Tag Archives: Devar Emet Messianic Synagogue

Kerstetter Chronicles: Happy New Year

     Happy New Year friends! We realize we’re a bit late with the greeting, but we wanted to give you, and ourselves, a chance to get through the holidays and hopefully find a little more time for reading and writing emails. 2014 has been such an exciting year for us. So much has happened that I hardly know where to begin! First of all, we want to sincerely thank each of you for your prayers, encouragement, love and support for us. Your faithfulness and generosity are so vital to our studies and ministry, and you bless us more than you know! We have learned and grown so much in our faith this year, as we have seen God lead and provide for us. We hope our letters have been testaments to His love and our gratefulness, and have encouraged your hearts as well! Here is a summary of what God has done for us in the past year, and some of the things we are looking forward to for 2015.

recap of 2014:

  • We were accepted into the Jewish Studies program at Moody Bible Institute.

  • In August, we moved to downtown Chicago and BJ started classes at Moody.

  • The community of Devar Emet Messianic Synagogue welcomed us as family and has been an incredible encouragement and blessing to us.

  • We celebrated many of the biblical Jewish holidays for the first time, and learned so much about our rich cultural, historical and scriptural heritage.

  • We talked, prayed, dreamed and planned with our good friend Shmueli (Stephen) Arnold about our possible ministry together with Israeli backpackers in Brasil. Please pray for him, as he is working in Argentina for the next couple months, and will then be headed to Brazil to check out possible ministry locations!

  • In December, BJ was accepted as a student missionary with Chosen People Ministries (CPM; www.chosenpeople.com). This will allow us to get involved in ministry part time with CPM, gain needed experience and understanding of this ministry, and begin to raise support as we prepare for full time ministry.

  • As part of CPM Chicago, we were invited to move into Chosen People’s housing in West Rogers Park, Chicago. This will save us around $4,000 each semester. Woohoo! We made the move before Christmas break and we’re so thankful for this opportunity.

Looking forward to 2015:

  • We’re starting this year off with a bang in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where we’re seeing a Dr. Anthony Smith at Dynamic Health for Lyme treatment. We’ll be back in Chicago on January 10; but please keep praying for us because the detox process after treatment is really intense for at least 6 weeks! It will be a rough road for a while but we trust that God will carry us through it, and He has a plan, whatever the outcome is of this treatment.

  • When we get back to Chicago, BJ will begin his second semester at Moody. 2 years to go now! He is especially excited to study Apologetics and Jewish Life & Communication.

  • We have been accepted to go with Chosen People Ministries on their Outreach Israel trip this summer. (Dates TBA.) This will qualify as BJ’s required internship for Moody, and will provide us with crucial ministry & cultural experience for working with Israeli backpackers. We are also praying about staying in Israel after the Outreach program to take modern Hebrew courses that are not available at Moody. Right now we need to raise $9,000 to go on Outreach Israel, and we are looking into the cost of Hebrew studies. Please pray about helping us meet that goal!

  • Praise the Lord! Our first semester at Moody has been paid in full! Thank you so much for your contributions to help us get there! We are now able to start making payments for the spring semester bill of $1,100.

  • More praises! Several dear friends have committed to monthly contributions totaling $265/month! This is fantastic, and we are so thankful. Would you prayerfully consider partnering with us this year in our ministry to the Jewish people?

     Again, thank you for your continued prayer and support for us. We are so thankful for you and we love hearing from you! Know that you are in our prayers as well. May you have a blessed new year.

Because of God’s faithfulness,

BJ and Carissa Kerstetter

     To contribute toward our school bill or other expenses please continue to make donations through our website, kerstetterconnection.com/donate, or make checks payable to BJ Kerstetter at CPO 2163, 820 N. LaSalle Blvd. Chicago, IL.

     If you would like to make a donation specifically for our trip with Outreach Israel, you may

  1. Mail checks to Chosen People Ministries at 241 E. 51st Street New York, NY 10022. Checks must have the name “BJ Kerstetter” in the memo section.

  2. Donate over the phone by calling Chosen People Ministries, 1 (888) 2-YESHUA. Ask for the receipting department and inform them you would like to give a financial gift to “BJ Kerstetter.”

  3. Click here to donate online. Please be sure to enter the name “BJ Kerstetter” in the section entitled “Special Designation.” Donations can be made via Credit, Debit, or PayPal.

Kerstetter Chronicles: September

     Crisp autumn air has come again to Chicago, and with it has come more change and opportunity for growth in our lives. Since our letter at the end of August,

  • We have begun weekly Jewish evangelism outreach at a Starbucks in Skokie (a suburb of Chicago with a large Jewish population). Please be praying for our new friends, Carol (Starbucks barista), Elon, Danny and Freddie, (Starbucks regulars), with whom we have been building friendships as we discuss Judaism, Israeli & American politics, and most excitingly – the identity of Yeshua and faith in Him as the Jewish Messiah.

  • We had the honor of meeting Joel C. Rosenberg and hearing him speak about three imminent threats to America, Israel and the Church in the Middle East, as well as address the Arab-Israeli conflict. You can read about his visit to Moody in an upcoming Coffee Talk blog post here.

  • We have been attending Devar Emet Messianic Synagogue. The family of believers at Devar Emet, and in the greater Messianic community of Chicago, have already been a wonderful blessing to us and we are thankful to have a “home away from home” among them.

  • L’shana tovah! We just celebrated Rosh Hashanah – the Feast of Trumpets. According to the Jewish calendar, this Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the year 5775. It also begins the Jewish High Holiday season, and we have been learning about each Jewish holiday in weekly studies at Devar Emet. What a blessing it is to look into God’s Word and read about the holidays that He ordained for Israel, to see what truths and blessings He has given in them. Our studies into these holidays have begun to open to us the rich depths of the history and culture that Jesus himself embraced and celebrated. Watch for new blog posts about the holidays at kerstetterconnection.com/category/coffee-talk, and take a look at our calendar to see what’s coming up next!

  • God has led us to decide that I (Carissa) will not be taking classes for credit at this time. This was a difficult decision in many ways, but we have peace that it is the right one. I am excited to continue learning alongside BJ in our class, History and Thought of Modern Israel, with Dr. Michael Rydelnik. We have already found this to be an incredibly valuable course!

  • We have received 80% of the funds necessary to pursue a new treatment for my (Carissa) Lyme’s Disease. At this time, we only lack the money to fly to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho for the treatments scheduled January 5 – 8, during our winter break from school.

  • Praise the Lord! We have received donations totaling 67% of the school payment due October 1. We still need $551 to make this month’s payment, and our total remaining school bill for this semester is $3,551.

We are so thankful for your continued prayers and encouragement for us. God is truly teaching and stretching us here in Chicago, and we are excited to see what this next month will bring. L’shana Tovah – to a good new year!