2026 Conference Speakers

Michelle holds a B.S. in Business Management from the University of Southern Colorado, an M.A. in Biblical Language from Liberty University, and a Doctor of Ministry in Messianic Jewish Studies from The King’s University. She also earned a certificate in women-to-women training from Entrust/One Challenge. Passionate about ministry, she aims to foster understanding among Jewish-Gentile intermarried couples. Michelle has served in women and children’s ministries at Stonebriar Community Church, as a content writer at Gateway Church, and currently as Vice President of Development, content creator, and co-host of Pop Talk at Pearls of Promise Ministries. She attends Baruch Hashem Messianic Synagogue and Lakepoint Church. She lives in Frisco, TX, with her husband, Kerry, cherishing their six children and eleven grandchildren.

Messianic Jewish intermarried couples play a key role in transmitting Jewish identity to their school-age children by blending Jewish and non-Jewish traditions. This qualitative study explored how six such couples, each with one Jewish and one Gentile spouse, engage with their respective heritages and the wider Jewish community, using email surveys, interviews, and observations at Messianic congregations and churches. Findings show parents prioritize teaching Jewish customs and biblical Hebrew, engage children in both church and Messianic communities, but face tensions with extended family and have minimal connection to broader Jewish communities. Data were analyzed using Charmaz’s grounded theory axial coding.

Erik and his wife Elisa are lifelong Jewish members of the Messianic Jewish community. Erik is on staff with Chosen People Ministries where he writes educational content for Jewish seekers to better understand the good news and for Jewish believers to grow in their faith and identities. He is a first-year PhD student in New Testament at Ridley College of the Australian University of Theology where he studies Paul's use of the Shema in 1 Corinthians 8. Erik also co-directs the YouTube channel and podcast Two Messianic Jews which seeks to strengthen the faith and identity of Jewish believers, equips Christians to resist Hebrew Roots and Replacement Theology, and teaches the Jewishness of the New Testament.

Messianic congregations began as places where Jewish people could hear the good news in a familiar Jewish context and comfortably live out their faith in a familiar Jewish way, resisting the forces of assimilation and replacement theology. These congregations were initially met with great resistance by the Jewish community because of their success. Now, the Jewish community simply disregards Messianic congregations as inauthentic (i.e., unfamiliar) and Jewish believers have increasingly felt uncomfortable at Messianic congregations. A major cause of these trends is the increasing presence and influence of Hebrew Roots and One Law adherents in our congregations. How can we effectively re-focus on being a comfortable place for Jewish people to experience a familiar Jewish expression of the gospel? How can we effectively address the Hebrew Roots problem in our congregations?

Dr. Jim Melnick earned his PhD in Biblical Studies from Lancaster Bible College and has an M.A. in Russian studies from Harvard. Jim served as International Coordinator of LCJE from 2011-2023, where he also served as editor of the LCJE Bulletin. Jim and his wife Karen have been tentmaker missionaries with Life in Messiah International for more than thirty years. He is the president and founder of Friends of Russian Jewry, Inc., a ministry arm of Life in Messiah, where he has been involved in many aspects of Russian Jewish evangelism and other areas of Jewish evangelism spanning several decades, including being the co-founder of the first Russian Messianic newspaper in the world and helping teach seminary-level courses to Russian Messianic leaders in Israel. Jim also served for a number of years as a Russian affairs analyst at the Pentagon and later in the private sector field of cyber threat intelligence in dealing with Russian and Chinese hackers. He is a retired U.S. Army Reserve Colonel and is also the author of "Jewish Giftedness and World Redemption: The Calling of Israel," published by Messianic Jewish Publishers & Resources. Jim and Karen have been married for 47 years and have four adult children and three grand-children. They live in Virginia outside of Washington, DC. 

This session will look at second century Jewish believers in Jesus, with special emphasis on the origins of Syriac Jewish Christianity and in particular how Passover and Resurrection Day were commemorated. It will consider the impact of what was called the "Quartodecimani" controversy (the so-called "Fourteeners" controversy regarding the 14th of Nisan) and the relationship of this to the Council of Nicaea, which celebrated its 1,700th anniversary (AD 325) in 2025. A little-known but extremely significant aspect of this controversy bears on how Jewish evangelism was practiced at the time, which has relevance for us today in the Messianic movement.

Rich grew up in Brooklyn, New York in a Reform Jewish home, influenced by his grandfather's somewhat more observant background. He came to faith in Yeshua at Syracuse University when he was 19 years old. Rich has served with Jews for Jesus since 1978 and is currently Senior Researcher at the San Francisco headquarters.

Back by popular demand, Rich will acquaint you with dozens of books rapid-fire style on subjects that the LCJE family wants to know about. Whether it's Jewish journeys of faith, Jewish-Christian relations, antisemitism, evangelism, or Messianic Jewish theology, it's all here. Listen to quick descriptions of each book, learn how you can get the presentation for a more leisurely look-through, and watch as Murray edges closer and closer to Rich near the end to signal that his time is up!

https://jimrsibley.com/

In the 1600s, the accounts of two Jewish believers intersected in a way only the Lord could have arranged. Nevertheless, their stories raise questions about the roles of authority and force in religious matters. What role, if any, should tradition play, and is there ever a place for force or violence? How can answers to these questions shape our witness to our Jewish friends today?