Raise the PraiseGroup took initiative to utilize its global networks to aid
the Jerusalem Post Group in organizing and sealing a private televised interview and
meeting with one of the most influential pastors in the world,
Pastor
Yonggi Cho, the senior pastor of the world’s largest ever
existing church,
Yoido Full Gospel Church located in Seoul, Korea.
The Group believed that the power, influence, and media outlets that
Pastor Cho and his global ministry operations possessed would be a
perfect match to begin communications with between the Jewish world and
Christian world in Asia. On March 25th, 2006, a historic event took
place in Seoul, Korea.
The Korean Christians welcomed the
Raise the Praise and Jerusalem Postgroup with utmost VIP treatment and
honor which was greatly appreciated. Included in the delegation were
Mr. Moshe Bar-Zvi, President and CEO of The Jerusalem Post Group, Mr. Jason Okuma, Vice President and COO of Raise the Praise
Group, and Mr.
Matt Stewart, General Manager of Music Productions for Raise the Praise.
Together the group’s objectives were to intimately interview Pastor Cho
for a featured cover story of the April edition of the
Jerusalem Post
Christian Edition. In addition, the hopes of support for the Jerusalem
Post Christian Edition by the Christians in Asia as well as initiate
relationships between the two worlds were also high priorities. Raise
the Praise received full access and support of Pastor Cho’s news and
film crew to professionally film this historic event with
the direction of this interview Executive Producer - Matt Stewart. To
make this meeting and interview special, Moshe Bar-Zvi had carefully
hand carried a rare gift for thousands of miles from the Holy Lands for
presentation to Pastor Cho personally. It was an ancient oil lamp
with engravings in Latin proclaiming that “Christianity will be spread
throughout the world” around the rim. This rare piece was found in
an archeological dig which dates back over two thousand years ago, and
was specially prepared as a gift for Pastor Cho from Israel.
As everyone was silently waiting in the room, the anticipation of the
great Pastor Cho to finally enter the presence of the group was
extremely high. As the office door opened and the image of Pastor
Yonggi Cho was made clear, the sounds of flashing cameras and filming
began to fill the room. All who were present in the room stood in honor
of Pastor Cho, and Moshe Bar-Zvi greeted him with a hand shake of love.
The two quickly sat down in their beautiful leather chairs facing one
another, and began to speak of Pastors Cho’s last visit to Israel in
1996. The room was bright with film lighting which flooded the room,
and the two men seemed comfortable with one another instantly.
As Moshe Bar-Zvi began his interview, Pastor Cho gracefully answered all
questions and shared his heart for Israel and prayers for the Jewish
people. He also shared of his oldest son’s passion for Israel and
excitement for visiting and being involved with the Jewish people. The
interview could not have been more perfect and complete. The whole
interview was filmed and recorded and is planned to soon be aired on broadcasting
and online networks, including Israeli TV1 Channel, CBN, 700 Club Pat
Robertson, Jerusalem Post Online, Raise the Praise, and others.
The moment of personal delivery of the rare ancient oil lamp to Pastor
Cho finally came, and the gift was warmly received by him. A big smile
stretched across Pastor Cho’s face as he carefully held the artifact and
read the personal message inscribed on the gift. After this
interview, Jason and Matt were able to get private time with
Pastor Cho to further explain and share what the Raise the Praise group’s objectives were.
Pastor
Cho approved Moshe Bar-Zvi request to speak from the pulpit in Yoido
Full Gospel Church on Sunday morning’s service, March 26th, addressing
the fourteen thousand plus congregation, and the other
congregations of fourteen thousand plus in each of the seven services on
that Sunday morning alone, as well as over 50 million viewers via
televised broadcasting which would span the globe would also be
receiving his message and greetings from Jerusalem.
As Moshe Bar-Zvi approached the pulpit to present his greetings from Jerusalem,
the congregation was incredibly amazed and impressed to hear
Moshe Bar-Zvi's open up with a well executed Korean greeting in the native Korean
language. The congregation was completely receptive to all that
Moshe Bar-Zvi
had to share, and was especially responsive to final blessings
in Hebrew and Korean at his conclusion. The speech by Moshe Bar-Zvi was
also aired on the local nightly Korean news which broadcasts across
South Korea.
Another
goal of the trip to Seoul, Korea was to meet with other top newspaper
giants in the land and Korean marketplace. Every meeting was
extremely fruitful and provided amazing insights to launching a Korean
translated version of the Jerusalem Post Christian Edition. Every
major meeting concluded that there is in fact a high demand for news and
communications from Israel and the Holy Lands, and the interests to
learn more about the Jewish world are great! It was amazing to
find that the love for Israel and the Jewish people from Korean
Christians on the other side of the world are so intense. One meeting
with another very influential Pastor in Korea second to Pastor Cho of
another denomination and congregation shared that they have actually
setup graduate schools and educational institutions for the study of
Hebrew, Jewish Studies, and Israel continued education. So the seeds
have definitely been planted into the Korean soil in regards to
relationships being built between the Korean Christians and the Jewish
World and Israel. To say that the meetings and interview with
Pastor Yonggi Cho went well would be a complete understatement.
The facts remain that this voyage to Seoul, Korea by the group which
included Raise the Praise and the Jerusalem Post Group, definitely broke
some serious ground in the birthing of communications and relationships
between two unique worlds.
In conclusion, Raise the Praise once again displayed its abilities to
network and provide aid to parties who will play major roles in bringing
global praise, worship and communications to all God’s people in unity.
As everyone was silently waiting in the room, the anticipation of the
great Pastor Cho to finally enter the presence of the group was
extremely high. As the office door opened and the image of Pastor
Yonggi Cho was made clear, the sounds of flashing cameras and filming
began to fill the room. All who were present in the room stood in honor
of Pastor Cho, and Moshe Bar-Zvi greeted him with a hand shake of love.
The two quickly sat down in their beautiful leather chairs facing one
another, and began to speak of Pastors Cho’s last visit to Israel in
1996. The room was bright with film lighting which flooded the room,
and the two men seemed comfortable with one another instantly.
As Moshe Bar-Zvi began his interview, Pastor Cho gracefully answered all
questions and shared his heart for Israel and prayers for the Jewish
people. He also shared of his oldest son’s passion for Israel and
excitement for visiting and being involved with the Jewish people. The
interview could not have been more perfect and complete. The whole
interview was filmed and recorded and is planned to soon be aired on broadcasting
and online networks, including Israeli TV1 Channel, CBN, 700 Club Pat
Robertson, Jerusalem Post Online, Raise the Praise, and others.
The moment of personal delivery of the rare ancient oil lamp to Pastor
Cho finally came, and the gift was warmly received by him. A big smile
stretched across Pastor Cho’s face as he carefully held the artifact and
read the personal message inscribed on the gift. After this
interview, Jason and Matt were able to get private time with
Pastor Cho to further explain and share what the Raise the Praise group’s objectives were. 
Pastor
Cho approved Moshe Bar-Zvi request to speak from the pulpit in Yoido
Full Gospel Church on Sunday morning’s service, March 26th, addressing
the fourteen thousand plus congregation, and the other
congregations of fourteen thousand plus in each of the seven services on
that Sunday morning alone, as well as over 50 million viewers via
televised broadcasting which would span the globe would also be
receiving his message and greetings from Jerusalem.
As Moshe Bar-Zvi approached the pulpit to present his greetings from Jerusalem,
the congregation was incredibly amazed and impressed to hear
Moshe Bar-Zvi's open up with a well executed Korean greeting in the native Korean
language. The congregation was completely receptive to all that
Moshe Bar-Zvi
had to share, and was especially responsive to final blessings
in Hebrew and Korean at his conclusion. The speech by Moshe Bar-Zvi was
also aired on the local nightly Korean news which broadcasts across
South Korea.
Another
goal of the trip to Seoul, Korea was to meet with other top newspaper
giants in the land and Korean marketplace. Every meeting was
extremely fruitful and provided amazing insights to launching a Korean
translated version of the Jerusalem Post Christian Edition. Every
major meeting concluded that there is in fact a high demand for news and
communications from Israel and the Holy Lands, and the interests to
learn more about the Jewish world are great! It was amazing to
find that the love for Israel and the Jewish people from Korean
Christians on the other side of the world are so intense. One meeting
with another very influential Pastor in Korea second to Pastor Cho of
another denomination and congregation shared that they have actually
setup graduate schools and educational institutions for the study of
Hebrew, Jewish Studies, and Israel continued education. So the seeds
have definitely been planted into the Korean soil in regards to
relationships being built between the Korean Christians and the Jewish
World and Israel. To say that the meetings and interview with
Pastor Yonggi Cho went well would be a complete understatement.
The facts remain that this voyage to Seoul, Korea by the group which
included Raise the Praise and the Jerusalem Post Group, definitely broke
some serious ground in the birthing of communications and relationships
between two unique worlds.