Shalom friends!
For those of you who haven’t heard, we are happy to report that Baby Girl Kerstetter is growing healthy and strong, and on track for her due date of June 22. Carissa’s health has remained stable so far through pregnancy, and ministry is going smoothly.
In December, I had the privilege of joining four of our awesome coworkers in representing Chosen People Ministries at Urbana – one of the largest Christian student missions conferences in the world, with over 10,000 participants and over 250 missions organizations and seminaries! What an incredible opportunity it was for us to alert missions-minded youth to the urgent need for Jewish ministry.
While – unsurprisingly – most students we talked with had never considered or even heard of the need for Jewish ministry, there was one young man from Trinidad and Tobago who strongly feels God calling him into Jewish ministry, and didn’t know where to begin. He was surprised and excited to find an organization at Urbana dedicated to Jewish ministry. Kedell is currently a Junior studying Mechanical Engineering at Iowa State University. As he was reading through Romans 9-11 and studying Daniel last year, he came to a new understanding of God’s desire for the Jewish people to come back to him and the role the Gentile church has in accomplishing this. Kedell says, “BJ encouraged me to pursue Jewish ministry and to let the Lord lead my every step, especially in this crucial place in my life of being a Junior and wondering what happens after graduation.”
He is seriously considering going on the Outreach Israel trip in 2020 to serve unbelievers in Israel, and also wants to join the Shalom Brooklyn team to reach the Jewish community in New York. Deeply burdened by the great need for Jewish ministry, Kedell says, “God still loves His Chosen People and we as Christians need to recognize that, and go preach the good news to them.” Please pray that God will guide Kedell in decisions for missions and internships, and give him boldness and courage as he pursues on-campus evangelism and leads Bible studies with new believers this semester.
We hope stories like Kedell’s encourage you with the impact your partnership has on Jewish people globally. It is an incredible joy to be used of God as He moves to reach His beloved people with the truth of their Messiah. Our continued prayer in both our mobilization and evangelistic efforts, is that God will guide us to Spirit-prepared hearts who are seeking Him and His will in their lives. As Paul said, “So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth,” (1 Corinthians 3:7).
With Love in Messiah,
BJ and Carissa