In September 2007, our family started attending a new church here in Victoria called Temple Yeshua. "Yeshua is Hebrew for "Jesus". We were blessed to be there for the first ever service and have been a part of the congregation ever since. A few weeks later I had the honor of being asked to do a painting for the church that incorporated its foundational verse, Ephesians 3:6: "This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Messiah Yeshua."

Temple Yeshua is a congregation that seeks to honor it's Jewish roots and believes that the Jewish people were chosen by God, in His extravagant love and grace, to be a blessing to the world. This found its ultimate fulfillment in Yeshua the son of Miriam, whose name is the Hebrew word "Salvation", and whose birthright it was to be a light to the nations and the glory of His people Israel. We who are non-Jews by birth are thankful to be grafted into the nation and people of God through faith in the Jewish Messiah. We utterly repent of the horrific acts and lies perpetrated against the Jewish people by the church throughout history, and we stand against the virulent anti-semetism still rampant in our world today. It is our joy and privilege to participate in the feasts given to Israel by God as they reveal more about our wonderful Savior, and we are delighted in the amazing stories of reconciliation that are increasingly coming out of the nation between Palestinian and Jewish people of faith. We marvel at all the technological advancements, medical breakthroughs and multitudes of other world-bettering discoveries that are happening in this amazing land, as a further evidence of God's promises coming to pass. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and we look forward to the day when Messiah the "Prince of Peace" will bring peace to not only Israel, but the whole world.