Originally published in CBN News
Jesus said in Matthew 6, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,” and Christians around the world are preparing to connect their hearts and their businesses to Israel at a groundbreaking summit next week.
More than 600 businessmen and women from more than 50 countries will come to Israel on December 4 to connect with and invest in Israeli business for the second-annual ARISE conference.
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The theme of the conference is “Israeli Innovation for Humanity,” and will feature Israeli companies in the medical, agricultural, transportation, and other fields whose products help humanity.
ARISE Founder and President Adv. Calev Myers says the summit is an opportunity for Christians to confront the global anti-Israel Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
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“The best way to fight BDS is by bringing more business to Israel,” Myers told CBN News.
“Our overarching goal is to connect with hundreds of thousands of evangelical Christian business people out in the nations who see what is happening in the economy of Israel and the Israeli innovation as nothing less than a miracle of biblical proportions and they want to connect their lives, their businesses, and their families to this miracle.”
ARISE is providing Christians an entry point to Israel’s economy through business matchmaking.
During the conference, the ARISE team will set up hundreds of face-to-face meetings between Christian business leaders and Israeli companies to create long-term investment relationships. The result is millions of dollars worth of transactions that strengthen Christian businesses and the Jewish State’s economy.
Christians often approach Israel from a non-profit space but Myers says now is the time for believers to engage with Israel in the for-profit sphere.
“When you connect your business with a for-profit relationship you’re going to be coming to Israel more, you’re going to be looking over your investments and your business, you’re going to be reading Israeli headlines. It connects you on a deeper level,” he explained.
Those who cannot attend the event in Rishon Lezion can still participate online.
ARISE created an online digital platform where business owners can upload their profiles and chat with attendees online.
The summit will also feature a “Shark Tank” style competition for Israeli companies and businesses to present their best products to the conference attendees. The business voted with the best product will receive a $10,000 grant from ARISE.
All of this is laying the groundwork for an even bigger initiative to be launched in 2022 – A global trade center in Jerusalem.
“I can’t think of a better way to humiliate BDS than by opening up a fully-functioning global trade centre in Jerusalem,” said Myers.
“It will be a global trade centre whose founding partners are faith-based business networks around the world that want to be part of bringing Israeli innovation to the nations in the most streamlined way possible,” he continued.
Myers is encouraging Christians around the world to participate in next week’s conference.
