Dear friend in the Messiah,
Shalom from the city with the highest concentration of Jewish people in the world! It is not Jerusalem or Tel Aviv—it is New York City! In fact, Brooklyn, one of the five boroughs in this city, has more Jewish people than Jerusalem! I often joke about Brooklyn being the other holy land!
Brooklyn is a wonderful place to reach Jewish people with the Good News of Jesus the Messiah—the Gospel that we love, cherish and proclaim. This is why we established a Messianic outreach center in the heart of Orthodox Jewish Brooklyn—and the Lord is blessing the ministries of the Center.
Shalom Brooklyn
We have just completed two weeks of intensive evangelistic outreach in Brooklyn. During the first week we had over 50 short-term missionary volunteers and staff involved with our efforts, and almost the same number during the second week. We distributed Gospel tracts on the streets of Brooklyn, set up book tables in busy areas, ministered in the parks and beaches and shared the Gospel with hundreds of Jewish people.
It was surprising to see how many conversations our Brooklyn volunteers and staff had with religious Jewish people. There seems to be a real growing hunger on the part of Orthodox Jewish people for the Gospel. There is actually a whole movement under the radar of young people raised in religious Jewish homes—especially in Brooklyn—who are beginning to seek the Lord. We keep meeting these young people during the school year at Brooklyn College and throughout the greater New York area.
Isaiah 53 and I Found Shalom in Brooklyn
As you probably know if you have been reading our newsletter, we are using social media and websites to do evangelism on a regular basis. Our two evangelistic websites are Isaiah53.com and ifoundshalom.com. We have learned how to utilize Facebook and other online advertising tools to drive people to our websites to learn more about the Gospel. The Isaiah 53 site, of course, does this through introducing Jewish people to the great prophetic passage in Isaiah chapter 53, which predicts the death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah in phenomenal detail. We also offer a free book, Isaiah 53 Explained, which I wrote to give further information about this great chapter and how the fulfillment of this chapter in Jesus can transform our lives.
The ifoundshalom.com website is focused on the testimonies of Messianic Jews from all walks of life who have found Jesus to be the true Messiah of Israel. We have literally had thousands of individuals exploring these testimonies each week, and we also offer a free booklet people can request.
We now have dozens of Jewish people that our missionary staff are following up as a result of the on the ground Shalom Brooklyn effort and our cyberspace web-based outreach campaigns. What a great day we live in!
Chosen People Ministries and Jewish Evangelism
If you are new to Chosen People Ministries, perhaps the best way to help you understand what we are all about is to share with you our mission statement:
Chosen People Ministries exists to pray for, evangelize, disciple and serve the Jewish community and to help others do the same.
This mission statement is based upon some of the great missionary passages of the Bible, including Matthew 28:19-20 (the Great Commission) and Acts 1:8, where Jesus told His disciples to begin preaching the Gospel first in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and then the uttermost parts of the world.
For over 120 years, we have taken this mandate both literally and very seriously. May I share one other critical passage of Scripture with you that will help you understand our ministry?
In Matthew 23:37, our Savior and beloved Messiah Jesus reveals His heart for His own people when He says,
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.
If anybody asks me, “What drives your ministry,” I would certainly refer them to the above passages of Scripture. Most importantly, we seek to evangelize and disciple the Jewish people because of God’s heart for them. He chose the Jewish people for a great purpose—to bring the blessings of Messiah to a sinful world—knowing that the vast majority of those He chose to be His bridge of grace to a broken world would fail to respond positively to the Messiah until just the right moment.
This is what drives us! We believe that moment is in the process of unfolding. God’s word will not fail. He is touching the lives of Jewish people even now, in anticipation of that great day.
I wholeheartedly believe that what we are doing online and in person is part of God’s process in turning the nation of Israel to Jesus. Regardless of what will happen in the future, we want to see Jewish people believe in Jesus—today!
I hope this helps you understand what our mission is all about. We exist to bring the Good News in a Jewish way to the Jewish people so that the entire world will be blessed.
Your Prayers and Support Are a Blessing to Us!
We deeply appreciate your financial support as without your help we would not be able to reach the Jewish people in Brooklyn, New York City and in so many of the more expensive urban centers where my people live.
We recently entered our new fiscal year and have budgeted $20,000 per month to run the Brooklyn Center. This includes the utilities, staffing, outreach, advertising of events, the hosting of our Seminary training program and more! But remember, we have no debt on this facility thanks to your generosity. So, all that you give goes towards the ministries of the Feinberg Brooklyn Messianic Center! Please pray about giving a generous donation today to our evangelistic work among the Jewish people. Not just in Brooklyn, of course, but for the more than 25 branches in the United States and Canada and our ministries in 15 other countries across the globe. You can do this through a one-time generous gift or consider giving regularly through our Watchmen for Jerusalem program.
Thanks so much for caring and also remember to pray for your Jewish friends during the High Holiday season that begins this month. We will have many Jewish seekers attending our services—many who heard about the Lord through Shalom Brooklyn and our online campaigns. Pray that God would open their hearts this month to the Savior!
I also hope you will visit our website and take full advantage of the wonderful information we have provided for you which includes videos, charts and so much more. We also provide some tips for you on how to share the Gospel with your Jewish friends through the vehicle of the Jewish High Holidays.
Blessings in our Messiah Jesus,
Mitch
Dr. Mitch Glaser 