Patricia Solveson Interview

Patricia Solveson is a baby boomer and a former hippie who ended up in the new age movements and occultism.  

Trapped by dark powers that turned into a suicidal depression, she turned to the living God and He rescued her from the darkness and brought her into a new life that included sharing her new life through art.  Patricia took her art to Israel and fell in love with the people of Israel and began to paint murals of the Bible. She painted a 400 foot mural in Jerusalem where many people-  Jews and Gentiles-  come to visit.  Patricia is the author of “ArtCry Memoirs of a Mural Painter.”

Kathy Coombs Returns

Kathy grew up in a Roman Catholic household. Although she heard about God and Jesus, she had no idea if they were real.

That was about to change. On May 15th, 1979, her father suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. He was only 51 years old, and she was just 23. Devastated by his death, she began to search for God with all her heart, and she found Him.

Kathy gave her life to Jesus on March 31st, 1980, which happened to be the eve of Passover! Fast forward two years, and she was attending a Pentecostal church where a pastor from Israel came to speak.

His message was “Our Debt to the Jew.” While he was speaking, the power of the Holy Spirit came upon her, and she heard the Lord say to her, “I have called you to the Jew first.” At that very moment, Yeshua birthed a love for His people in her.

Since then, He has opened many effectual doors for Kathy to witness to Jewish people.

She visited Israel in 1988 and hopes to go back again one day. Kathy can truly testify that if you bless the Jew, you will be blessed.

Sonia Bihary Interview

Sonia Bihary majored in music at Oberlin College. She found the Lord and began writing songs to Him. She has been leading worship, beginning in churches and for the last 15 years at Tikvat Yisrael Messianic Synagogue in Cleveland, Ohio. She has a husband, Rick, who plays on her worship team, three sons, and four grandchildren. She also leads two prayer groups for Tikvat and for Israel. God is the strength of her life as she tministers to others.

Melanie Webster Returns

Melanie was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York and is a graduate of Brooklyn College. At 23 years old, a Jewish friend showed her only from the Tenach that Jesus, Yeshua, was the Promised Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world. Melanie moved to Israel 8 years ago with her husband, Gary. They are both believers in Yeshua. Melanie has been walking with the Lord for over 40 years!  Today we discuss her book “A Daughter of the Holocaust,” which tells her father’s story of survival during the Holocaust.  She uses her maiden name for the book, “Melanie Sol.”  Melanie is the mother of four children and a grandmother of three. 

Barri Cae Seif

It was great to talk to Barri. It had been several years since we had done an interview.

Messianic believer Barri Cae Seif (formerly Mallin) is an instructor, author, and theologian. She is also an Associate Professor and Director of Online Teaching Effectiveness with Grace Christian University. 

 

Barri holds a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from Trinity Theological Seminary. She earned an MBA from Amberton University with a concentration in General Management. She earned a BA in Psychology at Stephens College.

Her published works include four devotionals, 
Intimate Moments with the Hebrew Names of God, The Name – HaShem Daily Devotional Worship, There’s Just Something About That Name, Midbar Missives, Wilderness Devotionals.

She currently resides in Ovilla, Texas, with her husband, Dr. Jeffrey L Seif. They are the proud parents of two kitty cats, Holly and Hodu. Their favorite past-time is riding Harley Davidson motorcycles. 

Garry Seligman Interview

Garry had a typical secular Jewish upbringing.  He attended Sunday school at a reformed congregation in the northeast, and had a couple years of Hebrew school but no bar mitzvah.   He stopped going to temple altogether at age 25, and didn’t go again until 33 years later, when an evangelical friend talked him into attending an Erev Shabbat service at a nearby Messianic congregation.  At that service, Garry received the invitation to know his  Messiah, and accepted.  That was the beginning of his spiritual journey, and according to Garry, “the adventure continues today…”

Cathy Lance Interview

Cathy fell in love with Yeshua as a young child and was raised in the Mormon faith. She always felt drawn to the Old Testament. As a child, she read itover and over multiple times, so in her mind, she felt like she was camping with the Israelites as they were traveling through the desert, so she just felt a realconnection to the Jewish people her whole life.

After a trip to Israel, sherealized that Yeshua was Jewish, and that she is Jewish in her heart. Cathy realizedthat Yeshua died for the whole world, and as a believer, if she really wanted to become Christ-like and become more like Yeshua, she needed to celebrate the holidays that Yeshua celebrated, speak the language that Yeshua spoke,and live the  lifestyle that Yeshua lived.

Cathy currently lives in Akron Ohio, works as a hospice chaplain and attends a Messianic synagogue in Cleveland Ohio. 

Austin Koustik Interview

Austin was raised within the Messianic movement in Southern California. His parents became believers in Yeshua soon after they got married, about ten years before they had Austin. He didn’t come to faith immediately, but the one defining aspect that made him come to faith and accept Yeshua was thinking about what is going to happen to him after he dies? That just got him to investigate the Scriptures and investigate the story of Yeshua and the Gospel. He made the decision when he was about 10 or 11 years old, and the rest is history. 

Lyn Rosen Bond

Lyn Rosen Bond retired as is a senior missionary at the San Francisco branch of Jews for Jesus. Lyn has a master's degree in Missiology with an emphasis in Jewish Studies from Fuller School of World Mission.  She is the daughter of the ministry’s founders, Moishe and Ceil Rosen.  Her service to the Lord through Jews for Jesus was in branches of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas and Chicago.  Lyn was one of the founding members of the Jews for Jesus Mobil Evangelistic Drama team, the New Jerusalem Players.  Lyn and her husband have two adult children a Son-in-law and two grandchildren.   Jews for Jesus is a missions organization on the forefront of Jewish evangelism. The ministry is reaching Jewish people for their Messiah in over a dozen cities around the world.

Aaron Abramson Interview

Aaron was raised in a Jewish family in Seattle before moving to Israel, where he attended an Orthodox Jewish seminary and served in the Israeli military. After his service, he embarked on a year-long physical and spiritual journey, during which he was challenged to read the New Testament and had a life-changing encounter with God. Motivated to help others experience similar transformations, he joined Jews for Jesus in 2000. Since then, Aaron has served as a missionary, director of recruitment, and New York director, where he launched the mission’s Young Adult Ministry and Massah, an outreach to Israeli backpackers. In 2019, he became a chief operating officer, and in 2024, Aaron was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Jews for Jesusworldwide. He holds a BA in Biblical and Intercultural Studies from All Nations Christian College in England and an MPA from New York University. Aaron and his wife, Victoria, have three children and currently reside in New York City.

Monica Di Francesco Interview

Monica Di Francesco is an author, certified trauma-informed emotional wellness coach and marriage mentor with a love for the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and His people. She facilitates weekly emotional wellness support groups and a monthly new moon/month meeting. 

Order her book here:  A Journey From Abuse to Abounding: Honour Your Feelings, Find Your Way, Spread Your Wings https://a.co/d/1Sl1p1J

Rabbi Paul Liberman Interview

Paul Liberman became a believer in the Messiah in 1971. He was instrumental in founding two Messianic Congregations; Beth Messiah Messianic Congregation in Washington, D.C. and Tree of Life in San Diego, California.  He also served as a congregational leader at Beit Asaph in Netanya, Israel, when he resided in the Land for nine years.  There, he was the Executive Director of The Joseph Project, Ltd. (humanitarian aid importer), and was elected Chairman of the Messianic Political Action Committee.  For five years, he served as the Executive Director of the International Messianic Alliance.  Paul was also the publisher of “The Messianic Times” newspaper for six years, a founding board member of MAOZ, Inc. (Israel) and is a past President of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America.  Currently he is the leader of Ohav Shalom Messianic Congregation in Palm Springs, California. He is the author of “The Fig Tree Blossoms” and “Don’t Call Me Christian.”

Ethel Chadwick Story

How did I learn about Yeshua?  In today’s broadcast I share my testimony and some original music. 

I grew up in a Jewish home in Richmond, VA and studied Hebrew for five years. I was always drawn to astrology and the occult. Even after singing Handel’s Messiah with the Richmond Symphony Chorus, I had no idea what it was all about as I had never read Isaiah 9. While attending college in Richmond, I was handed a tract that said “Jews for Jesus,” but I was scared and shocked to even look at it, and I threw it in the trash. A few years later here in Rochester, I met a lady who shared the gospel with me and I got up enough courage to look in a New Testament for the first time. I was delightfully surprised to find out that it had many references to King David and it was not anti-Semitic. I discovered that Yeshua said in Matthew 5:17 that He came to fulfill the law and not to change it and I learned that the last supper was a passover Seder and that the disciples were Jewish. I renounced and repented from participation with the occult and I accepted Yeshua into my heart in 1976. I have never looked back. 

Sally Klein O’Connor Again!

Sally Klein O'Connor is a Messianic Jew who studied music and graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston. Afterward, Sally served as a freelance writer/reviewer for the nationally distributed Music Connection Magazine. In November 1982 Sally met Michael, her husband, in a songwriting class. Drawn to each other's lyrics they began an unlikely collaboration from which sprang 3 daughters, many more songs, and a music ministry called Improbable People Ministries. In between concert tours, Sally currently hosts an internet TV show on HSBN (Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network) called "Love Stories," and leads a special project called A Tour of Roses, which is an international outreach of healing and reconciliation. 

Bob Mendelsohn Interview

I’ve known Bob for many years. In this broadcast he shared how he discovered that Jesus is the Messiah. 

Bob Mendelsohn served as the director of Jews for Jesus in Australia and New Zealand for 25 years..He now spends half the year in Nashville and half in Sydney. He grew up as an Orthodox Jew in Kansas City, became a university drop out, and looked for the meaning of life in the counterculture of the 1960s.

Cindy Rosenthal Interview

Cindy grew up in the southern part of New Jersey and lived in Albany, New York for almost eighteen years before moving to Florida three years ago. She has two Associates degrees, one in

Applied Science and one in Health Services Administration. She went on to complete her

Bachelor’s degree in Health Services Administration and currently works as an Office and Compliance Manager in healthcare. Before going into healthcare, Cindy spent twenty-six years in banking finance where she was a mid-level manager.

Cindy’s greatest joy is music and worshiping the Lord. She spent thirteen years singing with a

ministry group called Kol Simcha which means Sound of Joy in Hebrew. Cindy had

opportunities to minister with Kol Simcha all over the world and saw hundreds of people come

to know Yeshua (Jesus) as their Lord and Savior.

Cindy has recently started writing her testimony and is a contributing author in an Amazon #1

Best Selling Book called “Hope Alive Debilitated to Exhilarated with God”. She continues to

write and share what God has done in her life in a book called “When Lightening Strikes Twice”.

It is Cindy’s prayer that anyone who hears her voice or reads her words will hear the voice of the

Lord or see with words of the Lord and feel encouraged and get healed.

Ted Gordon Interview

Ted came to faith in Messiah during his college years. He was raised with a Jewish father and Thai mother. Ted didn’t get a Bar Mitzvah nor did his family attend temple on Shabbat or High Holy Days. Although Ted’s father married his mother with no intention to have her convert to Judaism, his parents decided to raise him and his brother Jewish anyway. The only thing that identified him as Jewish throughout his childhood and teenage years was celebrating Chanukah for the sake of presents. Ted came to faith in the Messiah with no knowledge of Judaism. Upon coming to Yeshua, he became very zealous for God and gained a deep hunger to learn about the Word of God and Torah, and about his roots. Over the years, as he grew in the grace and knowledge of God, he picked up more of a Jewish education than he did being born and raised Jewish. To this day Ted still continues to learn and grow in Him. 

Ryan Lambert interview

Ryan is an author, speaker and teacher and describes himself as a thinker, writer, teacher, and bridge builder.

He loves to explore game-changing ideas in leadership, relationships, health, personal growth, and spirituality - especially in the areas of Jewish-Christian relations, education, and bridge-building. 

His journey includes various stops that have prepared him for what he is doing today. He has been a public school teacher, a college baseball coach, a marketing and public relations director, and a leader in Jewish-Christian education and relations. He has recently published a book about Paul, "The Weird Apostle: The Strange Jewish Mission of a Global Game Changer." 

Ryan and his wife live in Roswell, Georgia.

Rebecca Taylor Wyatt Interview

Rebecca Taylor Wyatt is an anointed singer/songwriter and worship leader who desires to see people touched by the LORD’s presence through music, including manifestations of spiritual peace, healing and divine reconciliation. John 14:6, Psalm 40:3, Is 54. 

Emanuel Roro Interview

Emanuel Roro is a Jewish follower of Jesus, Artist, songwriter, worship leader born and raised in Israel. Emanuel has a passion for using music to bring people to the feet of Yeshua.

Joshua Aaron Again!

It has been a while since I spoke with Joshua.  

Joshua Aaron is an award winning, Messianic Jewish singer and songwriter. He and his wife Jeannie have four children (Emma, Joshie, Max and Levi) and maintain citizenship with both the nation of Israel & the United States of America. Joshua travels in a full time capacity, sharing G-d’s good news through Hebraic worship, powerful testimony and biblical teaching… proclaiming a message of hope in Yeshua (Jesus), a love for the Jewish people and a desire for the return of the Messiah. 

Joshua’s connection to the Messianic movement dates back to 1976 when his mother (an Israeli-born Jew) accepted Messiah after hearing a message by the late Martin Chernoff on “the Jewishness of Jesus”. 

Jim Meysenburg Interview

Rabbi Jim Meysenburg was raised in a Catholic home, on a farm in Nebraska.  He became a Catholic priest in Duluth, Minnesota and taught Catholic school there.  He was sent over to Sweden for a time.  Then he met his wife and left the priesthood.  She found out that she was Jewish and while living in the Washington D.C. area, she looked up Messianic Congregations.  They started attending one there and eventually moved to the Baltimore area.  They were attending a small congregation in Edgewood, Maryland and when the leader/Pastor resigned, Jim was asked to replace him.  Rabbi Jim has been leading the congregation for seven years now.  He has visited Israel one time and hopes to go again some day.

Janice Sattele Interview

Janice was raised Baptist and accepted Yeshua into her heart at the age of seven.  In the early 90s she attended a Bible study and was introduced to First Fruits of Zion and learned about Messianic Judaism.  She was immediately drawn to the Jewish customs and holidays and couldn't stop telling everyone about Yeshua!  Janice has had many miraculous healings and hopes to one day write a book about all her experiences with the Lord!  She gives her whole life to God to do with as He pleases. She says "be all the Glory and Praise to Him for it all.  Baruch HaShem!"

Dawn & Marion Shafer Interview

Marion was born and raised in Kansas. Dawn grew up in New Jersey and Minnesota. Marion has done many things, from working as tele-typist (Communication manager) to Park ranger in Mount Roger’s State Park in Southwest Virginia to Bus driver in Minnesota. Dawn graduated from Mounds-Midway School of Nursing with RN and Family Nurse Practitioner from University of Virginia in Charlottesville. They met in California in Oct. 1977 and were married 100 days later in Minnesota and went to live in Mountains of Virginia where Dawn was working as a Lay Associate for the Lutheran Church in America. Dawn and Marion love Yeshua and have a special love for the Jewish people.They now live in Minnesota and have 4 grown children and 6 grandchildren.

Gaylyn Williams Interview

I met Gaylyn last year at the Messiah conference. She is an accomplished Author and we had a very interesting conversation.

Gaylyn Williams, President of Relationship Resources, is an inspirational speaker and author of over forty books. In her writing and speaking, Gaylyn uses practical, biblical principles to inspire people to be all God created them to be.

After receiving her degree from Dallas Bible College, Gaylyn spent 16 years as a missionary with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Using her degree in Bible, linguistics, and Greek, she conducted linguistic analyses on five different Mayan dialects, developing a written language for each. She then helped train the native speakers to translate the New Testament into their languages.

Following her years as a missionary in Guatemala, she trained potential missionaries in basic linguistic and literacy skills, preparing them to go to the mission field. Gaylyn also developed the Wycliffe International Cookbook, one of Wycliffe Bible Translator’s top selling books after over 25 years. She later joined The Navigators as a full-time missionary, leading a single-parent family ministry.

Mother of two adult sons, Gaylyn currently resides  part-time in Israel and part-time in view of the majestic Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She is passionate about Israel and empowering others to learn about God’s heart for Israel. Her latest book is Explore God’s Heart for Israel. She enjoys hiking, walking, reading and spending time with the Lord and her friends and family.

Lori Kate Lowenhar again!

Lori returns to Bagels and Blessings to discuss life in Israel in the midst of the current conflict.

Originally from Elkhart, Indiana, Lori grew up playing the flute and clarinet. She graduated with a Music Education degree from Cedarville University and began traveling internationally performing Jewish Gospel Music with the Liberated Wailing Wall. Upon moving to Israel, her musical training allowed her to teach a variety of instruments to students in various schools in the Jezre'el Valley.

Lori Kate has now been living in Israel for 26 years. She's part of an amazingly talented trio, playing clarinet in the musical group, One Lev.

Eric Tokajer - 7th Time!

How wonderful to have Rabbi Eric on the show again!

Rabbi Eric was raised in a traditional Jewish home. After his bar mitzvah, he began to study the Hebrew Scriptures more closely which brought many questions to his mind. Questions like if a sacrifice had to be made once a year on Yom Kippur to cover the sins of Israel from year to year how were those sins covered now. When he was unable to find answers from the different rabbis that he asked, he became an agnostic. 

While serving in the US Navy, Rabbi Eric was challenged by a believer in Yeshua to study the Scriptures until he found answers within them. While searching the Hebrew Scriptures, Rabbi Eric found belief in Yeshua as the promised Messiah of Israel which brought answers to all of the questions he had. It is now over 33 years ago. 

Since then Rabbi Eric studied to become an ordained Rabbi in the IAMCS (International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues). He has served as a Rabbi in Mobile, Alabama. He also helped to establish five synagogues across the Gulf Coast in Slidell, Louisiana; Bayou La Batre, Alabama; Spanish Fort, Alabama; Navarre, Florida, and Brit Ahm Messianic Synagogue in Pensacola, Florida, where he serves as Rabbi today. Rabbi Eric has been married for 42 years to his wife Pammy.

In addition to God Has No Plan B, Rabbi Eric has written; With Me in Paradise, Transient Singularity, #ManWisdom, OY! How Did I Get Here?,Thirty-One Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before Entering Ministry, Jesus is to Christianity as Pasta is to Italians, Romans in Context and Simple Shabbat Siddur. 

Sharon Settel Interview

What a joy to interview Sharon Settel, widow of Jonathan Settel.  I especially loved this show, hope you will enjoy it for years to come!

Sharon Settel was born and raised in Miami, Florida into a Bible believing family. She studied and worked in the medical field for fifteen years. Sharon met her husband by divine appointment at the age of 19-years-old. They married in 1980 and were blessed with three beautiful children and four grandchildren. Sharon worked and traveled with Jonathan for over thirty years. She was the co-founder and Administrator for Settel International Ministries and The Musical Artistry of Jonathan Settel. Sharon currently resides in Dallas,Texas and is the Events Coordinator for The Nathaniel Fellowship/Foundation.