Messianics Rising - Barry Yeoman

Likewise, in the service of fostering community,
they help organize “Simcha,” a four-day
retreat in Carlisle, Pa., featuring Messianic
worship and Shabbat ritual. This year’s retreat,
held over Memorial Day weekend, featured a
keynote speech by Michael Rydelnik, a Moody
professor who helped inspire Darrin’s studies.
Jewish leaders find this relational approach
no less offensive than street encounters.
“One is the harder sell, one is the soft sell,
but they’re both trying to sell you a false set of
goods,” says Scott Hillman, former executive
director of Jews for Judaism, a two-decade-old
organization that was established as a response
to the efforts of those who target Jews for
conversion..
By claiming that believers in Jesus can
remain Jewish, Hillman says, friendship evangelists
are just as deceptive as their more
aggressive peers.
The Specks insist that they are not trying
to deceive but rather to reach out to those who
already are spiritually curious.
“I think evangelism should happen on the
basis of trust: You’re my friend because you’re
my friend, not because I have any other agenda,”
Sharon says. “I’ll share with you my spiritual
journey as you share with me yours. It’s in that
trust relationship that you can talk about those
things and not feel that you’re being forced to
change or go somewhere you don’t want to go.”
One of the Specks’ Shabbat guests was
32-year-old David Schauder, who grew up with
a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother. By
Orthodox or Conservative standards, he would
not be considered Jewish unless he converted.
“My dad would stress the cultural history
of being Jewish,” he says. “But since we knew
nothing of the actual religion, we were very
weak in terms of identification.”
As a software engineer, Schauder says, “I
believed in critical analysis,” but it left little
room for faith. Nonetheless, in 2004, he accepted
a friend’s invitation to attend a Shabbat dinner.
Schauder came away moved by the Specks’
hospitality.
“I was amazed how open and willing to talk
about their faith they were,” he says. “It was an
opportunity for me to examine the stereotypes
I had about organized religion.”
Schauder returned for more dinners and,
with the Specks’ subtle encouragement, started
researching his own Jewish heritage. Last year
he married Nicole Tigno, a devout Catholic. The
couple now study the Old Testament with the
Specks, using an English translation from the
Jewish Publication Society.
Darrin is leery of Nicole’s Catholicism, with
its veneration of the Virgin Mary, but feels
grateful that she has helped warm her husband
to Jesus.
Over time, Schauder has found his skepticism
waning. He attends Mass with his wife,
and the couple pray together at home.
Whether he will become Christian remains
an open question.
“I still feel like a beginner,” he says. “Even
though I have my doubts, I think my faith is
increasing. But I don’t know what that faith is.”
D
S chauder is the closest the Specks can
claim to success. That’s not unusual: Missionaries
do not win over many Jews.
Jews for Jesus last year wrapped up a 53-city
campaign, called Behold Your God, targeting
major Jewish population centers throughout the
world. Representatives handed out 16 million
broadsides, mailed Yiddish DVDs to Orthodox
households and trained members of large evangelical
churches. They set up kiosks in shopping
centers and bought advertising in New York’s
subway system.
According to the organization’s own statistics,
a total of 1,227 Jews declared their faith in
Jesus as a result of the five-year effort.
“If this were a corporate thing, they would
have been shut down by now,” says Rabbi Gary
Greenebaum, U.S. director of interreligious
affairs for the American Jewish Committee.
Missionaries insist these low numbers don’t