Seder service set for Sunday

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Christ in the Passover, a Jews for Jesus presentation, shows the link between the ancient festival of Redemption and Christ as the Lamb of God, and will be presented at 6 p.m., Sunday at McCook Evangelical Free Church, 602 East 14th.

The sermonic demonstration is visual, with the table set with traditional Passover items.

Vladimir Mitnitsky, representing Jews for Jesus, will use Scripture as well as the visual items to walk through a Jewish Passover Seder, weaving the story of the Exodus together with the life, death and resurrection of Christ. The words Jesus spoke in the upper room come alive as each Hebraic item is carefully explained.

Mitnitsky was born in the Ukraine. At the age of 15, he made "aliyah" to Israel without his parents (his father is Jewish). Although he knew about Jesus, he didn't believe in him as the promised Messiah. He studied in Yeshiva (religious high school) for three years. There he was challenged by the rabbis to think about the Jewish Messiah who would bring redemption and peace to his people. Although he was taught to do good deeds (mitzvahs), Mitnitsky didn't have peace in his heart.

He came to faith in Jesus at the of 20, after he read prophecies about the Messiah in the Old Testament. He graduated from college with a professional diploma in engineering, but when he volunteered with Jews for Jesus on the streets of New York City and Israel, he felt God's call to do evangelism to his Jewish people. After participating in four Jews for Jesus witnessing campaigns, three of which were in Israel, in 2009, he joined the Jews for Jesus staff as a fulltime missionary.