Author Archives: Carissa Kerstetter

June 2017: Reaching the South Zone

You might remember that our exciting plans to open a guesthouse in Rio first began as the dream of our friend and coworker, Stephen Arnold. We are excited to share his newsletter with you this month about the work he has been doing to open up the field of Brazil for Chosen People Ministries.

 

“We want to reach the entire South Zone of Rio with the Gospel.”

During my last trip to Rio de Janeiro, I had the opportunity to introduce Mitch Glaser, the president of Chosen People Ministries, to pastors and ministry leaders who I had connected with on my previous trips. The hope was to find people in Rio who have a heart for the Jewish people and want to partner with us in ministry. The churches that I have connected with in Brazil have different strengths and needs that will allow us to partner with them to advance the Gospel message.

It was during one of our meetings that a pastor expressed their mission strategy for ministry in Brazil. He explained, “We want to reach the entire South Zone of Rio with the Gospel. We realize that whatever happens in Rio influences the entire country of Brazil. We also know that whatever happens in the South Zone of Rio influences the rest of the city. If we can reach the South Zone of Rio, we will have an impact on the entire country of Brazil.”

 

We then went on to discuss the fact that the largest Jewish communities in Rio are in Botafogo, Ipanema, Copacabana, and Leblon. All of these neighborhoods are in the South Zone, and these are all places where Israeli backpackers are traveling as well. Our visions for ministry share the need for reaching the 30,000 Jewish people of Rio and the 10,000 Israeli backpackers who visit every year. If they are going to reach the South Zone, they will need to reach the Jewish people who are there as well. They may not have the resources to reach out to this specific group, but we do! I’m seeing a beautiful partnership forming!

 

Please pray that God would continue to guide our steps as we move forward in connecting with the local Body of Messiah in Rio de Janeiro. As we are connecting with these churches, we are also looking for Christian leaders and businessmen who want to serve on the board for Chosen People Ministries in Brazil. Pray that God will show us who he wants to be on this ministry board. Thank you so much for praying for my team and I as we prepare for the great adventure that God has placed before us. There is a lot of work to be done, and your prayer and support helps keep us going!

 

Your Servants in Messiah,

The BRAZIL Team: Stephen, BJ & Carissa

May 2017: The Name

“Do you always pray like that?” *Timor asked BJ quietly away from the group. “Do you pray out loud in restaurants or quietly in your mind? I say the same prayer before every meal, but you used your own words,” he went on, clearly intrigued.

How can we reach Jewish people with the Truth of Yeshua? Sometimes, it’s as simple as sharing a meal and opening the evening in prayer. As Paul wrote, “salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous,” (Romans 11:11b).

 As believers in Yeshua, we have a personal, intimate relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Out of deep reverence for God, Jewish people will not use His name, and instead call Him “Hashem,” or literally, “The Name.” But we know Him personally, and we call Him by name. Yehovah. Yeshua. Abba. And while traditional liturgies have their place in worship, we are not limited to memorized prayers to talk to our Father. We can use our own words to talk to Him. And that speaks volumes.

 We look forward eagerly to many more such meals and conversations with intrigued Israelis who may never have heard someone address their God by name and talk to Him like they would talk to a close friend. And how better to have those conversations than to live where Israelis travel and invite them into our home?

 Every month brings us closer to this goal! This month we conclude our chapter in Chicago and celebrate BJ’s completion of his double major as he graduates with a B.A. in Biblical Studies and Jewish Studies from Moody Bible Institute. Our “Messiah in the Passover” speaking tour last month began our “Partnership Development” and fundraising phase. At this time we have reached about 25% of our required monthly support goal. Please join us as we pray expectantly for our great God to do big things and bring in 100% of our support by the time we leave for New Zealand this Fall. It is incredible to see Him go before us to raise up partners for this work. As always, where He calls, He enables and provides. Thank you always for your continued prayers for us and your financial partnership in reaching Israelis with the Truth of Yeshua our Messiah. Many have never heard.

 Your partners in the Gospel,

 BJ and Carissa Kerstetter

*Name has been changed

April 2017: Security Check

If you have ever flown El Al to Israel, you know that your Israeli experience starts at the security gate. You know to be prepared for the routine bag checks, metal detectors, pat downs and series of mini interrogations at each level of security… and that’s all after the initial airport security check. But you also know that it’s just the beginning. In Israel, bag checks and metal detectors are standard procedure at malls, bus stations, and most other public buildings. It’s not unusual to see soldiers in civilian clothes carrying assault rifles sitting next to you on the bus or walking through the mall. And Israelis know that there are bomb shelters in every building and every apartment built after 1951.

 

“It’s easy to sell an Israeli insurance,” our friend, Matai, said with weariness heavy in his voice. “Because we live in constant awareness of the threat to our lives.”

 

It is difficult for me to imagine the kind of trauma it is to live under constant threat from every direction. To know that everyone I know has experienced war and knows what it’s like to hear the sirens and have under 2 minutes to run to the nearest bomb shelter.

 

As we look into Scripture, we know the harsh truth that the unbelieving world doesn’t want to accept: Israel will never know peace until her King returns. But we know that there is a kind of peace that transcends all circumstances. A kind of peace that endures through illness and through loss. In bomb shelters and in battle. For Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world,” (John 16:33).

 

Your partnership is the reason we can take real and lasting peace to a people whose very existence in this world stirs up conflict. Thank you for being ready vessels of that Peace.

Because of Yeshua,

BJ and Carissa Kerstetter

March 2017: Religiously Secular

To understand Israelis, you have to understand this: While Israeli culture is steeped in the tradition of religious Judaism, most Israelis are anything but. In fact, an overwhelming 80% of Israelis identify as non-religious.

We met *Timor at a Shabbat dinner in Argentina. And were surprised to learn that although he did not believe in God, he followed kosher laws so strictly that he insisted on waiting no less than the rabbinic requirement of 6 hours after eating the Argentinean steak dinner to enjoy a dairy dessert. This way the two would never touch. When we asked him why, his answer floored us.

His brows furrowed as he leaned forward and explained soberly, “My grandparents and their parents and their parents before them risked everything to live as Jews. Now that I have the freedom to live as a Jew in our own land, I will not dishonor them by giving up the freedom that they died for.”

For Timor and many like him, being Jewish is about identity and community. And often, it has little to do with religion. Because the religion that they know hasn’t answered the questions of their hearts. They haven’t experienced the grace of knowing the unconditional love of God through the atonement of Messiah. In fact, they’re not even waiting for Messiah. And they certainly don’t know that Jesus loves them. To your average Israeli? Jesus is just some white Christian guy that much of the world has historically used as an excuse to hate the Jews.

Your contribution to this ministry tells another story. Your gift says, I know that your Jewish identity is important and precious. Because God set the Jewish people apart to reveal Himself to the nations and to bring into the world the Jewish Messiah! By your act of love, you are redeeming the name of Jesus for Jewish Israelis. And we can not thank you enough.

We are so thankful for the opportunities we have had to share that love while studying in Israel the last two months, and also to be heading home now to wrap up our time at Moody Bible Institute. Soon, we will be traveling again to teach about Messiah in the Passover and we pray that God will use these presentations to bless many and stir up greater love in the Church for the Jewish people. Thank you for your continued prayer and support in all of these things.

 

Love,

BJ and Carissa

*Name changed

February 2017: Detour to New Zealand

More Jewish followers of Jesus live in Israel today than any other time in history. At the time of Pentecost (Shavuot) there were only 3,000 Jewish believers in the Land. Today, there are 30,000.

Though, God allowed a partial hardening of Jewish hearts, He promised that there would always be a remnant of Jewish people who are faithful to Him, (Romans 11:1-4). Our work – your work – is not in vain. Jewish people will continue to come to faith in Yeshua our Messiah. That’s a promise.

It encouraged our hearts to see this enduring truth fulfilled again in our own generation at Muchan, Chosen People Ministry’s international conference for Messianic young adults. Young Jewish and Gentile believers from across the globe gathered together to fellowship, look into Scripture, be challenged, and worship God together.

While there, we got to connect face-to-face with our ministry partner and friend, Stephen (Shmueli) Arnold, and hear more detail on his recent trip to Rio de Janeiro. There are many preparations to make before we move there as a team, as planned, in 2018. So, we are thankful for the ways that God has gone before us and for the groundwork Shmueli has laid to begin establishing a Brazilian board of directors for Chosen People Ministries, Brazil. God willing, this will be a step into further outreach to the Jewish community in Brazil.

After our Hebrew course in Tel Aviv and return to the States in March, our primary goal for this year will be growing our partnership team and raising 100% of our required monthly donations by October 2017, before we travel to New Zealand for our team’s first full backpacker season of ministry together. The three of us plan to work together at Zula Lodge, an extension of Chosen People Ministries, in New Zealand from November 2017 – April 2018. BJ and I look forward to finally working full time directly with Israeli outreach, as well as gaining experience and mentorship and further team bonding with Shmueli before we pioneer a new work together in Brazil.

As always, we covet your prayers for each piece of this extensive process, and are endlessly grateful for your faithful support each step of the way. We are not exagerating when we say, we could not do this without you.

Love in Yeshua,

BJ & Carissa

January 2017: Muchan [Ready]

Happy New Year to you and love from Prague! We’ve started 2017 off at full speed here at Chosen People Ministries’ Muchan conference and our calendar is packed into 2018! Every month this year is full of plans, from Hebrew studies in Tel Aviv to an exciting outreach destination for Fall 2017 (that we’re going to keep you guessing about just a little longer). Perhaps our most exciting plans this year are the ones we want to make with you!

After we complete our Hebrew program and return to the States in March, our priority for 2017 is growing and connecting with our incredible team of prayer warriors and financial partners (we love you!). This means that from May into September we will be crisscrossing the nation to catch up with you over coffee, update you on all you have enabled us to do thus far, share our heart for Israel and ministry vision with your Bible study or small group and pray together about how we can be a part of God’s great rescue mission for a lost and broken world.

Even as we return to the classroom and Hebrew grammar books this month, we are praying about how God will grow our partner team this summer. If you share our heart to reach young Israelis with the love of Yeshua, would you join us in advocating for this exciting opportunity to love on them in real and tangible ways? Perhaps you have friends who love Israel or share our heart for Jewish ministry, or maybe your Bible study has been praying about how to be a part of the Great Commission. Please email us if you are interested in hosting a ministry presentation or would like to sit down with us and talk about how you can join our team as a financial partner. It is only by the generous donations and fervent prayers of dedicated partners, such as you, that we can do this vital work. We are already setting dates on our calendar, so let us know soon if you want to put us on yours!

And please continue in prayer for us as we dive back into intensive language studies and stretch our brains and energy to their limits. We are so thankful for you and hope you will be overwhelmed by the Peace and Joy of our Messiah as we trust Him with each day and moment of this new year.

Love in Yeshua,

BJ and Carissa

Kerstetter Chronicles: Your Holiday “Done” List

That time of year has come again! With crisp air and frosted mornings come puffy winter layers and your holiday to-do list. So, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all that you have already done!

Together, we have accomplished a lot this year! Because of you Israelis have heard the Gospel. Because of your prayers, encouragement, service and financial support, the name of Jesus has been proclaimed and the Christmas story shared.

Together with you, we shared the Gospel of Messiah at the Shelter on the Lake in Argentina, prayerfully selected Rio de Janeiro as our future ministry location, led Passover Seders and taught about God’s heart for the Jewish people in numerous churches, served Holocaust survivors, foster children, Russian believers, and elderly immigrants in Israel.

Because of you, we had powerful Gospel conversations with Tali, Binyamin, Idan, Yosef, Dov and many others. Because you took action, they heard that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. And when we suffered the tragic loss of our brother, Levi, and our Israel outreach was cut short, your prayers, service and outpouring of love encouraged – and continue to encourage us- through our heartbreak.

As we continue our journey through this intense grief and look to the next year with mingled pain and joy, we are more thankful than ever for your place on this team. It is harder than ever to make plans or share them with you, with this heavy reminder so fresh in our minds that God alone knows what the days ahead will hold. But, with complete trust that our lives and futures are secure in His hands, we continue to make plans and move forward.

God willing, we will welcome 2017 in Prague at Muchan – Chosen People Ministry’s international conference – looking into God’s Word with great speakers, connecting with Messianic young adults, forging valuable connections, sharing our heart and vision for reaching Israeli backpackers with new friends, and looking for potential workers to join us in the ministry! Following Muchan, we will return to the Hebrew studies we started in Tel Aviv. And when we return to the States in March, we begin the exciting work of growing our partnership team – raising funds and recruiting prayer warriors to enable us to take the next step in Fall 2017 (to be announced soon).

So, as you celebrate the birth of our Messiah this Christmas season, please continue to pray for our travels, studies, health and family; but most of all please remember Yeshua’s heart for his people and continue to pray with us for their salvation.

With love and grateful hearts,

BJ and Carissa

Kerstetter Chronicles: November 2016 Location Reveal

Towering 2,300 feet above the largest urban jungle in the world looms one of South America’s most beloved icons. Israelis call him “Yeshu.” Literally translated, it is an acronym meaning “may His name be blotted out forever.” Some know what they’re saying. But many don’t even know that isn’t his real name. We cringe when we hear it, and gently inform them that his mother would have called him “Yeshu-a,” (which literally means “salvation”).

But of the more than 10,000 Israelis who backpack through South America each year, about one-third will visit the city, and many of those will make the journey up the mountain to see the iconic statue, regardless of how they might feel about the man himself.

What an incredible opportunity it could be to make that journey up that mountain with them, don’t you think? To pose to them the question, “Did you know that Yeshua is Jewish?” Or, perhaps, “Did you know that Yeshua kept Torah and taught in the synagogues?” Imagine the conversations we might have!

After months of discussion, consideration and prayer as a team, and with the leadership of Chosen People Ministries, it is with great excitement that we would like to announce to you, that we have every intention of having those incredible conversations on that iconic mountain! Because we have decided that, God willing, we will be opening our guesthouse in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!

Not only is Rio host to thousands of Israeli backpackers, it is also home to a vibrant community of between 20 and 30,000 Jewish Brazilians. With a Jewish Community Center, numerous synagogues, kosher restaurants and a small, vibrant congregation of Jewish believers, we will have many opportunities to interact with Jewish community both during busy backpacker seasons and off seasons.

We are eager to see what God has planned for our future in Rio; but while you might remember that it has been our goal to open the work in Brazil in 2017, we believe God is asking us to wait another year. Not everything is settled yet, so check our next letters to find out the crazy amazing plans in the works for 2017! Brazil or somewhere else?! We can’t wait to tell you! In the meantime, we’re soaking up every bit of studies and preparing ourselves as much as we can for the intense and exciting road ahead. We are so thankful you’re walking it with us!

Love,

BJ & Carissa

 

 

Kerstetter Chronicles: October 2016

Chills ran down my spine. Young hands ran across the keys, and the notes reverberated powerfully through the hall, compelling every guest to rise to their feet and wrinkled hands to wipe tears from wizened eyes. The song was HaTkivah “The Hope,” Israel’s national anthem. And a banquet hall of Holocaust survivors joined their voices with the notes of the piano in impassioned song.

We thanked them for their bravery. Because of their courageous determination to survive and to become pioneers in the land of Israel, the next generations – my generation – can return to a settled land. And they asked us to make them a promise. They asked us to be their voices. To tell their stories. To stand for Israel. To stand in the gap and say, “Never again.” To do what it takes. And we promised. We will be their voices.

We won’t have them in our midst much longer. Are there Jewish elderly homes near you? Is a survivor speaking at your school or community center? Go. Hold their hands and hear their stories. Be their voices. Stand in the gap with us. Stand for Israel, and stand for humanity. If we won’t push back into the dark, who will? We have the light, and it is imperative that we let it shine.

Over our month in Israel this summer, we served both believers and unbelievers in numerous ways, including the aforementioned banquet for Holocaust survivors in Sderot, a pizza and game night in a foster children’s home outside of Jerusalem, packing supplies at food distribution centers in Sderot and Jerusalem, sharing the Gospel with students at Jerusalem University and on the beach in Tel Aviv, and reconnecting with friends we made in Argentina. We learned so much and our years of studies came to life more fully as we immersed ourselves in the beautiful complexities of Israeli culture.

Because of our early return to the States, we only made it through one week of Hebrew studies, so we have prayerfully applied to restart the Hebrew course at Tel Aviv University in 2017. Please pray with us as we seek God’s will in this and every area of our lives, and to use our time for His best during BJ’s last full semester at Moody. We look forward to the next steps of this journey, as God guides us and you walk prayerfully beside us. Thank you for your faithful support through the valleys and mountain tops.

With love,

BJ and Carissa

Kerstetter Chronicles: September 2016

You know the moment. When God has put something on your heart, but everything in you is trying to talk you out of it. Four weeks into our trip, exhausted, brains spinning from Hebrew studies, and ready for a break from the heat, we were running on empty and we had one of those moments. We had made plans to meet up with Yosef that evening and we knew it would be a late night, with class in the morning. We almost called off the plans, but we sensed an urgency in our hearts to see Yosef that night.

When he showed up at 10 pm with a friend we knew right away that we had made the right call. And the life-changing Gospel conversations we had with those guys that night made it clear that, once again, our steps were guided by our all-knowing God. It would have been worth it to us to make this trip for that conversation alone. And we didn’t know at the time that only three days later we would be on a plane back home. If we had ignored God’s prompting in that moment we would have missed out on perhaps the most important conversation of our trip.

Although our time in Israel was cut shorter than we planned, we know with confidence that God has a plan to use even this most tragic loss of our beloved brother and return from our long anticipated trip. Such tragedy is certainly not His will, but He allows nothing to unfold that He cannot use for good beyond our wildest imaginations. As Joni Ericson Tada wisely said, “God uses things that He hates to accomplish things that He loves.” We are eager to see what incredible goodness He will bring out of this brokenness. And we have no doubt that He will continue the work that He started through us in the conversations we shared with Yosef and his friend, and many others. Please be praying with us for their eyes to be opened; for God to use this great loss for even greater gain to His family; for our broken hearts and the new challenges BJ and I face in our personal lives, family and ministry because of it; and above all for His will to be done in all of this. Thank you for your continued support and encouragement, without which, this trip would not have been possible.

 

Love,

BJ and Carissa