"Sacramento became an epicenter for a new millennium."

Ten years ago, Randy Neal and Victor Styrsky didn’t know each other. What they did know, however, was that Christianity should reject part of its past and move in a new direction. Neal had founded Bridges Ministry and was reaching out to Native Americans, Jews, and other ethnic communities. Pastor Styrsky had co-founded a church that rapidly grew to 325 members.

Most dear to these religious leaders, however, were Jews — the apple of God's eye, the very people who gave Christians their savior. Accordingly, what most tormented these men was the long, sad record of Jewish persecution. Finally, what most galled them was that 2,000 years of this persecution was committed under the banner of their Christ, a Jew himself.

Neal and Styrsky became consumed by a desire to change history, to inaugurate a new era of Christian-Jewish relations that rejected the Inquisition, the Crusades, the pogroms and the Holocaust, and which replaced them with unconditional love.

To them, loving Jews is the right thing to do, because without Judaism there would be no Christianity. Of equal importance to them is that loving Jews is a biblical mandate. When speaking of the Jewish nation, Genesis 12:3 quotes God as saying, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.”

When the two men met, they clicked immediately. To be sure, other key figures were part of that process: Sacramento Pastor Troy Hinkle, the patriarch of Christian activism for Jews in the city; and Ruth Brandt, a colorful member of Sacramento’s Jewish community. Hinkle's son, Timothy, since has inherited his father's mantle.

The result of these activists coming together is that Sacramento became an epicenter for a new millennium.

And things were changing elsewhere.

Pastor John Hagee’s Texas megachurch, with 19,000 members, held annual Nights to Honor Israel. In 2006, Hagee, whose theologically based love for Jews matched that of Neal and Styrsky, formed a national organization to spread Nights to Honor Israel around the country and to lobby the U.S. government to support Israel. He called it Christians United for Israel (CUFI).

Some would say it was fate, some would say it was a remarkable coincidence. These men, however, are certain that it was God’s hand that brought Hagee into contact with the Sacramento epicenter. Neal became CUFI’s West Coast director, while Styrsky became East Coast director.

Sacramento’s next Night to Honor Israel will be on May 23 at 7 p.m. in the Radisson Hotel.

Three previous Nights in Sacramento raised almost $200,000 for projects in Israel to help refugees and other immigrants, along with victims of terrorism and disadvantaged children. Other Nights throughout the country have raised more than $40 million for similar projects in Israel.

The Nights, full of live music and stirring speakers, can be transformational for Christians and Jews. Two Holocaust survivors were so overwhelmed by the healing nature of the evening that each said, “I had to pinch myself to make sure I was not dreaming.”

Hundreds of thousands of Christians and Jews are flocking to CUFI. Christians in African-American, Hispanic and Asian churches are joining the group, as are evangelicals, Catholics and Christians in underground churches in China and the Middle East. Jews, including rabbis and members of Conservative, Hasidic and Reform synagogues, also have been drawn to the movement.

For more information on the May 23 Night to Honor Israel, go to www.cufical.org or call 888-752-1258. Advance tickets are $15, admission at the door is $20.