SBMF News

Shalom to all. “The grace of the Adonai Yeshua Ha'Mashiach, and the love of Elohim, and the fellowship of the Ruach HaKodesh, be with you all.”

We pray that your Pesach was good. We have received several reports of Pesach Seders where G-d moved in powerful ways.

It is possible that some of our new members did not complete the contact information on the membership page, when they signed up with the SBMF, or we have the information incorrect in our records. We have no email address or phone contacts for some of you. Please check to see if you sent us this information. Email and telephone are our main means of contact.

If you have not heard from us recently this could be the reason. We could also have your information incorrectly in our records. Email addresses and phone numbers change all the time. Please contact us via email or fill in the information on the SBMF Membership page of our web site.

If you don't have email or wish not to release your phone number to us, please let us know by filling in your name in the membership page, and either stating the word "No" in the space for email or phone numbers.

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation? [Hebrews 1:14 NASU]

Please pray for Rabbi Orlando Garcia, his wife and family, as they serve the Kingdom by starting a new work called Beth Tefilah in Cartersville, GA.

This last Shabbat the leadership and members of Beth Tafilah's sponsoring congregation, Mishkan David in Marietta, GA. ordained Brother Orlando to Pastoral Ministry. Baruch Ha'Shem Yeshua.

Rabbi Aaron Evans of Mishkan David will be sending us some photographs and a summery of the events.

In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety. [Psalms 4:8 NASU]

There is some SBMF news that you need to know about. The SBMF Annual meeting is coming to Louisville, Kentucky this June. We have worked hard to bring you a wonderful time of praise, prayer, worship and teaching.

When you look at this page you will find the schedule of events and information about the event. We have the speakers and the worship leader listed for you to check out. The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Board is so gracious in supplying us with meeting rooms for this three day event. We praise the name of Yeshua for bringing such wonderful saints into our lives.

Please take a look at the ministries that are active in the SBMF at this time. Click on this link:

I am one of those SBMF members who has family members who are lost and perishing. My prayer is that we Southern Baptists proactively engage telling the Jewish people right here in the USA about the gift of Salvation in Mashiach Yeshua.

Thank you so very much for your continued prayers and financial investment in this ministry. As you partner with us, our amazing God works through you to bring the Good News to our Jewish neighbors. Let me share some of the things He has brought about since our last report.

First, we want to give you an update on our son and daughter-in-law. Deidra has had a pacemaker installed and is making the adjustments that go along with the changes in her health status. She and David are maturing in the Lord, and we sense a tremendous growth in the closeness they are experiencing in their Christian walk. Donna and I want to thank all of you again for your many prayers and letters of support.

We were especially moved by the loving expression of one of our friends, who had a tree planted in Israel in remembrance of our granddaughter. Trees have always played an important role in Jewish culture. In Genesis, seed bearing plants and fruit trees were put on the Earth before any other living thing; and the Tree of Life, which God placed in the center of the Garden of Eden, is a symbol of Jewish existence and continuity. Planting a tree in Israel is an especially significant way of honoring the memory of a person or a special occasion.

We have some exciting news about an upcoming, national broadcast of a radio drama featuring my testimony. Some of you may be familiar with the “Unshackled” radio program, sponsored by the Pacific Garden Mission of Chicago. They’re doing a two-part series as a dramatization of my life, complete with actors and old-time radio sound effects! We’re thrilled about this opportunity to bear witness to the power of the Lord, and want to encourage you to listen when the program airs August 30 and September 5. For broadcast times in your local area, please visit the Unshackled website at www.unshackled.org. Donna and I are working to raise money to go to Chicago for the production of the program on May 9. We pray that we will have an opportunity to speak to the staff and clients of Pacific Garden Mission.

We’re in the process of completing a “who’s who” listing of leaders in the Messianic community, primarily for use by the urban church. We’re thankful for our volunteer writer/editor who’s compiling this list; please pray that she will be added to our paid staff, as the Lord leads.

Congregation Sar Shalom is growing. We are now nearly 50 strong. I want to encourage all of our local supporters to visit us at our Bible studies on Thursdays, 6:30-8:45 p.m., and every Shabbat (Saturday), 11 a.m.-1 p.m., at Calvary Baptist Church, 24520 N. Chrysler Drive, Hazel Park, Michigan. Donna and I would enjoy seeing you and having you be part of our worship experience.

Planning continues for the Fourth Annual Shalom Ministry Dessert Reception at Bloomfield Hills Baptist Church , Friday, May 29. Our program will include music by Antoinette Harkonen, strong testimonies by people impacted by Shalom Ministry and a PowerPoint presentation about our ministry. Our keynote speaker, WMUZ Christian talk show host Bob Dutko, will deliver a stirring message; and you will have a chance to meet our volunteer staff. This is one event you don’t want to miss! For more information, please call our office: 248-545-8800, ext. 28.

Please pray for our quarterly board meeting in May. We’re thrilled by the caliber of men God is using to give leadership and direction and help us in the growth process.

Please continue to pray for Elana, Moe and Diana, Sarah, Coby, Rebecca, Barry, and all the Jewish people with whom God has given us favor. We are continually sharing the Gospel with them and trust the Lord for their imminent salvation. Please remember to pray for Joshua, a young Jewish man who, as we reported some months ago, was released from prison. He is now enrolled in college and working at reconciliation with his wife. We have established an accountability partner for him, and he has become a member of Sar Shalom.

Our Jewish couples’ support group, Chavarah, will be starting up again in May. Please pray for the families who will be a part of this ministry.

Finally, we are revising our mailing list and would appreciate it if you will take the time to send your current email address to us at ShalomMinistry77@aol.com. We are attempting to contain costs by taking advantage of electronic mail as much as possible. We are also looking for volunteers to assist in the ministry. We need assistance with mailings, phone calling, event planning and evangelism. Please email us or call our office at 248-545-8800, ext. 28, if you can help.

Again, Donna and I want to thank you for your ongoing and generous support as we continue to reach out with the Gospel to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Ministry news from Congregational Leader Lewis Gillilan of Beit Shomrim, in Longview, TX.

We meet in the Fellowship Hall at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church
1300 Judson Road
Longview, TX

PRAISE HIS NAME!-God bless you and your family! Thank you for supporting our ministry. Please pray for BOLDED newsletter items and our MINISTRY in general. Please pray for our Passover Party Outreach on Apr 11 and DETAILS of the Oregon/Washington trip (Jewish non-believers WILLIAM, DAVID & GALA).

DIVINE APPOINTMENTS-I try to wear my “Jesus Loves You” Jewish star t-shirt and carry Gospel tracts everywhere I go. While at the cash machine, ROI and his FRIEND (Israeli non-believers) drove up right after synagogue and were challenged by my shirt. I met and shared with BARAK (Israeli) at the post office. I finally met and shared with MARILYN (Jewish non-believer) who sees my shirt at the gym. INNA (Jewish non-believer), our Golden Coral waitress, told me her daughter JULIA (Jewish non-believer) has the same shirt (she asked me for one awhile ago because she liked it). Inna said if she can change her schedule, she wants to bring Julia to our Tuesday night FELLOWSHIP. I met and shared with two ISRAELIS at Publix after they noticed my shirt. One lives locally and the other was visiting. While showing off my shirt at Costco, I met my neighbor STAN (Jewish non-believer) and my friend DAVID (Afro American Gentile believer) who is in a Bible study at a synagogue and was asked to lead it one Saturday. David wanted my advice, and we sat with Stan for two hours!

PHOENIX, ARIZONA-I attended the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism meeting where ministers doing Jewish evangelism meet for networking and educational papers. We equipped many with “Jesus Loves You” t-shirts and Gospel tracts. Six of us from all over the USA knew each other from the same Internet chat room and had dinner. Phoenix is thought to have the fastest growing Jewish population in the United States so I arrived early and stayed after the LCJE meeting to show off my t-shirt and distribute Gospel tracts at college campuses, malls (ANNA, Russian Jewish non-believer saw my shirt from upstairs, ran down and told me she had never met a Jewish believer in Jesus) and street corners. We gave out shirts and tracts at a skate park and witnessed to a Jewish FAMILY! I visited a Jewish FAMILY of believers, called JULIE’s non-believing Jewish FAMILY and ministered at a CHURCH. I spent some eight hours distributing thousands of Gospel tracts at Arizona State University. I witnessed to MANY Jewish and other students, faculty and campus workers from all over the world! There were three Jewish students who were hostile towards me, but when I ran into them a second and third time while walking around campus, they were more open and some actually took Gospel tracts!

PURIM PARTY OUTREACH-We had a great time celebrating the deliverance of the Jewish people! We had many Jewish NON-BELIEVERS join us. JOLIE came as Queen Esther, JUDY came as Haman, I came as King Xerxes and DOUG came as “Swami the Salami” (pray for him)! Jolie is Jewish and claims to believe in Jesus, but doesn’t attend church or our Tuesday Fellowship? I helped her with housework (she’s disabled), and encouraged her to read her Bible. She said she doesn’t believe the Bible, but would read the tract I gave her.

OTHER MINISTRY NEWS-The belligerent police OFFICER who harassed me and wrongly cited me for proclaiming Jesus at the Atlanta Jewish Center Festival in May 2008, resigned from the police force and the judge dismissed my court case! I was told the officer was involved in an incident of questionable use of force and resigned prior to being fired. The CHURCH I joined recently didn’t want to support my “confrontational” evangelistic activities and did not allow us to have a ministry table at the sample sale they invited us back to? I moved my membership to the FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF WOODSTOCK where I was welcomed with open arms! MOISHE ROSEN, JEWS FOR JESUS Founder, endorsed our ministry (https://www.savethejews.org/uploads/DC_25012207.pdf )!

“Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!”-Romans 11:11-12

LURA in Arad, Israel: Thought you would like to know - Avi asked for a sweat shirt with the Jesus loves you in Russian. He is wearing it everywhere! Here is a miracle -- There is a little old Jewish lady (unbeliever) who sells socks at the shuk. When she first met us, she was very hostile, but over the years she has softened and now she wants one of your shirts for her (grown-up) son to wear. Avi asked if he realizes what the words mean and did she know he would get a little trouble from the orthodox wearing it. She said it was understood and she wanted the shirt. We never met her son, but just the fact she asked for the shirt for him is a major step in the right direction! Eddie wears his shirt every time we go to court, which is fairly often! Actually he wears it every time we go anywhere. We also gave some of the T-shirts to a tour group from Norway and they wore them on their tour through Israel and then back in Norway! (A documentary was made concerning Messianic Jews in Israel centering around AMI ORTIZ who had a Purim package explode in his face last year. This same tour group from Norway visited Ami. One WOMAN wore the “Jesus Loves You” t-shirt. They did a close up on her t-shirt with Hebrew sub titles saying “Jesus Loves You” and this was televised on Israeli National Television! http://www.mako.co.il/tv-ilana_dayan/2009-ba6de11e0d2bf110/Article-6218270b6a8cf11004.htm)

RHONDA in Nevada: I keep forgetting to tell you that Samson who attends Richard Hill’s congregation is from Ethiopia. Well he just started coming to UNLV with us. Last week was his first time to evangelize on campus. He wore your shirt. His first conversation resulted in a salvation!! Yipee!! Love, Rhonda

SHARI in Nevada: I started wearing your t-shirt and already met one Jewish non-believer for sure who I was able to share with. Your prayers about finding ways to get Jewish people into the restaurant are working. Thanks be to God and thanks to you for all your prayers. Pray this week as Rhonda is supposed to be bringing in Rich Robinson's parents to the Diner.

SHELLEY in Missouri: Shalom Steve! What fun we had participating in The St. Patrick’s Day Outreach at Chai v’ Shalom in the Dogtown Parade in the St. Louis area! The weather was unusually warm for this time of the year. It got up to almost 80 degrees! The Kelly green Jesus Loves You Star of David shirts brought the message of Messiah. There were several “not yet believing” Jewish people that were challenged by our t-shirts. I was surprised that several of my own Jewish family came to visit at the Congregation office as well as a Jewish friend I’ve known since third grade!

We handed out free lollipops to children. We had a free book table set up with CEF Wonder Books for Children, Psalms and Proverbs Bibles, and pamphlets that addressed issues of today with comfort from the scriptures, as well as other reading material. We walked the parade route and handed out a couple thousand tracts. The crowds are used to seeing us each year at the Parade. There were several Believers that came over to say “hi” that remembered us from previous years. Several people asked for information about the Messianic Congregation. Many Passover Seder invitations were handed out. Attached is a group photo of everybody wearing the t-shirts you provided. Thank you so much for making the day special.

ED in Indiana: Wow the shirt again today at the library a few moments ago met a man I had met at a local church months ago we talked about seeing you in Atlanta and the shirt he had ordered one from you and told me that he recieved it wow so cool to run into him in the library wow also while at a dunkin donuts outlet met a man who saw the shirt which was in spanish and he asked about the shirt he did not know spanish but still asked what is that in the middle of the star explained to him about Messiah the Jewishness etc he wants to know more wow it's happening over and over and over oh the JOY excitement of the LORD wow LOL YEAH oh what a Blessing will contact you tomorrow shalom shalom sha alu shalom Yerushalyim

Above-tithe donations, payable to Jewish Outreach International
and designated for Steve Kaplan, can be sent to:
Jewish Outreach International
PO Box 720375
Atlanta, Georgia 30328
or
Electronic Donations
https://www.savethejews.org/DONATE.html

Our vision is to see Russian Jews gathered into vibrant Messianic congregations being a light to the nations.

1. Thank you so much for your prayers for the Passover seders that I hosted last week-end. They both went very well. On Saturday I had 13 Russian guests. I believe that it was the first time that any of them had attended a Passover seder. They all seemed to really enjoy it and want to do one again next year. God gave me the grace to get through the whole liturgy in Russian without getting tongue tied too many times. On Sunday I had 15 American guests. Some of them had participated in a seder before and others had not. All of them said that they really enjoyed it. I was so blessed to be able to celebrate Passover in my home with brothers and sisters. Slavo Bogy. (Praise the Lord!)

2. Two new IMB families arrived in Novosibirsk on Saturday. They will be here for several months studying language. One couple is staying in my old apartment so I have been over there a few times to help them get things set up. I have enjoyed getting to know them and look forward to getting to know the other new families as well.

3. We stopped our ladies Bible study about a month ago as we waited to see if our colleagues the Bolls would be returning here. Since they will not be we decided to continue our study and have invited the new ladies on our team. I am looking forward to once again studying the Word with my sisters. Please pray for our study on Monday evening to be encouraging for all of us.

4. Yesterday I actually stayed home all day and got caught up on lots of things. I have not had a day without appointments of one sort or another for several weeks now so this was truly a gift from God. I still have lots of things on my to do list but at least I had one day to rest this week. Please pray that I will manage to fit a day of rest in my schedule every week.

1. Tomorrow (4/19) will be my last Hebrew lesson until the Fall. I have really enjoyed the lessons and especially enjoyed getting to know my classmates. Please pray that our final lesson will be encouraging to all and pray that I will find ways to stay connected with the group during the summer. I would love to have them all over to my apartment for a housewarming party sometime.

2. On Tuesday night (4/21) I will be traveling to the city of Perm with my team-mate Chelsea. We are going to visit our team-mate Rachel who is temporarily living there. We will be traveling 24 hours by train to get there and will be returning on Sunday. Tomorrow I will be buying the train tickets. Please pray that we can find reasonably priced tickets for the time that we want them. Also please pray that God will give us safety as we travel and that we would have opportunities to share our faith with those who we are traveling with. Next Thursday is Rachel’s birthday so we are traveling this week in order to celebrate with her. Please pray that God will bless our time there and that we would be able to encourage Rachel as we spend time with her and our other co-workers who live in Perm. I will probably not have internet access while I’m away so I’ll send my next update after I return.

3. Dodi and Ariela will be staying by themselves while I am away. One of my colleagues, who lives near by, will be coming by to feed them every day. Please pray that will go smoothly and that my girls won’t miss me too much while I’m gone.

4. Zoya and I have still not managed to find a time to meet with her pastor. Since I will be out of town several days next week it may not be possible for us to meet for at least another week. Please pray that we will be able to arrange that meeting soon so that we can begin to meet with those who want to serve the Jewish people of Novosibirsk.

5. Tomorrow (4/19) is Easter here in Russia. Many Protestant churches have special services on this day, as we do in the West. Please pray that many people who would not normally attend church would be willing to come to an Easter service tomorrow. Pray that the message of the Gospel would be clearly communicated and that many people would respond in faith. Jesus is risen! He is risen indeed!

Thanks so much for your prayers and for your patience with me as I try to get caught up on my correspondence.

Beth El Shaddai is hosting a Mid-Rash study over the internet each Monday evening. This web study is moth in text and voice over the internet. As soon as we have the details, we will post them on this page.

Monday Night Midrash is now "Online" - to access the room please contact us via email at: info@shaddai.com

News from Amy Downey at Tzedakah Ministries -- "To Equip His Church to Reach His People"

The purpose of Tzedakah Ministries can be found in its name -- Tzedakah -- which in Hebrew means "righteousness." However, Tzedakah means so much more. As the Holman Bible Dictionary explains, “.... righteousness is the fulfillment of the terms of a covenant between God and humanity or between humans in the full range of human relationships.”

Tzedakah Ministries has a burden to see the Jewish people restored to a righteous covenant relationship with Him -- one that is only possible through Messiah Jesus.

Take a look at her web site “Mystery Solved with Messiah Jesus is an apologetic discussion aspect of Tzedakah Ministries.”

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. [Matt 28:19-20 KJV]

We believe that we are what we eat. Eat Life from the Tree of Life. Be filled with the Light and Life of Yeshua. Read the Word.

Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near. [Revelation 1:3 NKJV]