August 15, 2025 • 29 mins
"What happens when childhood questions about God remain unanswered despite years of religious education? Today, we will explore Pastor Geoffrey Ekstein's remarkable journey from Judaism to Christianity, which captured the essence of authentic spiritual seeking and the courage required to embrace truth regardless of the cost."
Growing up in a devoutly Jewish home where his identity was firmly rooted in Jewish tradition, Geoff found himself fascinated by biblical figures who had personal relationships with God. "David made God smile," he recalls thinking as a child, which prompted his persistent question: "How do I have that kind of relationship?" Despite consulting rabbis and participating faithfully in Jewish traditions, the answer remained frustratingly elusive.
The turning point came unexpectedly through fatherhood. When Geoff and his non-Jewish wife welcomed their daughter, the weight of responsibility awakened his dormant spiritual questions. On his first Father's Day, seeking affirmation of his new parental role, he instead discovered "how great a father our heavenly Father is" through the gospel of Jesus Christ. The revelation that Jesus was Jewish—not Catholic as he had assumed—opened his eyes to see Christ as the fulfillment of everything he had been searching for.
The most powerful moment in this testimony occurs when Geoff's father directly confronts him: "Are you a Christian?" Standing in that driveway, with Jesus's words about denial echoing in his mind, Geoff faced what he calls his "crucible moment"—choosing faith over fear with a simple "yes." This honest confession, while initially creating tension, ultimately led to deeper family relationships built on mutual respect and understanding.
Geoff's story brilliantly illuminates the purpose behind Jewish identity: "We were chosen to be the mechanism through whom the Messiah would come." His journey from synagogue to sanctuary demonstrates that sometimes our longest-held questions find their answers in unexpected places, and that standing firm in our convictions, despite potential rejection, opens the door to authentic relationship with both God and others.
If you've ever wrestled with questions about faith, identity, or family expectations, this testimony will resonate deeply. Share this episode with someone seeking answers to their own spiritual questions.
Pastor Geoff's email: pastorgeoff@bccdelmar.org
Bethlehem Community Church: https://bccdelmar.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BCCdelmar/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bccdelmar
Plays On Word website
Plays On Word YouTube
Plays On Word Facebook
Plays On Word Instagram
Email us: team@playsonword.org
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Lord, you know You're now listening to Play.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
It's the best.
Have you ever tried tounderstand?
(00:38):
You're the only name.
You're the only name.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
You're the only name.
Have you ever tried tounderstand Daniel's role in
God's larger plan?
Today's episode examines howDaniel's story connects to
Hezekiah, babylonian stargazersand the Magi, showing Scripture
as one unified, christ-centerednarrative across centuries.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Hello and welcome to Plays on Word Radio, where we
discuss, analyze, work and playon the Word of God.
Thank you for joining us onthis excursion.
Today let's join Pastor Teddy,also known as Fred David Kenny
Jr, the founder of Plays on WordTheater, as he does a deep dive
into the Word of God.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Amen, amen.
Thank you very much, joshTaylor and Katie Kenny, for that
introduction.
Oh, yeah, going to describesome of our experiences to you
in some upcoming podcasts.
Today we are going to visitwith Pastor Jeffrey Eckstein,
who is the pastor of BethlehemCommunity Church in New York
(01:57):
State, up near Albany, and I'mnot going to waste a whole bunch
of time.
I know you're going to beblessed by this interview, so
check it out.
Thank you for taking the timeto be on Plays on Word Radio.
Yeah, man, it's just a blessingto see you.
We're here with Pastor JeffreyEckstein.
It is the Bethlehem CommunityChurch, that's correct, new York
(02:22):
State, up near Albany.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah, just outside of Albany, in Delmar, new York.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Delmar yes, Delmar, New York.
And wow, what a blessing man.
I walked into the sanctuary ofthe church and I was like, oh,
this is cool, man, these guyshave a side dressing room, a
beautiful sanctuary.
And you know, the thing thatreally blessed me was the love
from everybody there, man.
(02:47):
It was a very loving church.
So, yeah, man, that was a realblessing.
And meeting you was a blessingbecause it feels like we go way
back, and we do because of theblood of Christ.
We go way back, we havefellowship in Christ.
But yeah, Pastor Jeffrey,welcome to the program, the
(03:09):
Plays on Word radio program here.
And before we just get into theinterview, you saw the Pete
play, you experienced the Peteplay.
Did anything stick out, Anythoughts?
You know what were you.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Well, you know, as I shared with you and as I
discussed the play and we hadall sorts of conversations
around it, both Saturday eveningand even Sunday before and
after church, the people whowere there the thing that really
impressed us was howdoctrinally sound it was, how
(03:49):
you stuck to actual Scripture.
So it wasn't a, you know, adramatic re-presentation of the
life of Peter and the gospel ofChrist.
It was the life of Peter andthe gospel of Christ.
It was, in fact, directly outof the Word of God.
And so when you said and Jesussaid, you stuck very clearly to
(04:17):
the Scriptures, you didn't takeaway from it, you didn't add to
it, and I think that we have torecognize that we've been
sharing this as a church, thatthe Word of God is complete and
it is sufficient and we do notneed to add to it.
In fact, there's a real risk indoing so, and so that, for me,
was the thing that was mostimpressive and I appreciated the
(04:40):
most about, you know, is yourfaithfulness to the Word of God.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Amen.
Yeah, that's a passion of mine.
I think that, man, the Word ofGod definitely doesn't—it
doesn't need anything.
It does not.
I mean, it's like a cut of meatthat is just—why put anything
on it.
If it's a good cut of meat, man, you know you don't need to
do—it doesn't need a lot ofsauce and spices and stuff.
You know you don't need to do,doesn't need a lot of sauce and
(05:08):
spices and stuff, and it issatisfying by itself and, like
you said, you can end up doingdamage if you start adding to it
.
I try to be very careful ofthat.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yes, absolutely.
And the other thing is is thatyou know that was really
enjoyable about it was it wasn'tjust a dramatic reading of of
you know the word of God, butthat you added in your own
personality into the way inwhich you told the story of you
know Peter, and you know therewere some comedic moments.
(05:39):
There were moments that youdraw in the rest of us to join
with you in it, and certainlyyour talent for songwriting and
singing.
I told my congregation youheard me on Saturday evening.
Do not expect me to sit down atthe piano and start to play
(06:01):
songs and sing.
That would not be good.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Hey, the Word of God is enough, man, you know what I
told someone at my church?
I said listen, if somethingever happened where I couldn't
make it out, man, literally youcould open up Psalm 119.
It takes 15 minutes to readthrough.
Take your time, Read throughPsalm 119.
(06:26):
Say amen, close the book andthe whole congregation will have
been fed.
Amen, Amen.
I'm a firm believer in that.
I don't need to add anything.
You could say amen, close thebook, and somebody might even
get saved from that, who knows?
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Exactly right.
I agree with you 100%.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
You know, so it's—and that's—I could tell that we
were kindred spirits in thespirit, just when I, when I
first met you, I could tell thatyou know, you appreciated that
that aspect of it.
And then, of course, there'salways the comedy, and I had no
idea when I, when I, when Petecalled you rabbi, that there was
(07:01):
.
There was even more to thatthan than the surface aspect.
There was even more to thatthan the surface aspect.
You came up to me after See,for those that don't know, those
of you who have not yet seenthe Pete play Peter, when Jesus
goes to the synagogue with Peterand the guys early on in his
Galilean ministry, there's ademon-possessed guy in the
(07:27):
synagogue and Peter always healways looks for the pastor of
the church that's hosting andusually calls out that pastor
and calls him rabbi.
And so, and I think, and also inthe scene where the demoniac,
when they cross the lake, jesuscasts the demons into the herd
of pigs and the whole herd ofpigs, the swine, they all die,
they go over the cliff and drownand Peter kind of makes a joke
(07:47):
right there.
He herd of pigs, the swine,they all die, they go over the
cliff and drown and Peter kindof makes a joke right there.
He says, yeah, the people thatwere tending the pigs.
And then he pauses and hescratches his head and he says
wait a sec, hey.
And then he looks over at thepastor that he has just called
rabbi and he says, hey, rabbi,that don't sound kosher.
You don't sound kosher.
And it's a humorous teachingmoment because it makes people
(08:09):
think wait a second.
Yeah, why are they tendingswine in Israel?
What is up with—what's going onwith that?
But afterwards, pastor Jeffreyor Pastor Jeff, rabbi Jeff, as I
affectionately call him he cameup to me and said I got some
information for you that youknow when you called me Rabbi.
(08:31):
There's a little bit more tothat than you know.
Can you explain that to ouraudience?
Can you explain it to me?
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Sure, sure.
And it's funny because you know, I know that you know Andrew
Strickland and we've had arelationship for a number of
years.
Just a blessing of a brother,he and his wife Sherry, out in
their church as villagemissionaries and you know.
So I just figured that you wereactually in the know on this
(09:00):
thing and you were just saying Ididn't know that it was
actually part of the play.
And so when you called me rabbi, everybody in the church, you
know, turned and looked at meand started snickering and stuff
.
And so you know the backstory isis that I was raised Jewish.
You know, I come from a Jewishhome.
In fact, my parents not toolong ago they're both still
(09:22):
alive, thank God and in their80s and they did a DNA that
23andMe a couple years back, andmy father was upset because my
mother turned out to be 99.2%from Jewish lineage and he was
only 98.6%.
(09:43):
So you know I look back at myfamily and it wasn't just that
we grew up Jewish.
Jewish was our identity.
I grew up in a relatively smalltown, about an hour from here,
and all of my friends wereJewish.
My parents' friends were Jewish.
(10:04):
There was a vibrant Jewishcommunity when I was younger and
it was a temple on Fridayevening and back on Saturday we
had a Hebrew school at theJewish Community Center next
door to the temple on Wednesdayevenings.
So life was really centeredaround this understanding of
being Jewish.
(10:25):
And I'm the third of four boysand I was a bit precocious and
always asking questions andpushing things, and so from a
young age I would hear thesestories that we were told in you
know from the Torah, that wewere told in you know from the
Torah, and these great men offaith Abraham, isaac and Jacob
(10:57):
and Moses and Daniel and David,right.
And I was enamored by thesestories and about these men.
And the thing that for me wasclear in listening to these
stories and the tying togetherwas that they all had a
relationship with God.
And you know the idea of youknow David made God smile, right
.
And so I would ask the question, and I'd be that one that would
say, hey, you know, how do Ihave that kind of relationship?
(11:20):
Do I make God smile?
And so there was never asatisfactory answer to that.
How do I come into and have thesame relationship with God that
these men that we are called tolook look towards as our heroes
.
How are we supposed to be inrelationship?
(11:41):
And the most the best that theycould come up with supposed to
be in relationship and the mostthe best that they could come up
with and this includes, youknow, rabbis who were there was,
you know, when you're oldenough, you can be part of a
minion, which is a prayer groupof older men and you can pray
and we pray we.
You know that brings a smile toGod's face, but there was no
(12:03):
connection or relationship.
You know, and I remember Um as a, as a little boy I can, I can
distinctly remember this.
We were in the parking lot ofof the McDonald's um in our
hometown and, uh, I could havebeen more than eight or nine
years old and we were there withsome very close friends of ours
(12:23):
.
I'm not sure where we werebeforehand, but but my parents
were together with their parentsand the kids were all together
and there was a station wagonthat pulled, you know, out right
in front of us as we werestanding there out in front of
McDonald's, and it had a bumpersticker and the bumper sticker
had a cross on it and thispicture of Jesus and it said we
(12:46):
found him Right.
And I looked at that.
I said, well, what does thatmean?
And I remember asking thatquestion to my father and my
father was standing there, uh,next to uh, his name was mr
blatt and uh, and they both kindof looked at me and mr blatt
(13:06):
said, well, we should come upwith with a bumper sticker that
says, well, we're still looking.
I was like, what are we lookingfor?
Yeah, right, and that thatcaused something in me to really
, you know, seek after what isit.
And it was this, you know,journey that led from that age
until you know, even through thetime that I was bar mitzvahed,
(13:30):
and looking for what is it thatmakes the Jews God's chosen
people?
What were they chosen for?
What are we looking for?
And there was never really agood, solid answer.
There was some conversationthat I had with some rabbis in
different synagogues about theidea that we're looking for the
(13:54):
Messiah and that the Messiah isgoing to come out of Israel and
so be Jewish.
And so what does that actuallylook like?
And you know, from the time ofmy bar mitzvah through the time
that you know I went off tocollege, I was looking for those
answers and it just fell flatall the time I was very involved
(14:17):
.
I'd go to, you know, the highholidays at the synagogue and I
would, you know, I would fast asa part of Yom Kippur and
seeking after these things, andthere was just nothing there.
And so, you know, after highschool, I pretty much walked
away from the synagogue, walkedaway from and going well, what's
(14:39):
the point?
Right, there's nothing really.
There's no example that I have.
Even the rabbis don't haveanswers to this.
They can't help.
They're just giving you know,worldly kind of counsel and
thoughts.
And it really just came back tothis shared historical
understanding of being Jewish.
What made you Jewish was theshared historical understanding
of the fact that you were Jewish, and so it was just this kind
(15:01):
of circular reasoning.
And so it wasn't until after,you know, college.
I went away to college and itwas all.
After college.
I went away to college and itwas all partying.
I had way too much of a time Atthe time.
I would say it was a good time.
Looking back, it was a time ofabsolute destruction in my life.
(15:24):
But after college I met my wife, my wife now we only had one,
my dating and my wife had aninteresting similar story, but
tangential Right.
It was related because she grewup Episcopalian.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
OK.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Her experience in going to church was that you go
to church and you don't turnaround, your grandma is going to
smack you in the head and therewas no faith related component,
nothing that meant anythingthere, and so she similarly
walked away.
You know, in high school andthrough college, and so you know
(16:07):
, we, we had this, you know,burgeoning and growing
relationship, and I remember aconversation with my parents and
they said, well, if you'regoing to marry this girl, then
you know she's not Jewish,that's, you know, not exactly
approved in.
In.
You know, in the Jewish.
You know culture, you know,when I say my, my parents, my
(16:31):
aunts and uncles, grandparents,everybody you know outside of of
me, you know really was, wasvery clear on what that
expectation was and meeting thatexpectation, you know.
So I remember saying to myparents hey look, you know,
(16:52):
we'll have kids and you guyswill teach them about Judaism,
her parents will teach themabout Christianity.
I had no idea, you know, andthat's the way it will be.
Well, it wasn't until we hadour daughter where things
started to come back around tothe expectation and
understanding that I hadresponsibility for another
(17:14):
person, I had responsibility fora child, and that, you know,
drew me back to those questionsthat I had early on, because now
I have no idea what I'm goingto say to this little baby.
Right, this innocent, what am Igoing to say?
And within that first couple ofmonths of her birth, these
(17:41):
folks that we had come said oh,it's great, right?
You know we celebrate fathersand you know this is your first
Father's Day and everything.
(18:03):
And I loved, I absolutely loved.
I still love being a dad, right?
I love my children, I love thewhole experience of being a dad.
And so I remember I came homeand I said to my wife Tracy I
said I know what we're doing forFather's Day, my first Father's
Day.
We're going to church.
And she's like you know who areyou and what'd you do with my
husband?
(18:23):
And she's like, okay, it'sFather's Day, you get to choose.
And so we went to this churchand I was expecting that I was
going to be celebrated.
I was going to be told howgreat of a father I am, that I
was going to be encouraged inthat way.
But instead of finding out howgreat a father I am, I found out
how great a father our heavenlyfather is, and I was introduced
(18:50):
, I was presented for the firsttime in my life, the gospel of
Christ.
I, you know, heard and this isa funny part here but you know,
I found out that Jesus wasJewish Amen, I thought he was
Catholic.
Amen, amen.
(19:10):
That's awesome.
I crossed the street from thesynagogue where I grew up was a
Catholic church, and there hewas hanging on the cross.
So he must be Catholic, right.
So I had no understanding ofany of this.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
That must have drawn you closer, just like, wow, wait
a second, he's Jewish.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Exactly right, right.
I was like, well, hang on asecond.
And so there was this otherJewish believer in the church
who sat down with me and weopened up the Old Testament and
we opened up the Gospels andwalked through that and I was
like everything that I wastrying to figure out, everything
(19:48):
from this precocious you knowseven, eight, nine-year-old kid
asking these questions to theserabbis how do I have a
relationship with God?
And they have no answers.
I figured out the relationshipthat we're called to be in with
God is through his son, jesusChrist, the promised Messiah of
our chosen people.
We were chosen to be themechanism, to be people through
(20:14):
whom the Messiah would come.
And you know, the revelation wasjust unbelievable, and you know
it was, it was really, reallypowerful.
So it's funny because, you know, even now and this is 20
something years later, sharingthis with the church, and I and
(20:34):
I, you know, love the Jewishheritage and I love the Old
Testament, I love the types andshadows and the presentation and
going through all of that kindof stuff the Church still calls
me Rabbi G, so in a loving way,it was funny.
So that's the connection.
And so when you said Rabbi,they just assumed that you kind
(20:57):
of knew in that way.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
That's amazing, and you can see that God had his
hand on you even from a veryyoung age.
Because you were seeking youknow, the homing beacon was
activated and you were like Iwant to be like David or Abraham
, I want a relationship with God.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
That's it Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Oh, I wish I could have seen your face when you
heard that Jesus was indeedJewish, you know.
And so how did did you praythen?
And when did you really comeface to face with him?
And it's like okay, Lord, wow,Guess what, we're both Jewish.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Yeah.
So you know it's interesting.
There was this wrestling andknowing all at the same time,
right.
And so it was this absoluteplace of going.
Here's the answer, right, thisall now makes sense.
And then there was thiswrestling part, which was what
(21:50):
does this then mean?
Oh, yeah, right.
What does this mean?
Not in terms of my life.
What was interesting was I hadabsolute conviction that Jesus
is the Messiah, that he is thepromised one, that he is the
savior of my soul, he's thesavior of the world.
That all of that right Was wasvery clear, and my submission to
(22:15):
him as the Lord of my life wasalmost immediate.
Okay, right.
The struggle was in somehowadmitting that truth to myself,
or in the way that that wasgoing to be communicated with my
(22:36):
parents oh, yeah, Right.
And with my brothers, and whatthis meant.
Every connection, everyengagement, right.
My parents, closest friends, myclosest friends, these you know
other, you know young women andmen at that time that I had
gone through, you know, hebrewschool with, who were bar
(22:59):
mitzvah and bat mitzvah with me,who you know.
All of that experience, youknow.
Really, was this All right?
What does this mean?
In that wrestling?
And it took, you know.
Interestingly enough, I it tooka conversation with my father.
(23:19):
Oh yeah.
And my Tracy and I, my wife,recognize that that
fundamentally, everything in ourlives was just turned upside
down and totally changed.
And and she had been sittingoff there going is this real
Right?
And so we're having theseconversations, I'm sharing, I'm
(23:43):
changing.
There's things going on insideof our marriage, inside of our
home, that can't be understoodor explained by anything other
than than the work of the HolySpirit and conviction and
repentance and healing.
And it was just incredible andthat led, that, led my wife,
that testimony of that led mywife to the Lord, amen, right.
(24:04):
And so she grew up in church,but she wasn't saved.
And then all of that started to, you know, to make sense.
But my wife and I recognizedthat something was different,
something had changed.
We had to figure this thing outbecause we had been married for
four years.
At that point we didn't comeinto the marriage, say, we came
in in in sin and in depravityand in selfishness, and what do
(24:28):
we do?
And so it was suggested to ushey, there's a, there's a, a
family life, uh, you know,marriage conference, and I
suggest you guys go to this andyou can learn more about what a
marriage that honors God isreally about and, by the way, I
totally recommend it.
It really was an amazing time.
But we had a daughter and so weasked my parents hey, can you
(24:52):
watch our daughter so that wecan go?
And we got to my parents' houseand we unloaded all of our
daughter's stuff and my wife isin the house with my mother and
our daughter and my father walksout with me and he looks at me
as we're standing in the car andhe said are you a Christian?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Wow, what Well Dun dun dun.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
If you deny me before man, I will deny you before the
father.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Yeah, that's it.
Oh man, that was the time tobreak for commercial right there
, that was it Right, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
And that moment, right there was, like you know,
what do I do, what do I say?
Am I afraid of man, am I afraidof my father?
Am I afraid of my father?
Speaker 2 (25:48):
and uh, and I looked at him and I said yes, wow, yes,
that's, yeah, that was a, thatwas a crucible moment it was.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
It was absolutely a great, great word, word, right,
crucible, and, and, and that hadultimately led to some very
deep and very hard conversationswith my parents.
You know that that has takenreally some time but has led at
(26:17):
this point to the greatestrelationship I've ever had with
my parents, because there is alove and respect and my parents
recognize and understand.
My father has said and he hassaid to people here in the
church because we invite them toevents and things that are
going on here, they join us forPassover Seder every year that
we have here at the church andyou know people will ask.
(26:39):
My father will say listen,because they'll come up to him
and say we love your son and myfather will actually say it had
nothing to do with anything thatI have done and my son is the
way that he is because of hisrelationship with God.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Amen, that's a witness to them.
It is.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
It's a tremendous witness to them.
We continue to pray, wecontinue to witness to them and
to my brothers and the rest ofmy family, and to my wife's
family as well.
And so, you know, now, with ourthree children, we are, you
know, the the gospel, witnessesto the family.
Yeah, and, you know, continueto be.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Wow, that's that is.
That's absolutely fantastic.
And you know there are almostevery true Christian that I know
.
There are moments in their lifewhere they can look and say,
yeah, that was one of thosemoments, that crucible-type
moment where the Lord was givingme an opportunity to either
(27:41):
stand or walk away.
And I I remember a specifictime when I was put in a
position to make a decision do Icare more about what this
person thinks, this familymember, or do I care more about
what God thinks?
And it's, it's a, it is an andit's a deep thing.
(28:01):
And I tell you, I said you knowwhat I'm going to choose God,
even though part of me is thisis hurting part of me because I
know it's going to causeproblems, but I'm going to
choose God and my life has neverbeen the same.
Looking back, even from thatpoint, I had one of the greatest
times of fellowship with theLord after I made that decision.
(28:23):
I'm forsaking everything, lord.
It's me and you, because I knowthe truth.
But I felt like at the time ofthe decision, I felt like I was
on stage.
I felt like I was on stage and,yeah, you're on stage now,
teddy.
This is the test for you.
(28:48):
This is the test for you You'reeither going to deny me or
you're going to deny the world.
One or the other, or thisperson that means so much to you
and their opinion that means somuch to you.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
And I'm grateful for that because, like I said, I had
the best time of fellowshipwith the Lord after that Just a
great time, and he drasticallyempowered me.
It's like one of those thingslike, okay, I can do it.
Yeah, thank you, lord, you'vegiven me the strength to do this
.
I'm going to be even more bold.
Amen, amen.
That's all the time we havethis week on Plays on Word Radio
(29:26):
.
We're going to continue thisinterview next week, so make
sure you tune in and keep us inprayer Until then.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make His face to shineupon you and be gracious to you
.
The Lord lift up Hiscountenance upon you and give
you peace.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
This program was made possible by the Plays on Word
family of supporters.
To find out more, check out ourwebsite at playsonwordorg.
Lord, you know You're now listening to Play.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
It's the best.
Have you ever tried tounderstand?
(00:38):
You're the only name.
You're the only name.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
You're the only name.
Have you ever tried tounderstand Daniel's role in
God's larger plan?
Today's episode examines howDaniel's story connects to
Hezekiah, babylonian stargazersand the Magi, showing Scripture
as one unified, christ-centerednarrative across centuries.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Hello and welcome to Plays on Word Radio, where we
discuss, analyze, work and playon the Word of God.
Thank you for joining us onthis excursion.
Today let's join Pastor Teddy,also known as Fred David Kenny
Jr, the founder of Plays on WordTheater, as he does a deep dive
into the Word of God.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Amen, amen.
Thank you very much, joshTaylor and Katie Kenny, for that
introduction.
Oh, yeah, going to describesome of our experiences to you
in some upcoming podcasts.
Today we are going to visitwith Pastor Jeffrey Eckstein,
who is the pastor of BethlehemCommunity Church in New York
(01:57):
State, up near Albany, and I'mnot going to waste a whole bunch
of time.
I know you're going to beblessed by this interview, so
check it out.
Thank you for taking the timeto be on Plays on Word Radio.
Yeah, man, it's just a blessingto see you.
We're here with Pastor JeffreyEckstein.
It is the Bethlehem CommunityChurch, that's correct, new York
(02:22):
State, up near Albany.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah, just outside of Albany, in Delmar, new York.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Delmar yes, Delmar, New York.
And wow, what a blessing man.
I walked into the sanctuary ofthe church and I was like, oh,
this is cool, man, these guyshave a side dressing room, a
beautiful sanctuary.
And you know, the thing thatreally blessed me was the love
from everybody there, man.
(02:47):
It was a very loving church.
So, yeah, man, that was a realblessing.
And meeting you was a blessingbecause it feels like we go way
back, and we do because of theblood of Christ.
We go way back, we havefellowship in Christ.
But yeah, Pastor Jeffrey,welcome to the program, the
(03:09):
Plays on Word radio program here.
And before we just get into theinterview, you saw the Pete
play, you experienced the Peteplay.
Did anything stick out, Anythoughts?
You know what were you.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Well, you know, as I shared with you and as I
discussed the play and we hadall sorts of conversations
around it, both Saturday eveningand even Sunday before and
after church, the people whowere there the thing that really
impressed us was howdoctrinally sound it was, how
(03:49):
you stuck to actual Scripture.
So it wasn't a, you know, adramatic re-presentation of the
life of Peter and the gospel ofChrist.
It was the life of Peter andthe gospel of Christ.
It was, in fact, directly outof the Word of God.
And so when you said and Jesussaid, you stuck very clearly to
(04:17):
the Scriptures, you didn't takeaway from it, you didn't add to
it, and I think that we have torecognize that we've been
sharing this as a church, thatthe Word of God is complete and
it is sufficient and we do notneed to add to it.
In fact, there's a real risk indoing so, and so that, for me,
was the thing that was mostimpressive and I appreciated the
(04:40):
most about, you know, is yourfaithfulness to the Word of God.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Amen.
Yeah, that's a passion of mine.
I think that, man, the Word ofGod definitely doesn't—it
doesn't need anything.
It does not.
I mean, it's like a cut of meatthat is just—why put anything
on it.
If it's a good cut of meat, man, you know you don't need to
do—it doesn't need a lot ofsauce and spices and stuff.
You know you don't need to do,doesn't need a lot of sauce and
(05:08):
spices and stuff, and it issatisfying by itself and, like
you said, you can end up doingdamage if you start adding to it
.
I try to be very careful ofthat.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yes, absolutely.
And the other thing is is thatyou know that was really
enjoyable about it was it wasn'tjust a dramatic reading of of
you know the word of God, butthat you added in your own
personality into the way inwhich you told the story of you
know Peter, and you know therewere some comedic moments.
(05:39):
There were moments that youdraw in the rest of us to join
with you in it, and certainlyyour talent for songwriting and
singing.
I told my congregation youheard me on Saturday evening.
Do not expect me to sit down atthe piano and start to play
(06:01):
songs and sing.
That would not be good.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Hey, the Word of God is enough, man, you know what I
told someone at my church?
I said listen, if somethingever happened where I couldn't
make it out, man, literally youcould open up Psalm 119.
It takes 15 minutes to readthrough.
Take your time, Read throughPsalm 119.
(06:26):
Say amen, close the book andthe whole congregation will have
been fed.
Amen, Amen.
I'm a firm believer in that.
I don't need to add anything.
You could say amen, close thebook, and somebody might even
get saved from that, who knows?
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Exactly right.
I agree with you 100%.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
You know, so it's—and that's—I could tell that we
were kindred spirits in thespirit, just when I, when I
first met you, I could tell thatyou know, you appreciated that
that aspect of it.
And then, of course, there'salways the comedy, and I had no
idea when I, when I, when Petecalled you rabbi, that there was
(07:01):
.
There was even more to thatthan than the surface aspect.
There was even more to thatthan the surface aspect.
You came up to me after See,for those that don't know, those
of you who have not yet seenthe Pete play Peter, when Jesus
goes to the synagogue with Peterand the guys early on in his
Galilean ministry, there's ademon-possessed guy in the
(07:27):
synagogue and Peter always healways looks for the pastor of
the church that's hosting andusually calls out that pastor
and calls him rabbi.
And so, and I think, and also inthe scene where the demoniac,
when they cross the lake, jesuscasts the demons into the herd
of pigs and the whole herd ofpigs, the swine, they all die,
they go over the cliff and drownand Peter kind of makes a joke
(07:47):
right there.
He herd of pigs, the swine,they all die, they go over the
cliff and drown and Peter kindof makes a joke right there.
He says, yeah, the people thatwere tending the pigs.
And then he pauses and hescratches his head and he says
wait a sec, hey.
And then he looks over at thepastor that he has just called
rabbi and he says, hey, rabbi,that don't sound kosher.
You don't sound kosher.
And it's a humorous teachingmoment because it makes people
(08:09):
think wait a second.
Yeah, why are they tendingswine in Israel?
What is up with—what's going onwith that?
But afterwards, pastor Jeffreyor Pastor Jeff, rabbi Jeff, as I
affectionately call him he cameup to me and said I got some
information for you that youknow when you called me Rabbi.
(08:31):
There's a little bit more tothat than you know.
Can you explain that to ouraudience?
Can you explain it to me?
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Sure, sure.
And it's funny because you know, I know that you know Andrew
Strickland and we've had arelationship for a number of
years.
Just a blessing of a brother,he and his wife Sherry, out in
their church as villagemissionaries and you know.
So I just figured that you wereactually in the know on this
(09:00):
thing and you were just saying Ididn't know that it was
actually part of the play.
And so when you called me rabbi, everybody in the church, you
know, turned and looked at meand started snickering and stuff
.
And so you know the backstory isis that I was raised Jewish.
You know, I come from a Jewishhome.
In fact, my parents not toolong ago they're both still
(09:22):
alive, thank God and in their80s and they did a DNA that
23andMe a couple years back, andmy father was upset because my
mother turned out to be 99.2%from Jewish lineage and he was
only 98.6%.
(09:43):
So you know I look back at myfamily and it wasn't just that
we grew up Jewish.
Jewish was our identity.
I grew up in a relatively smalltown, about an hour from here,
and all of my friends wereJewish.
My parents' friends were Jewish.
(10:04):
There was a vibrant Jewishcommunity when I was younger and
it was a temple on Fridayevening and back on Saturday we
had a Hebrew school at theJewish Community Center next
door to the temple on Wednesdayevenings.
So life was really centeredaround this understanding of
being Jewish.
(10:25):
And I'm the third of four boysand I was a bit precocious and
always asking questions andpushing things, and so from a
young age I would hear thesestories that we were told in you
know from the Torah, that wewere told in you know from the
Torah, and these great men offaith Abraham, isaac and Jacob
(10:57):
and Moses and Daniel and David,right.
And I was enamored by thesestories and about these men.
And the thing that for me wasclear in listening to these
stories and the tying togetherwas that they all had a
relationship with God.
And you know the idea of youknow David made God smile, right
.
And so I would ask the question, and I'd be that one that would
say, hey, you know, how do Ihave that kind of relationship?
(11:20):
Do I make God smile?
And so there was never asatisfactory answer to that.
How do I come into and have thesame relationship with God that
these men that we are called tolook look towards as our heroes
.
How are we supposed to be inrelationship?
(11:41):
And the most the best that theycould come up with supposed to
be in relationship and the mostthe best that they could come up
with and this includes, youknow, rabbis who were there was,
you know, when you're oldenough, you can be part of a
minion, which is a prayer groupof older men and you can pray
and we pray we.
You know that brings a smile toGod's face, but there was no
(12:03):
connection or relationship.
You know, and I remember Um as a, as a little boy I can, I can
distinctly remember this.
We were in the parking lot ofof the McDonald's um in our
hometown and, uh, I could havebeen more than eight or nine
years old and we were there withsome very close friends of ours
(12:23):
.
I'm not sure where we werebeforehand, but but my parents
were together with their parentsand the kids were all together
and there was a station wagonthat pulled, you know, out right
in front of us as we werestanding there out in front of
McDonald's, and it had a bumpersticker and the bumper sticker
had a cross on it and thispicture of Jesus and it said we
(12:46):
found him Right.
And I looked at that.
I said, well, what does thatmean?
And I remember asking thatquestion to my father and my
father was standing there, uh,next to uh, his name was mr
blatt and uh, and they both kindof looked at me and mr blatt
(13:06):
said, well, we should come upwith with a bumper sticker that
says, well, we're still looking.
I was like, what are we lookingfor?
Yeah, right, and that thatcaused something in me to really
, you know, seek after what isit.
And it was this, you know,journey that led from that age
until you know, even through thetime that I was bar mitzvahed,
(13:30):
and looking for what is it thatmakes the Jews God's chosen
people?
What were they chosen for?
What are we looking for?
And there was never really agood, solid answer.
There was some conversationthat I had with some rabbis in
different synagogues about theidea that we're looking for the
(13:54):
Messiah and that the Messiah isgoing to come out of Israel and
so be Jewish.
And so what does that actuallylook like?
And you know, from the time ofmy bar mitzvah through the time
that you know I went off tocollege, I was looking for those
answers and it just fell flatall the time I was very involved
(14:17):
.
I'd go to, you know, the highholidays at the synagogue and I
would, you know, I would fast asa part of Yom Kippur and
seeking after these things, andthere was just nothing there.
And so, you know, after highschool, I pretty much walked
away from the synagogue, walkedaway from and going well, what's
(14:39):
the point?
Right, there's nothing really.
There's no example that I have.
Even the rabbis don't haveanswers to this.
They can't help.
They're just giving you know,worldly kind of counsel and
thoughts.
And it really just came back tothis shared historical
understanding of being Jewish.
What made you Jewish was theshared historical understanding
of the fact that you were Jewish, and so it was just this kind
(15:01):
of circular reasoning.
And so it wasn't until after,you know, college.
I went away to college and itwas all.
After college.
I went away to college and itwas all partying.
I had way too much of a time Atthe time.
I would say it was a good time.
Looking back, it was a time ofabsolute destruction in my life.
(15:24):
But after college I met my wife, my wife now we only had one,
my dating and my wife had aninteresting similar story, but
tangential Right.
It was related because she grewup Episcopalian.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
OK.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Her experience in going to church was that you go
to church and you don't turnaround, your grandma is going to
smack you in the head and therewas no faith related component,
nothing that meant anythingthere, and so she similarly
walked away.
You know, in high school andthrough college, and so you know
(16:07):
, we, we had this, you know,burgeoning and growing
relationship, and I remember aconversation with my parents and
they said, well, if you'regoing to marry this girl, then
you know she's not Jewish,that's, you know, not exactly
approved in.
In.
You know, in the Jewish.
You know culture, you know,when I say my, my parents, my
(16:31):
aunts and uncles, grandparents,everybody you know outside of of
me, you know really was, wasvery clear on what that
expectation was and meeting thatexpectation, you know.
So I remember saying to myparents hey look, you know,
(16:52):
we'll have kids and you guyswill teach them about Judaism,
her parents will teach themabout Christianity.
I had no idea, you know, andthat's the way it will be.
Well, it wasn't until we hadour daughter where things
started to come back around tothe expectation and
understanding that I hadresponsibility for another
(17:14):
person, I had responsibility fora child, and that, you know,
drew me back to those questionsthat I had early on, because now
I have no idea what I'm goingto say to this little baby.
Right, this innocent, what am Igoing to say?
And within that first couple ofmonths of her birth, these
(17:41):
folks that we had come said oh,it's great, right?
You know we celebrate fathersand you know this is your first
Father's Day and everything.
(18:03):
And I loved, I absolutely loved.
I still love being a dad, right?
I love my children, I love thewhole experience of being a dad.
And so I remember I came homeand I said to my wife Tracy I
said I know what we're doing forFather's Day, my first Father's
Day.
We're going to church.
And she's like you know who areyou and what'd you do with my
husband?
(18:23):
And she's like, okay, it'sFather's Day, you get to choose.
And so we went to this churchand I was expecting that I was
going to be celebrated.
I was going to be told howgreat of a father I am, that I
was going to be encouraged inthat way.
But instead of finding out howgreat a father I am, I found out
how great a father our heavenlyfather is, and I was introduced
(18:50):
, I was presented for the firsttime in my life, the gospel of
Christ.
I, you know, heard and this isa funny part here but you know,
I found out that Jesus wasJewish Amen, I thought he was
Catholic.
Amen, amen.
(19:10):
That's awesome.
I crossed the street from thesynagogue where I grew up was a
Catholic church, and there hewas hanging on the cross.
So he must be Catholic, right.
So I had no understanding ofany of this.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
That must have drawn you closer, just like, wow, wait
a second, he's Jewish.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Exactly right, right.
I was like, well, hang on asecond.
And so there was this otherJewish believer in the church
who sat down with me and weopened up the Old Testament and
we opened up the Gospels andwalked through that and I was
like everything that I wastrying to figure out, everything
(19:48):
from this precocious you knowseven, eight, nine-year-old kid
asking these questions to theserabbis how do I have a
relationship with God?
And they have no answers.
I figured out the relationshipthat we're called to be in with
God is through his son, jesusChrist, the promised Messiah of
our chosen people.
We were chosen to be themechanism, to be people through
(20:14):
whom the Messiah would come.
And you know, the revelation wasjust unbelievable, and you know
it was, it was really, reallypowerful.
So it's funny because, you know, even now and this is 20
something years later, sharingthis with the church, and I and
(20:34):
I, you know, love the Jewishheritage and I love the Old
Testament, I love the types andshadows and the presentation and
going through all of that kindof stuff the Church still calls
me Rabbi G, so in a loving way,it was funny.
So that's the connection.
And so when you said Rabbi,they just assumed that you kind
(20:57):
of knew in that way.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
That's amazing, and you can see that God had his
hand on you even from a veryyoung age.
Because you were seeking youknow, the homing beacon was
activated and you were like Iwant to be like David or Abraham
, I want a relationship with God.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
That's it Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Oh, I wish I could have seen your face when you
heard that Jesus was indeedJewish, you know.
And so how did did you praythen?
And when did you really comeface to face with him?
And it's like okay, Lord, wow,Guess what, we're both Jewish.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Yeah.
So you know it's interesting.
There was this wrestling andknowing all at the same time,
right.
And so it was this absoluteplace of going.
Here's the answer, right, thisall now makes sense.
And then there was thiswrestling part, which was what
(21:50):
does this then mean?
Oh, yeah, right.
What does this mean?
Not in terms of my life.
What was interesting was I hadabsolute conviction that Jesus
is the Messiah, that he is thepromised one, that he is the
savior of my soul, he's thesavior of the world.
That all of that right Was wasvery clear, and my submission to
(22:15):
him as the Lord of my life wasalmost immediate.
Okay, right.
The struggle was in somehowadmitting that truth to myself,
or in the way that that wasgoing to be communicated with my
(22:36):
parents oh, yeah, Right.
And with my brothers, and whatthis meant.
Every connection, everyengagement, right.
My parents, closest friends, myclosest friends, these you know
other, you know young women andmen at that time that I had
gone through, you know, hebrewschool with, who were bar
(22:59):
mitzvah and bat mitzvah with me,who you know.
All of that experience, youknow.
Really, was this All right?
What does this mean?
In that wrestling?
And it took, you know.
Interestingly enough, I it tooka conversation with my father.
(23:19):
Oh yeah.
And my Tracy and I, my wife,recognize that that
fundamentally, everything in ourlives was just turned upside
down and totally changed.
And and she had been sittingoff there going is this real
Right?
And so we're having theseconversations, I'm sharing, I'm
(23:43):
changing.
There's things going on insideof our marriage, inside of our
home, that can't be understoodor explained by anything other
than than the work of the HolySpirit and conviction and
repentance and healing.
And it was just incredible andthat led, that, led my wife,
that testimony of that led mywife to the Lord, amen, right.
(24:04):
And so she grew up in church,but she wasn't saved.
And then all of that started to, you know, to make sense.
But my wife and I recognizedthat something was different,
something had changed.
We had to figure this thing outbecause we had been married for
four years.
At that point we didn't comeinto the marriage, say, we came
in in in sin and in depravityand in selfishness, and what do
(24:28):
we do?
And so it was suggested to ushey, there's a, there's a, a
family life, uh, you know,marriage conference, and I
suggest you guys go to this andyou can learn more about what a
marriage that honors God isreally about and, by the way, I
totally recommend it.
It really was an amazing time.
But we had a daughter and so weasked my parents hey, can you
(24:52):
watch our daughter so that wecan go?
And we got to my parents' houseand we unloaded all of our
daughter's stuff and my wife isin the house with my mother and
our daughter and my father walksout with me and he looks at me
as we're standing in the car andhe said are you a Christian?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Wow, what Well Dun dun dun.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
If you deny me before man, I will deny you before the
father.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Yeah, that's it.
Oh man, that was the time tobreak for commercial right there
, that was it Right, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
And that moment, right there was, like you know,
what do I do, what do I say?
Am I afraid of man, am I afraidof my father?
Am I afraid of my father?
Speaker 2 (25:48):
and uh, and I looked at him and I said yes, wow, yes,
that's, yeah, that was a, thatwas a crucible moment it was.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
It was absolutely a great, great word, word, right,
crucible, and, and, and that hadultimately led to some very
deep and very hard conversationswith my parents.
You know that that has takenreally some time but has led at
(26:17):
this point to the greatestrelationship I've ever had with
my parents, because there is alove and respect and my parents
recognize and understand.
My father has said and he hassaid to people here in the
church because we invite them toevents and things that are
going on here, they join us forPassover Seder every year that
we have here at the church andyou know people will ask.
(26:39):
My father will say listen,because they'll come up to him
and say we love your son and myfather will actually say it had
nothing to do with anything thatI have done and my son is the
way that he is because of hisrelationship with God.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Amen, that's a witness to them.
It is.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
It's a tremendous witness to them.
We continue to pray, wecontinue to witness to them and
to my brothers and the rest ofmy family, and to my wife's
family as well.
And so, you know, now, with ourthree children, we are, you
know, the the gospel, witnessesto the family.
Yeah, and, you know, continueto be.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Wow, that's that is.
That's absolutely fantastic.
And you know there are almostevery true Christian that I know
.
There are moments in their lifewhere they can look and say,
yeah, that was one of thosemoments, that crucible-type
moment where the Lord was givingme an opportunity to either
(27:41):
stand or walk away.
And I I remember a specifictime when I was put in a
position to make a decision do Icare more about what this
person thinks, this familymember, or do I care more about
what God thinks?
And it's, it's a, it is an andit's a deep thing.
(28:01):
And I tell you, I said you knowwhat I'm going to choose God,
even though part of me is thisis hurting part of me because I
know it's going to causeproblems, but I'm going to
choose God and my life has neverbeen the same.
Looking back, even from thatpoint, I had one of the greatest
times of fellowship with theLord after I made that decision.
(28:23):
I'm forsaking everything, lord.
It's me and you, because I knowthe truth.
But I felt like at the time ofthe decision, I felt like I was
on stage.
I felt like I was on stage and,yeah, you're on stage now,
teddy.
This is the test for you.
(28:48):
This is the test for you You'reeither going to deny me or
you're going to deny the world.
One or the other, or thisperson that means so much to you
and their opinion that means somuch to you.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
And I'm grateful for that because, like I said, I had
the best time of fellowshipwith the Lord after that Just a
great time, and he drasticallyempowered me.
It's like one of those thingslike, okay, I can do it.
Yeah, thank you, lord, you'vegiven me the strength to do this
.
I'm going to be even more bold.
Amen, amen.
That's all the time we havethis week on Plays on Word Radio
(29:26):
.
We're going to continue thisinterview next week, so make
sure you tune in and keep us inprayer Until then.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make His face to shineupon you and be gracious to you
.
The Lord lift up Hiscountenance upon you and give
you peace.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
This program was made possible by the Plays on Word
family of supporters.
To find out more, check out ourwebsite at playsonwordorg.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
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.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.