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"I said, `You need us because the church has compromised itself,'" Blewett recalls, "`because you're so involved in Christian-Jewish dialogue, but you haven't heard what Israel means to your dialogue partner. You want them to talk about Jesus Christ, but you won't talk about Israel. Where's the fairness?'"

In fact, Blewett insists, NCLCI's support of Israel is rooted in Christian-Jewish dialogue and not, as some might expect, in politics or any one Christian theology or interpretation of biblical prophecy.

Blewett, a Lutheran whose father once worked for the Rev. Billy Graham, assumed the helm of the NCLCI just over a year ago. He has led Christian-Jewish dialogue groups for years and continues to do so around the country, placing the Jewish state, which he has visited often, high on the agenda.

Israel's very existence, Blewett says, counters basic Christian theology that fosters dangerous misperceptions of Jews.

"As kids, we were being taught that Jews are rejected by God," says Blewett, who visited the Bay Area to address members of the California Christian Committee for Israel.

"If they're so rejected, how come their synagogue service is so alive? How come the people have so much joy and enthusiasm in their faith? How come Israel exists? It's getting past the stereotypes to the people. That's where things happen."

He cites such "things" as increased Christian tourism to Israel and Christians monitoring their denominational publications for inaccurate reporting on Israel and the Middle East. He cites Christians declaring public support for the Middle East peace process, and general good will between Christians and Jews.

When the groups talk, listen to one another and collaborate on issues of shared concern, "that's where sensitivity develops," Blewett says, "where Christians begin to say something might be wrong with the way we've been teaching about Jews."

Those teachings have dramatically impacted Blewett's own life.

As a young graduate of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, he planned to enter the ministry but dropped out of seminary halfway through his studies because of derogatory messages he received about Jews.

It was the late 1960s, and "I began studying more about Israel, what they were doing in the desert, their aid to developing countries in Africa," he says. "That's what created a problem in my mind with the idea that God doesn't work with Jews. It was obvious that He did."

Blewett turned his frustration into action, launching a career in interfaith relations and making public his opposition to certain Christian precepts. On his lapel, he always wears a silver pin that reads Zachor, Hebrew for "remember."

The pin serves not only as a paean to Holocaust victims but also as "a statement to me and to other Christians: Remember what we've done, remember our past, our whole teaching of contempt."

Reforming teachings about Jews, Judaism and Israel is not easy, Blewett admits. When it comes to Israel, specifically, grassroots Christian support for the country tends to be quiet in the face of a lack of support by church leadership.

Blewett attributes that stance to the church's historical collaboration with Arabs in the Middle East. Arabs were open to Christian evangelism there, while Jews were not. "The churches worked with the Arab community, heard the Arab concerns," Blewett says.

Against that backdrop, he adds, "we're trying to strengthen the grass roots and let them know they're not isolated."