About
My name is Jacob (Ya’akov in Hebrew—“to wrestle”). Wrestle with God as a Jewish follower of Jesus is exactly what I do! But just call me Jake. I am a British Born American Jew who was raised in a Messianic Jewish home.
Today, I serve in full-time Church ministry while I also work through a Masters in Jewish Studies and Christian Apologetics. Through sharing life and faith from a Jewish lens as ItsBrotherJake, my passion is to build bridges between the Church and Gods Heart for Israel.
British born, american jew & follower of jesus.
My Story
Chapter 1: From Business to the Burden
I studied Business Finance at Liberty University, convinced I was headed for a career in wealth management. But during my sophomore year, on a regular Wednesday night—everything changed.
After years of lukewarm faith and outward performance, I hit a breaking point. That night, during a campus-wide service, a Pastor from Nashville spoke. Kevin Queen preached a message from Psalm 42 that pierced my heart. He spoke directly to those living spiritually apathetic lives—trying to find fulfillment in the world, but feeling empty inside. He challenged us to set a time, a place, and a plan to seek God with honesty and hunger. I can still remember the moment. After the preacher finished, during worship, I began looking around. I saw an arena of people passionately worshipping God. For the first time in my life, I realized I was missing something. I asked myself, “Do I really know this God for myself?”
I began to wrestle. I met with a friend, and shared that I was at a crossroad of a life-long decision to choose God or the world. Finally, took Kevins challenge to my dorm room. For one week I started reading a daily devotional my economics professor gifted me. I met with God—and God met with me.
This was the week of a spiritual rebirthing. The presence of the Lord flooded my life like never before. My desires changed. My direction changed. I began walking in real relationship with Jesus. I can describe my life as turning into what feels like burning ember — for something undeniable happened to me: God touched my heart. I am like Jacob in the Bible. I wrestled with God, and I have never been the same.
In the process, I started seeing Jesus rightly—not just as Savior, but as the Jewish Messiah, King of Israel, and hope of the nations.
Chapter 2: The Summer of Legal Pads
After surrendering my life to Jesus in the spring of 2021, I took a summer internship in Charlotte, working on the Honeywell HQ project. Most days started at 4am. I’d head into the city, put in long hours on the construction site, and return home exhausted. But in the quiet hours after work—something deeper was being built.
That summer, I experienced uninterrupted communion with God like never before. In the stillness of a basement room, the Holy Spirit began meeting me in ways I can only describe as holy visitation. I found myself overcome with unshakable hunger for God’s voice and presence.
So, I started writing.
Using the yellow legal pads from my jobsite, I began recording unctions, scriptures, prayers, dreams—page after page. What started as spontaneous journaling soon turned into hours of poured-out revelation. By the end of the summer, I had filled multiple pads—sermons, scriptures, spiritual insights—documenting what felt like a personal revival.
I didn’t know then what all of it was for. But I knew it was real. Tangible. Sacred.
When I returned to campus that fall for my junior year, I brought the yellow pads with me—and the fire that filled them. Bible studies began. Prayer gatherings formed. Something had shifted.
The legal pads were proof: God had gripped my heart.
Chapter 3: A Growing Burden to see Jesus and Israel Rightly
That encounter sparked a hunger in me—a thirst to know what moves God’s Heart and what my Jewish identity had to do with it.
The following September, I attended a conference where a team of Jewish pastors were sharing God’s everlasting Heart for Israel. After their messages in the church, I sensed the Holy Spirit so strongly in the place as people were awakened to God’s restorative purpose, promise, and plan for Israel and the Nations. Dr. Rob Gladstone preached about the “Cause of Zion” from Isaiah 62. Upon returning to school, I spent numerous months in that one chapter—Isaiah 62. So much so, that when spring semester came around, I introduced myself during class introductions by quoting a portion of this chapter. I couldn’t help it—I was gaining the heart of God.
As I would read my Bible in an old chapel building on my college campus, phrases like “God of Israel” began to catch my attention. My Jewish identity—once a source of discomfort—began to feel like an important responsibility: a calling. Growing up, being Jewish often made me feel different, even separate (I kept kosher, my Jewish feasts, observed Sabbath on Saturday, etc.) I didn’t always feel like I fit in. Sometimes, I was embarrassed by what made me distinct.
But God invited me back to the table of my own heritage—this time, with Jesus at the center. I realized I wasn’t just Jewish by blood, but that the God of Israel was calling me into the fullness of that identity in relationship with His Son.
The more I followed Jesus, the more I realized: I couldn’t separate Him from His Jewishness. And neither should the Church. In fact, the more I followed Jesus, the more I realized the inseparability between my faith in God and my Jewish identity.
Chapter 4: Why Israel? Why Now?
As I kept walking with Jesus, the more I realized that following Him faithfully meant embracing not only who He is—but who I am. My Jewish identity and my faith in Yeshua weren’t in conflict. They were converging. But not everyone sees it that way.
On October 31st, 2021—my birthday—I sat in a church service that would further shape the burden God was stirring in me. The pastor preached a sermon that, unknowingly, revealed a deep blind spot in the Western Church’s understanding of Israel. During the message, he led the congregation in a chant, shifting “God, Israel, Nations” to “God, Church, Nations.” It was meant to illustrate the “passing of the gospel” from Israel to the Church. But as a Jewish believer, I couldn’t recite it in good conscience. It sounded like God had replaced His people—like the story of Israel was over.
I left early that morning, heart heavy and spirit disturbed. But even in that tension, the Lord was working. A few days later, I shared the experience with a Jewish friend, who connected me with a local rabbi. The Saturday before our meeting, I felt the Lord tell me: Prepare. So I went to the library—not for finance or accounting homework—but to dig. To search. To understand.
That Saturday in the library day was a marking moment in my journey.
I opened the book Our Hands Are Stained With Blood, and began tracing the painful
history of Jewish-Christian relations. I researched antisemitic quotes from Church Fathers,
historical population shifts in Jerusalem, and miracle moments in Israel’s rebirth. During this
season, on a yellow legal pad, I began writing down promises I found in Scripture that God
made to Israel. It was as if God was showing me the through-line of His
heart across generations.
During this season of my life, these few questions shaped me: What happened? Why has the Church forgotten? What moves the Heart of God?
Doors began to open. In 2022, I became president of Liberty University’s Stand With Israel Club, helping organize events that built bridges between Jewish and Christian students, addressing theological misunderstandings and sparking important conversations. That same year, I started Psalm 122 Worship Nights in the center of campus—a space for anyone to encounter God’s presence and be awakened to His heart for Israel and the nations. Before these gatherings, I’d fast and prepare in between business classes. Why? I was desparate for God to move personally and corporately. And every time, I’d pull out that same yellow sheet of paper, declaring God’s faithfulness over His people as I ministered.
At the very first gathering, my younger sister gave her life to Jesus. But that’s a story for another day.
God kept multiplying the burden. I became involved with organizations that support Israel, was invited to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., and began connecting with leaders involved in U.S.–Israel relations. I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing. I was just a college student who journaled everything on legal pads—but God was moving.
Chapter 6: Restoration. Revival. Return.
Since graduating, I’ve worked full-time in church ministry. I am continually confronted by, and burdened for, the Jewish people—my people—and the Christian Church of the West to embrace a right relationship with the nation and people of Israel. Through prayer gatherings, events, my heart remains a burning ember for: Restoration. Revival. Return.
Restoration of the Land and God’s covenantal promises to Israel.
Revival of the Church to God's heart and mission.
Return of the Lord to Jerusalem as King.
Chapter 7: NOW I build bridges.
After encountering Jesus as the Jewish Lamb of God and awakening to the reality of Israel’s story and the Church’s role in it—I couldn’t stay silent. I had to respond.
So what am I doing now? I’m building bridges.
Bridges between the gospel of Jesus and its original context.
Bridges between Israel and the Church.
Bridges between Jewish identity and Christian theology.
I’ve given my life to this work, and you’re invited to join this journey. Because it’s not just about me—its about the God restores, revives, and returns His people to Himself.
