Austin Koustik
I was raised within the Messianic movement. My parents, both my mom and my dad, became believers in Yeshua soon after they got married, about ten years before they had me. I didn’t come to faith immediately, but the one defining aspect that made me come to faith and accept Yeshua as my Messiah was thinking about what is going to happen to me after I die? That just got me to investigate the Scriptures and investigate the story of Yeshua and the Gospel. I made the decision when I was about 10 or 11 years old, and the rest is history.
The main aspect that has made me stay in a Messianic congregation is identifying with my Jewish roots and how that ties in to the Jewish faith and what I believe in. Personally, I regard my Jewish heritage as a very important part of me. This has been the main thing that has kept me in the Messianic movement, as a believer in Yeshua, for most of my life.
The diversity of the Messianic community is one of the main things that make it unique. It is both Jewish people and Gentile people identifying as one body, believing in Yeshua the Messiah as their Savior. Messianic congregations preach a unified message that brings people together. I think the whole Messianic movement and congregations emphasize communal togetherness and a unified sense of community that most systems in this world cannot achieve.
Austin was raised in a Messianic Jewish home in Southern California.
