Speakers


Aaron Abramson


Aaron Abramson is the Chief Operating Officer for Jews for Jesus. Previously he has served Director of Recruitment, launching Jews for Jesus’ Young Adult Ministry and an outreach program reaching Israeli backpackers, as well as serving as a Branch Leader for the work in New York City. He holds a BA in Biblical and Intercultural Studies from All Nations Christian College in England and an MPA from New York University

Joseph Steinberg


Joseph Steinberg is the CEO of Christian Witness to Israel since 2014. He is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute and of Trinity College, Bristol (UK) and an ordained minister in the Church of England. Joseph has served as the UK Director of Jews for Jesus, and a director at the Church Mission Society.

Phyllis Bennett


Phyllis Bennett serves as Director of the Women’s Center for Ministry and Director of the Women’s Transformational Leadership Academic track at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon. She holds a Master of Divinity degree from Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon and a Doctor of Ministry from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Hamilton, Massachusetts in “Effective Ministries to Women.”

David Bennett


David Bennett serves as Global Associate Director for Collaboration and Content for the Lausanne Movement and as such coordinates the work of the 66 Lausanne Catalysts, serves as Managing Editor for the Lausanne Global Analysis and leads the Content Team. He has served as a youth worker, associate pastor, and church planter, and as Senior Pastor of globally-involved churches in California, Oregon and Massachusetts. He holds a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and M.Div., D.Min. and Ph.D. degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary.

Wayne Wilks Jr.


Wayne Wilks Jr. is the Associate Senior Pastor of Jewish Ministry at Gateway Church in Southlake, TX. In 1996, the eldership sent him out as their first elder to serve overseas “to the Jew first.” He pioneered the Messianic Jewish Bible Institute (MJBI) in Odessa, Ukraine, and serves now as President Emeritus. In 2014, Wayne began serving Pastor Robert’s vision for Jewish Ministry at Gateway Church. Wayne holds a Ph.D. in College Teaching from the University of North Texas, an M.A. in Speech Communication from Oklahoma State University.

Jonathan Bernis


Jonathan Bernis serves since 1998 as President and CEO of Jewish Voice Ministries International (JVMI). He hosts JVMI’s syndicated television program, “Jewish Voice with Jonathan Bernis.” Jonathan is also founding Rabbi of Congregation Shema Yisrael in Rochester, New York, and he founded and pastored the Messianic Center of St. Petersburg, Russia from 1993 to 1996. Jonathan is the author of numerous books including Unlocking the Prophetic Mysteries of Israel.

Dr. Yaw Perbi


Dr. Yaw Perbi is a physician, pastor and president of International Student Ministries Canada, with some 100 staff and 500 volunteers. He is the founder and Global CEO of The HuD Group with operations in over a dozen countries. As a medical doctor, he has practiced medicine in both his home country, Ghana, and as a military captain with the United Nations Operation in Cote d'Ivoire. Dr. Perbi's 15 books include Amazon bestseller Thinking Outside the Window.

Darrell L. Bock


Darrell. Bock is Senior Research Professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary and has earned recognition as a Humboldt Scholar (Tubingen University in Germany). He is the author of over 40 books, including well-regarded commentaries on Luke and Acts and studies of the historical Jesus, and work in cultural engagement as host of the seminary’s Table Podcasts. He is a consulting editor for Christianity Today, and serves on the boards of Wheaton College and Chosen People Ministries. Dr. Bock is elder emeritus at Trinity Fellowship Church in Dallas.

Laura Barron


Laura Barron and her husband, Andrew, are pioneers of the first overseas branch of Jews for Jesus in South Africa. Today, Laura is a missionary with Jews for Jesus involved in regular outreach in Toronto and around the world. She also does editing work, special projects and events, and speaks on behalf of the organization. Laura dedicates time to her three older children living at home: Rafi, Ketzia and Simona. Laura is a graduate of San Diego State University with a B.A. in English literature. She also has a master’s degree in Missiology with emphasis on Jewish studies from the Fuller School of World Mission.

Dan Sered


Dan Sered has been the Israel Director of Jews for Jesus since 2006 and in 2018, he was appointed as the Chief Operations Officer for the organization. As such he supervises the day-to-day efforts of the branches in Europe, South Africa, Israel, Australia and the former Soviet Union. Dan received his M.A. in Ministry and Leadership from Western Seminary and is currently a doctoral student and working on his D. Min. through Dallas Theological Seminary. He also helps to pastor All Nations Church, a congregation in the Tel Aviv area.

Emily Emanuel


Emily Emanuel is a staff worker with Chosen People Ministries in London and involved in outreach to Christian millennials helping them understand the Jewish roots of their faith. For the last four years she has also worked for the Alpha Course in the Europe & Middle East department. She is born in Los Angeles and the grandchild of Russian and German Holocaust survivors.

Vegard F. Solveit


Vegard Solveit has been working as Deputy General Secretary of the Norwegian Church Ministry to Israel since 2016. Prior to that Vegard served as a youth pastor for five years in the South part of Norway. Part of his job is preaching, teaching as well as writing on issues related to the theology of Jewish evangelism. Vegard has a MA in Old Testament studies and an MA in History.

Michael & Vanessa Mistretta


Michael Mistretta is the Chief Operating Officer of FIRM: Fellowship of Israel Related Ministries. He is born in Toronto, Canada, raised in the church and later received a call to Israel where he met Pastor Wayne Hilsden and helped to start FIRM. Michael is an entrepreneur and innovator who is passionate about seeing ministries in Israel thrive and people coming to know Yeshua (Jesus) as Messiah.

Vanessa Mistretta is a dynamic, inspirational speaker with a heart for connecting people. She was raised as a Jewish Believer in Tampa, Florida. She attended Southeastern University where she received her bachelor’s degree in ministry and master’s degree in non-profit management. She has applied her passion for unifying believers worldwide by working with influential organizations in the United States and Israel like Jewish Voice Ministries and now FIRM.

Daryl Fenton


Rev. Daryl Fenton is National Director for CMJ in the United States in 2011. He previously served as Canon to Archbishop Robert Duncan of the Anglican Church in North America, overseeing mission relationships nationally and internationally. He also served as Canon and Chief Operating Officer for the Anglican Communion Network, a founding organization of the ACNA, a conservative organization of dioceses and parishes in the Episcopal Church. Fenton is a graduate of Wheaton College and Trinity School for Ministry, Ambridge, Pennsylvania.

David Serner


David Serner is on staff with the Danish Israel Mission in Jerusalem since 2014. David serves as Director of International Studies at the Caspari Center for Biblical and Jewish Studies in Jerusalem and is also the pastor of the Danish-speaking congregation in the city. For a period prior to that, he and his wife were part of the staff at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Tel Aviv.

He has a master of theology from the University of Copenhagen. Part of his Master studies he did at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Before moving to Israel David was a pastor in a Lutheran church north of Copenhagen and has served on the boards of different Christian organizations in Denmark .

Hélène Dallaire


Dr. Hélène Dallaire joined the faculty of Denver Seminary in 2006. She is an ordained minister with the Evangelical Church Alliance, and is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, the American Academy of Religion, and the National Association of Professors of Hebrew. Dr. Dallaire earned a PhD and an MPhil in Hebrew and Cognate Studies (Comparative Semitics) from Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion, an MA in Biblical Literature from Oral Roberts University, and a BA in Psychology from Ottawa University. She completed additional work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Jerusalem University College, McMaster University, and Western Pentecostal Bible College.

Jess Cantelon


Jess Cantelon has ministered in Canada, the United States and Israel. He grew up in Israel in the 80’s, joining his parents as they planted King of Kings in Jerusalem. Jess and family returned there from 2004 - 2010 and pioneered an indigenous Israeli ministry called “Shir Echad” (One Song) — a contemporary worship gathering that met in night clubs across the country. In 2010, he then spent six years in Canada planting and then transitioning to new leadership, the Church of St James in Lennoxville Quebec. He is also the founder and director of the Israel Video Project, which invites viewers to join him as he “adventures through the Holy Land with a Bible and a selfie-stick.” He currently serves as the Lead Pastor of Hiway Church in Barrie, Ontario. Jess is happily married to his wife, and they have five boys.