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IT'S FRIDAY NIGHT, and the usual sabbath service is under way in a narrow wood-trimmed chapel on a quiet side street in midtown Manhattan.
Under a splashy Marc Chagall print and a metallic Tree of Life, the congregation prays and sings, sometimes in Hebrew, sometimes in English. A serene-looking young woman drapes a beige lace cloth over her hair and lights the sabbath candles. Midway through the service, Mitch Forman reads aloud from the Book of Malachi in the Old Testament. Then, standing at a lectern fronted by the Star of David, he begins to speak, warmly and proudly, about the progress of Jews for Jesus.
A quarter century ago, the issue was "A Jew can't be for Jesus," Forman tells the attentive congregants. But on the cusp of the millennium, he says, the issue has evolved to something else entirely, and the issue is this: "You're a Jew. Why aren't you for Jesus?"
In 25 years, Jews for Jesus has spread to 10 countries, including Israel, with 15 central stations run by paid staff. Another 81 chapters are run by "co-laborers," or volunteers. Forman, 40, is in charge of day-to-day operations in New York, where the big Christmas proselytizing push extends through New Year's Eve.
The big evangelizing blitz now under way is to continue until 9:30 p.m. New Year's Eve. Volunteers fan out to Rockefeller Center, to Fifth Avenue, to the Macy's subway stop and to other high-visibility locales to hand out more than 50,000 "broadsides" - punchy pamphlets with droll artwork and amusing commentary that segue into Bible citations and a Jews for Jesus pitch.
Part of the Yuletide push called for sectarian Christmas caroling in Times Square.
Back in the Jews for Jesus chapel, Forman was telling the congregation that he had just returned from a conference at Jews for Jesus international headquarters in San Francisco. High on the agenda had been what he called B-hags, or Big Hairy Audacious Goals: to have, by the year 2005, Jews for Jesus chapters in every city that has at least 25,000 Jews. Overseas, 30 staffers already work in five branches in the former Soviet Union, and even now Jews for Jesus are spreading the word of Christ on the streets of Germany.
"What...