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Statement of the Ministry - 2009 The ministry of Jewish Heritage Revival registered for its web site in February 2006. We have now completed three calendar years and now have even more information, enabling us track the progress of the JHR website and ministry in reaching the world with the purpose we have set forth on our home page. Within our statement to you, our congregation, we will cover the following:
Please note that this report is not a financial report, in that we are not a ministry that solicits funds for operations. We do not sell our material or require a donation for you to receive our information. You are called our congregation because, even though we do not occupy a building, your support through prayer in addition to the reading of our materials and emails, makes you a stake holder in the success of this ministry. The focus of this ministry is to reach the Jewish People regarding Messiah. The great challenge at hand is presenting what was once a very Jewish picture to the Jewish people. However, this picture of Messiah is not recognizable to the Jewish people because the Jewishness of Messiah has been eliminated, making Him foreign to His own people. JHR is focused on reviving the Jewish Heritage found within Messiah and presenting Him back to the Jewish community. We have some exciting news to share regarding the future of this Ministry that we will share in our goals for 2010. In addition to our primary focus, we have found that those outside the Jewish community have little understanding of the Jewishness of Messiah. The articles found on this site are created to add insight from a Jewish perspective regarding Yeshua and the heritage He came through. Without a true understanding of the Jewish culture and heritage, leads to a misunderstanding of all that Messiah is about. If you truly believe what we are presenting in a revival of the Jewish Heritage that is missing from the church community, we ask you to pass our information along to others. The more that know and believe that this way of life is not only how our Messiah lived, but also taught how we are to live.
An Assessment Of 2009 As with 2008, This past year for JHR offered many challenges. From the standpoint of article creation, it was again a disappointment in that we only posted three new articles. My apologies. It had nothing to do with a lack of ideas or material, but challenges relating to my business and personal life that didn't afford me the focus in order to provide my undivided attention to writing. As a result of 2008, in 2009 I sold the business due to economic conditions. This was a true blessing because it has opened the door to other opportunities. The time and stress of negotiations and finally closing on the sale, left little time to truly focus on my ever growing list of articles and resources for this web site. That is beginning to change for 2010. With the sale of assets from my business, I must continue to earn a living and therefore, I am currently in the process of transisitioning the business from manufacturing to distribution. This has taken some time in that I am in the process of creating a new web site for it as well. Once that is complete, I should be able to focus on new content for the JHR web site. As of this writing, we are currently in development on an article entitled "What Happened to the Sabbath?" This past year has had some triumphs.
Therefore, even though we were again challenged with a limited number of new articles, we didn't sit idly by and do nothing.
A Comparison Of 2009 with 2008 and 2007 We now have three complete years of empirical data that we can share with you, our supporters. You will notice that we have experienced continued growth in readership and visitors to the JHR web site. 1. Visitors:
Reading the numbers: JHR experienced exceptional growth in the total number of visitors and the hours they spent absorbing information. The decrease in unique IP addresses isn't alarming, but indicates JHR had more return visitors.
2. Content:
Simply put, more visitors, more pages viewed, more data transferred and more articles downloaded.
3. How People Found Us:
A third year of indexing has helped to improve JHR's web ranking. Please keep in mind that all results are based on what is known as organic search results. To date, we have not invested one dollar in advertising. The gains in search results, even though modest, were positive and generated new visitors to the web site. We continue to focus on generating organic results, rather then paid results. Not only are we being found through the search engine, but also via word of mouth. We are in the process of considering some advertising through Google's Ad Words program.
A Look Forward To Our Ambitions For 2010 As a member of JHR, what can you expect for 2010? Last year I provided a list of articles in the works. This year, I have decided not to provide a list, so as not to disappoint if they are not delivered. Please keep in mind that there are many future articles planned. The only obstacle is time. Last year I had posted the following: Congregation In Lockport: In addition to all of the above, we will be researching the possibility of creating a congregation in Lockport, NY. At this point in time, we will merely be investigating what is involved. We will be looking at the need for the community of what God may create. One Year Later: As a result of prayer and research, we will not be starting a congregation in Lockport, NY. The proximity to Brith Hadoshah is too close. Two Messianic congregations in a community whereby one is more then sufficient, didn't make sense. Congregation members of Brith Hadoshah travel from as far away as Rochester (nearly 50 miles) to attend service. This decision did not affect this ministry in a negative way, but opened a new door. At the time of our research, I was looking at Jewish communities in the United States and ran across one that was rather surprising. Its location - Portland Maine. As I began to research this area, comprised of over 8000 Jewish people, five synagogues and a Jewish community association, there is not one Messianic Jewish congregation in Portland, let alone the entire state of Maine. In December of 2008 I met with Rabbi Lowinger, and sought him out, with the intent to apprentice under him, in preparation for planting a congregation in Portland. With his blessing and encouragement, we have been working together in preparing for this goal. As it stands now, our plan is to relocate to the Portland area in October of 2010 with the intention of beginning a congregation by Passover 2011. The six months will allow myself and my wife to establish roots in the community, making connections, that will ultimately open doors into the resources we will need for starting this new ministry in a community and state that has not experienced the Messianic movement. The "Congregation at Portland" once established will set out to become affiliated with the IAMCS (International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues). This affiliation will offer support and identify this congregation as part of the Mishpocha (family) of the Messianic community, currently standing at 100 United States affiliated congregations and over 20 international. The Messianic movement is one that God is expanding. However, there are challenges. Spurned by the Jewish community and not understood by many within the Christian community, Messianic Judaism brings together aspects from both:
Let me emphatically state what this congregation will not be:
A Messianic Congregation will have all the characteristics of any other synagogue (Hebrew liturgy, Torah Services, Dancing, Singing, Yishiveh, celebration of God's appointed festivals) with one exception, Yeshua the Messiah will be the center of everything this congregation will do. When I write next years statement of ministry we will be in Portland and will therefore be able to begin reporting on God's movement and the progress for this new dynamic of the JHR ministry. JHR is worldwide in that we have made contact and received correspondence from people as far away as New Zealand and Australia. Even though we may be considering establishing a local congregation, we are world wide and you are part of anything we do moving forward. I encourage you to email and comment. Thank you for your continued support and prayers for this ministry. God Bless, Stephen Luft
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