How One Trip to Israel Changed My Life: Jordanna McMillan
By Jordanna McMillan
This post is excerpted from Susan Michael’s book Every Generation’s Story: 75 Years of American Christian Engagement with Israel, which follows the unique experiences of 18 American Christians representing 5 generations who responded to God’s call to go to Israel—and how it changed their lives forever.
I grew up in a pro-Israel home and church. My parents visited Israel in 1979 and 1980 with our church, Mt. Paran Church of God, in Atlanta, Georgia. Their pilgrimage to the Holy Land not only shaped my childhood but had a future impact on my own journey to Israel. I grew up hearing their stories of the country, their beloved tour guide, being baptized in the Jordan river, walking the old Jericho Road, and hiking up Masada as Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers in front of them sang “Hinei Ma Tov.”[1] I remember pouring over aged photographs from the early 80s that were so ingrained in my mind that when I first visited in 2006, I was naively surprised at how much Israel had changed.
…
My First Trip “Home”
From the summer I first felt the call of God on my life, I started saving money for my inaugural trip to Israel. I found the trip I wanted to go on from browsing online after coming across an organization called the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ). Their young adult program was hosting a tour for Christians from all over the world during the Feast of Tabernacles.
I asked my mom if I could go, and her one condition was, “Only if your sister goes too.” So that October, my older sister, Bethany, and I headed to Israel for 10 days of a lifetime. With kids of my own now, I am amazed at my mother’s faith that enabled her to send her two oldest daughters—18 and 20 years old—overseas to what others perceived as a war-torn country.
Every trip to Israel has its memorable moments, and ours started before we ever stepped foot in the country. As two young ladies flying through Paris, we obviously fit a “profile,” and because of this, we had our first experience with El Al security.
“Where did you find out about this tour?” they asked.
“Online.” Security was not impressed with that answer.
“Do you personally know the people leading the tour?”
“No.”
“Have you ever met them?
“No.”
When finally released, we were personally escorted to the front of the line to board the plane. Unfortunately, upon arriving at Ben Gurion, we learned that our bags had been “lost,” and because of the delay caused by trying to find them, we missed our ride from the airport.
I’ll never forget the moment I stepped foot off the plane onto the tarmac at the old Ben Gurion terminal and saw the iconic “Welcome to Israel” sign above the airport doors. An incredible feeling swept over me; I felt like I was home.
Our trip was a whirlwind as we toured the Galilee, rode camels in the Judean desert, hiked up Masada, and floated in the Dead Sea. Our bus then climbed the hill from the Dead Sea to Jerusalem, and as we crested the top of the hill, there she sat like a jewel glittering on the hillside: the city of gold with the famous Dome of the Rock reflecting the setting sun.
In Jerusalem we toured the ancient sites and attended the ICEJ’s Feast of Tabernacles evening sessions, where thousands of Christians from 90 nations gathered. We paraded through the streets of Jerusalem in the Jerusalem March, and I heard Israelis repeatedly shout out, “Thank you for coming to Israel!”
God Paved the Way
As our first trip ended, I was already planning how I could come back. Liesl Maas, who founded and ran the young adult movement at the ICEJ, thankfully agreed to let us return and help prepare for their summer tour the following year. So following my graduation from high school, my older sister and I returned to Israel and experienced living in Jerusalem firsthand while we volunteered with the young adults’ summer tour of 2005. That summer, I met a young Australian man named Shannon, who headed the ICEJ’s IT department.
Summer ended, and I returned to the States to start college at Southeastern University. I began planning my class schedule with the intention of returning to Israel as quickly as possible and devised an entire plan to study abroad at Hebrew University. During this time, I also started dating Shannon long-distance, and the following summer, I returned to Israel.
Life-Changing, Memorable Moments
Hoping to stay in Israel for as long as possible after the 2006 ICEJ summer tour, I volunteered for a month at INTRA: the Israel National Therapeutic Riding Association, located (at the time) on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. …While I was there, the Second Lebanese War broke out.
I watched in shock as the BBC and Sky News reported on how the IDF sent a “barrage of fire” into Lebanon, leaving out the fact that Israel was aiming at military targets being used to attack Israel. The media only passingly reported on the many rockets landing in the north of Israel, fired from Lebanon and targeting civilians. We were not much of a target where we were in Beit Yanai, with Hadera to our north and Netanya to our south. But I’ll never forget wondering before falling asleep at night, What if a rocket headed for Tel Aviv falls short?
That summer held another life-changing, memorable moment. Shannon proposed to me in Jerusalem on the balcony of St. Andrew’s Church overlooking the Old City. He had wanted to propose in the Galilee, but Katyusha rockets[2] were falling in that area.
Southeastern University approved my creative study abroad plan. Shannon and I enjoyed our wedding and then moved to Israel. I studied at Hebrew University while beginning work at the ICEJ. For the almost two incredible years I lived in Israel, I helped share the Land with as many young adults as would come on tour.
During those tours, we volunteered at IDF army bases, held outreach programs to Israeli Arab youth, helped Sudanese refugees as they flooded across the border, cleaned up parks and playgrounds, listened to survivors of intifada terrorist attacks tell their stories, cleaned elderly people’s homes, organized a day camp for at-risk youth, worked in soup kitchens, and helped Holocaust Survivors. In addition, I wrote news articles and scriptural devotionals for our monthly magazine that reached hundreds worldwide and compiled a tour book containing educational materials about Israel’s history and the threats she currently faced.
DC – The Second-Best Place for an Israel Advocate
By August 2009, Shannon’s five-year volunteer visa was coming to an end. We knew his visa would probably not be renewed but had hoped otherwise. As we packed up our home, we were heartbroken. We arrived back in America at the height of the recession. I sent my resume to every Jewish or Israel-related organization I could find in the Atlanta area, but no one was hiring.
A friend gave Shannon a job in Charlotte, North Carolina. In time, I secured a position at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), where my overseas experience landed me in the international department. Part of my role was to organize the participation of pastors from surrounding countries to come and observe a nationwide outreach we were holding in Malawi.
From the time we knew we had to leave Israel, moving to DC was our goal. Having lived in Jerusalem, it was “all downhill from here,” but I felt that DC was the second-best place in the world for a young Israel advocate to be. Then, in 2011, Susan Michael, the ICEJ USA president, told us about a new organization started by Rabbi Benny Elon that was opening an office there.
A copy of Rabbi Elon’s book God’s Covenant with Israel had been on my bookshelf throughout college. Because I had researched every Israel organization in the DC area, I knew about the International Israel Allies Caucus Foundation and that then-Congressman Mike Pence was the cochair of the Congressional Israel Allies Caucus in the House of Representatives.
Susan put in a good word for me, and a few weeks later, I was in DC, interviewing for a position with the Israel Allies Foundation (IAF). As I walked out of the office, I knew God was opening a door for me, and a few days later, I was offered the job as their outreach coordinator.
Due to the outpouring of support from Christians during one of Israel’s darkest times, the Israeli Knesset launched this caucus to officially reach out to Christian leaders and legislators worldwide to further Jewish-Christian relations and encourage their support for Israel.
Since I began at the IAF, I have planned countless events that brought pro-Israel Christian and Jewish advocates to “the Hill.”
In 2011 we hosted our first commemoration of Jerusalem Day together with the Congressional Israel Allies Caucus on Capitol Hill. I met with Christian and Jewish leaders from a host of organizations to form partnerships and advocate for the issue.
By 2014 we launched “The Jerusalem Call,” a movement encouraging Americans to not only pray for the peace of Jerusalem but become politically active and keep the issue on “the political frontline.” Jerusalem would then become a campaign issue for President Trump, culminating in the move of the US Embassy to Jerusalem in 2018. That year pro-Israel Christians from across the country gathered in DC for the ICEJ’s American Christian Leaders for Israel (ACLI) conference. While many of our IAF staff attended the embassy’s opening in Jerusalem, ACLI and the IAF held the largest celebration outside of Jerusalem in Washington, DC. The second day of the conference—eight months pregnant with Shannon’s and my second baby—I emceed an IAF Jerusalem Day event. It was an incredibly joyous occasion, the culmination of years of hard work to protect the future of Jerusalem.
Through my work at the IAF, I have also been privileged to be a board member of the Hidden Light Institute, which directed and released a film on the life of former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
But in all that I have done, my favorite work has been taking legislators to Israel. I have planned, led, and been a part of US state legislator, US congressional, and international parliamentarian tours to the Land for 11 years. We take our delegations into the biblical heartland—the land Jordan named “the West Bank” but whose biblical and historical name is Judea and Samaria. A decade ago, it was rarely visited by many in Washington because it is a complicated region. However, it is brimming with rich biblical history, incredible people, and a glorious future for those who call it home.
The Place I Encounter God
Israel has always been and continues to be a place I encounter the God of Israel. One stormy evening in 2016, we brought a group of Texas state legislators to Shiloh in Samaria. As the legislators watched a film on biblical Shiloh and the modern excavations there, I stole away to pray at this amazing biblical site where Hannah petitioned God for a baby all those years ago. There I prayed for a dear friend and fellow Israel lover who had just lost her baby—and then asked the Lord to bless Shannon and me with another baby. …
I love Israel’s amazing past, where you walk in the footsteps of the people in the Bible. I love its present and how Israel makes the Middle East—and the entire world—a better place. It is a blessing to the nations, as God said it would be, through its many contributions to medicine, the sciences, technology, security, agriculture—the list goes on. The modern reestablishment of the nation of Israel is a testament to the faithfulness of God.
The world needs more men and women who will fight against the rising tide of antisemitism and stand with the Jewish people and the State of Israel, and it is my deepest joy to do so.
See Israel for yourself! Join a life-changing ICEJ USA tour to Israel.
[1] A popular hymn for Israeli folk dances also sung by Israeli school children and Jewish and Israeli scouting groups.
[2] Katyusha rockets are rocket artillery built by the Former Soviet Union (FSU) in World War II.
Jordanna McMillan serves as the outreach and communications director for the Israel Allies Foundation in their Washington, DC, office. From speaking at international pro-Israel conferences to leading US congressional and state legislator trips, Jordanna is passionate about educating leaders and mobilizing them to support Israel. She lives with her husband and three children in the Washington, DC, area.
Related Articles
Gentiles in God’s Plan of Redemption
Do Gentiles Have a Role in the Restoration of Israel?
A Faith Journey to Israel: “The Homeland of My Heart”– John Swails’ Story
Zechariah’s Prophetic Visions: A “Righteous Remnant”