Jim Hutchens
Dr. James M. Hutchens is a man on a mission for Israel–a mission to make God’s purposes for Israel and the Jewish people an unavoidable issue. As President of The Jerusalem Connection, International and Editor of The Jerusalem Connection Report, he is on the forward edge of the battle area of informing, educating and activating the Christian community on issues related to Israel, from a Biblical perspective. From his military experience, Jim is well acquainted with the concept of “Mission.” He came to faith in Christ as an enlisted paratrooper, under the ministry of a chaplain. After college and seminary, Jim returned to the Army as a chaplain. Decorated for personal bravery in Vietnam, including the Purple Heart, where he served with the famous 173rd Airborne Brigade, and later with the celebrated “Green Berets,” he retired with the rank of Brigadier General in 1994. His book, Beyond Combat , tells of his experience as a combat chaplain in Vietnam.
Dr. Hutchens was ordained to the ministry in 1962 and has served, concurrent with his chaplain duties, as a church planter and senior pastor for over 24 years. His wife, Patty, is an exhibiting artist and teacher at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. and the Northern Virginia Community College system. The Hutchens have three married children and eleven grand children. Jim and Patty tell of their life-long love for Israel in their newly released book, Guilty: Keeping God’s Covenant Love with Israel. “The General” now brings his military leadership skills and pastoral devotion to duty to accomplish the mission of The Jerusalem Connection, International. Watch his regular Video Spot Reports here.
Shelley Neese
Shelley Neese is Vice President of The Jerusalem Connection, International. She writes a regular column for The Jerusalem Connection and her articles have also appeared in The Jerusalem Post, The Jerusalem Post Metro Edition, Arutz Sheva, and FrontPage Magazine. Shelley does a regular “Spot Report” video on current events in Israel and manages an Israeli recipe section of the blog and a special page just for kids.
While living in Boston, Shelley was the assistant to the Consul General at the Consulate of Israel to New England. In addition, she worked as a consultant at Conflict Management Group, a nonprofit connected to Harvard Law School.
Shelley lived and studied in Israel for over three years and has returned many times since. She spent the months leading up to the Gaza disengagement in Israel, working with a team of negotiators in a status report on issues relating to the “day after” Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza. Two years ago, Shelley followed the story of an archeological dig in Qumran based on the Copper Scroll.
Shelley studied in Israel from 2000 -2003, where she received her M.A in Middle Eastern Studies from Ben Gurion University. The high point of her studies—and first crack at investigative journalism—was her masters thesis examining the secret, multilateral negotiations ending the 2002 siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
A native of Louisiana, she received her B.A. in Political Science from Louisiana State University. Shelley speaks Hebrew and has dedicated her life to supporting Israel. She currently resides in Arizona with her three children and her husband, who is a family physician in the U.S. Air Force.
Pat Mercer Hutchens
Dr. Pat Mercer Hutchens has wide experience in teaching, writing and the visual arts, having earned an MFA from Northwestern University (Evanston, IL), a Masters in Management & Development in Human Resources from National Lewis University (Evanston, IL) and a PhD in Theology from Louisiana Baptist University with a concentration in language and Hebrew studies, focusing attention on the languages of the Levant and the origins of written communications. She was chosen for inclusion in The National Honor Society (Hebrew Studies).
With her husband, Dr. James M. Hutchens, she co-authored Guilty, Keeping God’s Covenant of Love with Israel as well as her own book, Hebrew for the Goyim (Bible Codes). Pat has taught at several schools, including the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington, DC, George Mason University (VA), Northern Virginia Community College, Lord Fairfax College (VA) and Dominion Theological Seminary. Pat is the founder and director of Washington Artworks, and wrote and presented a paper on “Spirituality in the Visual Arts” for the Isley Washington Arts Group as part the USA team participating in the 300 year anniversary of St. Petersburg, Russia at the Hermitage.
Pat writes for The Jerusalem Connection Report, an online magazine, and supports charities such as The National Museum of the American Indian, Children’s Inn at NIH, Princeton Hospital and other worthy causes for orphanages or children in need. Pat has completed a series of thirty paintings to remember and honor those who perished in the Holocaust. All the paintings were motivated by the Auschwitz Album, the only surviving photographic evidence of Jews arriving and being “processed” at a Nazi death camp. Find out more about this unique and special series here.
Richard Booker
Richard Booker, MBA, Ph.D., is an ordained Christian minister, President of Sounds of the Trumpet, Inc., and the Founder/Director of the Institute for Hebraic-Christian Studies. Prior to entering the ministry, Dr. Booker had a successful business career. He is the author of over thirty books which are used by churches and Bible schools around the world. He has also developed many seminars and Bible college level courses and writes regularly for Christian magazines.
Dr. Booker has traveled extensively for over thirty years teaching in churches and at conferences on various aspects of the Christian life as well as Israel, Jewish-Christian relationships, and the Hebraic roots of Christianity. He and his wife, Peggy, lead yearly tours to Israel where, for eighteen years, Richard was a speaker at the International Christian Celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. This gathering is attended by 5,000 Christians from 100 nations. He has made approximately 400 television programs on the above subjects.
Dr. Booker is a pioneer and spiritual father to many with a prophetic voice for our times. If you would like Dr. Booker to speak to your group, or order his materials, see his web site at www.rbooker.com.
Victor Sharpe
Born and educated in England, Victor Sharpe was a correspondent for the U.K magazine – Britain & Israel – produced and edited by the late, great Anglo-Irish Christian Zionist, the Hon. Terence Prittie. Sharpe is a featured writer for the Israel Hasbara (information) website and a freelance writer with many articles and essays published in newspapers, magazines and websites including FrontPageMag.com, Townhall.com, Outpost, Wall Street Journal, London Daily Telegraph, Jewish Review, Jewish Telegraph, American Thinker, Israel National News – Arutz Sheva, and many others. Sharpe has had his articles acknowledged by Melanie Phillips of the UK Daily Mail newspaper and Brigitte Gabriel of Act for America.
Victor Sharpe is a freelance writer, contributor to Jerusalem Connection, and author of several books including Volumes One & Two of Politicide: The attempted murder of the Jewish state.
Daniel McCabe
Daniel McCabe graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1989 with a Masters in Christian Education and in 1992 with a Masters in Theology. He also graduated from Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary with a Doctorate in Pastoral Ministry in 2005. Daniel has pastored churches in Lousiana and Texas and curretly serves as Pastor of Faith Bible Church in Spring, Texas.
Daniel also serves as adjunct instructor in the Bible and Theology department at the College of Biblical Studies in Houston, Texas.
Stan Goodenough
Jerusalem Watchman is Stan Goodenough; a Christian Zionist; Israel tour guide; a South African national; a Mayflower descendant; an 18-year resident of the State of Israel; husband to a wonderful wife; father to seven extra-ordinary children; a journalist by profession; and a Bible-believer by God’s mercy and grace.
Ron Jager
Ron Jager was born in Israel but at the age of four he moved with his parents—both Holocaust survivors– to America. Growing up in the 
Bronx in the 1960s and 70s, he went on to attend Baruch College in New York where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Soon after, he completed his Master of Social Work at Yeshiva University. At the age of 22, Ron independently moved to Israel to make Aliyah. Two months later he was inducted into the I.D.F. where he served 25 years as a Senior Mental Health Officer. During his long stint with the I.D.F, he held a variety of operational positions within the medical corps. Ron completed his military service with the rank of Major after being promoted to the position of Commander of the Central Psychiatric Clinic for Reserve Soldiers at Tel-hashomer. He has extensive clinical training in PTSD, and other war related syndromes.
Since 2005, Ron has been involved in a number of projects dealing with Judea and Samaria. He is currently a strategic advisor to David Haivri, the head of the Shomron Liaison Office. In his “retired” years he has also received his MBA and become an accredited journalist in Israel. A prolific columnist, he has a weekly column which he publishes in Arutz 7. As a contributing editor for Jerusalem Connection, his columns regularly run on this website.
Today, Ron lives in a “settlement” in the most Western area of the Shomron with his wife Nitza. They are blessed with four children and three grandchildren.
