EVERETT – Three years ago, Jason Martin woke up at 2 a.m. to find a cross, set afire, in the front yard of his Arlington home.

Martin, an African-American father of six, is pastor at Jesus is Lord Life Tabernacle in Marysville. Four days later, after two 16-year-old boys were arrested in connection with what prosecutors said was a hate crime, religious leaders gathered at Martin’s Marysville church for Sunday morning services.

Among them, Martin said, were Jewish rabbis.

“I was really moved by that,” Martin said. “Prior to that, I had no relationship with Jewish people at all. It really touched my heart.”

On Thursday evening, Martin returned the favor.

His church gathered $20,000 to pay for “A Night to Honor Israel,” a special service held at the Everett Events Center, to show support for the people Martin believes are God’s chosen ones.

Eight hundred people were expected. Every seat in the conference hall was filled.

Christians were asked to give a $5 donation for admission; people of Jewish heritage were welcomed free of charge, Martin said.

“The Christian community owes a great debt to the Jewish people because our Messiah, Jesus, was Jewish,” Martin said. “There’s been, over the years, a great division between Christians and Jews because the Christians have done a lot of things to offend the Jews in the name of Christianity.”

Martin is Washington state director of Christians United for Israel, an organization founded last year by Texas pastor and Trinity Broadcasting Network regular John Hagee.

Hagee was among a group of rabbis, pastors and political activists who spoke in Everett on Thursday.

“We’ve come at this very perilous time to say, ‘We are with you, ladies and gentlemen of Israel,’ ” Hagee said.

Hagee said he visited Israel for the first time in the 1970s.

“I went as a tourist and came back a Bible Zionist,” he said.

Hagee is known for zealous sermons that connect current events with what he believes are their Biblical prophecies.

Leroy and Joyce DeJong of Oak Harbor said they’ve watched Hagee on television for more than a decade.

“The Bible says, ‘I will bless those who bless Israel and I will curse those who curse Israel,’ ” said Leroy DeJong, 73. “That’s why I’m pro-Israel.”