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Post by rabbijonathan on Dec 5, 2016 18:54:03 GMT -8
Shalom Y'all. I am Jonathan from Austin TX. Although our city is kinda weird and liberal, Messiah Echad has been holding down YHVH's standards since 2013. Granted, its not long... we are growing fast. We are over 100 people large, meet in a shared use Church, and audio record all of our messages. Check us out and visit sometime youtu.be/mR3X-6QPf4k, youtu.be/fUCNvwZzwrA, or messiahechad.org. And, you can ask me any question, anytime! Jonathan jonathan.dade@messiahechad.org |
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Post by alon on Dec 5, 2016 19:38:21 GMT -8
Shalom Y'all. I am Jonathan from Austin TX. Although our city is kinda weird and liberal, Messiah Echad has been holding down YHVH's standards since 2013. Granted, its not long... we are growing fast. We are over 100 people large, meet in a shared use Church, and audio record all of our messages. Check us out and visit sometime youtu.be/mR3X-6QPf4k, youtu.be/fUCNvwZzwrA, or messiahechad.org. And, you can ask me any question, anytime! Jonathan jonathan.dade@messiahechad.org Welcome! I'm a transplanted Texan myself, and would be back there except my wife (raised in the UK) cannot stand the heat. How is it meeting in a shared use church? OK ... first, what IS a shared use church? Does someone own it and rent it out? Or does some nice Christian congregation just open their doors to a Messianic congregation? Around here, there'd be blood on the pews! My wife is a member of the Assemblies church here. They are the most open minded; however they think I am a bit strange since I went over to what they consider the Dark Side. They host a Hispanic congregation, but they are Assemblies too. And I did give them both barrels with my Messiahberg shotgun wen I participated in a non-denominational men's study they did. I only almost got lynched one time when a guest pastor started talking about "The God of the Old Testament vs. the God of the New." They were eating it up, but they made the mistake of asking me what I thought, and I didn't hold back when I told 'em. Ah,the fun of sharing the truth! Oh, and one other time: Christmas ... need I explain?  Dan C |
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Post by rabbijonathan on Dec 6, 2016 6:46:45 GMT -8
Dan - Oh the fun of sharing the truth indeed, when folks ask our opinion! So the building was owned by a seeker friendly, almost post modern style church. Very icon light, and neutral looking space, hence why we sought them out for co-tenancy. It worked out really well from the standpoint of we had the building on Saturday, they on Sunday (and the whole week)... things get dicey during Christmas (or Easter), but almost any fixture can be moved, covered, or powered down for our services. Only  part was our previous landlord eventually lost membership and sold to another church, which is a little more particular and icon heavy, but we find a way to make it work. A lot of the relationship working is in being professional, watching your semantics, and assuring them you are a Christian too  though Lord only knows, you and I are of quite a different breed. Also helps to attend their services once a quarter, and generally be known in the community. You should check out our press releases. Many Messianic Congregations struggle with the image or perception of legitimacy. R. Jonathan |
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Post by alon on Dec 6, 2016 10:06:20 GMT -8
Well, my Rabbi is (like me) basically a Shamaimite. He doesn't tend to hold back, and he definitely doesn't say he's Christian! So that probably wouldn't work for us. We rent space from the Senior Center, which is a vast improvement on the Community Center where we were. No icons, though I did have to remove a weird south-seas looking statue. And I'm sure a tree will go up thee soon. It works though, because our services are more teaching than anything. Not really like either the Christians or the Jews do it. Now, the parent synagogue here does their services more like a regular Jewish service. Which is odd, because my Rabbi was raised in Jerusalem while R Reuel was, I don't believe, raised Jewish at all. Rav S (my Rabbi) parents are Jews, but they converted to Christianity before he was born. His father then reconverted to Messianic Judaism and was part of the movement in its early years. But he is like my wife- a type A Jew! They don't tend to pull their punches. So we make do where we can.
The odd thing is, we are doing well everywhere else. We have congregations in Wenatchee and in Tacoma, both of which are growing. He trains Rabbis in South America and South Africa by internet. And we have congregations in India and even Pakistan! He is in Chenai, India right now, right in the middle of the rioting. He spoke at a conference there of hundreds of mostly Christian pastors, and they want him back next year! But here, I have to travel to go to Erev Shabbat services. And I'm probably the only true Messianic in the area. Ah well, the struggle is the glory!
Dan C
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- there are 70 faces to 
part was our previous landlord eventually lost membership and sold to another church, which is a little more particular and icon heavy, but we find a way to make it work. A lot of the relationship working is in being professional, watching your semantics, and assuring them you are a Christian too 
though Lord only knows, you and I are of quite a different breed. Also helps to attend their services once a quarter, and generally be known in the community. You should check out our press releases. Many Messianic Congregations struggle with the image or perception of legitimacy. 
