Jessica Sword
Jessica Sword is a missionary to the Jewish people currently serving in Brooklyn New York, one of the largest Jewish communities in the world, second only to Israel itself. Having grown up in Jamestown, a small town in western New York State, she was far away from any Jewish community. She also did not have a religious upbringing but as she got older she began to have a curiosity about faith in general. Eventually that curiosity led to a hunger to learn about the Jewish culture. In the midst of her religious confusion, God used a Christian woman to show Jessica a documentary about the Jewish Messiah. Through Isaiah 53 and the Lord’s leading, she came to realize the truth. It was that initial curiosity that the Lord used to draw her to Himself. It was through the Hebrew Scriptures that she found a place to put her trust and faith in, that being Messiah Jesus. She attended Houghton College in Western New York.
Throughout her college experience she wrestled with the idea of serving in Jewish ministry as a career for her future. The Lord used her best friend to help her realize that God puts burdens on our hearts for a reason and Jessica began to see it was the Lord who placed the burden there to begin with. From there Jessica decided to switch her major to biblical studies to get a better grasp on the Hebrew Scriptures.
Upon graduation from college in 2012 Jessica went to Israel with Chosen People Ministries and that served to solidify her calling. Jessica continued to teach many in her church about Jewish feasts and festivals. Spreading the knowledge of Jewish roots has always been a passion of hers. The Lord eventually put it on her heart to move from Jamestown to Brooklyn to work and study with Chosen People Ministries. Jessica moved to Brooklyn in August 2016 to pursue the Lord’s calling and works in various venues serving the Jewish community wherever needed, helping them see the love of Messiah through her. She is currently working on her Master of Divinity in Jewish Studies at the Talbot School of Theology through the Charles L. Feinberg Center.