Rabbi Shaul said to look in the home and family life to discern the elder’s character — as they are with their family so will they be with the congregation. Crystal and her husband joyfully share the work of parenting and schooling their children. Bill and the children in turn support Crystal as she follows God’s leading in teaching and equipping their congregation.
At the beginning of 1997, with her husband’s strong encouragement, she began her Master’s program in Theology at Fuller Seminary and completed her degree in 2000. Crystal led a home church and then later served for 3 years as the Associate Rabbi to Rabbi Jack Zimmerman at Beth Simchat HaMashiach when she was called by the Lord to start a congregation on the other side of the Valley.
That congregation is Shema, a Messianic Church of the Nazarene congregational plant that strives to understand and embrace the Hebraic roots of the Christian faith.
The vision for Shema Congregation is simple. Focus will be given to the interconnectedness of the Torah (first five books of the Bible), Tanakh (entirety of the Old Testament) and the Brit Hadashah (New Testament). The text will be studied with a desire to understand how the audience reading the text understood it and how it applies to us today.
Crystal is theologically conservative and agrees with the Statements of Faith of these organizations.
Fuller Theological Seminary
Church of the Nazarene
Messianic Jewish Alliance of America
Fascinating profile and sites. I can relate to your multi-hatted life. I am currently working through some of what it means to be a woman and pastor. In my setting, that’s an oxymoron. I’m especially wondering how you use the term “theologically conservative” as a woman in ministry. i don’t tend to associate conservativism with freedom for women. Please say more
That’s a great question
I understand “theologically conservative” to mean “I take the Bible very seriously and seek to live it out in all that I do.” One thing it’s been a challenge to communicate to people is that I do not read the verses about women and understand them the same way they do. I realized awhile back that some people assumed we all understood that it meant X and I didn’t want to listen so I was choosing to do Y. It shocked them to learn that I believe it says Y and doing Y is theologically consistent with my understanding of Scripture! I hope that helps 