Messianic singer Joshua Aaron to lead first Gather The Nations conference in America
Movement hopes to ‘gather the nations’ to welcome Messiah through praise and prayer
Popular Messianic Jewish artist Joshua Aaron will lead a group of International and Israeli artists in a conference called Gather America on September 14-16 in Dallas, Texas.
The conference is part of a larger movement called Gather The Nations, which will focus on calling worshippers of all nations to begin welcoming the Messiah to return in praise and prayer.
“We’re in a time where God is gathering the nations, where Israel is the focus, because the Gospel went out of Israel, around the nations, and is coming back again,” Aaron said.
The idea for the Gather The Nations organization and the prayer and praise conferences came to Joshua Aaron during a Shabbat (Sabbatical) year.
At the time, Aaron had stopped touring and was praying, asking God for inspiration beyond his own music career.
“I felt this conviction that that’s not enough,” Aaron said of the experience. “I had this idea birthed in my heart of having an annual event on the feasts," a global gathering of people meeting together in praise, worship and prayer.
However, due to the busy schedule of the Fall Feasts, Aaron wanted to find a date “when people aren’t doing big gatherings.”
“I had an epiphany; huge gatherings don’t happen on the Feast of Trumpets. That’s the gap that needs to be filled.”
Aaron said that through his own music and concerts, he has seen “so many Christians being pulled in their hearts towards a biblical understanding of God.”
“There’s this draw to hear sounds in Hebrew, the original language of the Bible,” he said.
That is part of the reason why Joshua Aaron also invited several Messianic Israeli musicians to the conference, such as Shilo Ben Hod and Yaron Cherniak, who will lead Hebrew worship.
Aaron said his organization Gather The Nations is focused on welcoming the Messiah, based on Matthew 23:39, where Yeshua tells the people of Jerusalem: “For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
“I believe that worship plays a key role, music plays a key role, in the fullness of the Gentiles welcoming him,” Aaron said. “Worship is going to lead the way.”
That desire to welcome the return is also the reason for choosing the date of the conference, which falls on Yom Teruah (the Feast of Trumpets).
Aaron said that while in rabbinic Judaism, the date has come to be known as Rosh Hashanah (New Year), in the Bible it is a time for blowing trumpets, to remind the people of Israel to be ready to meet their God.
“We chose Yom Teruah to represent the coming of Messiah,” Aaron said. “It’s the foreshadowing feast of the coming of Messiah. What better feast to celebrate a gathering of the nations!”
An international team of speakers, teachers and worship leaders will engage in teaching and worship sessions in the three-day conference.
Click here for more information about the Gather America conference, which is the first annual conference of Gather the Nations.
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.