In 1989 I received a vision of an oasis in the desert. I heard the words “tents of mercy.” Only years later, as a new immigrant, seeking God for the meaning of those words, did I receive Jeremiah 30:18: “…I will restore the tents of Jacob and have mercy on his dwelling places.” It was the part about mercy that captured my heart. First, I realized that the return of our people to the land of Israel would be an act of God’s sovereign mercy. Second, I realized that my human mercy/compassion would not be sufficient to adequately represent His heart.
When Yeshua healed the sick and set free the demon-oppressed, we read that He was “moved with compassion” (Matthew 14:14; Mark 1:41). This is the heart of God—lifting the downtrodden, healing lepers, liberating those enslaved. Each of us is in extreme need of Yeshua’s hand of mercy, reaching out to pluck us from the darkness of our self-made prison. Yet He also wants to give us a heart of compassion to extend to others the shocking power of Divine Love.
In a way that no earthly source can, His loving mercy grants dignity to the rejected, the unwanted. This is the very nature of God (Psalm 86:15; 145:8-9). Our calling is to communicate Yeshua’s great message to humanity, one person at a time: “I WANT YOU.”
Eitan Shishkoff
In 1992 the Shishkoff family made Aliyah, settling in the Haifa Bay area of Israel, where Eitan founded ‘Tents of Mercy’ as a Hebrew-speaking Messianic community and humanitarian aid center. ‘Tents of Mercy’ has grown to a network of five interrelated congregations.
Eitan also serves as founding director of ‘Katzir’ (Harvest), a national equipping ministry for Israeli Messianic teens, serving over 40 local congregations. These youth events led him to envision ‘Fields of Wheat’, a national equipping center where Jewish and Arab believers join in camps, conferences, retreats, and celebrations.