classic jews for jesus newsletter

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Sowing for Success by David Brickner, Executive Director erry was a successful businessman whose wealth had afforded him a comfortable life in the northern suburbs of Chicago. He was also a prominent member of the Jewish community. When he was in his 70s, Jerry retired and handed over his company to his son. That’s when we met and began getting together weekly to study the Bible. Within a few months, I had the privilege of praying with Jerry to receive the Lord. It turns out Jerry had actually believed that Jesus was our Messiah for most of his life—yet it took all those decades to receive Him as Savior. How was this possible? When Jerry was a child, his parents were unable to send him to the Jewish sleep-away summer camp. They instead allowed him to attend the Vacation Bible School at a nearby Lutheran church. During that VBS Jerry memorized John 3:16—and he never forgot that Bible verse. Throughout his life he believed the Scripture verse was true, but he hid that thought away and never acted on it. Years later, that seed finally bore fruit and Jerry became a follower of Christ. This true story illustrates an important principle of witnessing: never underestimate the effectiveness of sowing a gospel seed—no matter how long it may take to produce fruit! The Bible uses farming or gardening metaphors over and over to illustrate how the gospel does its work. We may not see with our physical eyes what is happening below the surface, but with eyes of faith we can be encouraged to continue sowing and watering and leave the rest to God. If you want to be encouraged, view your efforts to fulfill the Great Commission through this lens. A farmer’s labor may be evidenced by the harvest, but much skill and hard work is invested in all that leads up to it. God entrusts the sowing and watering to us but bringing the seed to fruition is always His part (1 Corinthians 3:7). Can we practice the patience and diligence of a farmer and anticipate what God will do, no matter how long it takes? That is not easy in our results- oriented, instant gratification- demanding culture. Our Jews for Jesus founder Moishe Rosen put it this way: “A spiritual harvest of souls for God’s Kingdom requires the same painstaking care a farmer gives his field if it is to yield a harvest. Yet many church and parachurch programs fail, because in seeking a spiritual harvest they do not take into account the developmental nature of the gospel seed. You cannot harvest what you have not sown.” One way we sow in Jews for Jesus is through our street evangelism. The visibility of our Jews for Jesus T-shirts is part of seed-sowing, as are the gospel tracts we hand out and the conversations we have right on the street. Someone once told me they didn’t like handing out tracts and didn’t believe it to be very effective. I said that I could understand why a person wouldn’t especially enjoy handing out tracts, but wondered what specifically made it seem ineffective. The response was, “I tried it once and nothing happened.” Just imagine a would-be farmer who goes out to sow seeds one day, and when there’s no (continued on page 2) J

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Here is a timeless look at what and how we communicate with those interested in supporting our work in Jewish evangelism.

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Page 1: Classic Jews for Jesus Newsletter

Sowing for Success by David Brickner, Executive Directorerry was a successfulbusinessman whose wealth hadafforded him a comfortable lifein the northern suburbs of

Chicago. He was also a prominentmember of the Jewish community.When he was in his 70s, Jerryretired and handed over hiscompany to his son.

That’s when we met and begangetting together weekly to study theBible. Within a few months, I had theprivilege of praying with Jerry toreceive the Lord. It turns out Jerryhad actually believed that Jesus wasour Messiah for most of his life—yetit took all those decades to receiveHim as Savior. How was this possible? When Jerry was a child, his parentswere unable to send him to theJewish sleep-away summer camp.They instead allowed him to attendthe Vacation Bible School at a nearbyLutheran church. During that VBSJerry memorized John 3:16—and henever forgot that Bible verse.Throughout his life he believed theScripture verse was true, but he hid

that thought away and never actedon it. Years later, that seed finallybore fruit and Jerry became a followerof Christ.

This true story illustrates animportant principle of witnessing:never underestimate theeffectiveness of sowing a gospel

seed—no matter how long it maytake to produce fruit! The Bible usesfarming or gardening metaphorsover and over to illustrate how thegospel does its work. We may notsee with our physical eyes what ishappening below the surface, butwith eyes of faith we can beencouraged to continue sowing andwatering and leave the rest to God.If you want to be encouraged, viewyour efforts to fulfill the GreatCommission through this lens.

A farmer’s labor may be evidenced bythe harvest, but much skill and hardwork is invested in all that leads upto it. God entrusts the sowing andwatering to us but bringing the

seed to fruition is always His part (1 Corinthians 3:7). Can we practicethe patience and diligence of a farmer and anticipate what God will do, no matter how long ittakes? That is not easy in our results-oriented, instant gratification-demanding culture.

Our Jews for Jesus founder MoisheRosen put it this way: “A spiritualharvest of souls for God’s Kingdomrequires the same painstaking carea farmer gives his field if it is toyield a harvest. Yet many churchand parachurch programs fail,because in seeking a spiritualharvest they do not take intoaccount the developmental natureof the gospel seed. You cannotharvest what you have not sown.”

One way we sow in Jews for Jesus isthrough our street evangelism. Thevisibility of our Jews for Jesus T-shirtsis part of seed-sowing, as are thegospel tracts we hand out and theconversations we have right on the street.

Someone once told me they didn’tlike handing out tracts and didn’tbelieve it to be very effective. I saidthat I could understand why a personwouldn’t especially enjoy handingout tracts, but wondered whatspecifically made it seem ineffective.The response was, “I tried it onceand nothing happened.”

Just imagine a would-be farmer whogoes out to sow seeds one day, andwhen there’s no (continued on page 2)

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sign of fruit atthe end of the day, he decides hedoesn’t want to waste his time doingthat again! Or the person who putsone seed in the ground and waits tosee what will happen before he sowsany more.

The Scripture says that he who sowssparingly will reap sparingly, inreference to the Christianresponsibility of giving. Thesame holds true for ourwitnessing efforts. It takesdiligence, hard work and lotsand lots of patience alongwith more than just a littleseed sown. Just ask the hard-working farmer.

Of course, street ministry isonly one way to sow gospelseed. Can you think of otherways? Most of us haveopportunities to sow gospelseed through our everydayinteractions. We speak with ourneighbors, with the person atthe dry cleaners, in line at thegrocery store. Each exchangeaffords a potential opportunityto sow gospel seed.

In their book, Witnessing toJews, Moishe and Ceil Rosencalled this effort WOW: witnessing onthe way. Such efforts require us to bealert to opportunities and to takeadvantage when they presentthemselves. I have heard of wonderfulwitnessing opportunities with Jewishpeople simply because a Christianchose to wear a Star of David necklacewith a cross in it. The jewelry provokedcuriosity and led to a gospel witness.

Several months ago I wrote anarticle about William Wilberforce

and how he used what he called“Launchers” (see j4j.co/launchers)to initiate gospel conversations withpeople he knew. Try it! Don’t worryor become discouraged if it doesn’talways lead into the conversationyou’d hoped for. We need topresent opportunities for people tothink about the Lord and leave therest to Him.

A few months ago I went out tolunch with my brother-in-law, LorenJacobs. It was Purim, the Jewishfestival celebrating the deliverance ofthe Jewish people as recorded in thebook of Esther. The hostess at therestaurant asked the simplequestion, “How are you today?” Loren answered as he often doesthese days: “I am blessed by thethree-in-one God of Israel who lovesme and sent His Son Jesus Christ tobe my Savior.”

Our hostess was surprised andintrigued to hear Loren mention theGod of Israel as being three-in-oneand inquired what he meant. Welearned that she had grown up in anOrthodox Jewish home, went toHebrew school all the way from dayschool to high school and yet, sheconfided, she wasn’t sure how muchgood it had done her. Loren explained

that we are Jews for Jesus andwhat that means. With a furtherpolite exchange we wished eachother a happy holiday and shewent back to work.

After lunch Loren surprised meby returning to the hostess(her name was Yanna) to giveher a ten-dollar bill. Hementioned the custom ofshalach manot, or giving giftsto one another at Purim, acustom that Yanna knew well.I commented on Loren’sgenerosity and he explained, “I want her to remember thatgospel seed we planted.” That really impressed me.

How much are we willing toinvest in sowing the seed of thegospel that there might be aharvest to the glory of God? As Yeshua (Jesus) said, the

seed we sow will land in all kindsof soil. It will be sown in the midstof tares, but if we are faithful tosow that seed we should have nodoubt whatsoever that God willbring the increase.

David Brickner is also an author, publicspeaker and avid hiker. For more aboutDavid, his writings, speaking schedule andpossible availability to speak at your church,see www.jewsforjesus.org/david-brickner.

We exist to make the messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue to our Jewish people worldwide.

Jews for Jesus international headquarters: 60 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA 94102-5895; email: [email protected];

web: jewsforjesus.org; also working in: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland,

Ukraine and the United Kingdom; editor: Ruth Rosen; art direction: Paige Saunders; design and illustration: David Yapp;

Classic Newsletter; ©2015 | Photos copyright Jews for Jesus unless otherwise indicated

(continued from page 1)

Street ministry is only one way to sow gospel seed.Pictured here is Josh Turnil in a one-on-one Bible studyin our Paris branch.

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Our fiscal year begins on January 1 and ends on December 31; we usually receive our audit in May.

Jews for Jesus is a charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), an association of evangelical non-profit organizations that requires the highest standards of financial accountability and disclosure to the government, our donors andthe general public. The two circle graphs below depict the sources of our support and how that income is spent.

SOURCES OF INCOMEIndividual support 78%

Congregational offerings 5%

Congregational support 5%

Miscellaneous revenue* 12%*Sales of books, music, etc.; interest;registration; in-kind gifts

Chief Administrative Officer, 60 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA 94102-5895 or email [email protected]

Scan this code to donate online!

Your Jews for Jesus Missionary Dollar

EXPENDITURESEvangelism and other program activities 79%

Administration 13%

Fundraising 8%

For more information about our finances, write to:

Remember Nicodemus, who firstcame to Jesus under cover of night(John 3)? For many, the Internet istoday’s version of “coming by night.”Many visit our web site, where theyfind articles, videos and even poetrypointing to Jesus, the Jewish Messiah.Plus our website makes it easy forpeople to connect with us via livechat. The great thing is, our

missionaries around the world can signinto live chat from their cell phones,and respond to seekers anytime,anywhere! Invitations to live chat popup on every page of our website. Wealso have an interactive website calledHow To Know God that you can use

to reach your own Jewish and Gentilefriends, and another for outreach toJewish Gentile couples.

Besides our websites, we have morethan half a million Facebook “friends,”and who knows how many more whoare not officially “following” but useour page to contact us. Our YouTubechannel features an ever-growingrange of videos to engage seekers.And we recently launched a mobileapp with features for seekers andbelievers alike (e.g., get contact infofor our various branches, find outwhere our missionaries are speaking—and believers can even use it to makeonline donations).

The Internet not only provides ananonymous way for people to explorethe truth about Jesus, it also removesgeographic limitations. In fact the firstJewish person we prayed with toreceive Jesus after “meeting” over theInternet lives in Wales! We hope you’lluse our Internet resources to sharewith your friends, and enrich yourown walk and witness.

web site: j4j.co/main

live chat: j4j.co/chat

How To Know God:j4j.co/htkg

Jewish Gentile couples: j4j.co/jgc

Facebook: j4j.co/fb

YouTube channel:j4j.co/yt

mobile app:j4j.co/jfjapp

Social Media Outreach Sowing for Success?

Banner photo on cover was taken by Josh Turnil, our Paris branch director

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New YorkSan Francisco

Los Angeles Phoenix

Chicago

Toronto

BrooklynWashington, DC

Fort Lauderdale

London Essen

Paris

GenevaBuda

Rio de Janeiro

Montreal

Sergio handing out gospel tracts at Carnaval

Rio de JaneiroSergio Danon leads our Jews for Jesuswork in Brazil. Once a year he and hisfamily do a weeklong marathonoutreach for the crowds at Carnaval,where many people they talk to aredrunk or high. Even when he prayswith people to receive the Lord, it’shard for Sergio to know if they willremember what happened the nextday. He’s had to push through feelingsof discouragement to remain faithful.Then one year, a week before theoutreach, Sergio attended a pastors’brunch. The chairman introduced himto speak to seventeen pastors, saying,with tears in his eyes, that fivemembers of his church had becomebelievers through the ministry of Jewsfor Jesus during Carnaval. He then said,“Sergio, we have no idea how manyother churches have been receiving

people that you have been witnessingto throughout these years. Only theLord knows.” Thank God for thesechurches, and for encouragement thatGod gives when we need it the most.

KharkovA Jewish man named Dmitry found uson the Internet and called our Kharkovbranch, wanting to meet. Three yearsearlier, he’d had a dream in which anelderly man and woman were holding acardboard sign with the Jews for Jesusinscription. The man and the womanwere approaching Dmitry. He awokewith a sense that he should contact us .. . and now, three years later, he did!Please pray for his salvation.

New YorkIsaac Brickner, one of our newermissionaries, served on our New York

Summer Outreach and, during anoutreach in Union Square, he led ateam to engage people with our‘What are you for?” banner.

A Jewish woman, Ellen, stopped totalk and Isaac had a great opportunityto witness to her. Before leaving, shegave Isaac her contact informationand agreed to hear from Shoshannah,one of our veteran missionaries.

Isaac returned to Los Angeles where heis stationed. Ellen and Shoshannah metregularly to discuss Scripture, andShoshannah would send Isaac a textmessage every time they were going tomeet so that he could pray. Isaac says,“What a joy it was the day afterChristmas to receive a phone call fromMelissa, Shoshannah’s daughter (and amissionary-in-training), who handed

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JEWS FOR JESUS AR

We study the Bible with new believers and seekers ineach of our branches

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Johannesburg

apest

Kiev KharkovMoscow

DnepropetrovskOdessa

Beer Sheva

Tel Aviv

Sydney

Connecting with Israeli graffiti artists who we invited toshow their work at our Moishe Rosen Center in Tel Aviv.The MRC is a hub for young adult outreach, training andBible study.

Our NYC summer witnessing outreach“What are you for?” banner drew many tointeract with the gospel

*a good deed, **not their real names

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ROUND THE WORLD

the phone to Ellen, who told me that she had just professed her new faith inYeshua. Praise the Lord! Ellen thankedme for speaking with her that day aboutJesus. (She said, ‘You did a real mitzvah,*kid.’) What a divine appointment thatwas! She is growing, and continuing tomeet with Stewart and Shoshannahfrequently for discipleship visits. I’d like toinvite you to pray along with me forEllen’s growth in the Lord.”

IsraelAlexander Adelson was making phonecalls to follow up with people who gavetheir contact information during ourBehold Your God Negev campaign. Hereached Shmuli**who said that he andhis children were reading the copy of theNew Testament Alexander had sentshortly after the campaign. He was veryexcited to speak about what he’d read,

and to invite Alexander to his home,where he told Alex the story of his life andhow he wants to find the God of Israel.He is very open to learning more aboutYeshua and to visiting a local Messianiccongregation. Please pray for his salvation.

When Yoel** came across Jews for Jesusduring an outreach, he gave his contactinformation to hear more. Oded Cohencontacted him, and they met for Biblestudies until Yoel prayed to receive theLord. After that, he always seemed toobusy to meet. He thought he knewenough about the Bible and didn’t see aneed to meet for discipleship. Odedasked friends and supporters to pray andreported, “Thanks be to God, Yoel’sinterest has been rekindled. We aremeeting weekly for Bible studies again. Igave him a new study Bible with the Oldand New Testaments together, and he is

so excited about what he is learning! Hefrequently calls me with all kinds of deepinsights and excellent questions.”

BudapestToward the end of our “Life from theDead” campaign in Budapest, we had ashowing of our Survivor Stories film. Thisfilm gives testimonies of Jewish peoplewho survived the Nazi Holocaust and latercame to faith in Jesus. All the peoplewhose stories are featured speak English,but their testimonies have been translatedinto different languages for use in variouscountries. Judit,** a Jewish actress inBudapest, provided some of the voices forthe Hungarian translation of the film. Shewas familiar with the film from herparticipation, but she came to the showingduring our campaign . . . and at the end,responded to the invitation to receiveYeshua (Jesus)!

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In the days leading up to our Moscow witnessingcampaign, I asked God for His blessing more timesthan I can remember. You can see for yourself how

He answered.

One evening, a volunteer and I came to our designatedplace for our sortie (tract-passing expedition). Immediately Inoticed a huge, non-stop stream of people, a perfect placeto hand out broadsides, meet people, and hopefully getcontacts for further ministry in Moscow. The crowd was tomy right, whereas to my left, only a few people were

walking by, scattered across a large area. Clearly it wouldbe difficult to offer anyone a gospel tract or start aconversation there.

Suddenly, my volunteer said in a commanding tone, “Nowlisten, I’m going to stand on the right and you’re going tostand on the left. My eyes widened in surprise. But I heard avoice in my heart, “Accept this.” I was about to tell thevolunteer, “We will both stand on the right, where thereare plenty of people to take our broadsides.” However,again, I heard the voice in my heart, “Accept this.” I smiledand replied to the volunteer, “OK!”

For the first half hour, I observed my brother gladlyhanding out broadsides to a crowd that could easily haveused two people, while I stood at an empty site. I thoughtto myself, Perhaps this sortie is just a test on myhumbleness and obedience to God? Lord, will the entiresortie go like this?”

Then a Jewish man stopped to talk with me.

“I’ve been an atheist for all my life, but over the years, I’vebegun to understand that it’s important to believe in God.”Ilya had a lot of questions; he gave me his contact info, andI promised to give him a Bible.

I turned my head, and there was a Jewish woman waiting totalk to me. When Yana heard about the way of salvation, shetoo gave me her contact info. It happened that we werehaving an event in just one hour, presenting Marc Chagall’swork in the framework of the gospel. I told her about it andshe said she would go. And so it continued. On that“empty” site, God gave me seven conversations with Jewishpeople, and all seven gave me their contact info.

A few hours later, I learned that Yana had attended the MarcChagall event and prayed the sinner’s prayer, recognizingYeshua as her Savior. Each day of the campaign, I saw howGod answered my prayer, “Will you bless me in Moscow?”

After the campaign was over, I stayed to help with follow-upand remembered my promise to give Ilya a Bible. It took twohours and three different kinds of transportation to reach hisapartment building. I rang the doorbell, but I couldn’t hearany sound. I kept pushing the doorbell button again andagain. I did not hear a sound, but apparently Ilya did.

Ilya finally opened two security doors and invited me in. Theapartment was filled with smoke, and it was difficult tobreathe. Ilya was running to open all the windows anddoors, yelling, “You just saved my life! Do you understandthat I’m serious? Jews for Jesus, I will never forget you, asyou just saved my life!”

It turned out that Ilya had put something on the stove andwhile it was cooking, he fell deeply asleep. The burningfood had filled the apartment with smoke but the repeatedringing of the doorbell that woke him up.

How different everything might have turned out had I notlistened to God’s voice to stand where I never would havestood on that sortie. God sometimes works in mysteriousways. Walk in obedience to Him; there will be abundantfruit for the Lord’s glory, and your life will be filled withthe privilege of being a participant in His miracles.

Will You bless me in Moscow?by Svetlana Kotlomina

Svetlana during our 2014 Moscow witnessing campaign

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We can’t measure the impact of each conversation and relationship—God alonesees people’s hearts. But we can give you a 2014 summary of certain things we doto measure our efforts on a weekly basis.

Literature: 2,782,589

Hundreds of sorties

4,468 contacts

31,610 phone calls

6,089 visits with Jewish seekers4,142 visits with Jewish believers

Six campaigns

143 Jewish and 196 Gentileprofessions of faith

Outreach Summary for 2014

Gospel LiteratureA Jews for Jesus gospel tract. More recentlywe have developed evangelistic cards thatwe now distribute almost as much as wedo broadsides. (See online samples.)

SortieA Jews for Jesus witnessing expedition toa public place. Our sorties involve passingout literature as a springboard to spiritualconversations, but they also include otherforms of outreach, such as surveys ormusical outreaches and tables wherepeople can grab a cold cup of coffee(Brews for Jesus).

ContactSeekers who give their names andenough details for us to follow up withmore information about Jesus.

CampaignAn all-out evangelistic effort in a specificcity, for a set time (usually one to fourweeks). In 2014 we held six campaigns in New York City, Russia, Hungary,Germany, Capetown and Brazil.

VisitOne-on-one ministry with a Jewish personfor the purpose of evangelism and/ordiscipleship. (This can occur online as wellthrough Skype or Google Hangouts.)

PhoningTrying to reach Jewish people by phonefor the purpose of sharing evangelism ordiscipleship. (This can occur online as wellthrough Skype or Google Hangouts.)

Profession of FaithSomeone prays to receive Jesus as theirLord and Savior (Romans 10:9–10).

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Some people have

ISSUES. . .

ong-time friend Greg Schneider is a Jewishbeliever in Jesus and a professionalphotographer who has captured some of our

Jews for Jesus outreaches on film (or the digitalequivalent thereof). Greg sometimes passes alonghis copies of ISSUES to unbelieving friends. He hadbeen witnessing to his friend Ben* for a while. Oneday, Greg visited Ben in the hospital (he wasrecovering from hip replacement surgery) and lefthim with a copy of ISSUES to read.

Greg left the hospital but returned half an hour laterto find Ben in tears. The testimony of a Jewish believerfrom Bavaria had deeply moved him, and Ben, finallyconvinced of the Messiahship of Jesus, had prayed toreceive Him! Greg visited with him a while longer, andbefore leaving, had the joy of praying with his friend,thanking God for revealing Himself to Ben.

Please pray for Ben, that the gospel seed will takehold and grow strong in his heart—and that Ben’stestimony will one day be the means for otherJewish people to find the Messiah, Jesus!

Whether or not you are Jewish, you can accessISSUES online, at j4j.co/pubsissues. It is free and wewould love for you to pass along any edition thatyou think might touch a friend of yours who needsJesus. You can share ISSUES articles electronicallyor by printing the PDF versions we offer at thewebsite. You can also refer a Jewish friend to us,and we will send a sample copy of ISSUES alongwith a letter of witness and an invitation to receivea free subscription. Just go to: j4j.co/referfriend tocomplete and submit your referral.

ISSUES is our bi-monthly publication designed forJewish seekers, but we also send our printededitions to Jewish believersin Jesus to share with theirfamily and friends. Startedby Susan Perlman (editor-in-chief, pictured right) back in1976, ISSUES is currentlyedited by Matt Sieger, withart direction by PaigeSaunders.

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