Jonathan Bernis - Jewish Man Sparks Revival
Jonathan Bernis: Shalom, and welcome to Jewish Voice, thank you for joining us today. I'm Jonathan Bernis, and I'm joined with a dear friend, my co-host today, and Messianic Jewish leader, Scott Volk. Well, in February of 2023, we saw God pour out his spirit in Wilmore, Kentucky on the campus of Asbury university. For 16 days, thousands of people from around the world came for a day or even just a few hours just to be in Hughes auditorium at Asbury campus to feel God's presence and experience worship, preaching, healing, prayer, and most importantly the presence of God. This outpouring was started and led by the Asbury students. After Wednesday morning chapel, the students heard, "Do not leave here until you experience the love of God". This challenge was given by a man who had been raised in an orthodox Jewish family and now, pastor and residents at Asbury university, and his name is Zack Meerkreebs. I don't think that many interviews that Zack does really focuses on his identity, and your Jewish identity, right?
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: But we're going to because we're Jewish Voice, right everybody? Now, you were raised in an orthodox family?
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: In an orthodox home. Talk about that. Like, what did you think about God, as a kid? What about Jesus? I know you wanted to be a rabbi in Israel. So, unpack all that for us.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah, I think, you know, growing up there's these two lives honestly which I would love to share more about there was just a beauty of like the heroicism of these rabbis that I would go learn from. And as a little kid, I just wanted to be the best at, like, whatever I could be so, I was like, "I'm just gonna go be the best rabbi in the world". But the other side of my life was, our home life was quite broken, and I was longing for intimacy with a father. Healthy intimacy with a father. So, those two things kinda created this ecosystem where I experienced my Jewish faith, I was grateful for it, but I experienced it, not with a lot of lightness and freedom. And because of the brokenness in my life, a rabbi had told me, "Just work really hard till your bar mitzvah and everything will get better". So I just, I was like, "I'm not gonna just work really hard, I will be the best bar mitzvah, you've ever seen".
Jonathan Bernis: By the way this is at age 13 where you're actually, it's a rite of passage into adulthood.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: So you're training for this for years, right?
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah, and during that time my parents got divorced and my dad really was separated from us. We moved out west to Colorado springs which was a unique place for a Jewish kid to grow up. And my mom was kind enough to like tell elementary school that we needed to do Hanukkah songs at the Christmas special and it'd be like me and my brother on stage by ourselves. So, we go to counseling, but that's fine. But in that brokenness, longing for a father, my idea was, "Well I'm just gonna work as hard as I can, be a bar mitzvahed and everything will be fixed". And then in the summer of my 13th year, we were bar mitzvahed and it was beautiful, and meaningful, and I was terribly disappointed because I didn't feel all better. So, I turned towards the world. So, I said, you know, for the first 13 years, I tried to be the best Jew I could be and then for the next three or four years, I tried to get relief in other ways, drugs, and girls, and sports. And that ended up colliding with some unbelievable fathers of guys on my soccer team who happened to be Christians and introduced me to Jesus.
Jonathan Bernis: Okay, so what about Jesus, what, like, up to this point, who was Jesus?
Zack Meerkreebs: So, I was always taught, like a very polite, but pretty clear, like, "Oh, Jesus is just a great teacher," I'm not really interested in going to youth group. Or, "Oh, he was a great guy," I'm not going to your Bible study.
Jonathan Bernis: Cause you're Jewish?
Jonathan Bernis: Cause I'm Jewish and I was kinda taught that, and...
Jonathan Bernis: Well, explain that because people, I want people to understand Judaism, growing up Jewish and, you know, I'm much, I'm 30 years older than you, but the same idea is Jesus is the God for them.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: Right? We're Jewish, we don't believe in Jesus. So you had that instilled in your, right?
Zack Meerkreebs: I remember growing up in Colorado springs, we would drive by and focus on a family and they have that, like, four story green slide. As a kid you wanna go down that slide, and my mom would tell me that Jesus would get me if I went down that slide. So, when I gave my life to Christ I went down that slide, and it was awesome. But yeah, I just was polite, but a guy in my soccer team invited me to his basement, I thought it was a party, it was actually a fellowship of Christian athletes. That was the first time I heard from the Psalms that God is the father to the fatherless and he puts lonely people in families. And I wept. And then I came to my senses and hid from every Christian I knew for six months 'cause I was like, "They got me! They tricked me". But after about six months I asked a friend for a Bible and to meet me at Starbucks, and I asked some questions and that began the journey.
Scott Volk: Wow, bro. You know, growing up in a Jewish home, when my parents came to the Lord that was a total deviation from what their family thought their lives would end up like. So, as you made this decision, inside of you, did you feel like you were betraying something of your heritage? Did you feel like you were entering into something? Like, was there this struggle inside of you or was it like, "I'm in"!
Zack Meerkreebs: Something that I say often is like, you know, the gospel or evangelism it's often translated to good news or heralding good news. Man, when I heard the gospel, I was like, "That's not good news, this is the best news". Like, good news is we had Italian last night. Good news is "I'll see my wife tonight". The best news is "Jesus died on the cross and now he calls me friend, and the father calls me son, and the Holy Spirit sees me as a temple he can fill". Come on. So I just, kinda in naivety just told everybody including my family, and that did not go over so well.
Jonathan Bernis: So the Bible was just jumping, I had the same experience, it just jumped off the page, right? Like, it went right into your heart. Yeah.
Zack Meerkreebs: Unbelievable.
Jonathan Bernis: The living Word of God. It really is. You should read your Bible more.
Zack Meerkreebs: Amen.
Scott Volk: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: No really, that was transforming for me. I have such a similar story, going to a Bible study, feeling out of place, but then I desired to read the Bible and as soon as I did, the hook, the tractor beam, right, just pulled me in.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah, I read my Bible by myself for a year before giving my life to Christ.
Jonathan Bernis: Wow.
Zack Meerkreebs: I would blast rap music or rock music, but listen to worship music in my headphones to trick my family.
Scott Volk: So amazing.
Jonathan Bernis: Now, go back to the family you know, though. This is rough and I think so many Jewish believers including myself experienced a tremendous conflict when we told our parents.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah, so you mentioned that. Tell us more about it.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah, so dad was already out of my life really 'cause of some struggles, but mom did her best. But the grandparents, my uncle, they really, I remember them telling me that I was believing a fairytale that really was ultimately that I was unintelligent. And so, I was pushed away from the family in just such a drastic way to the point that I moved in ultimately with another family and they discipled us, or discipled me, in a beautiful way.
Scott Volk: So beautiful. You know, it's interesting. I'm reminded of the apostle Paul, rabbi Saul. He was on his way doing what he thought he was supposed to be doing and God knocked him off his horse and blinded him. And immediately, this man is radically changed. And when I think about you and just hearing your testimony, you go from this Bible study, seeing the fulfillment of Jesus in scripture. Where did that take you? Because, if I remember correctly, you said you planted your first church at 17.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah.
Scott Volk: What's going on, bro? That's a wild trans...
Jonathan Bernis: That's not a lot of room for drugs and everything.
Scott Volk: It's amazing.
Jonathan Bernis: So what, you start 13, you're doing drugs and the world. By 17 though, God gets a hold of you.
Zack Meerkreebs: I just read the Bible literally.
Jonathan Bernis: That's dangerous.
Zack Meerkreebs: No one... Yeah, exactly. No one had told me I needed to go like Bible college or seminary, I just had heard the gospel and I needed to tell as many people as I could. And I was good at throwing parties before Christ, and I'm still good at throwing parties, but now I just call that planting churches. So, we planted church. We led a bunch of athletes to Christ and then we bought a hot dog stand. We'd do street evangelism outside of the bars, we would plant churches in bars I wasn't old enough to go into, and I just read the Bible literally and I asked the Lord where lost people were, and then I would go bring a party there.
Jonathan Bernis: Wow.
Zack Meerkreebs: And we've been doing that ever since. I'm 35 now and we've planted six churches.
Jonathan Bernis: Zack's gonna return in just a minute to share more of his testimony, but we need to take a short break. Our mission at Jewish Voice is to reach out to Jewish people. The Jew first, to help them understand that Jesus is Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah. As Zack described, many Jews are hearing the gospel and coming to faith, and God is calling you to reach that Jewish friend or neighbor with the gospel. Will you partner with us? Will you help us to reach out to those who are searching for God? "To the Jews first and then to the gentile," Romans 1:16, you'll see or participate in a one new man created by the resurrection power of the Messiah Jesus. We wanna send you Zack's new book, it's called, "Lower" and other great resources for your faith and proclamation of the gospel. So, please listen now and partner today with Jewish Voice.
Jonathan Bernis: Welcome back, we're so glad you're with us today, and we wanna thank you on behalf of everyone at Jewish Voice, and those we support. Your partnership with this ministry makes all the difference. Thank you, thank you, thank you, and keep going with us, okay? Because we're changing lives together. Well, Zack, before the break you told us your amazing story. Raised in an orthodox home, broken home, and you thought that when you're bar mitzvah, after your bar mitzvah, everything would be transformed and you were disappointed and then God broke through. And you ended up with a Bible, God speaks to you through the Word of God, that's transformational.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: And then, right away at 17, you're in ministry. You just start throwing parties, but it's church planting.
Scott Volk: You have a heart for missions.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah.
Scott Volk: And I'd love for you just to share a little bit about the mission story and your heart for missions.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah, I think it goes back to what we said earlier, it's not just good news, it's the best news. And for some apparent reason, I was reached, and I got to hear it. And on my Bible, imprinted on the front, it's a saying that a group of pastors and I try to live by, its, "Grateful over gifted". And in our preaching of the gospel, and our teaching of the word we don't have to be the most gifted, but I think if we're the most grateful, then God might move. And at that point that was that deposit. I didn't even have to be gifted in theology or hermeneutics, or whatever Christianese word you wanted. I was just grateful that I was a Son of God and a friend of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit had filled me. So, why wouldn't I go to the nations and tell them? And my first missions trip was to Managua, Nicaragua. I lived in a trash dump and served kiddos, and then got to serve in Africa, and then in the Middle East.
Jonathan Bernis: I mean, you prepared yourself for ministry after already doing ministry. Gosh, it's so simple isn't it? Just go do the stuff in the book. Yeah.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: But you went back and teach at Asbury now, but also you've been completing or completed your doctorate.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah, so we did our doctor of ministry in leadership. And studying what's the interior life and the exterior practices of leaders who steward kairos moments, God ordained moments. And with the heart of that is to reverse engineer programs that would develop leaders that could steward moments like Asbury.
Scott Volk: As we were talking over dinner last night the element of Gethsemane, and crushing before resurrection, it seems to be a biblical paradigm that you can't have resurrection unless you have some kind of death or suffering. Many wanna know him in the power of his resurrection, but there's something about suffering that produces resurrection. And you shared some stories last night, I wonder if you could just touch on that in relationship to your book, and humility, and that beautiful video that you showed us of your wife dancing at the revival.
Jonathan Bernis: I'm so glad you brought this up because I think this will really hit home with everyone watching 'cause there's another phase. You're out doing the ministry, you're married to a fantastic woman of God, but then something happens, right, that just crushes, it crushes you.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah, so, you know a huge, one of the greatest honors is I'm married to kristin, I call her kp, you can call her kp. And I'm dad to three little girls: eden, Esther, and mercy. But four years ago we found out that Esther was sick, and that turned into a journey that ended up with us walking with Esther just for a short time here on earth before she went to heaven. And we almost lost my wife, and, you know, at that time I had the degrees, I could preach, I had planted church, I was pastoring, but all that, you know, that doesn't sustain you. So, I remember sitting, we got this blue chair in our front room, some day you can come hang, and I would do quiet time in there. And I remember realizing that I couldn't pray politely anymore, and I couldn't hide anymore. And through that season I think I experienced the depth of Jesus in a way that I never heard, I've never learned, heard, or felt before. And when I think of what's happening now in Asbury, and even a testimony, you know, I got to preach at Asbury but specifically to this team of seven or so. And everyone on that team had been crushed in some way. Prodigal child, diagnosis, loss of a child. Covid was difficult for all of us. And there was, I think there's something that correlates the move of God and a crushed spirit, and a crushed ego. And, you know, that's how we make new wine. New wine is a sign of covenant, promises. You make new wine by crushing grapes, thrashing them to separate the flesh from the juice, and then hiding that juice away to distill. No one wants that.
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah. We were talking about the verse last night that you'd just alluded to. We wanna know the power of his resurrection.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: And, you preached on that. I've preached on that over and over again, but then what it also says is that we might also know the fellowship of the sufferings.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: That one we don't talk about every much, and that was, yeah, talk more about that because this is, I think so many people can relate.
Zack Meerkreebs: When we lost Esther, the two things that really ministered to me was Christ's character to meet me in that low place. He's a gentleman, so he wouldn't bust in and force me to talk, but if I would go there he would generously sit there because God's word says he's gentle and lowly of heart. And until I allowed myself to experience that I missed out on the vibrancy of who Jesus. So, when we wanna be impressive, we miss out on intimacy with Jesus. And when we wanna be honest, we'll experience a lot of Jesus. And when I was finally honest that, you know, someone asked when Asbury revival started, most people think its February 8th, I think it was December 6, 2020, when I lost my daughter.
Scott Volk: I'm thinking of that scripture when Yeshua was in the Garden of Gethsemane, the garden of crushing. He freely told his father and expressed, "If it's possible, let this cup pass from me," because in our humanity suffering is not something we willingly want to embrace but he said, "Nevertheless, not my will". And when we say, nevertheless resurrection's on the other side. So, when you say revival really started then, the Lord was doing something in your heart that even through the natural death of something you loved God was gonna bring life to millions of people.
Zack Meerkreebs: Praise God, I have a great counselor, and my counselor, I'm not trying to be spiritual, it's an actual counselor, Dr. Stewart. And Stewart reminds me often that Christ did not come to cancel my humanity, he came to move within it and redeem it.
Jonathan Bernis: Wow.
Zack Meerkreebs: He doesn't expect us to be superheroes. If anyone here is suffering in a profound way, he's not saying, "Suck it up, you're a superhero," he delights in calling me son more than superman. And I can rest in that. And if I'm a good son and I understand that then I can be really raw and honest with the Lord. And when you're honest with the Lord he is close to the brokenhearted. You know, Andrew merit talks about when the rain falls, it collects in the lowest places, so, I shouldn't be ashamed if I'm in a low place because when the spirit pours out it's gonna collect there.
Scott Volk: How many people, bro, are missing out on the intimacy part because we think that we need to make, somehow make heaven stand up and clap for us when in reality he's looking for us to be able to say, "Without you I'm nothing"?
Jonathan Bernis: People don't talk about this stuff very much. Yeah, they don't. The intimacy part is what brings about change in other people's lives because you know, Moses shined with the presence of God, and people saw him shining. And he wasn't strong of speech, you know, he wasn't a good speaker. He was a terrible speaker, he had a stutter, according to rabbinic tradition that's why he needed Aaron. But he shined with the presence of God, just in the presence of God. Intimacy.
Scott Volk: It's so amazing because Moses was qualified to lead at 40, God called him at 80 when he was forgotten, right?
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah.
Scott Volk: And when God said, "You're gonna go in," Moses says to God, "Who am i"? A dear friend of mine who actually led me to the Lord said this, "No man is more qualified to fulfill God's plan than when he thinks himself unqualified".
Jonathan Bernis: Love that. God is good, and he wants you to be intimate with him, that's why he sent his son, Yeshua, Jesus, so, that you could be brought to the father and be in intimacy with the living God that created you. This is what his plan is, for everyone, to the Jew first. The three of us here are just like you at home, were broken people that God has redeemed through the sacrifice of the perfect lamb, Yeshua, Jesus. All of us who believe, heard about him through the witness of others who proclaimed the good news. I wanna ask you to partner with us today to proclaim the good news to Jews around the world. We're going to send you Zack's new book that will challenge you to become more like Jesus in humility to share God's love. We're eager to pray with you right after this.
Jonathan Bernis: Every program, we take time to pray at the end of the show. And today, Zack's gonna be praying over you, over your family, over your needs. God hears this man's prayer. And don't miss out on this. So, just agree with us in faith, trust the Lord, lean not on your own understanding. Without faith it's impossible to please him. We get all kinds of emails, letters, about needs, need for jobs, need for family restoration, need for healing, on and on and on. God offers it all in his word. Zack, look right into that camera and minister to people.
Zack Meerkreebs: Was so honored to be here and love to pray for you. So, Jesus I pray that you would confront each person who is watching with your humility. And would you do that in your gentleness, and kindness, and that they would respond in formation, that they would experience more of your character, Jesus. And through that that they would be more compelling and counter-cultural and captivating to those who need to know Jesus. I pray specifically right now for those who are watching who have a gen z or gen alpha child or grandchild. I pray that they would raise up in hope. For what we've seen at Asbury and on university campuses among the young, pray that you would give them hope and vision for their kids and grandkids that they would be revivalists, that they would experience God. And Jesus, right now, I do pray a simple prayer that my daughter prays over me every time I leave, that I would look more like Jesus by the time I get here. So, I pray that anyone who's been listening that they would look a little bit more like Jesus, by bedtime tonight. So, Jesus, thank them, root them down deep in their adoption, root them down deep in their friendship, and fill them with your Holy Spirit, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Jonathan Bernis: We agree. And, Scott, I'm praying for your mother right now, june.
Scott Volk: Amen.
Jonathan Bernis: June, we speak healing to you, and you will live. You will live and proclaim the good news, you will speak prophetically forth to a new generation we pray, in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name.
Scott Volk: Amen.
Jonathan Bernis: We invite you to go deeper and find meaningful ways to support and bless Israel and the global Jewish community by visiting jewishvoice.tv. There you'll discover resources to grow in your faith, opportunities to make a positive impact and invite you to go deeper and get involved in supporting and blessing Israel and the Jewish people worldwide. As we close our program, I wanna remind you of what God has each of us to do every day, Psalm 122:6, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, may they prosper who love thee". Thank you for joining us today, and until next time, this is Jonathan Bernis along with Scott, and Zack, saying shalom, and God bless.