicable crimes were the Arabs whom they had welcomed into their homes and had befriended over many years. The Jews knew some of the faces of those who did such atrocities.

I've been to Israel twice since the war began. I've been through the sites where the massacres took place. I've heard the stories of the people. What happens each time? Yes, there's the pain. Yes, there's the tragedy. But on the other side, when we listen and show compassion, their tears flow. This isn't just with people I know. It's with total strangers in the street.

Israelis are incredibly open people. They are prepared to talk to anybody. You start talking, and they will talk back to you. They will tell you exactly what they think!

Erica Parkerson: I love that. I'm Italian, so I feel like I can relate to the Jewish people tremendously. It's amazing to me. And for somebody who might be listening right now, Pastor Philip, and who's new to the faith, like our God is the Jewish Messiah, that's what we believe. Our faiths are uniquely connected. Christianity is the fulfillment of Judaism. So, for somebody who hears that good news, they really like, do you feel like God is opening doors for the Jews to connect those facts? What are you seeing?

Philip McCallum: Yes. Like Saint Francis said, "Preach Jesus wherever you go and use words only if you must."

Erica Parkerson: Amen. Yes.

Philip McCallum: What Israelis need us to be is to be Messiah to them. Yes. The Jews gave us their Messiah. Now, it's time for us to be Jesus to the Jews.

For 2000 years, Jews have given Christians faith. Christians have a Jewish Bible written by exclusively Jewish authors. Christians pray to a God revealed to them through Jews. Christians put Jewish promises on the walls of their homes. Christians pray prayers in Hebrew when they say ‘Amen’. They sing in Hebrew when they say ‘Hallelujah’. Christians follow a Jewish Messiah. Isn't it only fitting that Christians should be like the Messiah to the Jews?

Scripture offers a great promise: "All Israel will be saved." Jews have been a light to the Gentiles. Now, the Gentiles need to bring light to the Jews in their time of need.

I was at the biblical site of Shiloh. This is where Samuel heard the voice of God as a child. It's where David received the sword of Goliath. It's where the tabernacle was pitched. You can see in the ground the actual drilled holes where the poles of the tent of the tabernacle were drilled in the ground. It was purchased with a clear title from the previous Arab owners by an Orthodox Jewish family who devoted the last 60 years to excavating this site.

I was the only tourist there because it was October 25th. Obviously, nobody was going. So, I got an exclusive tour by the daughter of the man who had done the excavation. She's an Orthodox woman. She has six children. She had a beautiful head covering on. She wouldn't shake my hand because she, as an orthodox Jew, has never touched a man other than her husband. No man has seen her hair other than her husband. She couldn't have been warmer or more hospitable.

We had a beautiful tour. As we walked away from the site, I asked her, How does it make you feel to think that 2 billion people worldwide are praying to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Reading the Hebrew Bible, believing the Bible's promises?

She started crying, and she said, It's overwhelming to me. She was speechless. Then she added, I am so impressed that you Christians believe the Bible, mainly what it teaches about marriage and family. It may not seem like much, but I'm one evangelical believer she met. She knew I genuinely cared because I was in Israel in great need. She experienced the exact opposite of what Jews have experienced from Christians for the last 2000 years.

Erica Parkerson: Common ground is so important. If you're listening right now and wondering, was Pastor Philip there this past October 25th? Yes, you were. So I want to talk about that because a lot of us, including myself, I'm putting myself out here. I'm calling myself out. I'm afraid to go because after hearing the stories from October 7th, I'm like, anything could happen. It felt like to me all bets were off at that point. How do we get past the fear and move on and bring the light to the Jewish people at this moment in time?

Philip McCallum: After being in Israel twice, I can say that most Israeli life is very normal. 99% of Israel is going on per normal. The most challenging thing you face in Israel is a traffic jam with Israeli drivers, and it can be a little crazy.

People ask, why did I go? My mother was a Jew, and our family came from Spain. My ancestor brought a shipload of Jews out from the Inquisition, and they settled in New York. I never really paid much attention to the story until I was 48. I started researching it. I ended up going to Spain, and I discovered what our family had done.

This is how I stumbled into Philip's House. I started doing tours to Israel. On one of the trips, I prayed to God that on my next trip, I wanted to meet an Israeli pastor. I want to stay in Israeli homes. And the Lord led me to a particular city, a particular hill. I found the mountain I was praying on was the prayer hill of one of the leading pastor evangelists in Israel, a man named Israel, a pastor in a city called Ashdod, where Philip landed.

Erica Parkerson: I love that story.

Philip McCallum: I prayed on that very spot. That is where God spoke to me about Philip's House. As a result, that was the first step into Israeli homes in life. As a result, I've met many, many Israeli believers and they become dear friends. I've stayed in lots and lots of Israeli homes.

When the war broke out for the first four days, I lay on my couch in emotional pain. I kept thinking, what would my Jewish ancestors have done? I thought they would get on a plane and go to Israel. So I booked a ticket and went.

I was the only person who went through immigration on the non-Israeli side. I had to wake up the person at the immigration desk. They had fallen asleep because nobody was coming in.

When I would speak to Israelis in that first week or two after the war, they would say, Why did you come? What you have done will never be forgotten. It is one thing to stand with Israel, but you're staying with us in this period of time.

Israel is not today like it was in October. October was a massive crisis. At this moment, the war is primarily underground in one last stronghold of Hamas.

I went back in January, this time with my wife. My wife is the most risk-averse person you could imagine. After her experience, she advocated for people to go to Israel.

Israel is normal, and people are incredibly appreciative that we come to visit. Every visit of a believer in Jesus to Israel is a profound statement of solidarity. It undoes the last 2000 years of anti-Semitism.

Some people say it's not a good time to go to Israel. I can't think of a better time to go to Israel than now.

In the Passover celebration, Jews say, ‘next year in Jerusalem.’ In 2024 it is ‘this year in Jerusalem.’

I've watched so many people flying to so many destinations, and why not Israel?

Israel is where our faith came from. Instead of just reading the Bible, read the Bible in the place where it was written. Hike the trails Jesus walked. Live like a disciple.

Erica Parkerson: What does your church family think about your going on these trips?

Philip McCallum: Evergreen Church is a fantastic congregation of people from many different cultural backgrounds. Our people are discovering that Israel is this missing link. The unity between Jews and Arabs blesses us in Bothell.

Right now, the media message is all about hostility. But what's happening with Jews and Arabs who follow Jesus as Messiah is beautiful. For example, over the last 25 years, all the Jewish messianic pastors and Arab-Israeli pastors have met together at a family camp in a private location to build friendships. They know each other, love each other, and care for each other.

In Nazareth, Pastor Saleem Salosh leads a congregation committed to caring for the Orthodox Jews. They have a humanitarian center. They've done so much love and goodwill that the mayor of that Jewish community came to visit the Arab church.

If Jews and Arabs can love each other, anybody can love each other. We in the church have the secret to the solution to the problem of racial hatred. I see that over and over and over again in Israel. We need that here in Seattle.

Erica Parkerson: The cross is a bridge. Pastor Philip McCallum from Evergreen Church in Bothell. Thank you for being with us today.

Philip McCallum: Thank you.