Inside View Jan/Feb 2026
For many years, “Inside View” has been a place for Friends of Israel (FOI) President Jim Showers to share his heart and vision with you, our faithful readers. Now, Jim has passed the baton to me; and I’m honored to receive the responsibility of writing this column moving forward. I’m excited to share my heart and passion with you as we continue to highlight the important work The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry is accomplishing.
Last summer, my wife, Beth, and I traveled to Poland to visit FOI’s Eastern European team. Our experience was one of great contrasts—a sobering tour through the dark shadows of a satanic attempt to destroy God’s Chosen People and the light of hope and love brought by our team in Poland.
The Polish capital city of Warsaw holds the history of 1,000 years of Jewish culture, but it is also stained by the horrors of the Holocaust. Beth and I visited the Umschlagplatz Monument, the site from which the majority of the 380,000 people annihilated in Warsaw’s Jewish community were taken to the Treblinka extermination camp. Standing there, I struggled to comprehend the terror of hundreds of thousands of people being systematically emptied out of their city and sent to their deaths.
While in Warsaw, we also toured the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, which conveys the story of Jewish life in Poland and honors the beautiful culture that was brutally extinguished. The exhibits, which trace the history from the arrival of the first Jewish people in Poland to the growth of their flourishing communities to their ultimate destruction, provided a vital framework for my understanding of the full scope of all the Polish Jews endured.
Leaving Warsaw, we journeyed to the Auschwitz and Auschwitz II-Birkenau death camps. To walk through the gates of Auschwitz is to step into a reality that photographs and books cannot fully portray. More than mere historical artifacts, the piles of Jewish prisoners’ shoes, the barracks, and the gas chambers testify to the depths of human cruelty fueled by Hitler’s propaganda. Birkenau’s immense scale and the chilling sight of the train tracks leading into the camp cement the reality of an industrialized, large-scale genocide. The silence in that vast space felt heavy as I considered the untold stories of more than 1 million Jewish people from all over Europe who died there.
Against the backdrop of this immense tragedy, I also discovered great love and hope. We traveled to the two summer camps—one in the northern countryside and the other in the mountainous south—that our teams organize each year. These camps serve as safe havens for Jewish children and their families fleeing the war in Ukraine, as well as those seeking respite from ongoing conflict in Israel and other countries.
Our team offers shelter, food, and a sense of security to those visiting the summer camps; and our teachers lovingly share God’s Word. The joy and laughter of children playing and making crafts contrasted sharply with the haunting silence we experienced in the extermination camps. Our team’s love is a testament to FOI’s commitment to bless the Jewish people, reminding us that, while the memory of the past brings tears, the present and future are filled with hope, compassion, and unwavering support.
FOI’s mission is rooted in our belief in God’s Word, understanding that His covenant with Israel remains steadfast and that the Jewish people hold a unique place in His heart and plan. Returning home, I carried with me a renewed sense of purpose and a deeper appreciation for FOI Poland. I pray that the seeds of faith planted in the hearts of the children at our camps will grow and flourish, knowing that the promise of God’s restoration of the Jewish people, as foretold in Scripture, will one day be fully realized.
