November 4, 2020 • 32 mins
Jeff interviews Rev. Jess Cantelon of the Israel Video Project and Hiway Church in Barrie, Ontario Canada. Jess grew up as a young boy from age 5 to 12 in Israel. He shares his personal story of how that impacted him and what drew him back to Israel to serve at King of Kings Community in Jerusalem for a number of years as an adult. Also, hear Jess share why it is such a big deal for Christians in the church in North America to make a personal connection with Israel!
Check out our new documentary series "Miraculous Victories of Israel"
If you enjoy our podcast, please consider supporting the show HERE so that our Bible-based message about Israel can continue. God blesses those who bless Israel! We agree with God's Word that He will bless you richly in return!
First Century Foundations is a Charity that supports ministries in Jerusalem and many other parts of the country of Israel. Our mission is to turn hearts around the world toward the land, people and God of Israel. LEARN MORE ABOUT US HERE.
You can watch this entire episode on OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL!
Make sure you subscribe so you can be notified of First Century Foundations' regular uploads!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chris Atkins, One Media (00:02):
Welcome to the Keeping It Israel podcast
with Jeff Futers, where Jeff andhis guests talk. Everything
Israel as it relates toChristian faith and the church.
If you are a Christian and youstand with Israel, you will be
encouraged and challenged bythis podcast. And if you're not
so sure about the whole Israelthing, you need to learn how
your faith connects with Israel,and why standing with Israel
(00:24):
matters. Now, here's Jeff withtoday's guest.
Jeff Futers (00:28):
Welcome to the podcast today. And today, my
guest is Reverend Jess Cantelon.
And you might recall that a fewweeks back we had Jim Cantelon
on on the podcast and Jess isJim's son. Jess, welcome.
Jess Cantelon (00:44):
Thank you. It's good to be here.
Jeff Futers (00:46):
It's great to have you tell us a little bit about
yourself. I mean, I could, youknow, probably do a quick hit
list of things, but nobody knowsit better than you. So tell us
where you're at, who you are,who's your family?
Jess Cantelon (00:59):
My name's Jess, Jess Cantelon. I am the son of
Jim and Kathy. Yeah, brother toTodd and Kate. Husband to Erica,
father to five amazing boys. Andwe live here in Barrie. I'm the
Lead Pastor of Hiway Church. Andit's a Pentecostal church. I'm
(01:22):
also ordained an Anglican. Soit's a...I'm a bit of a
Christian mutt. But yeah, Imoved to Israe with my parents
back in '81. So if you heard thestory a few weeks ago from my
Dad, I'm sure you did. But hewas invited by the Israeli
government to start a church inJerusalem. And so he started
(01:43):
what's now known as King ofKings. And it was a really
exciting journey, I'm sure forhim too, but for me as a kid,
you know, I went to Hebrewpublic school, and just grew up
as a Gentile amongst Israelis.
And it was, it was a very uniqueupbringing. It seemed normal to
me. But, you know, now that Ihave, you know, retrospect that
(02:06):
I can see that it's... orhindsight and hindsight is 2020,
right, I can just see that it's,it was a it was a gift. So I
grew up in Israel, age five to12, I moved back 28 to 35. And I
just, when I went back, I wentto work at the church that my
parents had planted with WayneHilsden who...Wayne and Ann
(02:29):
Hilsden who had taken over frommy parents, when we left. And
they.... I worked as their, oneof their worship leaders and
their young adult pastor. Andthe Lord just started, I guess,
shaping relationships, makingconnections. And so since
Israel, we have planted a churchnow we're in... in Quebec, now
(02:54):
we're in, at highway church inBarrie, Ontario, just north of
Toronto. And we still have ahand in life in Israel, and
specifically, it's, we have avideo project called Israel
Video Project where we basicallybring Canadians, North Americans
(03:15):
people from all over the worldon into Israel, with their
iPhones, and I basically teachon location with a selfie stick
and a Bible and I, I travel allover the over the country, and
try to give people a vision forfor Israel, and mostly a vision
(03:36):
for salvation history that Godhas had a plan from the
beginning, that faith isn'tsomething that's just in our
head. But there's also aphysical aspect to it. And, and
I think when people get to seeIsrael, they, they get, they
have one of those, those momentswhere they realize, Hey, wait a
(03:58):
second, there's more to thisChristian thing than just going
to church on Sundays.
Jeff Futers (04:05):
That's great. Well, you gave me a huge summary there
of a lot of life. But one of thethings, one of the things I
wanted to ask you was, you know,because because moving to Israel
as a kid, you know, has to havesome sort of an impact. And I
just kind of wonder, the changefrom Canada to Israel. What was
your earliest recollection ofbeing a child growing up in
(04:29):
Israel?
Jess Cantelon (04:30):
Well, I moved to Israel on my fifth birthday. So
had my fifth birthday on theplane. This is back in the days
where they would let people intothe cockpits This is pre 911
obviously. And so I rememberbeing welcomed into the cockpit
and getting to fly the plane,you know, pretend to fly the
plane up on a big Boeing 747.
They sang Happy Birthday to methe whole plane, they had a cake
(04:51):
for me and all that and it was.
So I remember I remembervividly, I remember landing and
remember our first few daysthere at five. And you know, I
went to it, when you have thesedrastic changes, changes in your
(05:12):
childhood, it, you rememberthem. So I remember life before
five I remember life after fiveuntil twelve, because my life is
sort of the sub-divided intolittle sections. So the mind is
able to remember these things.
So yeah, I remember you know,being the only blond kid is for
the Russians showed up, at leastwe thought we were the only
(05:35):
blond kids, blond kids inJerusalem, and, you know, and so
not fitting in entirely. But,you know, I got to my my best
friend to this day, and he livesin Israel, but he was, he's a
son of a professor. And he grewup while his dad was doing a
(05:57):
what do you call it, like ascholarship or Professor
exchange in doing research inMinneapolis, so he, though he
was an Israeli couldn't speak alick of Hebrew. So we learned
Hebrew together. And so that wasa real good, you know, point of
connection for me. And thatreally brought me into into the
life of an Israeli. So while Ilook different than most of
(06:23):
them, I was, you know, acceptedas one of them. So it was, yeah,
I mean, I've, you know, vividmemories from all all those
childhood years.
Jeff Futers (06:35):
Yeah. Where are you at in birth order in the family?
Jess Cantelon (06:40):
I'm number two.
Jeff Futers (06:40):
Number two. Okay.
So it was it? Was it harder foryour for your older sibling?
Easier?
Jess Cantelon (06:47):
I think I don't know. I mean, you know, we all
have different personalities. Ithink for, for him, he didn't
have the same friendshipconnection as I did. You know,
so it was it was more difficult,though, we're both quite
athletic. And, and that speaksvolumes with, you know, in terms
(07:08):
of kindergarten politics, or,you know, playground politics.
So, you know, we were alwaysfine that way. But I mean, he,
he would, he would be callednames, and then he would act,
you know, badly. Not badly. He'djust, he would fight his way out
(07:28):
of the situation.
Jeff Futers (07:30):
We're not telling any stories out of school, I
hope but...
Jess Cantelon (07:33):
No..He would fight his way out of situations.
And it was good for me, becauseI had an older brother who would
fight his way out of situationsand so people didn't mess with
me so much.
Jeff Futers (07:43):
And I guess for your your younger sister, it
might be might be a littleeasier, because less
Jess Cantelon (07:52):
She was three, and so she went through
Jeff Futers (07:54):
Yeah less memory beforehand.
Jess Cantelon (07:56):
through the JK/Sk system.
Jeff Futers (07:59):
That's what she knew.
Jess Cantelon (08:00):
So that's what whe knew, yeah,
Jeff Futers (08:01):
Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. Great. Well, so you,
you're part of the congregation,your dad's there for a number of
years, and then you you moveback to Canada. But that wasn't
the end of your Israel story.
You mentioned that, thateventually, you sort of track
back in that direction. Tell usa little bit about how that
happened. And were you marriedbefore you went back?
Jess Cantelon (08:24):
Yes, yes.
Jeff Futers (08:25):
You were.
Jess Cantelon (08:26):
Oh, so when I left? I was 12. And I remember
having a very clear sense at 12that I was going to be back, it
wasn't a question. I just knewI'd go back. Now. I'm not a you
know, crazy Israel guy. I thinkthat it's just a place where I
(08:47):
grew up. For me it's you know,if you grew up in London,
Ontario, be like London,Ontario, Jerusalem is my home
city. So I know pretty muchevery nook and cranny. And you
know, I've we spent ourSaturdays you know, let's say
eating breakfast, kissing Mom,dad goodbye and coming back for
dinner. And in between, we justbe everywhere in the city, with
(09:09):
our skateboards and with our bustickets. And, and we'd just have
to check in at lunch. And justlike make a phone call at lunch.
Just say that we're okay. Andthat's it. It's all we did.
Right. So I mean, I, I basicallyhad free rein, you know, the
life life is changed it's not asfree now. In terms of parents
(09:30):
there are just as nervous asparents here now, so it's, but
it wasn't like that when we weregrowing up. Right? Um, but yeah,
so I 12 I had the sense that Iwas I was going to be back and
and it wasn't until I was 28 anda whole string of events
(09:50):
happened. I was youth pastoringin Toronto. I was a worship
leader in a church plant inToronto. Both those jobs kind of
ended concurrently while it.
While that was happening, I wasrenovating my house to sell it.
And Jamie Hilsden came to visit.
And it was just talking about wewere just talking about life, he
(10:11):
helped me renovate and he's agood old friend, and he, he said
that he was chatting with hisdad. His dad was saying that
they wanted to have a, anevening of worship in Jerusalem.
And he wanted... his dad wantedJamie to do it. And Jamie said,
I don't think I'm the guy. Ithink Jess, Jess should do it.
(10:33):
And anyway, just one of thoseconversations and I ended up
calling, calling Wayne andsaying, Hey what do you think
about us coming to join you inIsrael? He called me back the
next day. I just left a messagehe called me back the next day
and said yeah, let's do it. AndI said okay. I said, Well, give
me give me a few months becausethere was a big conference that
was happening with the Anglicansat the end of the summer that
(10:55):
was gonna be quite a catalyticconference in terms of the
direction of the sort of the newmovement within Anglicanism. In
terms of, well it's kind of it'sthe ancient movement, but the
more conservative orthodoxmovement, and, and we wanted to
be a part of that, we had apretty strong calling to them as
(11:16):
well. But I called them backwithin a within a day because my
wife said, You know what, Jess,I think we should just do it.
And if your wife who has livedin Brampton, her whole life,
says, Let's go to Israel, yougot to figure it's the Lord. So
I thought, I thought at thispoint, I said, Okay, let's go
(11:38):
for it. And, and we'll see, seewhat happens. And so we moved to
Israel with our 18 month old.
And it was, you know, a wholeother whole other experience.
Jeff Futers (11:54):
You, you mentioned about your wife, on two
different occasions. First, myfirst trip to Israel, that I
really wasn't all that excitedabout going on. It was my wife,
who told me to smarten up andjust go because she said it was
an opportunity to go with mydad. And she said, When are you
gonna ever have an opportunitylike this again, to travel, you
know, somewhere overseas withyour dad? And I was like, oh,
(12:15):
okay, whatever. You know, andbut that that trip changed my
life and and then when we wereapproached about being involved
with First Century Foundations,I was dragging my heels again.
And she just looked at me oneday and said, what, I don't
understand what you're waitingfor you. This, this is what you
(12:35):
were made to do. You know, like,she said, You've talked about
Israel and traveled back andforth Israel all these years.
What? Why? So So yeah, wives areall knowing and ever wise is
what I say.
Jess Cantelon (12:46):
The Lord knew what he was doing.
Jeff Futers (12:49):
Yeah. Question about your wife. Where'd you go
on your honeymoon?
Jess Cantelon (12:53):
Israel? Yeah, Israel.
Jeff Futers (12:56):
I knew the answer that question, but I wanted to
Jess Cantelon (12:58):
Great, leading question. I my, basically the
tour, the tour guide, who didbusiness with my dad for, you
know, 20 some odd years, decidedto bless us with with a wedding
gift. And he basically paid forour honeymoon. And so we had
(13:19):
this amazing honeymoon, we wentfor two weeks, we spent a week
in Eilat down in the south, andthen Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and
in Jerusalem we met with Wayneand Ann, and Wayne and Ann were
talking about saying, Well, youknow, if you're if you're
(13:40):
coming, you need to really knowthat the Lord has called you to
come. And Erica looked at mesaid, What? What do you mean, we
just got married, I didn't knowwe're moving to Israel. Or we
decided to go. Oh yeah, we'll behere someday. And she said, well
that's something could haveknown two days ago. Right? or
whatever, last week.
(14:01):
And anyhow, it was, it wasreally, really nice. It was nice
for Erica to see where I grewup. To understand why I when
we're driving on the 401 and Isay hey, can you just roll down
your window and just point tothat person to make sure we can
get into the next lane get, moveon because there's not enough
space? I'm not gonna do that.
And thinking it's a shockingthing to communicate with other
(14:25):
people on the road whiledriving. And since then, she's
been you know, jumping to itbefore since we moved to Israel,
she's she jumps to it before Ido now she ah, you know,
Israelis, they just communicatethe whole way. They're driving,
they're talking, they'reyelling, they're pointing.
They're certainly not a Canadianthing. So it was good for her
to, to understand, have somecontext for our own cultural
(14:49):
clash. You know, she's veryBritish British influence and
I'm very Middle Easterninfluence. So it's a like you
know...
Jeff Futers (15:00):
It's great. Well, you bring great perspective to
the to that whole journey. Iknow that when you came back
from serving in Jerusalem, youplanted the church in Quebec.
There was a time that maybe youthought you were going back to
Israel for a little while. Butthat wasn't meant to be. But it
was kind of around then that youconnected with Clyde and Marion,
is that right? With FirstCentury Foundations?
Jess Cantelon (15:21):
Actually, it was actually when we went back to
Israel in 2004,
Jeff Futers (15:26):
Oh it was that early? Okay.
Jess Cantelon (15:28):
And so I had, you know, I had this call with, with
Wayne. And, and I, then I foundout that it was a situation
where you had to raise your ownfunds and all these things. And
I thought, Oh, man, what am Igoing to do? And he said, Well,
you should, you should contactClyde Williamson. And so I, my
(15:51):
first meeting, my very firstmeeting after chatting with
Wayne, about going to Israel'swith Clyde, and they just ah,
they just walked with us theentire time they walked with us
through our journey in Israel,and they walked with us as we
came back to, to Canada, just aswe transitioned back, and
they're just, you know,fabulous. They pray for us, they
(16:13):
supported us. They just, they'rereally, really caring when they
came to Israel. We'd alwaysvisit and have have food and you
know, it's I very much valuetheir relationship and, and
their ministry and yourministry, you know, it's made a
big impact in our life. So...
Jeff Futers (16:35):
They certainly have left an incredible legacy. And,
you know, this is kind of theyear that we're that we're
officially watching Clyde pullback a little bit, but we're
putting together a bit of avideo project. I haven't told
him yet. Hopefully, he doesn'tlisten to the podcast, but
we've, you know, gottengreetings from a lot of a lot of
(16:57):
the folks in Israel and, and soCOVID has changed how we're
going to celebrate them,unfortunately. But we want to be
able to do that and and do thatwell, they're great, folks.
That's cool. So now you'reyou're back. You're in Barrie.
You know, you're you'repastoring, one of the local
churches. I can say here,because I live here too. But you
(17:21):
pastor one of the local churcheshere and what does that look
like? And and how how has your,I guess your Israel experience
your Israel journey impacted?
Any and all of that?
Jess Cantelon (17:33):
Yeah, well, it's interestingly, I mean, while
while we were sort of thinkingabout going back to Israel after
church planting in Quebec, we,we went to Israel for a few
months, just to do a sabbatical.
And, and I started doing Istarted a video...this video
project that I mentioned earlierin the, in the, in the episode,
just to, to communicate with alocal church weekly, just to
(17:59):
say, Hey, you know, this is thiswhere this happened. And here's
a short little five minuteteaching with my iPhone, that's
what I was thinking of doing.
But I shared the the thought,the idea with my leadership, and
my overseers. And they said, Ilove this idea, but I want you
to do it for all of Canada. Andand then the other guy said, I
(18:21):
also want you to do it for theStates. And so suddenly, I had a
big audience, and I had toactually do a good job. So I
bought some equipment andlearned how to edit. And it was
this the first episode we did,took me 70 hours to put
together. And then, you know, 60hours, 50 hours, I did 10 weeks
(18:44):
in a row while we're onsabbatical. And it was a really
great experience, you know, it'sit's called Israel video
project, you can check out theisraelvideoproject.com if you
want to see the episodes, but wedid. We were working on 3rd
season right now, I justreleased a video last week,
third episode of the thirdseason. So we have 10 episodes
(19:07):
in the first season that followthe Torah Portion, which is the
weekly liturgical readings thatthe Jews follow on, at their
synagogues. Right. So I did oneTorah Portion per week. The next
season, we started off on theMount of Transfiguration, which
I believe is Mount Hermon in thenorth, which is you know, a
snow covered ski hill. And sothat that episode ended with me
(19:29):
snowboarding on the Mount ofTransfiguration, but we went
from there, and we follow theroad to Jerusalem. It's called
the road to Jerusalem. But asJesus resolutely set his face
towards Jerusalem and the crossafter being transfigured, we
kind of follow those storiesdown, we get to, to Jerusalem
right at Easter, Passover. And,and then then we stay there
(19:53):
through Pentecost and, and soon. And this last one we,
because I was coming to Hiway,to Hiway Church, and we I
thought it would be fun to do alittle series based on the
highways in Israel. So I takeone of the stories that would
have taken place on the highwayor like the road to Emmaus or so
(20:14):
on. And then I go from there. Soanyway, it's it's been, it's
been a lot of fun doing that.
And, and when I, so we didn't goto Israel, we ended up coming to
Barrie. And, and they, you know,understood that I also do this
Israel Video Project as achurch. And so they said, yeah,
(20:35):
we love that we want you to dothat, and lead us as, as our
pastor. So I get to doeverything I want to do, right,
I get to pastor preach, teach,lead a team, and I get to do
these Israel Video Projects.
And, you know, just invest inthat as well. So it's been, it's
been a really great season, andwe're enjoying, it's a great
(20:57):
church. About 400, 500 people,and, you know, COVID has been a
very interesting season. It'shard to track anything at this
point. But, you know, it's it's100 year old Pentecostal church,
and they're responsible forplanting pretty much all the
Pentecostal churches in thearea. And they have a great
(21:20):
heritage. And they're, you know,they have, they've been through
seasons and exciting season tobe with them right now. And,
and, and see, see how it goes.
Great team, great atmosphere,very welcoming, and very
international, too. I mean,that's, that's interesting, too.
And just being having theIsraeli side of me, I can relate
(21:40):
to a lot of immigrants and allthat. So we have I think 28
nations represented at thechurch. And it's, it's, I think
it's really healthy, multigenerational. It's been a it's
been a fun, fun chapter so far.
Jeff Futers (21:57):
That's great. Two questions. One is about the
third season of the Israel VideoProject. I'm kind of curious,
maybe it's a surprise, you know,how do you pull that off
remotely?
Jess Cantelon (22:09):
Oh, okay. That's a good question. Well, what I
did is I, every time I go toIsrael, I try to record at least
a few episodes. And and then Ihave to, you know, edit them. So
these are recorded, I guess, ayear ago, just
Jeff Futers (22:25):
Okay, great.
Jess Cantelon (22:26):
Last November.
And then I just edit them and,and put them out there. So
Jeff Futers (22:32):
I wish I had had the, I wish I had had the
forethought to do that.
Jess Cantelon (22:37):
I only have I only have one more to do I think
one more, you know episodesworth but then I have to get
back there to do some more. But
Jeff Futers (22:45):
Yeah, yeah. Well, we are in faith, actually, my,
my wife, my assistant, who is mywife also is working right now
on on booking some flights forApril. We're just gonna, I said
to her, I've got to plansomething. And so I've been
trying to get in touch with theIsraeli Ministry of Tourism to
(23:05):
figure out, you know, whatguidelines would be and what
they're thinking about for thefuture, but hoping and praying
that those numbers come down,and we can actually get back
there because it's been over ayear, and I'm getting a little
antsy. But
Jess Cantelon (23:19):
It's tough to have an Israel ministry without
access, you know, and
Jeff Futers (23:22):
No, for sure.
Jess Cantelon (23:23):
Especially when we want to, you know, I mean, we
have a very similar thing I, youknow, I want to connect the
church with Israel and Israelwith the church, you know, and
so and you want to, that's verysimilar to you to what you feel
called to do, especiallyconnecting the church with
Israel part. And that's, youknow, it's hard to do that.
(23:45):
Right. If you can't get themthere. You can't be there with
the people, you know it's tough.
Jeff Futers (23:54):
Yep. So we're hoping. Hey, last thing, because
I know, I want to respect thetime here, not just for you, but
for our listeners as well. Butlast thing. You're, you're
pastoring a church now here inCanada. And you know, you grew
up in Israel. So it's a littledifferent for you though, the
pull, the pull to Israel is isvery different for you than it
is for a lot of people. But whatdo you say to, you know, to most
(24:17):
Christians say to a Christianwho, like I was would say, Well,
yeah, I don't know if I reallyneed to go to Israel. I'm not
sure what the value would be inall of that. What's the
connection between well, Israeland the church as you put it,
and why should it be importantfor Christians to to consider
having this experience?
Jess Cantelon (24:38):
Yeah, well, it's a long answer, but I mean, it's
kind of like having a baby. Andbefore you have a baby, you
don't know how amazing it is tohave a baby. Right? You think?
Yeah, whatever I could have. Icould be a dad maybe someday I
don't know. Then you have ababy, and it changes your life.
You can't imagine a life beforethat and you know, going to
(24:58):
Israel is similar in that whatit does is, is it shows you that
your faith is not just somethingmade up in your imagination.
It's not just something yousense with, you know, the
goosebumps, or whatever it isyou get when you're worshiping.
And there's something practical,meaty attached to our faith,
(25:22):
right? When Jesus comes back,he's not returning to Manhattan,
he's returning to Jerusalem. Andso that when you go to Israel,
you suddenly encounter with the,with the geographical reality,
the historical reality, theeschatological reality. And that
matters. The geography suddenlymakes sense, you realize that
(25:44):
God is, is, has worked hissalvation out geographically,
throughout history. And suddenlyall these things will come
together, and you'll realize,Hey, wait a second, this is a
lot more real than than I hadever imagined. And, you know,
(26:05):
and and that too, also, I wouldsay that, theologically, you,
you your view of the storychanges and realizing that, you
know, God is faithful, we knowthat God is faithful today,
because he has been faithful.
Right. He was faithful toAbraham, he made a promise to
Abraham and kept us he renewedthat promise with the sons with
(26:26):
Moses with David, Jesus alsogave a promise, which fulfilled
all those promises. And, and Godwill be faithful to see those
promises through to the end, youknow, because not not every
promises has been, you know,completely accomplished. And,
and so we know that, you know,and seeing Israel and seeing
(26:52):
that the Lord is doing somethingthere, you see that he's been
that he will continue to befaithful to us, here in North
America. He's being faithfultoday still in Israel, and he
will be faithful to us as well.
So I mean, for me, it justeverything for like I said,
geography, history, eschatology,theology, has all been impacted
(27:15):
by my going to Israel. And Ithink, if you're watching, you
should go too, and I think it,it'll change your life.
Jeff Futers (27:21):
Yeah, yeah. Well, that's kind of the thing I try
and draw out of everybody thatwe talk to is, is, you know,
this, this experience made achange in me and in my life. And
I know that everybody that wehave taken, has said almost
exactly the same thing. Youknow, that that some point in
(27:41):
the journey, some part of theexperience, has impacted them
forever, you know, and it's,it's just one of those things
that it's hard to put a fingeron in a lot of ways. I love how
you talk about, you know, thethe history, the geography, the
eschatology, the theology,those, all of those are such
critical points in terms ofhelping us to understand the
(28:03):
Bible from beginning to end. Andtoo often as the church we take
and, and North American-ize andcontextualize all of those
promises Old Testament and Newfor ourselves. Which, you know,
I say to people, it's okay, ifyou want to apply some of those
some of those promises to Israelto to us as the church we have
(28:25):
been grafted into Israel, butnot at the expense of Israel,
you know, not at the expense ofof what God meant for Israel and
for the Jewish people. And sothat's amazing. I appreciate you
so much for taking this timetoday. And, and recording this
podcast with us. Thanks forbeing with us. And any last
thoughts you want to share?
Jess Cantelon (28:46):
I'm just grateful that you had me on the show. I
mean, it's awesome. I think it'sgreat that you're doing this and
I think that, you know, you'reah, this whole season of
ministry that you're enteringinto now with, with Clyde, you
know, being honored as andstepping back a little it's,
(29:08):
it's exciting for you. And Ithink it's, you know, you're
carrying on a great, greatheritage. This has been a huge,
this, this ministry has bigimpact and difference. So
looking forward to ourrelationship in the future, too.
Jeff Futers (29:22):
Yeah, well, thank you very much, just and we only
hope that we can lead as wellinto the future as as things
have been led to this point andwe are praying and believing
that the impact will grow. Youknow, my my vision and heart is
that is that we grow ourministry so that more ministries
in Israel can be helped andequipped to do the work that God
(29:45):
has called them to do there onthe ground in the land. So
thanks so much again. And Godbless.
Jess Cantelon (29:54):
Thanks, Jeff.
Jeff Futers (29:55):
Hey, I hope you enjoyed my interview with Jess
Cantelon today. It's so great tohear from someone who spent part
of his childhood in Israel wentback as an adult to serve there
at King of Kings Community forseven or so years and still
really has a passion and carriesthe vision for our connection to
the land of Israel. The IsraelVideo Project that he mentioned
(30:17):
is the ministry that he isinvolved in right now while
being lead pastor in the city ofBarrie, Ontario, Canada. And so
I encourage you to check out theIsrael Video Project. That's
Israelvideoproject.com. And youwill want to see some of those
teaching videos that Jess doeson location in the land of
Israel. Just wanted to mention acouple of, I guess, commercial
(30:41):
items for First CenturyFoundations. We remind you, of
course, always that we are aministry, and a charity that
helps other ministries in theland of Israel. We are involved
in very many special projects,humanitarian aid projects,
practical projects forcongregations, and so many other
things that are helpingChristians, helping Messianic
(31:03):
believers, they're in the landof Israel to do the work of the
ministry that God has calledthem to do. I want to let you
know that Giving Tuesday iscoming up, we're going to be
talking about Giving Tuesday onour social media and web
campaigns over the next month orso. And Giving Tuesday is
December the first. If you couldmark your calendars for that, we
(31:23):
would encourage you to be readyon December the first after, you
know Black Friday, and CyberMonday to be ready to do
something generous and dosomething good for someone else
in the world. And we encourageyou to consider helping
ministries in Israel on GivingTuesday this year. And then also
Christmas is coming. And ourMiraculous Victories of Israel
(31:47):
documentary series is available.
It's there on our website,miraculousvictories com. And so
I encourage you to go check thatout. And there are three
episodes that are completed. Theother three will be completed
soon. And we just encourage youto pick those up. Maybe you want
to use them as a Christmas giftfor someone who loves Israel,
loves biblical history andarchaeology. These are
(32:09):
incredible documentaries thatoutline God's intervention on
behalf of the Jewish people andthe nation of Israel over the
centuries since Biblical timesuntil now and so we encourage
you to check that out. So greatto have you tuning in with us
today. And remember, asChristians we stand with Israel.
Welcome to the Keeping It Israel podcast
with Jeff Futers, where Jeff andhis guests talk. Everything
Israel as it relates toChristian faith and the church.
If you are a Christian and youstand with Israel, you will be
encouraged and challenged bythis podcast. And if you're not
so sure about the whole Israelthing, you need to learn how
your faith connects with Israel,and why standing with Israel
(00:24):
matters. Now, here's Jeff withtoday's guest.
Jeff Futers (00:28):
Welcome to the podcast today. And today, my
guest is Reverend Jess Cantelon.
And you might recall that a fewweeks back we had Jim Cantelon
on on the podcast and Jess isJim's son. Jess, welcome.
Jess Cantelon (00:44):
Thank you. It's good to be here.
Jeff Futers (00:46):
It's great to have you tell us a little bit about
yourself. I mean, I could, youknow, probably do a quick hit
list of things, but nobody knowsit better than you. So tell us
where you're at, who you are,who's your family?
Jess Cantelon (00:59):
My name's Jess, Jess Cantelon. I am the son of
Jim and Kathy. Yeah, brother toTodd and Kate. Husband to Erica,
father to five amazing boys. Andwe live here in Barrie. I'm the
Lead Pastor of Hiway Church. Andit's a Pentecostal church. I'm
(01:22):
also ordained an Anglican. Soit's a...I'm a bit of a
Christian mutt. But yeah, Imoved to Israe with my parents
back in '81. So if you heard thestory a few weeks ago from my
Dad, I'm sure you did. But hewas invited by the Israeli
government to start a church inJerusalem. And so he started
(01:43):
what's now known as King ofKings. And it was a really
exciting journey, I'm sure forhim too, but for me as a kid,
you know, I went to Hebrewpublic school, and just grew up
as a Gentile amongst Israelis.
And it was, it was a very uniqueupbringing. It seemed normal to
me. But, you know, now that Ihave, you know, retrospect that
(02:06):
I can see that it's... orhindsight and hindsight is 2020,
right, I can just see that it's,it was a it was a gift. So I
grew up in Israel, age five to12, I moved back 28 to 35. And I
just, when I went back, I wentto work at the church that my
parents had planted with WayneHilsden who...Wayne and Ann
(02:29):
Hilsden who had taken over frommy parents, when we left. And
they.... I worked as their, oneof their worship leaders and
their young adult pastor. Andthe Lord just started, I guess,
shaping relationships, makingconnections. And so since
Israel, we have planted a churchnow we're in... in Quebec, now
(02:54):
we're in, at highway church inBarrie, Ontario, just north of
Toronto. And we still have ahand in life in Israel, and
specifically, it's, we have avideo project called Israel
Video Project where we basicallybring Canadians, North Americans
(03:15):
people from all over the worldon into Israel, with their
iPhones, and I basically teachon location with a selfie stick
and a Bible and I, I travel allover the over the country, and
try to give people a vision forfor Israel, and mostly a vision
(03:36):
for salvation history that Godhas had a plan from the
beginning, that faith isn'tsomething that's just in our
head. But there's also aphysical aspect to it. And, and
I think when people get to seeIsrael, they, they get, they
have one of those, those momentswhere they realize, Hey, wait a
(03:58):
second, there's more to thisChristian thing than just going
to church on Sundays.
Jeff Futers (04:05):
That's great. Well, you gave me a huge summary there
of a lot of life. But one of thethings, one of the things I
wanted to ask you was, you know,because because moving to Israel
as a kid, you know, has to havesome sort of an impact. And I
just kind of wonder, the changefrom Canada to Israel. What was
your earliest recollection ofbeing a child growing up in
(04:29):
Israel?
Jess Cantelon (04:30):
Well, I moved to Israel on my fifth birthday. So
had my fifth birthday on theplane. This is back in the days
where they would let people intothe cockpits This is pre 911
obviously. And so I rememberbeing welcomed into the cockpit
and getting to fly the plane,you know, pretend to fly the
plane up on a big Boeing 747.
They sang Happy Birthday to methe whole plane, they had a cake
(04:51):
for me and all that and it was.
So I remember I remembervividly, I remember landing and
remember our first few daysthere at five. And you know, I
went to it, when you have thesedrastic changes, changes in your
(05:12):
childhood, it, you rememberthem. So I remember life before
five I remember life after fiveuntil twelve, because my life is
sort of the sub-divided intolittle sections. So the mind is
able to remember these things.
So yeah, I remember you know,being the only blond kid is for
the Russians showed up, at leastwe thought we were the only
(05:35):
blond kids, blond kids inJerusalem, and, you know, and so
not fitting in entirely. But,you know, I got to my my best
friend to this day, and he livesin Israel, but he was, he's a
son of a professor. And he grewup while his dad was doing a
(05:57):
what do you call it, like ascholarship or Professor
exchange in doing research inMinneapolis, so he, though he
was an Israeli couldn't speak alick of Hebrew. So we learned
Hebrew together. And so that wasa real good, you know, point of
connection for me. And thatreally brought me into into the
life of an Israeli. So while Ilook different than most of
(06:23):
them, I was, you know, acceptedas one of them. So it was, yeah,
I mean, I've, you know, vividmemories from all all those
childhood years.
Jeff Futers (06:35):
Yeah. Where are you at in birth order in the family?
Jess Cantelon (06:40):
I'm number two.
Jeff Futers (06:40):
Number two. Okay.
So it was it? Was it harder foryour for your older sibling?
Easier?
Jess Cantelon (06:47):
I think I don't know. I mean, you know, we all
have different personalities. Ithink for, for him, he didn't
have the same friendshipconnection as I did. You know,
so it was it was more difficult,though, we're both quite
athletic. And, and that speaksvolumes with, you know, in terms
(07:08):
of kindergarten politics, or,you know, playground politics.
So, you know, we were alwaysfine that way. But I mean, he,
he would, he would be callednames, and then he would act,
you know, badly. Not badly. He'djust, he would fight his way out
(07:28):
of the situation.
Jeff Futers (07:30):
We're not telling any stories out of school, I
hope but...
Jess Cantelon (07:33):
No..He would fight his way out of situations.
And it was good for me, becauseI had an older brother who would
fight his way out of situationsand so people didn't mess with
me so much.
Jeff Futers (07:43):
And I guess for your your younger sister, it
might be might be a littleeasier, because less
Jess Cantelon (07:52):
She was three, and so she went through
Jeff Futers (07:54):
Yeah less memory beforehand.
Jess Cantelon (07:56):
through the JK/Sk system.
Jeff Futers (07:59):
That's what she knew.
Jess Cantelon (08:00):
So that's what whe knew, yeah,
Jeff Futers (08:01):
Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. Great. Well, so you,
you're part of the congregation,your dad's there for a number of
years, and then you you moveback to Canada. But that wasn't
the end of your Israel story.
You mentioned that, thateventually, you sort of track
back in that direction. Tell usa little bit about how that
happened. And were you marriedbefore you went back?
Jess Cantelon (08:24):
Yes, yes.
Jeff Futers (08:25):
You were.
Jess Cantelon (08:26):
Oh, so when I left? I was 12. And I remember
having a very clear sense at 12that I was going to be back, it
wasn't a question. I just knewI'd go back. Now. I'm not a you
know, crazy Israel guy. I thinkthat it's just a place where I
(08:47):
grew up. For me it's you know,if you grew up in London,
Ontario, be like London,Ontario, Jerusalem is my home
city. So I know pretty muchevery nook and cranny. And you
know, I've we spent ourSaturdays you know, let's say
eating breakfast, kissing Mom,dad goodbye and coming back for
dinner. And in between, we justbe everywhere in the city, with
(09:09):
our skateboards and with our bustickets. And, and we'd just have
to check in at lunch. And justlike make a phone call at lunch.
Just say that we're okay. Andthat's it. It's all we did.
Right. So I mean, I, I basicallyhad free rein, you know, the
life life is changed it's not asfree now. In terms of parents
(09:30):
there are just as nervous asparents here now, so it's, but
it wasn't like that when we weregrowing up. Right? Um, but yeah,
so I 12 I had the sense that Iwas I was going to be back and
and it wasn't until I was 28 anda whole string of events
(09:50):
happened. I was youth pastoringin Toronto. I was a worship
leader in a church plant inToronto. Both those jobs kind of
ended concurrently while it.
While that was happening, I wasrenovating my house to sell it.
And Jamie Hilsden came to visit.
And it was just talking about wewere just talking about life, he
(10:11):
helped me renovate and he's agood old friend, and he, he said
that he was chatting with hisdad. His dad was saying that
they wanted to have a, anevening of worship in Jerusalem.
And he wanted... his dad wantedJamie to do it. And Jamie said,
I don't think I'm the guy. Ithink Jess, Jess should do it.
(10:33):
And anyway, just one of thoseconversations and I ended up
calling, calling Wayne andsaying, Hey what do you think
about us coming to join you inIsrael? He called me back the
next day. I just left a messagehe called me back the next day
and said yeah, let's do it. AndI said okay. I said, Well, give
me give me a few months becausethere was a big conference that
was happening with the Anglicansat the end of the summer that
(10:55):
was gonna be quite a catalyticconference in terms of the
direction of the sort of the newmovement within Anglicanism. In
terms of, well it's kind of it'sthe ancient movement, but the
more conservative orthodoxmovement, and, and we wanted to
be a part of that, we had apretty strong calling to them as
(11:16):
well. But I called them backwithin a within a day because my
wife said, You know what, Jess,I think we should just do it.
And if your wife who has livedin Brampton, her whole life,
says, Let's go to Israel, yougot to figure it's the Lord. So
I thought, I thought at thispoint, I said, Okay, let's go
(11:38):
for it. And, and we'll see, seewhat happens. And so we moved to
Israel with our 18 month old.
And it was, you know, a wholeother whole other experience.
Jeff Futers (11:54):
You, you mentioned about your wife, on two
different occasions. First, myfirst trip to Israel, that I
really wasn't all that excitedabout going on. It was my wife,
who told me to smarten up andjust go because she said it was
an opportunity to go with mydad. And she said, When are you
gonna ever have an opportunitylike this again, to travel, you
know, somewhere overseas withyour dad? And I was like, oh,
(12:15):
okay, whatever. You know, andbut that that trip changed my
life and and then when we wereapproached about being involved
with First Century Foundations,I was dragging my heels again.
And she just looked at me oneday and said, what, I don't
understand what you're waitingfor you. This, this is what you
(12:35):
were made to do. You know, like,she said, You've talked about
Israel and traveled back andforth Israel all these years.
What? Why? So So yeah, wives areall knowing and ever wise is
what I say.
Jess Cantelon (12:46):
The Lord knew what he was doing.
Jeff Futers (12:49):
Yeah. Question about your wife. Where'd you go
on your honeymoon?
Jess Cantelon (12:53):
Israel? Yeah, Israel.
Jeff Futers (12:56):
I knew the answer that question, but I wanted to
Jess Cantelon (12:58):
Great, leading question. I my, basically the
tour, the tour guide, who didbusiness with my dad for, you
know, 20 some odd years, decidedto bless us with with a wedding
gift. And he basically paid forour honeymoon. And so we had
(13:19):
this amazing honeymoon, we wentfor two weeks, we spent a week
in Eilat down in the south, andthen Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and
in Jerusalem we met with Wayneand Ann, and Wayne and Ann were
talking about saying, Well, youknow, if you're if you're
(13:40):
coming, you need to really knowthat the Lord has called you to
come. And Erica looked at mesaid, What? What do you mean, we
just got married, I didn't knowwe're moving to Israel. Or we
decided to go. Oh yeah, we'll behere someday. And she said, well
that's something could haveknown two days ago. Right? or
whatever, last week.
(14:01):
And anyhow, it was, it wasreally, really nice. It was nice
for Erica to see where I grewup. To understand why I when
we're driving on the 401 and Isay hey, can you just roll down
your window and just point tothat person to make sure we can
get into the next lane get, moveon because there's not enough
space? I'm not gonna do that.
And thinking it's a shockingthing to communicate with other
(14:25):
people on the road whiledriving. And since then, she's
been you know, jumping to itbefore since we moved to Israel,
she's she jumps to it before Ido now she ah, you know,
Israelis, they just communicatethe whole way. They're driving,
they're talking, they'reyelling, they're pointing.
They're certainly not a Canadianthing. So it was good for her
to, to understand, have somecontext for our own cultural
(14:49):
clash. You know, she's veryBritish British influence and
I'm very Middle Easterninfluence. So it's a like you
know...
Jeff Futers (15:00):
It's great. Well, you bring great perspective to
the to that whole journey. Iknow that when you came back
from serving in Jerusalem, youplanted the church in Quebec.
There was a time that maybe youthought you were going back to
Israel for a little while. Butthat wasn't meant to be. But it
was kind of around then that youconnected with Clyde and Marion,
is that right? With FirstCentury Foundations?
Jess Cantelon (15:21):
Actually, it was actually when we went back to
Israel in 2004,
Jeff Futers (15:26):
Oh it was that early? Okay.
Jess Cantelon (15:28):
And so I had, you know, I had this call with, with
Wayne. And, and I, then I foundout that it was a situation
where you had to raise your ownfunds and all these things. And
I thought, Oh, man, what am Igoing to do? And he said, Well,
you should, you should contactClyde Williamson. And so I, my
(15:51):
first meeting, my very firstmeeting after chatting with
Wayne, about going to Israel'swith Clyde, and they just ah,
they just walked with us theentire time they walked with us
through our journey in Israel,and they walked with us as we
came back to, to Canada, just aswe transitioned back, and
they're just, you know,fabulous. They pray for us, they
(16:13):
supported us. They just, they'rereally, really caring when they
came to Israel. We'd alwaysvisit and have have food and you
know, it's I very much valuetheir relationship and, and
their ministry and yourministry, you know, it's made a
big impact in our life. So...
Jeff Futers (16:35):
They certainly have left an incredible legacy. And,
you know, this is kind of theyear that we're that we're
officially watching Clyde pullback a little bit, but we're
putting together a bit of avideo project. I haven't told
him yet. Hopefully, he doesn'tlisten to the podcast, but
we've, you know, gottengreetings from a lot of a lot of
(16:57):
the folks in Israel and, and soCOVID has changed how we're
going to celebrate them,unfortunately. But we want to be
able to do that and and do thatwell, they're great, folks.
That's cool. So now you'reyou're back. You're in Barrie.
You know, you're you'repastoring, one of the local
churches. I can say here,because I live here too. But you
(17:21):
pastor one of the local churcheshere and what does that look
like? And and how how has your,I guess your Israel experience
your Israel journey impacted?
Any and all of that?
Jess Cantelon (17:33):
Yeah, well, it's interestingly, I mean, while
while we were sort of thinkingabout going back to Israel after
church planting in Quebec, we,we went to Israel for a few
months, just to do a sabbatical.
And, and I started doing Istarted a video...this video
project that I mentioned earlierin the, in the, in the episode,
just to, to communicate with alocal church weekly, just to
(17:59):
say, Hey, you know, this is thiswhere this happened. And here's
a short little five minuteteaching with my iPhone, that's
what I was thinking of doing.
But I shared the the thought,the idea with my leadership, and
my overseers. And they said, Ilove this idea, but I want you
to do it for all of Canada. Andand then the other guy said, I
(18:21):
also want you to do it for theStates. And so suddenly, I had a
big audience, and I had toactually do a good job. So I
bought some equipment andlearned how to edit. And it was
this the first episode we did,took me 70 hours to put
together. And then, you know, 60hours, 50 hours, I did 10 weeks
(18:44):
in a row while we're onsabbatical. And it was a really
great experience, you know, it'sit's called Israel video
project, you can check out theisraelvideoproject.com if you
want to see the episodes, but wedid. We were working on 3rd
season right now, I justreleased a video last week,
third episode of the thirdseason. So we have 10 episodes
(19:07):
in the first season that followthe Torah Portion, which is the
weekly liturgical readings thatthe Jews follow on, at their
synagogues. Right. So I did oneTorah Portion per week. The next
season, we started off on theMount of Transfiguration, which
I believe is Mount Hermon in thenorth, which is you know, a
snow covered ski hill. And sothat that episode ended with me
(19:29):
snowboarding on the Mount ofTransfiguration, but we went
from there, and we follow theroad to Jerusalem. It's called
the road to Jerusalem. But asJesus resolutely set his face
towards Jerusalem and the crossafter being transfigured, we
kind of follow those storiesdown, we get to, to Jerusalem
right at Easter, Passover. And,and then then we stay there
(19:53):
through Pentecost and, and soon. And this last one we,
because I was coming to Hiway,to Hiway Church, and we I
thought it would be fun to do alittle series based on the
highways in Israel. So I takeone of the stories that would
have taken place on the highwayor like the road to Emmaus or so
(20:14):
on. And then I go from there. Soanyway, it's it's been, it's
been a lot of fun doing that.
And, and when I, so we didn't goto Israel, we ended up coming to
Barrie. And, and they, you know,understood that I also do this
Israel Video Project as achurch. And so they said, yeah,
(20:35):
we love that we want you to dothat, and lead us as, as our
pastor. So I get to doeverything I want to do, right,
I get to pastor preach, teach,lead a team, and I get to do
these Israel Video Projects.
And, you know, just invest inthat as well. So it's been, it's
been a really great season, andwe're enjoying, it's a great
(20:57):
church. About 400, 500 people,and, you know, COVID has been a
very interesting season. It'shard to track anything at this
point. But, you know, it's it's100 year old Pentecostal church,
and they're responsible forplanting pretty much all the
Pentecostal churches in thearea. And they have a great
(21:20):
heritage. And they're, you know,they have, they've been through
seasons and exciting season tobe with them right now. And,
and, and see, see how it goes.
Great team, great atmosphere,very welcoming, and very
international, too. I mean,that's, that's interesting, too.
And just being having theIsraeli side of me, I can relate
(21:40):
to a lot of immigrants and allthat. So we have I think 28
nations represented at thechurch. And it's, it's, I think
it's really healthy, multigenerational. It's been a it's
been a fun, fun chapter so far.
Jeff Futers (21:57):
That's great. Two questions. One is about the
third season of the Israel VideoProject. I'm kind of curious,
maybe it's a surprise, you know,how do you pull that off
remotely?
Jess Cantelon (22:09):
Oh, okay. That's a good question. Well, what I
did is I, every time I go toIsrael, I try to record at least
a few episodes. And and then Ihave to, you know, edit them. So
these are recorded, I guess, ayear ago, just
Jeff Futers (22:25):
Okay, great.
Jess Cantelon (22:26):
Last November.
And then I just edit them and,and put them out there. So
Jeff Futers (22:32):
I wish I had had the, I wish I had had the
forethought to do that.
Jess Cantelon (22:37):
I only have I only have one more to do I think
one more, you know episodesworth but then I have to get
back there to do some more. But
Jeff Futers (22:45):
Yeah, yeah. Well, we are in faith, actually, my,
my wife, my assistant, who is mywife also is working right now
on on booking some flights forApril. We're just gonna, I said
to her, I've got to plansomething. And so I've been
trying to get in touch with theIsraeli Ministry of Tourism to
(23:05):
figure out, you know, whatguidelines would be and what
they're thinking about for thefuture, but hoping and praying
that those numbers come down,and we can actually get back
there because it's been over ayear, and I'm getting a little
antsy. But
Jess Cantelon (23:19):
It's tough to have an Israel ministry without
access, you know, and
Jeff Futers (23:22):
No, for sure.
Jess Cantelon (23:23):
Especially when we want to, you know, I mean, we
have a very similar thing I, youknow, I want to connect the
church with Israel and Israelwith the church, you know, and
so and you want to, that's verysimilar to you to what you feel
called to do, especiallyconnecting the church with
Israel part. And that's, youknow, it's hard to do that.
(23:45):
Right. If you can't get themthere. You can't be there with
the people, you know it's tough.
Jeff Futers (23:54):
Yep. So we're hoping. Hey, last thing, because
I know, I want to respect thetime here, not just for you, but
for our listeners as well. Butlast thing. You're, you're
pastoring a church now here inCanada. And you know, you grew
up in Israel. So it's a littledifferent for you though, the
pull, the pull to Israel is isvery different for you than it
is for a lot of people. But whatdo you say to, you know, to most
(24:17):
Christians say to a Christianwho, like I was would say, Well,
yeah, I don't know if I reallyneed to go to Israel. I'm not
sure what the value would be inall of that. What's the
connection between well, Israeland the church as you put it,
and why should it be importantfor Christians to to consider
having this experience?
Jess Cantelon (24:38):
Yeah, well, it's a long answer, but I mean, it's
kind of like having a baby. Andbefore you have a baby, you
don't know how amazing it is tohave a baby. Right? You think?
Yeah, whatever I could have. Icould be a dad maybe someday I
don't know. Then you have ababy, and it changes your life.
You can't imagine a life beforethat and you know, going to
(24:58):
Israel is similar in that whatit does is, is it shows you that
your faith is not just somethingmade up in your imagination.
It's not just something yousense with, you know, the
goosebumps, or whatever it isyou get when you're worshiping.
And there's something practical,meaty attached to our faith,
(25:22):
right? When Jesus comes back,he's not returning to Manhattan,
he's returning to Jerusalem. Andso that when you go to Israel,
you suddenly encounter with the,with the geographical reality,
the historical reality, theeschatological reality. And that
matters. The geography suddenlymakes sense, you realize that
(25:44):
God is, is, has worked hissalvation out geographically,
throughout history. And suddenlyall these things will come
together, and you'll realize,Hey, wait a second, this is a
lot more real than than I hadever imagined. And, you know,
(26:05):
and and that too, also, I wouldsay that, theologically, you,
you your view of the storychanges and realizing that, you
know, God is faithful, we knowthat God is faithful today,
because he has been faithful.
Right. He was faithful toAbraham, he made a promise to
Abraham and kept us he renewedthat promise with the sons with
(26:26):
Moses with David, Jesus alsogave a promise, which fulfilled
all those promises. And, and Godwill be faithful to see those
promises through to the end, youknow, because not not every
promises has been, you know,completely accomplished. And,
and so we know that, you know,and seeing Israel and seeing
(26:52):
that the Lord is doing somethingthere, you see that he's been
that he will continue to befaithful to us, here in North
America. He's being faithfultoday still in Israel, and he
will be faithful to us as well.
So I mean, for me, it justeverything for like I said,
geography, history, eschatology,theology, has all been impacted
(27:15):
by my going to Israel. And Ithink, if you're watching, you
should go too, and I think it,it'll change your life.
Jeff Futers (27:21):
Yeah, yeah. Well, that's kind of the thing I try
and draw out of everybody thatwe talk to is, is, you know,
this, this experience made achange in me and in my life. And
I know that everybody that wehave taken, has said almost
exactly the same thing. Youknow, that that some point in
(27:41):
the journey, some part of theexperience, has impacted them
forever, you know, and it's,it's just one of those things
that it's hard to put a fingeron in a lot of ways. I love how
you talk about, you know, thethe history, the geography, the
eschatology, the theology,those, all of those are such
critical points in terms ofhelping us to understand the
(28:03):
Bible from beginning to end. Andtoo often as the church we take
and, and North American-ize andcontextualize all of those
promises Old Testament and Newfor ourselves. Which, you know,
I say to people, it's okay, ifyou want to apply some of those
some of those promises to Israelto to us as the church we have
(28:25):
been grafted into Israel, butnot at the expense of Israel,
you know, not at the expense ofof what God meant for Israel and
for the Jewish people. And sothat's amazing. I appreciate you
so much for taking this timetoday. And, and recording this
podcast with us. Thanks forbeing with us. And any last
thoughts you want to share?
Jess Cantelon (28:46):
I'm just grateful that you had me on the show. I
mean, it's awesome. I think it'sgreat that you're doing this and
I think that, you know, you'reah, this whole season of
ministry that you're enteringinto now with, with Clyde, you
know, being honored as andstepping back a little it's,
(29:08):
it's exciting for you. And Ithink it's, you know, you're
carrying on a great, greatheritage. This has been a huge,
this, this ministry has bigimpact and difference. So
looking forward to ourrelationship in the future, too.
Jeff Futers (29:22):
Yeah, well, thank you very much, just and we only
hope that we can lead as wellinto the future as as things
have been led to this point andwe are praying and believing
that the impact will grow. Youknow, my my vision and heart is
that is that we grow ourministry so that more ministries
in Israel can be helped andequipped to do the work that God
(29:45):
has called them to do there onthe ground in the land. So
thanks so much again. And Godbless.
Jess Cantelon (29:54):
Thanks, Jeff.
Jeff Futers (29:55):
Hey, I hope you enjoyed my interview with Jess
Cantelon today. It's so great tohear from someone who spent part
of his childhood in Israel wentback as an adult to serve there
at King of Kings Community forseven or so years and still
really has a passion and carriesthe vision for our connection to
the land of Israel. The IsraelVideo Project that he mentioned
(30:17):
is the ministry that he isinvolved in right now while
being lead pastor in the city ofBarrie, Ontario, Canada. And so
I encourage you to check out theIsrael Video Project. That's
Israelvideoproject.com. And youwill want to see some of those
teaching videos that Jess doeson location in the land of
Israel. Just wanted to mention acouple of, I guess, commercial
(30:41):
items for First CenturyFoundations. We remind you, of
course, always that we are aministry, and a charity that
helps other ministries in theland of Israel. We are involved
in very many special projects,humanitarian aid projects,
practical projects forcongregations, and so many other
things that are helpingChristians, helping Messianic
(31:03):
believers, they're in the landof Israel to do the work of the
ministry that God has calledthem to do. I want to let you
know that Giving Tuesday iscoming up, we're going to be
talking about Giving Tuesday onour social media and web
campaigns over the next month orso. And Giving Tuesday is
December the first. If you couldmark your calendars for that, we
(31:23):
would encourage you to be readyon December the first after, you
know Black Friday, and CyberMonday to be ready to do
something generous and dosomething good for someone else
in the world. And we encourageyou to consider helping
ministries in Israel on GivingTuesday this year. And then also
Christmas is coming. And ourMiraculous Victories of Israel
(31:47):
documentary series is available.
It's there on our website,miraculousvictories com. And so
I encourage you to go check thatout. And there are three
episodes that are completed. Theother three will be completed
soon. And we just encourage youto pick those up. Maybe you want
to use them as a Christmas giftfor someone who loves Israel,
loves biblical history andarchaeology. These are
(32:09):
incredible documentaries thatoutline God's intervention on
behalf of the Jewish people andthe nation of Israel over the
centuries since Biblical timesuntil now and so we encourage
you to check that out. So greatto have you tuning in with us
today. And remember, asChristians we stand with Israel.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.