Two Life Changing Observations From Two Great Pastors

I went to Abilene Texas to visit Beltway Park Baptist Church in January with 7 other Messianic leaders. We went to spend time with Pastor David McQueen and his leadership team/staff.  It was an amazing trip on so many levels (read about it here).  Pastor David has relationships with many Messianic leaders and has great insight into our community and leadership in general.  He made a statement concerning Messianic leaders that has stuck with me.  He said, "It seems to me that unless an idea is Jewish in its inception many Messianic leaders will not consider using it." Boom!  I have found this true, even in myself, far too often.

Ideas are not legitimate/illegitimate because of who/where they come from.  Great ideas and bad ideas come from everywhere. In particular, the Church has so much to offer Messianic Judaism.  I know, "They don't get us" or "They are theologically opposed to us".  I know. But, that shouldn't keep the Messianic Movement from using great ideas that come from the Church, especially when it comes to reaching people through culture and working to reach this present generation.  We make statements like "Well, that works for them but Jewish people are different." Are we so sure we get our own people?  Sometimes I think we forget that people are people.  We are all affected by culture.  We all have the same hurts and pains.  We all need the same Yeshua (salvation).  

I recently had coffee with Pastor Joe Fuiten from Cedar Park Church in Seattle.  He is an incredibly gracious and well-rounded charismatic pastor.  He made some observations that were fantastic.  I asked him for some tips on congregational growth. He said, "Messianic's have a tendency to think that growth will/and should come from the specific message you offer.  But, real growth will come from people having encounters with God." Shazam!

I believe in what I preach.  I believe that we need to restore the Jewishness of the Gospel.  I believe Messianic Judaism is an end-time fulfillment of prophecy.  But, if people's lives are not changing, who cares? If people are not having encounters with the God of Israel, Yeshua, our Messiah, why does any of it matter?

I am grateful to these two men of God and the time they gave me. Let's be real, Messianic Judaism isn't working in my generation.  The message isn't the problem.  Yeshua is still king over all the earth.  Perhaps some of the things we hold to as "this should never change" or "but that's how we have always done it" are actually holding us back from doing our part to build the Kingdom of God?

What do you think?

For more on this click here!

Without Unity We Might As Well Give Up! Grassroots in Seattle 2013

"What is Grassroots?" is the common question asked by anyone who hears of it. Grassroots is not an organization.  It has no affiliation.  It has no money of its own.  It has a core team of leaders who lead it.  But, it is a team that leads together.  My congregation, Beit Messiah in Seattle, had the pleasure of co-hosting a Grassroots event on the weekend of March 8-10 along with our sister congregation, Beit Tikvah in Newcastle, WA.

From the event on Facebook for the weekend, Grassroots is "an intentional set of relationships among young people across Messianic Judaism. We are committed to seeing the younger generations within the Messianic Jewish community get to know each other and to take ownership in the future of our respective organizations. One way that we act this out is by joining together for a weekend on a yearly basis, providing opportunities to unify through worship, prayer, and fellowship."  That's it. Many people seem to want more information but there really isn't anything more to it.

I am reminded of one of the closing scenes of History channel’s "Hatfields & McCoys."  The leader of the Hatfields speaks to the ongoing feud between these two famous families and says to his son, "You gonna have children one day; your children are not going to care about our old grudges and slights from long ago. And their children won't even know about it. It's time to move on." - Anse Hatfield (Kevin Costner).

Grassroots began with a desire from a set of people who grew up in the Messianic movement that were disappointed that they did not know each other. They wanted to be intentional in creating opportunities for young people that grew up in different organizations to get to know each other. That was seven years ago.  Many events later Grassroots continues to grow.  Not as a group or an organization but as a movement with the Messianic movement.  It is a movement of young people that strive for unity among each other, our congregations, and even to the existing organizations that we each represent and participate in.   

For Grassroots, this was the first event on the West Coast and about 80 people came out for the weekend.  We all met for a great Shabbat dinner hosted by Beit Tikvah and put together by Eliza Latimer.  We said the blessings for Shabbat and a great time of worship followed dinner.  On Shabbat morning the Grassroots attendees came to worship with us at Beit Messiah.  We hosted a lunch made by Janelle Behrens of Beit Messiah and then took everyone over to Gas Works Park which looks over the Seattle skyline and beautiful Lake Union.  Saturday evening we said the blessings for havdallah and worshiped together again.  It was during this time of worship that the core team of Grassroots felt that the Lord's desire was to have a time of repentance between those of us from the congregational side of the Messianic movement and those of us from, the missional side of the Movement, represented by Jews for Jesus.  

Jonathan Moore, from Israel, talked about the heart of Grassroots from the beginning.  It is a set of ideals not even an event.  The idea being that what happens at Grassroots events would take root in the attendees and it would change the way we view each other and endeavor to take unity back to wherever we are from.  Then, I was asked to remember Jhan Moskowitz, one of the founders of Jews for Jesus.  I talked about his recent passing and the heart that he had for unity in our Movement regardless of organizational affiliation. Jhan was the best of us.  He was loved in and out of Jews for Jesus.  He was loved by leaders of every Messianic organization even in times where organizations had issues with each other. No one had issues with Jhan.  His heart was for all of us to be together and at his memorial it showed.  Both in New York and Chicago Jhan was remembered by representatives of every Messianic organization. I recalled what my dad, Rabbi David Rosenberg, shared at Jhan's memorial in New York City. He pointed out that even in death Jhan was bringing us together and in his absence we have a responsibility to do the work of unity that Jhan hoped for.  Jhan, many months after his passing, was the catalyst to what happened even at Grassroots in Seattle.   

The mic was passed to Troy Wallace, assistant leader of El Shaddai Congregation in Maryland, and Vanessa Leef who lead us in a time of repentance -- for those who have distanced ourselves from Jews for Jesus for all kind of reasons in all kinds of conversations; for those of us who have said and thought negative things towards J4J as an organization and against the people who do the work of this important Messianic institution.  Aaron Trank, minster at large for J4J, and Aaron Abramson, branch leader in Manhattan for J4J, came up to the mic and shared their heart for repentance from the missional side towards the congregational side and made a renewed commitment to support the congregational side of the Movement.  We prayed for each other. We cried with each other.  We felt and experienced the kind of unity that Jhan always talked about. We dedicated ourselves as representatives of different groups to trusting each other and working through our differences towards something greater, unity!

For me, the event was summed up by Troy Wallace on Friday night when he said, "I believe in a diverse Messianic Judaism that dwells in unity!"  Grassroots is not something we pay dues too. We all belong to different Messianic organizations that all do great things.  Grassroots is not even so much an event or events.  It is a time of intentional relationship that serves as a catalyst to change us.  The Messianic movement is made up of people.  People wound and hurt each other.  We didn't promise to stop hurting each other.  We committed to working through our wounds and hurts and letting God move through us with the goal of one Movement with different parts, all doing important things for the Kingdom of God, trusting each other’s roles.  Disagreeing on form and method but united in the idea that Yeshua our Messiah has so much more for all of us, together!

What is Grassroots? That’s a great question!  While I do not represent the core team in any leadership capacity, in my mind it is an opportunity to learn from and trust each other beyond the groups we belong to.  It is an opportunity to let the God of Israel move through His people in unity.  It is something to take home and bring unity to our congregations and communities.  It is a desire to stop speaking against each other and support each other even with some disagreement.

I was so blessed to be a part of this event.  Beit Messiah was blessed and honored to help co-host grassroots.  I know it will affect Messianic Judaism in Seattle.  My desire, which is shared by Rabbi Hylan Slobodkin of Beit Tikvah and Rabbi Jason Forbes of Beit HaShofar in Tukwila, WA, is to see God show Himself among our Jewish people here in a new and fresh way in Seattle.  The more we work together the more I am confident He will!  For the Messianic movement as a whole, the more we take hold of the unity God desires in our Movement the more movement we will have. 

Two Recent Articles: Passover & Grassroots

I wrote two recent articles.

The first, talks about Passover and the wonderful time of year we are approaching called "the season of freedom"!  The article was written for the MJAA (Messianic Jewish Alliance of America) website.  Click here read it.

My second article is about an event that took place in Seattle in March. The event was Grassroots. Over 80 young people from all over the country came to celebrate Yeshua and build intentional relationships.  This article was written for the website of the Messianic Times. Click here to read it.

The. Best. Trip (To a Church). Ever!

This past week I and seven of my Messianic Rabbi friends visited Beltway Park Baptist Church in Abilene, Texas.  I met Pastor David McQueen at the Jewish Voice Leaders’ Roundtable in November and asked him if I could come and hang out with him and learn about leadership.  He encouraged me to get a group of young Messianic leaders together to come and his church would foot the bill.  

I love leadership.  I love learning about leadership. I love reading about leadership.  I love being with people who are awesome leaders. David McQueen has seen his church grow from about 150 people to 4,000.  I know, you don't care about numbers.  But, numbers represent people, people who need God.  And if there is a place that is reaching people with the Gospel and changing peoples’ lives, I am game to hang out there. 

So we went to Abilene -- 8 messianic leaders under the age of 40:  Myself (Beit Messiah, Seattle, WA), Jude Caracelo (Kol Mashiach, Melbourne, Fl), Jesse (Fl), Tim Hyslip (Baruch HaShem, Phoenix, AZ), Cosmo Panzetta (Beth Yachad, Phoenix, AZ), S.K. (Raleigh, NC) Ari Waldman (Baruch HaShem, Dallas, TX), and Troy Wallace (El Shaddai, Frederick, MD). We went to watch and learn.  

What impressed me the most was how excellent everything was -- from the screens, microphones, iPads for the worship team, to the soundboards (yes, that is plural, as in several rooms had their own).  With large numbers comes lots of money and with lots of money comes great stuff.  Beltway has great stuff.  But more than all of that was the excellence of their people -- from the full-time staff, to part-time staff, to the people who attend on Sunday morning, to the Poormans who let us stay in a great little ranch that met all of our needs.  They really went out of their way to pour into us and treat us like kings. I hope to be able to do the same for people that want to come learn from me in 15 years.

I go to a lot of leadership conferences. I read and hear a lot of messages on leadership.  What I have not had the opportunity to do was be in the meetings or the back room conversations involving that leadership.  I see a lot of services and have planned many myself but to be in on the conversations of such a great congregation was a once in a lifetime chance (let's call it twice in lifetime because I plan to go back!).  Sitting in on meetings with the senior leadership team and the elders was awesome.  Watching how their sermon and creative teams worked to come up with different ways to present the message was inspiring. Seeing the kids’ service, the teen service, and the adult service was fantastic.  Even more, each service had a great ministry time that was not only purposeful and effective but geared to each specific group.  Of course I cried through all of the services because that's how I roll.  I felt the presence of God from the time we landed to the time we went home.  

Spending time with my young leader friends, the "future" of Messianic Judaism, was really outstanding!  It's funny when people refer to us as the future since we are all leading congregations right now.  It's also interesting to note that in our movement we are considered young when in reality the majority of us are approaching forty years old.  Not so young considering that almost everyone in leadership at Beltway Park is the same age as our group (Even the senior pastor is not that far off).  No one at Beltway looks at them as the future but rather just the leaders who are leading now.  But, I digress...

Probably the most significant part of the trip was the time the senior leaders spent with us and how they openly shared everything about their church with our group.  Pastor David and Pastor Keith really spent a ton of time with us and let us ask all kinds of questions and they really took the time to pour into us as leaders.  We walked away from this trip with a sense of how awesome it is when brothers and sisters gather together in unity and what it means to be a part of the larger body of Messiah!

We realized that during our time the Torah portion for the week was Yitro.  Yitro, the father-in-law of Moses, comes to Moses and teaches him all about leadership.  Man, did we learn from some amazing Jethros!  If you think I am implying that I and my friends are Moses you would be right.  In the end, as a group of 8 leaders, we committed to making ourselves better so that we can lead our Jewish people to Yeshua and to the salvation that He offers to all who call on His name. There were times where in the words of Cosmo we felt "like hobbits among the nephalim"!  Even their teenagers were giants! Ok, Maybe just me and Cosmo felt that way. We are short but we are confident in ourselves. 

Some Messianics have asked me, "Why go to a church to learn?"  The short answer is they are better than we are in so many ways.  Many in our Movement think that if an idea is not Jewish in its inception then it has no merit.  For me, I see great value in learning from our brothers and sisters in Yeshua (they call him Jesus ;).  They are Jethros for us.  Many in the Church use the language of older brother and younger brother.  As Jewish followers of Yeshua, we are "older brothers" in terms of faith and heritage.  But, in terms of building communities dedicated to sharing the message of Yeshua with all people, we become "younger brothers." The Jewish part and the Gentile part of the Body of Messiah have much to learn from each other and much blessing to share with each other as well.  And man were we blessed! (Yes, that is a fried egg on my TX Burger!)

Thank you Beltway Park Baptist Church.  Thank you Pastor David, Pastor Keith and the whole staff who showed us what a heart for Israel and young leaders looks like.  Don't worry we will be back!

Click here for more info on Beltway Park Baptist Church!

Messianic Music, Chanukkah & Unity in Seattle!

What an amazing time we had with Joel Chernoff in concert this past Saturday (Dec. 8th).  What a great way to start off the Festival of Chanukkah.  To be able to worship God together with our two sister congregations, Beit HaShofar and Beit Tikvah, in unity was amazing.

It was really a special time of worship before Adonai.  Rabbi Jason Forbes led us in Havdallah for the closing of Shabbat.  My family and I led the blessing for the first night of Chanukkah.  The music, of course, was outstanding thanks to Joel Chernoff.  Close to three hundred people came out; many of which danced in a great dance circle.  About twenty of our children had their own dance circle thanks to some outstanding women of God who jumped in and helped the kids!

The words that describe the event for me are "wonderful, exciting, amazing, and awesome."  Of course the entire point was to celebrate our Messiah Yeshua together in unity.  For Beit Messiah it was a no-brainer.  We belong to both the IAMCS and the UMJC.  Beit Tikvah is our sister congregation through the IAMCS and Beit HaShofar is our sister congregation through the UMJC.   This was not just about bringing together all/any  "Messianic" groups in Seattle.  This was about bringing three like-minded Messianic rabbis and their synagogues who are focused on the same purpose: sharing Yeshua with our Jewish people in Seattle in a Jewish way.  Our three congregations are different.  We do things differently.  And this is to our benefit.  We are not saying that any of us do Messianic Judaism "right"!  We are saying we are three expressions of what Messianic Judaism is!  And to come together to celebrate the end of Shabbat, the Festival of Chanukkah, and Messianic Judaism in Seattle was a joy!

Special thanks go out to Joel Chernoff, his music was the catalyst for this special night.  I also want to thank Dan Behrens who did a fantastic job with everything audio/visual.  Phil Baxter leading our offering team, Fred Savo leading greeters, Mechele Baird helping me take care of Joel, the people that helped at the merchandise table.  Thanks to Dave Petrie getting our Beit Messiah banner waaaaaaay up on the wall, Jennifer Benvenuti for leading all the dancers, Janelle Behrens and her team for setting up coffee and cookies.  Thanks to Maryanne Savo and P.K. White for being so detail oriented and making sure the event went smoothly, everyone who helped with set up and break down, North Seattle Alliance Church for their partnership and friendship.  Thanks to Rabbi Hylan Slobodkin and Rabbi Jason Forbes for their friendship and co-leading in this event. Thank you to the people from Beit Messiah, Beit HaShofar, and Beit Tikvah and so many other friends who came out and supported this outstanding effort of unity.

The end of the event was one of my favorite parts when Rabbi Hylan, Rabbi Jason and I stood on the stage together as representatives of our synagogues.  To close the event Rabbi Hylan led us in the Aaronic benediction.  Psalm 133:1 says, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" And we did! And it was awesome!

If you have pictures from this event please send them to Rabbi@BeitMessiah.com so we can share them!

Yeshua means salvation. Yeshu does not. Yahshua means nothing.

I believe that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah of Israel. Yeshua literally means "salvation" as in what He supplies to those who believe in Him. In Matthew 1:21 the Gospel reads, "...and you are to give Him the name Yeshua, because He will save His people from their sins.” And He did. And He is. And He will.

We, Messianic Jews, do not exist to trick/deceive our Jewish people into Christianity. We are not trying to lure unsuspecting Jews into denying the God of Israel. We believe in all sincerity that Yeshua is Who He said He is: the One we've been waiting for -- Mashiach.

Sometimes the name Yeshu is used by non-Messianic Jews to describe Yeshua. But these names do not mean the same thing. The name "Yeshu" is actually an acronym for the formula (ימח שמו וזכרו(נו (Y'mach Sh'mo V'Zichro) meaning "may his name and memory be obliterated." When non-Messianic Jews use this name, it is an intentionally derogatory name for Yeshua.  They treat Yeshua like he is the Voldemort of Judaism -- as in "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named".

I get it; they don't believe as I do. I get that what I believe is insulting to some. I understand that non-Messianic Jews would rather I not describe myself as Jewish; and, in fact, believe I am not Jewish. My mother is not Jewish (my dad is). My wife is not Jewish (her husband is). Yet, according to the Torah I still qualify. The truth is I do not follow the rules of orthodoxy and they don't follow my rules either. My last name is Rosenberg. I look like any other kid of Eastern European Jewish descent. I can't help what I am: a Jew who believes in Jesus; a Jew who believes he lives up to the Hebrew name his parents gave him -- Yeshua (Salvation). I am rightfully insulted when non-Messianic Jews refer to Yeshua as Yeshu.

In a similar sense some who claim to be Messinaic/"Hebrew Roots" like to use the spelling Yahshua. It is an attempt to fit "Yah" into Yeshua's name. I get it. But it doesn't work grammatically and scholars overwhelming reject "Yahshua" as a legit Hebrew name.

In English His name is Jesus. In Hebrew His name is Yeshua. He was a real Jewish person Who lived in Israel in the first century. Most can agree here (even Shmuley Boteach). The disagreement is what happened after His life: His death, His resurrection, the over 500 Jewish witnesses who saw Him alive 40 days after He died. I don't believe in Yeshua because I want to freak the rest of my Jewish people out. I'm not trying to trick anyone. I am convinced that Yeshua is the Messiah for Israel and all of the nations – for the whole world. Believing in Him can bring what His actual name promises: salvation, eternity, a life that never ends and which is reunited with the One Who gives life.

The Incarnational Reality of Sukkot

In my mind there is no greater holiday than Sukkot.  Some of my best childhood memories come from celebrating Sukkot with my family and congregation.  Building sukkot (both at home and for the congregation), eating in the sukkah, praying in the sukkah, and sometimes sleeping in the sukkah.  In college we built a sukkah every year and in my senior year I got some of my buddies to sleep in it with me until it began to rain.  One midrash says, "A man who sleeps in a Sukkah while it is raining is an idiot."  We took this to heart and retreated back to our house.  I have so many great stories and memories wrapped up in the celebration of this wonderful holiday.

View from Congregational Sukkah

Yesterday, I had an awesome experience as I sat in our synagogue's sukkah and wrote my sermon for this coming Shabbat Sukkot.  One Rabbi wrote, "there is a midrash that says that sukkot are not buildings at all but the glory of God." And that got me thinking.  As I sat in the Sukkah, reading and praying, I had the opportunity to sit in the glory of God.  It is easy in our sukkah because it is right by a lake and, though it is getting cold the sound of the leaves, wind, water, birds and corn stalks on our sukkah led me in a quiet peace that I have not experienced in a while.  The sukkah is a physical representation of the presence (or glory) of God; to sit in it during Sukkot while reading and praying was to invite God's glory into my life, even if just for a moment.  I played "Show Me Thy Glory" by Marty Goetz on my iPad and of course, as only Marty Goetz's music can, I felt the presence of the Lord with me.  

I know, cheesy right?  I agree.

But, it was also real.

During the middle Shabbat of Sukkot we read Exodus 33-34 (A curious passage for Sukkot since the holy day is hardly mentioned).  Moses says to God, "show me your glory."  And God does.  He warns Moses that no one will see God's face and live.  So, instead He passes by Moses and shows him His back.

Moses' desire is to see the glory of God and God obliges. 

This is Sukkot: If you want to see God's glory all you have to do is ask; then take the time to sit back and enjoy it.  

There is an incarnational reality that so many people miss regarding Sukkot.  We call Sukkot "the Feast of Ingathering", "the Feast of Tabernacles", and "the Time of our Rejoicing".   God's desire is to gather all the exiles back to Himself as a farmer gathers all the crops in the Autumn (feast of ingathering).  He wants to "tabernacle" with us.  Tabernacle means "to dwell" or "to live" and that is precisely what the God of creation wants to do.  He wants us to tabernacle in His presence (feast of tabernacles).  He did all this so that we can rejoice in His presence and let the cares of this world fade away (time of our rejoicing).  The incarnational reality of Sukkot is that God gives us the opportunity to Sukkot (tabernacle) in His presence. 

We can take it one step higher in the person of Yeshua.  John 1:14 says, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling [sukkot; tabernacled] among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."  John is using imagery from the Feast of Sukkot.  The Word, Yeshua, came to Sukkot among us.  Just like we do every Sukkot, John turns to the concept of the glory of God. "We have seen His glory. the glory of the one and only Son..."  The incarnational reality of Sukkot is that Yeshua left heaven, was born as a baby, grew in stature and knowledge, and brought the glory of God into a human body (the incarnation). 

Why would God do such a thing? 

He was answering the cry of Moses for all of Israel.  We say, "show us your glory" and God in His wisdom sent "the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." Amazing!

Beit Messiah's Sukkah in Seattle

The whole point of building sukkot is that they are temporary.  Sitting, eating, sleeping and all that we do in the sukkah is temporary because we only do it for eight days out of three hundred and sixty five.  As with all of the feasts in scripture we are called to remember what happened in our past but also "remember" what will happen in the future.  There will come a day when we will only be in the presence of God and there will be nothing else...

No sun, moon or stars...

Only us (those who call on the name of Yeshua) and the presence of God.

During this Sukkot, take the time to sit in the sukkah and enjoy the glory of God.  If you don't have a sukkah, no worries; the presence of God will go anywhere and at any time.  All you have to do is want to see it and ask God for it.

It is temporary.

You will have to ask again.

But, it is a wonderful picture of all that we hope for. 

The prophet Zechariah writes (in another special reading for Sukkot), "On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies to the east of Yerushalayim...Then ADONAI will be king over the whole world. On that day ADONAI will be the only one, and his name will be the only name...everyone remaining from all the nations that came to attack Yerushalayim will go up every year to worship the king, ADONAI-Tzva’ot, and to keep the festival of Sukkot" (14:2-16 CJB).

You are a sukkah and you can house the presence of God.  Just as Yeshua became the God/Man we, not being God, can have the glory of God reside in us. 

We become His sukkah.

Just as a sukkah is temporary so, we are temporarily on this earth as foreigners and strangers and the God of Israel is calling us home.  He, through Messiah Yeshua, wants to ingather us (Feast of Ingathering), so that He can dwell in us (Feast of Tabernacles) so that we can rejoice in Him (the Time of our Rejoicing)!

Chag Sukkot Sameach (Happy Sukkot)!