How The Journey Began

Family history, including his grandfather’s experiences in Russia, caused Thom to believe that Christians were the enemies of the Jewish people. His father’s death and a traumatic experience at a synagogue pushed Thom away from God. His life began to revolve around pursuing wealth and power until he found that pathway only led to emptiness.  Thom’s life changed when his friend became a follower of Jesus, he decided to read the Bible for himself to learn more about his friend’s new faith. To his surprise, Thom found the New Testament to be a very Jewish book, written by Jewish people about the Jewish Messiah. See Thom's story on video: Ifoundshalom.com/video/thom-berkowitz

Marcia was born and raised in a Christian home and has always believed Jesus is the Messiah. She married Thom, a Jew who did not believe in Jesus, and her life took her down a path she never knew. Through the witness of her family and Thom’s closest friend, he came to faith in Jesus, and they committed to raise their family teaching them to know Jesus as their Messiah and also know their Jewish Heritage. Together they were mentored by many gifted teachers who taught the Bible from a Hebraic perspective and have led Bible studies for over 40 years. In 1995 they joined an interdenominational study, Community Bible Study and became small group leaders until Thom was asked to be the Teaching Director. Marcia became a Senior Leader whose responsibilities were training, educating, shepherding, facilitating, and organizing leader’s retreats and social events. Marcia and Thom led CBS for 24 years during which time more than 500 people attended each year. In addition, the last 11 years with CBS they were also Ambassadors to Israel starting classes with Jews and Arabs. Marcia felt the Lord was calling them out from CBS to start The Messianic Journey where they could spend more time with a broader audience using their gifts and experiences to teach the Bible from a Jewish perspective in the context it was written.