Sonia Bihary Interview

Here is a sweet interview with Sonia Bihary, a worship leader from Tikvat Ysrael in Cleveland, Ohio.

Sonia grew up in a Jewish home but they weren't religious.   She attended Shabbat services and studied Judaism.   She felt empty and searched for something more.   Sonia looked into other religions but nothing satisfied her.

Sonia's sister visited her and told her about Yeshua.  After praying and reading the book of John the Lord revealed Himself to Sonia.   This was in 1981.

Both of Sonia's parents came to the Lord before they died!  God is good!

Sonia is a wonderful worship leader.   She majored in music at Oberlin in Ohio.   She taught for awhile, was involved in music therapy and began writing music.

Please keep Sonia's ministry in your prayers and for wisdom for her family as they make decisions about their special needs son.

Joel Allen Interview

Here's an exciting interview with Messianic Pastor Joel Allen!

Pastor Joel Allen has been a Messianic Pastor for over 7 years in the small town of Wolcott, NY. He shepherds a small assembly called Messianic Family Fellowship and reaches out through internet ministries to help those around the world with their Messianic walk and discipleship through curriculum centered around the weekly Torah portions and a weekly teaching podcast. 

Joel and his wife Julie have been married for over 21 years and have raised 4 beautiful children in the faith who are very active in the family ministry. This ministry is not only through the local church but takes the family on the road to lead praise and worship at Messianic camps and teaching Christian churches the importance of knowing God's times and seasons.

Greg Silverman Interview-2

What a joy to have another great interview with Dr. Greg Silverman!   Today I featured some new songs from his CD "I Am," which was just released!   You will be so blessed!

Dr. Greg Silverman brings the Message of Yeshua, Jesus, to both Jews and Gentiles through his anointed worship leading, worship seminars, and teachings on the Jewish roots of the faith. Greg’s love and enthusiasm for Yeshua, Jesus, and for God’s people are evident in every teaching, concert, choral workshop, and speaking presentation he gives.

Greg’s father is a Russian-Polish Jew and his mother is Italian-American. Greg gained an interesting perspective on both Christianity and Judaism from growing up in an interfaith home. Greg remembers accepting Yeshua while visiting his grandmother’s church at eight years of age. Praise the LORD for a praying grandmother! As a teenager and college student, he attended a wide variety of churches. Greg also gained proficiency in gospel music during these years. By the time he graduated from college at the University of Massachusetts with a B.A. in both Vocal Jazz & Gospel Music as well as Psychology, Greg had one foot with the LORD but the other in worldly living. In Spring 2000, Greg began to point his life wholeheartedly toward God. Greg was hired as an assistant music director to well-known gospel musician, Ron Metcalf, in New York City. Ron did more than just make use of Greg’s musical gifts and talents; he took Greg under his wing spiritually by praying for and counseling him. Ron encouraged him to seek out the Jewish people who knew Jesus. Little did Greg know that there even was a Messianic Jewish movement, let alone that God would one day call he and his wife into full-time ministry. Within a year, Greg had rededicated his life to the LORD at his mother’s church. Immediately, God was making the dry bones in his life live!

In 2001, while studying classical choral conducting for a Master’s degree at Temple University, Greg was invited by a friend to visit Congregation Beth Yeshua, one of the flagship Messianic synagogues in the United States. From the moment he arrived, he felt spiritually as though he had “come home.” That first night at Beth Yeshua, the synagogue was particularly packed due to the special concert that night. When the guest artist was announced, Greg had a flashback and realized that he had seen this artist on a video that his grandmother had sent him several years prior. Although uninterested at the time, watching that video had impacted him, and it was very possibly the first time that Greg had seen a Messianic Jewish musician. So, Greg was overwhelmed to realize that his first time in Beth Yeshua was actually a concert of the same Marty Goetz that was in the video. What a “God-incidence!” Within a year of joining the synagogue, he met his beautiful wife, Rosa, who had been in the congregation for several years prior to Greg’s arrival. Greg and Rosa have joyfully become a quartet together with their two wonderful sons!

Greg ministered full-time at Congregation Beth Yeshua from 2004-2010. In Summer of 2010, the Silverman family moved out west to Tucson, Arizona where Greg had been accepted with scholarship into the prestigious University of Arizona doctoral program in Choral Conducting.  Greg completed the doctoral degree in December 2013. He served as a Music Professor and Choral Conductor at Eastern University. Greg presently is the President of his own ministries. The purpose of Silverman Ministries, Inc. (501c3 charitable organization) is to: 1) Share the Good News of Yeshua, Jesus, with both Jews and Gentiles, 2) Lead excellent praise and worship both live and through media, 3) Train and equip other musicians and worship artists, and 4) Connect the Messianic Movement and the Church.

Greg has ministered throughout America and internationally, and he has been a worship leader at the national MJAA Messiah Conferences for over a decade.  Broadcast appearances include TBN, Daystar, and the Inspiration Network. Live performances have occurred at Carnegie Hall, The White House, and Giant Stadium. Greg released his first full-length album of original Messianic Jewish Music entitled Dry Bones in 2004, Revive in 2007, and singles since. The ministry also released a brief documentary movie about a piece of Hebrew classical choral music and Greg’s experience as a choral conductor, Sacred.

Jonathan Bernis Interview-July 2016

Wow, so excited to once again interview Rabbi Jonathan Bernis! 

A Jewish Believer in Yeshua (Jesus), Jonathan Bernis is President & CEO of Jewish Voice Ministries International (JVMI). Jonathan has worked on the forefront of world evangelism since 1984, taking the Good News of Israel’s Messiah to the far reaches of the earth, to the Jewish People, and also to the Nations.

Today, as President & CEO of Jewish Voice Ministries International (JVMI), and theassociated organizations in Canada and the United Kingdom, Jonathan directs all aspects of the ministry, including the weekly television program Jewish Voice with Jonathan Bernis, which airs throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia.

JVMI’s mission is two-fold: Proclaiming the Gospel to the Jew first, and also to the Nations (Romans 1:16), and equipping the Church—providing education about the Hebraic roots of Christianity, the Church’s responsibility to Israel and the Jewish People, and how to share Messiah with the Jewish People. The Good News is proclaimed through television, print media, humanitarian/medical outreaches, and large-scale international festivals.

More than 560,000 people have attended the vibrant Hear O’ Israel! Festivals of Jewish Music & Dance throughout Eastern Europe, India, and South America. Millions more have participated via television broadcasts. Thousands have responded to altar calls, and about one third of those who have responded have been Jewish. More than a dozen new Messianic Jewish congregations have been birthed in the former Soviet Union through these outreaches. JVMI also partners with several other Messianic ministries to establish and operate Messianic Jewish Bible Institutes around the world to train leaders for Jewish ministry.

The lost and scattered tribes of Israel are of particular interest to Jonathan and Jewish Voice. A prophetic sign of redemption, as God is revealing these enigmatic peoples from Ethiopia to Eastern India, Jewish Voice has mobilized to reach out with essential humanitarian and medical provision, as God’s arm extended in the love of their Messiah. This is a very exciting and rewarding area of ministry, particularly close to Jonathan’s heart as these are the poorest Jewish communities on the earth.

A sought-after speaker, Jonathan also teaches at seminars and in conferences worldwide. He is a prominent leader in the Messianic movement and is a passionate supporter of Israel. He is the author of A Rabbi Looks at Jesus of Nazareth.

Jonathan is the founding Rabbi of Congregation Shema Yisrael in Rochester, New York, where he served as Senior Messianic Rabbi from 1984 to 1993. He also founded and pastored the Messianic Center of St. Petersburg, Russia, where he lived and ministered from 1993 to 1997.
 
Jonathan and his wife, Elisangela, are the parents of two daughters, Liel and Hannah, and reside in Phoenix, Arizona.

Misha Goetz Interview

This week features an interview with Misha Goetz and music from her debut CD, "Weight of Glory."  Misha, a talented worship leader, debuted her first album, Weight of Glory, on June 19th of this year. The twenty-one year old daughter of renowned Messianic artist, Marty Goetz, Misha has been on a journey towards her own Messianic music career for many years. She states in her bio on Kickstarter that she has been singing since she came out of the womb and playing piano since the age of five.

Misha started raising funds for this project less than a year ago on the website Kickstarter. Her page goes on to state that she wanted to make an album of worship music that speaks to people's hearts and brings them from the outer courts to the inner courts of the Most High God.  Truly knowing God in that secret place and making him known to a world that is so dark and dying is what worship is all about.  There's something about music that works in that process, stirring the soul, igniting a flame and evoking change by breathing on the deepest parts of our being that can't seem to be touched by words alone.
"I want to make an album of songs I have written that do just that" (Misha Goetz).
More information about Misha Goetz can be found on her website at www.mishagoetz.com.

Rabbi Eric Walker Interview

Rabbi Eric Walker serves as Senior Rabbi of Messianic Congregation Beth Hallel in Birmingham, Alabama.  After years of working as a corporate executive Rabbi Eric felt called to become a rabbi and after completing his Yeshiva education he received smicha (ordination) by the International Association of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues (IAMCS).  He started Jewish education at Rodef Shalom in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Temple B'Nai Israel in McKeesport, Pennsylvania.  Before stepping into full time service Rabbi Eric and Lora, his wife, had held various teaching and leadership positions at Messianic Congregation Beth Hallel in Roswell, Georgia. Messianic Congregation Beth Hallel was planted in February of 2007 and quickly grew to become one of the fastest growing and largest synagogues in the USA. Rabbi Eric also is an Honorary Executive of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA), and sits on the Board of Advisors of the Messianic Jewish Israel Fund (MJIF).  Rabbi Walker also authored "Etz Chaim: Lessons from the Tree of Life."   Featuring music of Ted Pearce, Elana Watson, Liberated Wailing Wall and Barry & Batya Segal.  Happy Purim!