Eagle Mountain International Church, Kenneth Copeland Ministries come through for refugees

By Deb Silverthorn

Genesis 12:2-3 says, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” 

In that spirit, Eagle Mountain International Church (EMIC), and Kenneth Copeland Ministries (KCM) — based in the Tarrant County city of Newark — have donated millions to help Israel through the years, including $6.7 million in the last few weeks to bring Ukrainian Jewish refugees to Israel.

Partnering with Keren Hayesod–UIA (United Israel Appeal), and the Jewish Agency for Israel, Eagle Mountain International Church and Kenneth Copeland Ministries are helping thousands of Jews to safety.

“Our support for Israel is supremely rooted in our love for God. Something all Christians and Jews should understand is that to love God is to love His word. There we find what He loves, who He loves and how He shows His love,” said Terri Copeland Pearsons, the pastor at Eagle Mountain International Church. “His Word declares He gave the land of Israel to the children of Israel, the Jews, so we join with Him in the fulfilling of His promise to bring them home and to bless them there.

“Our covenant as Christians has its very root in the covenant between God and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,” added Pearsons, who leads EMIC with her husband, Pastor George Pearsons. The couple follow in her father Pastor Kenneth Copeland’s founding fellowship. “Therefore, we are divinely connected as covenant brothers. As the Lord leads and provides, we honor that covenant tie.”

EMIC has long supported the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas and the greater Jewish community through donations made to support Federation programs, invitations to Eagle Mountain’s “Night to Honor Israel,” its participation in the “Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast” hosted this year in Dallas in late March and more.

“I want my community, our greater Jewish community, to know how absolutely loyal the evangelical community is,” said Larry Strauss, who was first introduced to the work of EMIC when he served as president of the Dallas Chapter of the Bnai Zion Foundation.  

Attending the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast in March, Strauss connected with Julie Sironi, the Jewish/Israel liaison for EMIC and KCM; he said he is always grateful and amazed at their commitment. 

“They are not interested in anything but helping those in need, of dedicating their resources in so many ways to support our people and Israel,” Strauss said.

In September 2020, Sironi was in Israel when the organization was able, despite pandemic conditions, to help 50 Jews from France make aliyah. In October 2021, prior to the invasion, EMIC sponsored a plane of Jews from Ukraine to Israel, providing housing for one year and participation in absorption programs.

In February, Sironi was contacted by Sam Grundwerg, world chairman, and Shmulik Fried, the Israel Division director, of Keren Hayesod–UIA. While monitoring the situation in the region, they wanted to know they had EMIC’s support in crisis. 

“As soon as the war broke out we got a call and we immediately provided $2.7 million to help some of the first planes of refugees to get out,” said Sironi, who was in Israel on March 15 to welcome the more than 120 refugees on behalf of EMIC. The refugees were offered support at the border, with hotels and other needs, while waiting for Keren Hayesod’s preparations and then flights to Israel.

“The emotional toll on the refugees is indescribable. The elderly people, people with pet carriers who had left all their belongings behind children and families — the faces coming through were scared, filled with wear and trauma,” she said. “Still, you could see they were so grateful. To see them arrive, though, to the sounds of Israeli music and gift bags of sweets absolutely touched the heart.”

Many of the arrivals reached into Sironi’s soul, including one family who was greeted by a young IDF soldier, a family member of theirs, who made aliyah three years ago as a lone soldier. Sironi recalled that “as he was reunited with his mother, siblings, nephew and niece, the moment that unfolded in front of us was just incredible.”

EMIC and KCM continue their commitment to helping, at least, another 3,000 Jews get from Ukraine to Israel. On Sunday, March 27, at their home church and through their online ministry, $4 million was raised, all of that marked for the effort.

KCM, based in Tarrant County, has offices ministering in Australia, Canada, England, South Africa and Ukraine. In Lviv, its leadership has taken non-Jews into their homes, one pastor housing 34 people in close quarters. The organization is partnered with Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), Mercy Chefs, Operation Blessing, Samaritan’s Purse and others to reach and support as many people as need their help.

In this moment, their grandest gestures are to help Jewish refugees to safety, including an effort to bring Jews from Kazakhstan scheduled to make aliyah in September of this year.

“Only one nation came out of World War II — in 1948 the State of Israel — and today through our ministry, CBN and Operation Blessing, we’re getting the Jews out of Ukraine and getting them home,” said Pastor Kenneth Copeland. “Here we are in this day and time, financially in a place where we can step in and make a difference where it really counts,” he added.