Testimonials

How I Met My Messiah
Jon Weiner

I have no doubts about my relationship with God. I believe that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Son of God and that he is indeed the foretold Messiah, born of a virgin, a man who was and is fully God. Yet, my journey to reach this statement of faith was not so easy. I am Jewish, raised in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, in a small community where Christians were the minority. My religious instruction, slim at best, was steeped in Jewish culture. I literally knew nothing about Yeshua – and I didn’t care to know anything.

My parents taught me self-sufficiency. My father was a fine art professor at a college, my mother a pianist and teacher. When I was five, I was handed a cello and told that this was what I would be doing the rest of my life. I was destined, in their minds to be a musician. I practiced and worked knowing that I must succeed. By the age of 12, I was well on my way to a career as a classical musician.

But it was the late 60’s, a time of change and "revolution". As did many other teens, I drifted from my parent’s desires, turned on, tuned out and went counter culture. I began playing electric bass in bands and studied Eastern philosophy. I was a seeker, looking for God. Judaism had nothing to offer me. Nor did Christianity. I knew that the real God could not have anything to do with either. I believed those religions were full of hypocrites. I saw nothing that made me want to be like them.

In the 70’s I had graduated with a music degree and a heart dedicated to New Age philosophy. I read the great books, like Be Here Now by Guru Maharashi. I mixed that with a helping of Frederic Nitche. I was a philosopher who knew a bit about everything and a lot about nothing, and was quite happy with my life in general. In 1980, I lived in Guadalajara Mexico as a member of the symphony orchestra. I spent my days playing music and meditating on top of Toltec pyramids, waiting on a word from the god I created in my image. In 1985 I was invited to come to church by my live-in girlfriend. She grew up in the church and had drifted. That was the only way she would have ended up with me! It was Southeast Christian Church and the pastor was Bob Russell. I came and listened. I thought he was confused at best and most likely one of those Bible-thumpers. In my arrogance, I decided to meet Bob, challenge him on his belief’s and show him how confused and narrow he was. We met and Bob challenged me to look with my own eyes at the whole Bible. Were the Messianic claims of Jesus true? Was there really a spiritual life that could be gained from faith in this him? I read C.S. Lewis’ treatise "Mere Christianity".

I read the Bible and a funny thing happened. Bob would challenge, I would read and it somehow made sense to me. We met weekly. For the first time I began to see with clear eyes the message of the Bible. It was a message I had been seeking throughout my spiritual journey. It was a message that communicated an eternal truth that transcended what other cultures and religions professed. The message of the Messiah was, simply and profoundly, Love. Love for God, love for one another. Love that has compassion, even upon an enemy. Love that does not just talk, but acts. Love that is not temporary, like so many relationships and friendships I had experienced, but was life-long and eternal. I realized that I had found truth. I understood and believed that Bob’s Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. I knew that this was the path for me.

In February of 1986, I entrusted my life to God through Yeshua. To say my life changed would be an understatement of dramatic proportions. Nothing remained the same. I had a voracious appetite to learn about the Lord. I read, studied, asked many questions; God has blessed me by giving me a joy I have never known. God was drawing me all along. He drew me to him even when I did not know Him, using ordinary people who shared their lives willingly. I would love for you to look into the claims of Messiah Yeshua, to learn about him. Seek with an open mind the claims of the Bible and measure them against any other religion. Could Yeshua be the Messiah promised thousands of years ago to Israel? If he is that Messiah, then believing in him is the MOST Jewish thing you could do. If you would like to engage in a lively debate on this subject, give me a call. My name is Jon Weiner. I am and always will be a Jew. I believe in Yeshua, Jesus, as my personal Messiah and the Messiah of Israel and the world.

 

Testimonials

Rabbi Tom Blackburn

Tom Blackburn became a believer in Messiah Yeshua in the early 1980’s after many years of searching for the truth. While watching a television show in which a couple shared about the Messiah, Tom realized that accepting Him is exactly the thing to fill the deep void in his life as a successful businessman.  After doing so, he quit his job as vice president of transportation sales in a thriving company with the sole explanation that he needed to find out more about G-d.

The L-rd began to work in Tom’s life swiftly and he began participating in a street team sharing G-d’s word with people all over the greater Los Angeles area. He also became involved in an outreach to the Jewish people. As the outreach began to grow and bear fruit, Tom acquired many connections within the Messianic Jewish movement.

One such person recommended he attend the American Messianic Fellowship, a school in Chicago geared toward training students in outreach to Jewish people. At the school, Tom gained a deeper understanding of the Jewish people and how to share the Messiah with them.

While attending a national Messianic Jewish conference he met his wife Phyllis; a Jewish believer who had grown up in the Messianic movement. Not long after they were married, Tom and Phyllis moved to Southern California where they pioneered and led a Messianic Jewish congregation for 13 years. At that point they felt the call to move to Israel.

The Blackburn’s led a small congregation during their two and a half years in the Land.  Israel is where they began writing newsletters relating the Scriptures with what is happening today. Upon their return to the United States, the newsletters continued and in 2006, their nonprofit organization, HaShomer, was born. Having returned to Cincinnati where they currently reside, they were approached about helping to start a Messianic Jewish congregation in Louisville, KY.  They accepted that call in 2006, and today that congregation has become Adat HaTikvah.