Originally published Oct. 3, 2007

The hospitals had turned her away, the medications were hardly helping the pain, and death itself seemed to be promptly approaching. What had begun as a three-week missions trip to Las Vegas, soon turned into pivotal experience altered sophomore Karen Myer’s entire life.

It was also where the idea of the Biola Jewish Ministry began. This ministry club on campus, led by Myers, held its inaugural event this Tuesday night, a Bible study entitled "Hebrews through Hebrew Eyes."

From the young age of nine, Myers can remember her family being involved in Jewish Ministries and pro-life organizations, which birthed her passion for ministry and missions. She became active as a youth mentor at her church, began sharing the gospel to her co-workers, and joined Jews for Jesus, a worldwide organization focused on bringing the Christian message through a Jewish context.

Myers, who is Jewish by heritage, grew up reading the memoirs of her grandmother, a Holocaust survivor. It was through talking with her that Myers began to realize that Judaism “is who I am. Through my grandmother and my parents I grew up learning about Jewish evangelism. I always thought it was good and that it was important for Jews to hear the gospel, but I didn’t really have a heart for reaching my people with the gospel until I got to participate in an outreach.”

It was on her first outreach trip, which took place in Dallas, Texas with Jews for Jesus, that Myers said, “I was just blown away and I realized that I can not live the rest of my life without doing this.” Through her experiences handing out tracts on the street and learning about Jewish evangelism, Myers began to feel a burden for her people to know the truth.

But it was on one Jews for Jesus trip in particular, that Myers’s story took a dramatic turn.

Almost two years ago, while on a three-week missions trip to Las Vegas, Myers experienced God in a remarkable way. She tells her story as being “a four day process” of lying in bed with a sickness unlike anything she had dealt with before.

It was in this time of illness, Myers remembers God telling her that it was her “time to go.” She reached the point where, she recalled, “not expecting to wake up in the morning.” She said God spared her life and showed her a vision, which is now the foundation of all the work Myers is doing today.

In this vision, Myers saw herself in China smuggling Bibles, in Israel reading about Elijah, and in Mexico building a house, in New York handing out tracks, and finally in a commissioning ceremony — all of which is now part of an evangelistic dream Myers is aspiring to establish in the future.

“God gifted me with life again so that I would be serving Him,” she said.

It is through this spiritual encounter that Myers’ vision for Biola’s Jewish Ministry began. Her burden lies, in the fact that she believes “no one is really doing evangelism, no one is really witnessing to Jews.”

“There are a lot of great ministries and missions organizations out there, but I don’t see people who have a heart for my people to know," she said.

The Jewish Ministry is purposing themselves in two main goals. One goal is to help Biola students understand the Christian roots in Judaism. This is being fulfilled in the ministry’s bi-weekly Hebrews Bible Study, which will be led by freshman Samuel Rood. Though they started with the book of Hebrews this fall, the focus will be shifted in the spring to study an element of the Old Testament as well. In addition to a Bible study, The Jewish Ministry advisers Judith Rood, a Biola professor and Samuel Rood's mother, and another Biola professor* are assisting in the planning of Shabbat worship services involving local Messianic congregations and a Hanukkah party in December.

The second branch of the ministry is “to equip student to be able to sensitively share their faith with Jewish people and give them opportunities for that,” Myers said. On Oct. 23 there will be a free training event, followed by the opportunity to visit college campuses where there are large Jewish student populations.

Myers hopes that “this experience will give students a taste of what it is like to share the gospel with these people and develop in them a heart for this mission field.”

For further information on how to get involved in the ministry, Bible studies are being conducted regularly and the ministry leader, Karen Myers, can be contacted at [email protected].

*Editor's Note: name removed for privacy