Mobile museum carries a Zionist message to U.S. evangelicals

A mobile museum chock-full of information on Israel is gearing up to visit evangelical churches and Christian college campuses in California, Nevada, Texas, Arizona, and Colorado. The nonprofit organization behind the museum, Hear From Us, launched this week and aims to promote travel to Israel and encourage Christian support for the country. Founder Chad Schnitger is publishing the webpage this week.

Then he has 48 hours to notify the Department of Justice and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Hear From Us is formally a registered foreign agent on behalf of Israel. The Israeli government has invested $3 million in the nonprofit, a project funded by the messaging nonprofit Show Faith by Works LLC, also founded and run by Schnitger. He used roughly $1 million of it to buy and outfit a 41-foot long toy hauler as a mobile museum. He used additional money to send video crews to Israel, where they filmed educational content for pastors, interviews with religious leaders about Zionism, and conversations with Holocaust survivors.

While many countries lobby the American government, few specifically target American churches. Schnitger’s group is noteworthy not only because it receives funding from Israel, but also because its message might challenge the beliefs and even theology of its target evangelical audience.

In an exclusive interview with WORLD, Schnitger explained the organization’s goals and why he thinks some Christians need to rethink their views on Israel.

“It’s predominantly Christians talking to other Christians about Israel to cut through the noise,” Schnitger said. “You’ve heard from the enemies of Israel, you’ve heard from people who aren’t Christians—well, now hear from us. Hear a Biblical-minded Christian worldview on the importance of Israel.”

According to an April 2025 Pew Research study, roughly 53% of U.S. adults express unfavorable opinions about Israel, up from 42% in March 2022. Democrats and Muslims were most likely to view Israel unfavorably, but Republicans have also charted a significant shift: Some 37% of Republicans viewed Israel unfavorably, up 10 percentage points since 2022. The bulk of that growth comes from adults under 50.

Starting this month, Schnitger will start driving the mobile museum, called The Israel Experience, to churches in California. He and a team of five, plus a security guard, will set up in the church’s parking lot and allow congregants to walk through the exhibits displayed inside. LED tile exhibits will turn the walls of the trailer into a full-surround video experience featuring drone footage of Israel over an eight-minute narrated film.

Afterward, attendees can walk outside the trailer to pop-up tents with more information. Some show the timeline and lineage of Jesus, and others feature quotes about Israel from historic pastors such as Charles Spurgeon. Displays will feature video messages filmed in Israel. Attendees will also receive pamphlets about the history of Israel. The final element is a virtual reality experience featuring headsets showing footage from Israel’s tourism industry and personal videos with Holocaust and Oct. 7 survivors.

Show Faith by Works’ original registration, filed in September under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, raised alarm when it appeared that the organization would track churchgoers’ phones and send targeted pro-Israel messaging, a practice called geofencing. The documents also discussed partnering with celebrities such as Chris Pratt, which led to news stories claiming a new partnership between the actor and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Schnitger is a Republican consultant based in California. He’s been a director of the state’s chapter of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, a conservative, pro-family lobbying group, for five years. He told me the initial 86-page filing was more of a brainstorming document than a concrete plan. He filed it not realizing that level of detailed planning was not required under DOJ rules. Now, he’s scrapped the geofencing idea due to security concerns.

“A lot of times the Christian church is in the Stone Ages when it comes to advertising,” Schnitger said. “If you walk through Saks Fifth Avenue or a mall, they scan your cellphone and maybe get a little demographic information, but they don’t know who you are. They just follow up with ads when you go home. It’s been used for 15 years.”

The Israeli Embassy has eight consulates across the United States, including in Los Angeles. A year ago, the consulate invited Schnitger and some pastors to LA to discuss anti-Semitism and Christian-Jewish relations. Then they reached out to Schnitger and asked if he would use his grassroots strategy background to run a nine-month messaging project. While the government of Israel is footing the bill, Schnitger says he has complete independence. He has coordinated with Israeli Consul General Israel Bachar, who leads the consulate in LA. Bachar’s office said he was not available for an interview in time for this story.

“It is shocking to me how much freedom and flexibility they’ve given me, even after I messed up the FARA document,” Schnitger said. “They’ve not asked me to talk about politics, they’re not asking me to talk that much about the war. This is here to be a champion for the Christian church and take the message to the American Southwest.” 

Schnitger said he particularly hopes to reach young conservatives. He credited some of the decline in support for Israel to the fact that many in Generation Z have grown up hearing little about terrorism.

“We have to spend a little bit of time on them,” he said. “Even in politics, you shore up your base, right? You go back to your base every once in a while and say, ‘Hey Christians, this is what you’ve always believed.’”

One of the paid advisers for the project is Matt Davis, a Messianic Jew and co-founder of a nonprofit called the Jewish Road. The organization teaches Christians about the Jewish roots of their faith, oftentimes through a visit to Israel. Davis uses an analogy to describe Christians and Jews: Both bought tickets to a two-act play, but Jews left after the first, and Christians only showed up for the second. They passed each other in the lobby.

“The Old Testament is filled with prophecies that hyperlink and go into the New Testament,” Davis said. He wants to unify Christians and Jews while upholding the belief that God has set apart the Jewish people as a chosen set. “If you actually are a Christian who understands and still believes God’s place for Israel and the covenant with the Jewish people is not broken, you’re even on a narrower road amongst people who are the few.”

While traveling to Israel to film curriculum videos for Hear From Us, Davis wore a black baseball cap with “The Few” printed on it. He believes the Biblical promises of physical land to the nation of Israel still apply today, even though Palestinians now occupy part of it.

Other Christians believe that because Christ’s new covenant does not distinguish between Jews and Gentiles, the Church has entirely replaced Israel, and the physical land is therefore no longer a pending promise from God. It’s a belief that proponents call fulfillment theology, although Davis’ camp calls it replacement theology. In a video message to a group of pro-Israel evangelicals last year, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called replacement theology “warped” and “close to blasphemy.”

Schnitger agrees.

“I think it would be ignorant of most Christians to believe that there’s no significance to the nation and people of Israel today,” he said. Part of the mobile museum’s presentation will address replacement theology. One print handout, titled “The Israel Delusion,” lists 10 Bible verses that it claims are commonly misinterpreted.

Michael Rydelnik, professor emeritus of Jewish Studies at Moody Bible Institute, says replacement theology misses God’s plan for the Jewish people. Rydelnik published the book How Should Christians Think About Israel? last year. When the publisher promoted it on social media, the comment section was filled with surprising responses from other Christians.

“There are many fine theologians and Biblical scholars who hold [to replacement theology] and do not hold anti-Jewish views,” Rydelnik told me, speaking in a personal capacity and not for Moody Bible Institute. “What I found in these comments was an angry, hateful replacement theology that expresses disdain and hatred for Jewish people on the basis of quoting verses that allegedly support replacement theology.”

Rydelnik defines Zionism as “Jewish self-determination in their ancient homeland.” It’s based on a particular reading of God’s promises in the Old Testament. But Rydelnik said proponents are often misunderstood as accepting no criticism of the government of Israel.

“Can people disagree with the state of Israel? Absolutely,” Rydelnik said. “But can they say God is done with the Jewish people, or that He doesn’t have a special love for them? That’s mistaken [and] contrary to Scripture.”

Rydelnik does not consider replacement theology heretical. The problem, he said, is when it leads to animosity toward ethnic Jews. He said a project like Schnitger’s is necessary as a public diplomacy effort—something virtually every nation engages in regularly and legally.

“It has to be a level playing field,” Rydelnik said, noting the millions of dollars that Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have invested through foreign agents and universities in the United States. “As long as we’re not going to outlaw foreign agents—and there are foreign agents out there advocating against Israel, representing Qatar or Iran or countries like that—then I think that it’s only appropriate for Israel to continue doing that. Why would Israel be the only one hampered?”

Other theologians have concerns. Scott Aniol, president of G3 Ministries, said the theological view described by replacement theology used to be the dominant Protestant view in the United States. But a recent rise in dispensational theology has also led to a rise in Zionist theology.

“I do believe that the promises made to national Israel in the Old Testament will be literally fulfilled at the second coming of Christ. The nation of Israel does have a special future in God’s plan, but this age is focused on the Church,” Aniol said. “The modern nation state of Israel, I wouldn’t say, is the chosen people of God right now.”

Nevertheless, Aniol says his position is often misunderstood as anti-Semitic or anti-Israel. His support for Israel is more practical than theological.

“I support Israel generally, but not because they’re a chosen people of God or even because I believe that there’s a future for national Israel. I just want to support freedom of religion and democratic forms of government in the Middle East,” he said.

While many countries invest in foreign agents to influence American colleges, businesses, and government officials, few direct their lobbying attention to the Church. Aniol argues Hear From Us should not. Jewish people who don’t accept Jesus as the Messiah do not believe in either replacement theology or Christian Zionism, and Aniol believes it is wrong for the Israeli government to press particular Christian messages in the United States.

“It seems underhanded,” Aniol said. “They’re using it to their own advantage because they recognize Christian Zionists are buying into these arguments. I would rather them just be open and honest and say, ‘Hey, we’re putting money behind campaigns to help clearly communicate why what we’re doing is beneficial for the world and beneficial for America.’ Don’t try to sneak in the back door of, in some cases, naive Christians, and try to manipulate Biblical arguments in what seems to be a dishonest way.”

Uriesou Brito is the presiding minister of counsel for the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches and the senior pastor of Providence Church in Pensacola, Fla. He also said that while Christians should debate Israel’s role, he’d rather do it in-house rather than rely on the government of Israel.

“My general principle has been that we should always be cautious when any government funds religious or theological outreach,” Brito said. “The concern in my estimation is not unique to Israel. I think it would apply to any other kind of outside endeavor.”

Brito believes that Jesus Christ fulfilled the promises made to Israel, and he worries about Hear From Us’ brand of Zionism. But he agreed the American church does struggle with a rise in anti-Semitism that needs to be addressed. Brito blames online personalities like conservative talk show host Nick Fuentes for misinterpreting the Bible to promote anti-Semitic tropes.

The solution could be better Bible instruction. But Brito disagrees with the approach of Hear From Us. He said Christians should certainly learn about holy sites and their reference points in the Bible, but he’d like to see an array of perspectives.

“I am perfectly comfortable with that kind of instruction as long as it also receives a more eclectic group of instructors,” Brito said. “What I would want to see is a diversity of instruction taking place, as opposed to merely using a particular lens in America’s theological tradition that doesn’t reflect the breadth and depth of Christian historical interpretation.”

For his part, Schnitger said he believes it’s in both Israel’s and the American church’s interest to shore up flagging support for the Jewish homeland. Israel’s war with Hamas may be winding down, but anti-Semitism could remain a persistent problem among conservative youth.

“We’re just going to have conversations with churches,” Schnitger said. “We’re going to give them the information they need. We’ll give them resources, we’ll give them access to come experience the museum.”

He highlighted another incentive for interested Christians: Fully paid trips to Israel. People can sign up for a raffle ticket online or at the mobile museum.

“I’m sending at least six people to Israel by the end of 2026,” Schnitger said. “I’m hoping to send a whole church if I get the budget for that.”