Mark Dawes, Religion Editor
Messianic artiste Marty Goetz ministers in song during Bible Week, a conference organised by the Covenant Family of Churches, which was held at the The Courtleigh Auditorium, New Kingston, May 18-22. - Contributed
Last month, internationally acclaimed Messianic artiste Marty Goetz and his wife Jennifer visited Jamaica to be the lead psalmist at Bible Week conference of the Covenant Community Churches, which was held in Kingston from May 18 -22. Marty Goetz, along with Joel Chernoff and Paul Wilbur, are widely regarded as pioneers and icons of Messianic music - a genre within gospel music. While here he shared his perspectives on his music and ministry. Marty and Jennifer Goetz are both songwriters. His wife sings back-up on his albums. The following is an edited version of that interview.
Sunday Gleaner: What accounts for your being here at this time?
Goetz: We are here to sing and play music for the Covenant Family of Churches. The reason I have a connection with them is a friend of mine, Tony Williamson, who was very instrumental in the Charismatic Renewal Movement in Jamaica in the 1970s. He and I became friends because I lead the worship music at a businessmen meeting held every year called 'The Million Dollar Roundtable Study Group'.
They study the scriptures. They get teaching. And to prepare them spiritually before they have their big corporate meeting, I am the song leader. I have known Tony Williamson now for more than 25 years. For years he was urging me and saying 'when are you coming to Jamaica?' Finally, this year he worked it out so that I could be part of this event.
SG: You are known asa Messianic artiste. What is that?MG: My wife Jennifer and I are from Jewish backgrounds. We both came to the Lord in the late 1970s in different places. She was traveling with a man named Bob Dillon. She came to the Lord through a friend.
A friend of hers shared with her the book Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, and that kind of set her on the road to becoming a believer. I was a singer and in secular music. I was singing in the resort hotels in New York City and New York State, and I had a singing partner who became a believer in Jesus.
And he was one who told me about Jesus. She (my wife) was a Jewish girl from New Jersey and I was a Jewish man from Cleveland in Ohio. In different places we had Christian friends who told us about Jesus and both of us sought to know if that was true. And we in different places came to believe that it was.
It (the music) is called Messianic because when a Jewish person believes in Jesus they believe that he is the Messiah. What the 'Messianic' term is trying to evoke is that God did not call the Jewish people to convert to Christianity.
He called them to be born anew of His Spirit and to become followers of Him as their Messiah. So the Messianic movement tries to worship God the Father in the name of Yeshua (the Hebrew name for Jesus) in the Holy Spirit, but in a Jewish way.
It is also a way of telling Christians that their Messiah is the King of the Jews and telling Jews that they need to believe in him in order to be right with God.
SG: What's right about Messianic music right, now and what's wrong?
MG: A lot of us who are kind of my age from America, our grandparents were Polish and Russian and we have this kind of eastern European way of writing songs. We learn how to sing in synagogues. I was in something called the Cantors Club. The Cantor is the leader of the songs in the synagogues.
I was in the Cantors Club, which was a kind of choir. A lot of us Messianic artistes learn to sing what we call Jewish music from that tradition. So a lot of the music has the tendency to have a kind of Hebrew style. Now, Israel is really the next frontier for Messianic believers.
There is actually a revival going on there now in Israel among young people. There is a lot of music going on there now which reflects a more world music kind of a vibe.
That style is changing. So what I would say is right about Messianic music is that there is a lot of new music coming out from those new sources.
Messianic music has really done a lot to inform the church and even change the way the church looks at worship, with dance and singing. But I think there has to be a way that it transcends the walls of the church and goes out into the world now. Christian music has been doing that.
We live in Nashville, Tennessee. It is very famous for Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith and other people who kind of broke out of the church into the world with gospel music.
In terms of anything wrong with Messianic music, I would say perhaps we are a little limited in our musical perspective. Just because something is Messianic it does not mean that the style itself has to define the music.
A lot of my music is not that Messianic sounding. It is Messianic in terms of its content. I suppose we need some infusion of some broader styles.
SG: What is the best way to reach Jews with the gospel of Jesus Christ?
MG: First of all, I think that the gospel to the Jew is not different than the gospel to the Gentile. But the Jewish people hear it differently. When they hear Jesus Christ, their immediate assumption is 'Oh, they want me to convert to another religion'. That's a problem. I don't think God ever intended that. God never intended Jews to become another religion.
He intended for them to be fully alive in their own faith. So I think the best way is the way it is with everyone - love, friendship and reaching out, serving. I think those basic things never change.
I think Christians need to be aware that there is a way to share with Jewish people that Yeshua is their Messiah and He is reaching out to them to believe in Him - not to convert, not to become another religion. In terms of what that will mean in terms of their salvation, I am not exactly sure.
SG: You are part of the growing chorus of persons calling Christians back to the Jewish roots of their faith?
MG: I suppose so. Yes. I have not done that by design. That was not something I set out to do. But I think that just by speaking of Jesus in Jewish terms and singing about Him in Jewish ways, it kind of draws people to that.
But there is a movement in the Earth amongst a lot of believers to return to those roots. And God is going to bring us all to Jerusalem one day. That is where He (Jesus) is returning - in Jerusalem. So He wants the body of Messiah (the church) to know who He is as the King of the Jews and the Lord of the nations.
SG: Which Messianic artiste do you really admire, who causes you to go to the stores to eagerly by his/her new CD?
MG: There are two that are the premier artistes. If there is somebody who is really the apostle of Messianic music it would be Joel Chernoff. He had a group called Lamb which he formed in the early 1970s and which was in existence until the early 1990s. He really started Messianic music being popularised. I admire him because he is a wonderful songwriter and he has never lost his vision for the union of Jew and Gentile.
He does great work in Israel and he is involved in the Joseph Project, where he serves the poor in Israel. So Joel is one of the them. Paul Wilbur I would say is the premiere artiste in terms of international reputation.
He's a fabulous musician. The best voice among all of us, I think. He also had a CD and DVD called Shalom Jerusalem. They are both great guys. We are all the same age. Paul Wilbur is from my hometown in Cleveland, Ohio. Now Paul and Joel are in-laws. Joel's daughter Sharon married Paul's son, Joe.
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