Ryan![]() Ryan was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in suburban Maryland with a Jewish father and Gentile mother. It was a secular Jewish American family at best. His family celebrated the occasional Jewish holidays but other than that, there was no real connection to the Jewish religion except the occasional synagogue visit. When Ryan was eight, his father accepted Jesus as his Messiah after experiencing a Passover presentation by a Chosen People Ministries missionary. After seeing how the Jewish celebration of Passover foreshadows Jesus’ death and resurrection, his father came to faith and the family changed forever.
Ryan came to faith when he was ten years old. However his faith didn’t take an important role in his life until years later. As time passed, the Lord orchestrated events in Ryan's life in such a way that he had no choice but to turn only to God for all his needs. Part of this experience was the Lord solidifying a profound love in Ryan for his Jewish brothers and sisters to know the Messiah that the scriptures promised. While on a tour to Israel with a group of young Jewish people, he shared that he believed that Jesus is the Messiah; the organization, with whom Ryan had traveled to Israel, made him leave the trip. His heart broke for the people on the tour. It was at this time that the Lord placed in him a desire to learn more about the scriptures and to share his faith with his Jewish people. Ryan graduated from Philadelphia Biblical University (Now Cairn University) with a Baccalaureate in Bible and from Capital Bible Seminary in Maryland with a Masters Degree in Biblical Studies. Ryan and Jessica are serving as missionaries with Chosen People Ministries in Chicago as Chicago Branch Director, Midwest Regional Director, and National Director of Young Adult Engagment and Outreach. These seem like illustrious titles but what they mean to Ryan and Jessica is that they are able to do many amazing things to reach Jewish people with the gospel and to help the missionaries who work under them to do the same. To find our more aobut the specific ministries, check out OUR MINISTRIES page. Before moving to Chicago, Ryan and Jessica served in Washington DC reaching Jewish college students and New York City, a place of 2 million plus Jewish people. I enjoy working with college and career aged Jewish youths. Ryan enjoys speaking in churches about the Jewish roots of the Christian faith and has a deep and sincere desire to share the Gospel with the Jewish people and to share with churches how to do the same. All About Ryan and Jessica![]() Jessica
Jessica grew up in a small town in North Georgia after moving from Florida, in a Christian home where loving Jesus was encouraged and nurtured. She attended a Baptist church where she was involved in GA's, Awanas, youth group and mission trips. Later in Jessica's teenage years, she ran away from God to "find herself". What she learned was that God would go to the ends of the earth in order to rescue His sheep. When Jessica came back to the Lord, she was given a heart for the Jewish people after reading the Bible and seeing how Israel was involved throughout. The Lord instilled in her heart a love of the Jewish feasts as well as Hebrew. All of this happened as she was living in Atlanta, working as an actress, which is where her heart for the Jewish people was being fostered. While attending Andy Stanley's church, she saw a baptism of a Jewish believer who spoke about Chosen People Ministries. Jessica was so excited to see that there was an organization that was after the same portion of God's heart as her own. She immediately went home and googled, "Chosen People Ministries," and found two opportunities that fit for her. One was the eXperience Israel trip and the other was an internship in New York City (where she had lived four years prior and prayed every day to move back). She did not think that she could afford the Israel trip but knew the internship with in her reach. She called the Chosen People Ministries office to speak to Ryan about the internship (which he doesn't remember ;) Long story short, Jessica was accepted to the internship as well as the Israel trip. And, what's more, God provided more than the amount of money needed for the Israel trip. Jessica moved to New York in September of 2009 to intern with Chosen People Ministries after her trip to Israel. While in Israel she met Ryan's father and upon arrival to NYC, she met Ryan. She had been praying for her future husband and God orchestrated these events beautifully! Jessica could not be more excited to be serving the Lord next to this beautiful gift God gave her to reach Jewish people with the gospel of the Messiah, now in Washington DC. |
Our Kids
We have 3 wonderful children. Benzi (born in 2013), Yoshi (born in 2016), and Talia (born in 2019).