Congregational Leader
Steve Gilbertson
Steve lived in the Chicago area until the age of 13 when his family moved to a suburb of the Twin Cities in Minnesota. It was there at the age of 28 he met Yeshua as his Messiah. “I was looking, I knew I was looking so I tried all sorts of things including transcendental meditation, eastern mysticism and the typical things of the early 70’s. But then I was challenged with the identity of Jesus – that to do the things He did, to say the things He said He was either a liar, crazy or who He claimed to be. I couldn’t argue against it, He had to be who He claimed to be – the Son of God, the Messiah!” It was at a summer evangelism meeting in 1978 that his walk with the Messiah began.
Steve began attending a small Bible church in Parker Lake, Minnesota where he was discipled by a professor from St. Paul Bible College who was the pastor of the church. “He set my course from there, and in the spring of 1979, the church had a Rabbi from Minneapolis come and do a presentation of “Christ in the Passover.” Steve recalls, “I sat there with my mouth open.
Steve lived in the Chicago area until the age of 13 when his family moved to a suburb of the Twin Cities in Minnesota. It was there at the age of 28 he met Yeshua as his Messiah. “I was looking, I knew I was looking so I tried all sorts of things including transcendental meditation, eastern mysticism and the typical things of the early 70’s. But then I was challenged with the identity of Jesus – that to do the things He did, to say the things He said He was either a liar, crazy or who He claimed to be. I couldn’t argue against it, He had to be who He claimed to be – the Son of God, the Messiah!” It was at a summer evangelism meeting in 1978 that his walk with the Messiah began.
Steve began attending a small Bible church in Parker Lake, Minnesota where he was discipled by a professor from St. Paul Bible College who was the pastor of the church. “He set my course from there, and in the spring of 1979, the church had a Rabbi from Minneapolis come and do a presentation of “Christ in the Passover.” Steve recalls, “I sat there with my mouth open.
There He was, Jesus was everywhere in the ceremony and I felt this incredible pull from deep inside. How could Jewish people not see Him?”
Shortly after that he began attending the Bible college and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communication and Bible. “I also started in with Lamb around that time, and kept trying to connect the dots regarding the Bible being a Jewish book and the Messiah and church involvement and everything else.” In 1983 following graduation he moved to Denver, Colorado to begin attending Denver Seminary.
“When I was finally able to settle into studying at the end of the 80’s and into the 90’s, I was still searching. I had been an elder in an Evangelical Free Church in Aurora, Colorado. I think many there did not know that on some Friday nights, I snuck off to Ro’eh Yisrael, a Messianic Synagogue for their Erev Shabbat service. That felt like home to me, and I drank in every experience.” There were also some Messianic believers at Denver Seminary while he was attending and they were able to bring a Messianic service into the chapel on one occasion. He eventually graduated from Denver Seminary with an MA in Counseling, all but six credits of an MDiv and significant work towards and MA in apologetics.
Steve recalls, “all this time I was trying to put the pieces together. I completed most of a Doctor of Ministry program as a part of trying to put the whole picture together. I was plagued with questions about the relevance of God’s Law – His Torah for today. I could not figure out how worship on Sunday came about. I remember having discussions with others who called Jesus, Yeshua in Hebrew, their Master and would quote the Westminster Confession about ‘one day in seven.’ God said to set apart the seventh day, a specific day, to Him, not any old day I choose as long as it is one day.”
Along the way he served in various capacities in a number of churches, serving as pastor of one church for nearly nine years. “I have a friend who works in Jewish evangelism who snuck off to Ro’eh with me a few times. He was always an encouragement. So I started conducting Messiah in the Passover services within the church. In the process, my family left Christmas and Easter behind and began celebrating God’s holy days, and then the pieces started to come together. Especially starting with celebrating the Sabbath. Messiah was honest when He said He had not come to do away with the law or the prophets. And we don’t have that option either.”
He recalls, “basically, I did not grow up Jewish or Christian. My older brother was the first in my family to come to faith in Yeshua. Then myself and then our parents. The conclusions I have come to regarding the Messianic movement and its expressions of faith I came to through years of careful Bible study and a whole lot of education, over 300 college and seminary credits. Sometimes I think I have had to unlearn as much as I have learned, and sometimes it has been a difficult path. But if you believe the Bible is true, and if you let it interpret itself using a sound approach, you will come to the same conclusions as well. I like to say to people who ask why Yeshua Light of the World looks Jewish, that if you obey the Bible, it will make you look Jewish too. God did not start out with Jewish people. He started with slaves in Egypt and they ended up looking Jewish from following Him. It’s the following that gives the appearance, not the appearance that gives the following. Our goal at Yeshua Light of the World is not to be Jewish or Evangelical for their namesakes. It is to be thoroughly biblical and to make complete disciples by bringing the Messiah to lives and bringing the Torah to life through the entire Bible, from Genesis through Revelation.”
Although Steve’s family history including his genetics points strongly to a Jewish heritage, and some will point to that as a reason for his Messianic faith, he notes his wife Ariel is Central American and Mongolian. “And she pursues Yeshua and Torah as much, sometimes if not more than I do.” Steve and Ariel make their home in a small town outside of Colorado Springs where they have lived since 1995 with their current reckoning of their ten children. “We only had nine here at once, and that for a few months. Our family has been and is a work in progress.” Together they have been involved in pursuing Yeshua and Torah while growing in the grace and knowledge of the Messiah of Israel and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for nearly two decades. “Join in our journey if you would like. All of us at Yeshua Light of the World are a work in progress, built upon the foundation of Yeshua the Messiah and seeking to obey Him in all that we do.”
Yeshua Light of the World meets on Saturdays (Shabbat) from 10:30am to about 1:00pm for worship, prayer, celebration, Davidic dance, Torah and teaching and has other activites at other times. Please check our calendar for more information.
Shortly after that he began attending the Bible college and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communication and Bible. “I also started in with Lamb around that time, and kept trying to connect the dots regarding the Bible being a Jewish book and the Messiah and church involvement and everything else.” In 1983 following graduation he moved to Denver, Colorado to begin attending Denver Seminary.
“When I was finally able to settle into studying at the end of the 80’s and into the 90’s, I was still searching. I had been an elder in an Evangelical Free Church in Aurora, Colorado. I think many there did not know that on some Friday nights, I snuck off to Ro’eh Yisrael, a Messianic Synagogue for their Erev Shabbat service. That felt like home to me, and I drank in every experience.” There were also some Messianic believers at Denver Seminary while he was attending and they were able to bring a Messianic service into the chapel on one occasion. He eventually graduated from Denver Seminary with an MA in Counseling, all but six credits of an MDiv and significant work towards and MA in apologetics.
Steve recalls, “all this time I was trying to put the pieces together. I completed most of a Doctor of Ministry program as a part of trying to put the whole picture together. I was plagued with questions about the relevance of God’s Law – His Torah for today. I could not figure out how worship on Sunday came about. I remember having discussions with others who called Jesus, Yeshua in Hebrew, their Master and would quote the Westminster Confession about ‘one day in seven.’ God said to set apart the seventh day, a specific day, to Him, not any old day I choose as long as it is one day.”
Along the way he served in various capacities in a number of churches, serving as pastor of one church for nearly nine years. “I have a friend who works in Jewish evangelism who snuck off to Ro’eh with me a few times. He was always an encouragement. So I started conducting Messiah in the Passover services within the church. In the process, my family left Christmas and Easter behind and began celebrating God’s holy days, and then the pieces started to come together. Especially starting with celebrating the Sabbath. Messiah was honest when He said He had not come to do away with the law or the prophets. And we don’t have that option either.”
He recalls, “basically, I did not grow up Jewish or Christian. My older brother was the first in my family to come to faith in Yeshua. Then myself and then our parents. The conclusions I have come to regarding the Messianic movement and its expressions of faith I came to through years of careful Bible study and a whole lot of education, over 300 college and seminary credits. Sometimes I think I have had to unlearn as much as I have learned, and sometimes it has been a difficult path. But if you believe the Bible is true, and if you let it interpret itself using a sound approach, you will come to the same conclusions as well. I like to say to people who ask why Yeshua Light of the World looks Jewish, that if you obey the Bible, it will make you look Jewish too. God did not start out with Jewish people. He started with slaves in Egypt and they ended up looking Jewish from following Him. It’s the following that gives the appearance, not the appearance that gives the following. Our goal at Yeshua Light of the World is not to be Jewish or Evangelical for their namesakes. It is to be thoroughly biblical and to make complete disciples by bringing the Messiah to lives and bringing the Torah to life through the entire Bible, from Genesis through Revelation.”
Although Steve’s family history including his genetics points strongly to a Jewish heritage, and some will point to that as a reason for his Messianic faith, he notes his wife Ariel is Central American and Mongolian. “And she pursues Yeshua and Torah as much, sometimes if not more than I do.” Steve and Ariel make their home in a small town outside of Colorado Springs where they have lived since 1995 with their current reckoning of their ten children. “We only had nine here at once, and that for a few months. Our family has been and is a work in progress.” Together they have been involved in pursuing Yeshua and Torah while growing in the grace and knowledge of the Messiah of Israel and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for nearly two decades. “Join in our journey if you would like. All of us at Yeshua Light of the World are a work in progress, built upon the foundation of Yeshua the Messiah and seeking to obey Him in all that we do.”
Yeshua Light of the World meets on Saturdays (Shabbat) from 10:30am to about 1:00pm for worship, prayer, celebration, Davidic dance, Torah and teaching and has other activites at other times. Please check our calendar for more information.
Steve’s favorite picture, in his dance team costume.
