Field Ministries Representative / Wyoming, Michigan

What is your background, and what is unique to your role at The Friends of Israel?

After fully giving my life to Christ on a volunteer trip to Mexico, I felt burdened to reach the world with the gospel. I spent two years living in Japan and traveling across Asia, then attended Ethnos360 Bible Institute in Waukesha, WI, to deepen my understanding of the Bible and outreach. After getting married, I earned a degree in entrepreneurial leadership and linguistics from Kuyper College. I then spent the next two years teaching myself biblical Hebrew, which led me to pray more earnestly for the Jewish people and ultimately compelled me to serve them.

I have the joy of serving the Jewish communities along the Lake Michigan shoreline. By building friendships, volunteering, and doing daily life with my Jewish friends, I desire to showcase the love of the Messiah to all whom I encounter, that His joy and truth may be ever-present on my lips. I also have the pleasure of instilling a love for God’s Word into churches across my region. Through teaching biblical Hebrew, one-on-one discipleship, writing articles, or hosting seminars on biblical topics such as the biblical feasts, the relevancy of the Torah, and the Jewish New Testament(?), I get to see God’s people grow a deep passion for His Word and also for the nation of Israel.

What inspires you most to do what you do for FOI?

Then Yeshua said to the Judeans who had trusted Him, “If you abide in My word, then you are truly My disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free!” (John 8:31–32, TLV).

I am a lover of Truth. When God reached into my life as a teenager and saved me from the self-destructive pattern I had set for myself, my life became committed to uncovering and sharing the truth of my Messiah with the lost around the world.

After growing up with parents who had graduated from the Institute for Biblical Studies, going to Israel twice on ORIGINS as a teenager, visiting Jewish sites across Europe, being involved at a local synagogue in Wisconsin, and studying biblical Hebrew for two years, I simply couldn’t deny that God had put a deep love for the Jewish people in my heart.

What is one bit of wisdom you have for those who want to share the love of the Messiah with others?

Don’t allow fear to dictate how you reach out to others. I was involved in door-to-door ministry for several years, and I was terrified every time I knocked on a door. But it was in those moments when I lacked strength or courage that I saw God perform His most powerful acts. Rely on the Lord to do His work. He doesn’t need you to change someone’s mind—He’s inviting you to partner with Him. When I look out at our church and see people there because I knocked on their door, I see how faithful God has been to this timid man and I am just as blessed as our new members.

What Scripture compels you the most to do what you do?

For I tell you, you will never see Me again until you say, “Baruch ha-ba b’shem Adonai. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!” (Matthew 23:39 TLV).

What books have you read (other than the Bible) that have impacted your spiritual life most?

Into the Wilds: The Dangerous Truth Every Man Needs to Know by Brent Alan Henderson, Bruchko by Bruce Olsen, and Topgun: An American Story by Dan Pedersen.

Project Code: SU115