Alexandria Pastor whose Ministry Took him to Israel Reflects on Hamas Attack

October 27, 2023
By: Bill Conger

Alexandria First Baptist Church Senior Pastor Dan Coe has invested over five years of his adult life and ministry in the land of Israel. So, news of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack that killed over 1,000 in Israel hit him and his family especially hard.

“We have friends all over the country, including areas close to the Gaza Strip and the border with Lebanon, who have had to evacuate. Some of their towns were obliterated. We had close friends who were in the desert camping not far from the music event where dozens were killed and others abducted by Hamas terrorists. Our friends escaped the massacre. But the episode did trigger one friend’s PTSD which she already suffers from as a result of her previous army stints. It is absolutely appalling what is happening. It is saddening, it breaks our hearts.”

“Our most recent community that we lived in is being asked to evacuate. That’s close to the Lebanese border. I had just been there in June to pack up our home. I was interacting with these neighbors – with my friends – and now it’s almost a ghost town. Today, I learned of a missile hitting the area and injuring a man and his children in our previous hometown.”

Prior to moving to Israel for ministry work, Coe had spent some formative years in the Nashville home of some Messianic Jewish believers – that is, Jews who believe that Jesus is the Promised Messiah. Through this family, Coe began to meet Israeli believers who would visit Nashville and share about their lives and ministries.

“I heard about God’s work among Jewish people. I began to understand God’s purposes for the Jewish people. I discovered the authentically Jewish nature of Jesus and the gospel message. My heart became burdened for the salvation of the Jewish people. There is only a very small minority of Jews globally – and historically – who believe the gospel, who follow Jesus. But I got to see how powerful it is when Jesus does grip the heart of one of his fellow Jews. Sure, Jesus is the King of All Nations. But if He is not the Messiah to the Jewish people, then He is not the Messiah to anyone!”

In 2008, Coe had the opportunity to do an internship in Israel where he met his future wife, Julia, who had come from Germany.

“That increased my heart not just for the Jewish people but for Arabs as well, and for the nations. We were in a melting pot of an international ministry on top of Mount Carmel. It was close to where the prophet Elijah traditionally called down the fire with the false prophets of Baal. That affinity that Julia and I shared for the nations, and in particular for Israel and the peoples of the Middle East, brought us together.”

The two wed in Germany in 2011 and began their family back in Tennessee. But in 2017, Coe says, God opened the door for them to return overseas to serve with the Baptist Convention in Israel. The first couple of years they focused on learning the language and culture before linking up as a teaching elder for an Israeli church plant. Coe invested the latter part of his ministry in Israel with post-military Israelis in their early to mid-20s who were either new converts or seekers of the Messianic faith (i.e., of Christianity).

“The bulk of my ministry, especially during the last stretch of it, was focused on these young men. A few years ago, we launched a college ministry outreach. I would take the young men to local campuses. I tried to give them opportunities to cut their teeth in evangelism, to try their hand in leadership, and ultimately to help them to identify their gifts and to develop them. But my focus was really on discipling these young men and giving them a heart, and giving them some tools, to reach their own people.”
Back in the States.

While his family was living there, Coe says he and his family rarely felt unsafe.

“Flare-ups would happen, but life just moved on. But this [recent Hamas attack] is different. There may be some little spots within Israel where the locals are living under some level of normalcy right now. At this point, anyway, there are some areas that have not been terribly impacted. I pray that will remain the case, and that the conflict will not continue to escalate. But whether directly impacted or not, this attack has absolutely disrupted life for everyone in Israel. I think even those places where there’s relative quiet right now, it’s an eerie quiet, right?”

Coe says he’s attempted to explain the effect the news has had on his family.

“I tried to describe it to people here in this community, the kind of duress that my wife and I have been under because of this,” Coe said. “Imagine this is where your roots are. You spent time here, you have relationships you are invested in; this is your home that you love, and you leave and move hundreds of miles, or even thousands of miles away. And then you wake up one morning, and you begin to hear stories of children being abducted, women being tortured, and hundreds being killed. Babies are being beheaded in your community and missiles coming incessantly.”

“We’re not just watching news reports. I still get numerous notifications from my home village from the security team there. These are reports on the latest border flareups and security protocols. ‘Do we need to take cover at this moment? What do we need to do? What are the evacuation plans, the contingency plans?’ And so this is, for us, not just watching the news. It’s around-the-clock updates to the point where I have to just shut my phone down and turn off notifications because it’s non-stop.”

One major concern for Coe and his family is the women and children who have to say goodbye to husbands and dads.

“Some of the most heartbreaking pictures to see are some of my friends who are squeezing their children so tightly as they’re leaving their homes with their M16s strapped on and heading off because they’ve been called up [to fight in the conflict].”

People in DeKalb County and across the nation are interested in helping Israelis. While there are some organizations like the Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief that are gathering donated items, Coe says prayer is needed.

“If you’re a Christian, pray that God would use this as an opportunity to work supernaturally. Pray that the gospel would go forward. Ask that God would strengthen the believers in The Land who are involved in this, whether they’re Arabs or Jews, and that they would be a bright and shining witness – in word and in deed – and that they would show the love of the Messiah. Pray that God would reveal himself.”

“Let’s realize that there has always been a Satanic agenda to wipe out these people, and there’s a reason for that. The spirit of Haman in the book of Esther is still very much alive and operative today. Satan has always wanted to wipe out these [Jewish] people. Before the Messiah came, he wanted to annihilate them because the Messiah was going to come through this [Jewish] line. The Scriptures, I’m convinced, speak of a day when there’s going to be a great ingathering of the children of Israel. They’re going to return to their God – to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – and they’re going to trust in and worship His Son, Jesus. And so, the enemy hates these people; this is an ancient hatred. Remember that. Remember that our war is not against flesh and blood; it is against spiritual forces of darkness, and they’re definitely at work here.

Now, that being said, Jesus also commands us to pray for our enemies. And so we want to pray that God would take would-be murderers (or those who are already murderers) and turn them into emissaries of His Kingdom. That’s what God did with Saul of Tarsus (a.k.a. the Apostle Paul), and he can still do that. He can take Hamas terrorists and Hezbollah terrorists, and he can turn them into men of God. But if they continue in unrepentance, then we pray, “Come Lord Jesus; let your kingdom come and execute justice.”

Coe also encourages people to be wary of the news reports concerning the Middle East troubles.

“Don’t believe everything the media is selling. My wife and I watch the news, and it is night and day from one report to another. I mean, some of the mainstream media, including major outlets like the New York Times, had to pull back their reports after the hospital incident in Gaza where hundreds died. Mainstream media outlets immediately jumped on the story, and most of them claimed, ‘Israel is guilty’ and ‘What an atrocity!’ But if you looked closely at it, it was very clear: the people who were contributing to this report were one-sided sympathizers. This was not objective reporting. So, pay attention to what you’re listening to and compare the news reports.”

October 27, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Tigers will attempt to do something tonight (Friday) that no other football team has done this season. Defeat the Upperman Bees.

https://www.wjle.com/tiger-talk/

The Tigers and Bees will renew their rivalry in “The Battle of Center Hill” at Baxter in the regular season finale. The Tigers are hoping to reclaim the oar from the Bees who have a six-game winning streak against the black and gold including a 17-16 overtime time win last year.

The oar, a trophy instituted a few years ago between these two schools, is affectionately nicknamed “The Battle of Center Hill,” because the teams are on opposite sides of Center Hill Lake.

The Tigers (5-4 Overall, 3-2 Region)) will be looking for their third victory in a row after wins against Cumberland County and White County. They have already secured a state play-off berth as the 4th place team from region 4-4A. The Bees come into this game at 9-0 and 5-0 in region 4-4A.

Tiger Coach Steve Trapp said he was very proud of his team’s performance in last week’s win at White County.

“I was really proud of them. They understood what was at stake and what it would take preparation wise and on the field Friday night. It wasn’t always pretty but those guys played extremely hard and bought into everything we were telling them and the adjustments we had to make to ensure we were in the right phase, and they did a good job with that especially in the second half. That was some fun football to coach and fun football to watch,” said Coach Trapp.

And tonight, the focus shifts to Upperman.

“They (Bees) are always very defensively disciplined. They play very good defense and don’t give up big plays. We have watched a lot of tape on them and you can count on one hand how many plays they have given up over twenty yards so you have to earn it and what I mean by that is you can’t have penalties, make mistakes, or get behind the chains and you can’t have turnovers. You also have to be good on first down and you have to convert third downs. You have to stay on the field and they (Bees) make it tough. Offensively, it might not look like that have a very big scheme but again they are very disciplined in what they do. They are a physical football team all the way around. They want to grind out the clock and move the football and score points. They do have the ability to throw the ball a little bit more than they have in the past but all of that is set up based on how they run the football,” said Coach Trapp.

WJLE’s Pre-Game shows begin with “Coach to Coach” at 5 p.m. featuring former UT assistant coach Doug Matthews with Tennessee Titans Radio Broadcaster Dave McGinnis and broadcaster Larry Stone talking Tennessee and SEC football.

“Coach to Coach” is followed by “Murphy’s Matchups at 6 p.m. A look at Tennessee High School Football from Murphy Fair with commentary on games and coaches’ interviews.

Following Murphy’s Matchups will be WJLE’s Tiger Talk program featuring host John Pryor interviewing Coach Steve Trapp and Tiger football players Malachi Trapp, Ari White, and Ty Webb.

The game will kick off at 7 p.m. and WJLE will have LIVE coverage with the Voice of the Tigers John Pryor and Luke Willoughby on AM 1480/FM 101.7 and on the LIVE stream at www.wjle.com.

Here are the Region standings: The top four teams earn a state play-off berth at the end of the regular season.

Upperman: 9-0: Overall, 5-0-Region

Macon County: 8-1 Overall, 4-1 Region

Stone Memorial: 6-3 Overall, 4-1 Region

DeKalb County: 5-4 Overall, 3-2 Region

White County: 4-5, 1-4 Region

Livingston Academy:3-6 Overall, 1-4 Region

Cumberland County: 2-7 Overall, 0-6 Region

October 27, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

The DCHS Cross Country team competed at their TSSAA-Region 4 race on October 25 at Henry Horton State Park in Chapel Hill.

Senior, Ian Colwell, ran a personal best time of 18:27 on the 3.1 mile course , finishing in the top 15 out of a field of 153 runners. His finish advanced him to the State Cross Country Championship meet which will be held on November 3rd at Sanders Ferry Park in Hendersonville.

The boys team finished 9th overall out of a field of 15 teams in a very tough region. Followed by Colwell were teammates: Caleb Gray, Cale Brown, Dylan Cathey, Kaleb Spears, Ethan Spears and Xavier Parker.

Juniors Mylie Phillips and Madeline Martin competed in the Varsity girls division.

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