Dear Friends,

I first met John Metzger five years ago at our own Camp Shoshanah. During that first meeting I discovered that John and Sharon (his wife) had previously served with Ariel Ministries as missionary staff. They left Ariel partially because of an inability to raise the financial support necessary and because another ministry was pursuing him at that time. Since then, even though he served with another organization, each year John has continued to attend Camp Shoshanah in an effort to enlarge his Old Testament knowledge by taking coursework taught by Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum for credit at Tyndale Seminary. During his annual time at Camp, John always had weekend teaching meetings scheduled with churches in the area. As a result, a number of people who attended his meetings dropped by the Camp for a look at what Ariel Ministries teaches. Some of those people have become supporters of both Camp Shoshanah and the broader ministry.

While attending Camp, John also ran a traveling bookstore as a ministry to believers who equally have a burden to reach Jewish people for Messiah, but often lack availability to good books. The books that he carried we recommend to serious students of the Bible. Between sessions, people would visit his “store” to find what was new and to discuss various issues facing the Church and the Messianic community. As I watched people interact with him, John was always patient as he discussed many topics with those who had questions, helping them come to their own proper conclusions. From the beginning, it was clear to me that John is a willing and capable teacher of the Bible.

Two years ago, John sat in on a training session I conducted on the Come and See discipleship training platform available on the Ariel Ministries website. During the question and answer session that followed John commented, “if this material had been organized in this fashion and available when I was with Ariel Ministries before, I would never have left.” After the meeting John and I discussed what was behind his comment and discovered his belief that while the material the Lord has entrusted to Ariel Ministries through the teaching ministry of Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum was without equal in content, its organization for actual use by students of the Bible was lacking. John told me that this material was for the first time organized in such a fashion that a novice Bible student could systematically walk their way through the various topics of a dispensational interpretation of the Bible on their own and that it could also be used by them to disciple people the Lord brought across their path. It was clear to me right then... John got it!

Following our discussion I told John that if there ever came a time when he thought the Lord might be leading him to “come home” that I would be ready to talk with him. Over the last several months, we have been discussing this possibility. I am both grateful and happy to announce that John and Sharon Metzger will once again minister to the Body of Messiah through Ariel Ministries effective February 1st, 2010. John will continue to do church meetings, speak at conferences, and represent Ariel at various association meetings all in an effort to broaden the Church's awareness of Ariel Ministries' rapidly expanding catalog of Bible teaching resources. He will also introduce programs for use in fostering evangelism among the Jewish people and to help grow a stronger and doctrinally sound foundation among both Jewish and Gentile believers in Messiah Jesus.

We are equally excited about the future release of the complete revision of his book “The Tri-unity of God is Jewish,” dealing with the plurality of God and deity of Messiah from the Hebrew Scriptures. As publisher of this revision now called “Discovering the Mystery of the Unity of God,” we believe that this book can be a great tool to challenge Jewish people to think about what the rabbis erroneously teach about these two subjects, and to equip believers so that they can even more effectively present Messiah Yeshua from the pages of the Old Testament.

I know that John and Sharon covet your prayers on their behalf, as do all of us at Ariel Ministries.

Arlie Francis
Executive Director, Ariel Ministries

February 02, 2010