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Serving, Preparing and Calling Everyone for the Hastening of the Redemption of the World Through Messiah Yeshua in His Jewish Context.
the broken tea box ...
For 18 years we actively attended and served in a Hebraic-Christian congregation; then due to circumstances, we found ourselves without fellowship for over six months...and our tea box lid broke! The tea box that we pass around the table after our Shabbat dinners during dessert time. To Rozalie(Shoshi) this box was telling us we’re lacking a “spiritual covering.” As we walk life’s path with Messiah Yeshua we shouldn’t be without community and accountability; going the path alone isn’t G-d’s plan.
Back to the tea box. Shoshi goes to the hardware store to find a solution for the broken lid and returns with five types of glue and various hinges that gets dumped on my desk...
...the glue
"This looks prophetic...this could preach" she says...
Little did I know that a month later I would sense the need to bring our friends, also without a community, together for a Shabbat dinner. We wanted to seek G-d for direction; we had been discussing community for years, maybe this was the time to start something new. Messianic Rabbi Shapira gave us a call concerning an upcoming trip to Houston. It just so happened to coincide on the same night ( August, 2016) we were having our first meeting with our friends. We asked him to join us and to teach on the Biblical standard of a 1st century church. "Oh, I'm writing a book on that called City on the Hill, said Rabbi. Interestingly enough, we've been counseling with Dr. John Garr, a bible scholar of Restoration Foundation and Hebraic-Christian Global Community, to find that he was writing a book on Biblically based church government! The “divine” hand was intersecting the players but we were clueless of what was coming.
After three weekends of Rabbi’s teachings he turns to me, “You must keep this going.” My mind stayed silent on the statement spoken before 40 people; yet my thoughts were screaming “Why? Why do I need to keep this going? And what is this anyway?” As the 40 friends were preparing to leave our home, Rabbi made a final remark; “Do you want to be a light in the living room or a city on a hill?”
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... G-d, good friends, the rabbi , the pastor , and Mitch
After five months of coming together the veil over this has lifted. This community is a gift from Adonai that the L-rd is carefully unwrapping for us all...We did not know Rabbi's visit and a simple meeting with some good friends would soon prove to be providential in nature. Nowhere in my bucket list was there a notation for “birthing a Messianic community.” No messengers came in angelic form to confirm this was my “calling.” But I had no reason to say “no” to Rabbi... except for the fact I was totally unequipped, untrained and the thought was completely illogical. I was one that loved sitting in the “pew,” praising and worshipping and overseeing the “helps” ministry-not birth a congregation.
Well, you might say it matters little how ill-equipped one is-”with G-d all things are possible”- in spite of ourselves. After a short while it was evident that a team of Elders (Zachaneem) was necessary to carry out the work.
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... and the community is born.
Besides our limbs being trimmed a couple of times and the “normal” growing pains, City on the Hill is maturing as one of a few Spirit-filled Messianic communities in Houston. There are over 2000 houses of worship for Christians in the greater Houston area, but only a handful for those desiring to walk out their Jewish Roots. We’ve learned there’s a difference between “studying the Jewish roots of Christianity” versus “practicing the Jewish roots.” We meet on the Sabbath, read from the Torah and expound on the Gospels every week. We are a multicultural group (Spanish translation every service too) holding arms to uplift, love and honor one another, and worship and encounter Adonai from His Jewish context . Come and see what that means…our doors are open to all who yearn to know Him more and more…
Mitch
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