A simple domain name is stirring up a stir in New York City, and Rabbi Kirt Schneider believes far more is happening than a marketing campaign.
In an interview with Charisma Media, Schneider explained how a 2023 experience set the ministry in motion, why he believes the acquisition of Jews.com was an act of God, and how he sees the coming of Jewish people to faith in Jesus as connected to biblical prophecy and the Messiah’s return.
CHARISMA: What led you to launch Jews.com, and what are you doing in New York City to get people talking about Jesus?
SCHNEIDER: This is an act of God. When I say that to you, I can’t even tell you the weight on this, this was totally a God thing.
The Lord came to me in September 2023 and spoke to me by His Spirit in the night so powerfully. There was no mistaking it. I literally heard the voice of the Spirit saying to me over and over again, “Acts 2:22. Tetrarch. Acts 2:22. Tetrarch.”
The spiritual climate was like a spiritual weather pattern that felt like something was about to blow up like a storm. It was very intense, very charged with spiritual electricity.
When I got up in the morning, the first thing I did was go to the Word of God and read Acts 2:22. Peter is speaking to Israel and proclaiming Yeshua of Nazareth.
When I read that, I knew God was calling me to directly, boldly confront Israel with the message of Messiah Jesus in a way beyond anything we’d ever done before.
Then there was the word “tetrarch.” I didn’t know what it meant. It’s a governmental ruler—technically, the ruler of a fourth of a kingdom. I understood that to mean that God was giving me governmental authority to bring the message of Messiah to my people Israel.
I came to the studio that morning and announced to my team, “We have a new mandate from the Father. God has called us to boldly confront my people Israel with the gospel.”
But I felt completely powerless. How in the world am I going to do that? I’m reaching mostly a Christian audience. I’m reaching some Jews, but I’m not confronting Israel en masse with Yeshua.
So I said, “Lord, I feel completely incompetent, but I am also confident that You spoke to me.” I was going to wait on Him to open the door.
Eventually, my marketing director had the idea of putting billboards in Israel in Hebrew with the phrase, “What if He’s right?” Next to the phrase was a picture of a man’s face, but the face was fuzzy. You couldn’t see precisely who it was.
People could then visit the website and look at several Messianic prophecies, including Micah 5 and Isaiah 53. After they read the last Messianic prophecy, the image became clear, and they saw that it was Jesus.
From there, they had the opportunity to download my book through Charisma, “Messianic Prophecy Revealed,” which Charisma gave us permission to translate into Hebrew.
That was the first thing we did to take action.
CHARISMA: So how did you get Jews.com to reach Jewish people in the United States?
SCHNEIDER: We were doing this in Israel and spending hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars, and eventually I had to face the fact that what we were doing wasn’t working.
I began thinking, “We need to shift our focus to America. We need to shift our focus to reaching Jews in America.”
So I called a strategy meeting with my key people. We were there because we knew we had a call to reach Israel, my people, with the gospel, but what we were presently doing wasn’t working. We were there to pray and look to the Father for another strategy.
During that meeting, on Jan. 7, I looked at my phone and saw an email from a domain name broker I hadn’t heard from in three years.
The message said, “Rabbi, I’ve got a domain name I think you might be interested in. And it’s very unique.”
Jews.com.
To me, that’s as big of a miracle as God parting the Red Sea.
Think about it. God tells me, “Acts 2:22. Tetrarch. I’ve called you to challenge My people with the gospel.” I’m in my office trying to figure out how to do it, and suddenly I look at my phone, and there’s Jews.com.
For a Messianic Jew—for a Jew who believes in Jesus—to own Jews.com is surreal.
My mom and dad are both Jewish. I was circumcised. I was bar mitzvah’d. I’m a Jew from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet.
If I were a Jew who didn’t believe in God at all, the Jewish community would still say I’m Jewish. If I were practicing New Age spirituality, they’d say I’m Jewish. If I were practicing Buddhism, there’d be no tension.
But as soon as I say Jesus, suddenly I’m not a Jew anymore.
I’m here to proclaim that Yeshua of Nazareth is a Jew. We’re turning this thing upside down.
CHARISMA: Now that you have Jews.com, how are you getting Jewish people to the website?
SCHNEIDER: Primarily, right now, we’re doing it through billboards. The creative is so simple. It’s an all-white background with the words “Jews.com.”
The Jewish press has carried this all over the world, from The Jerusalem Post to The Forward and publications in Israel in Hebrew.
We’re bringing people to Jews.com through a massive billboard display across New York City.
To pre-order Kirt Schneider’s new book, Knowing God as Father, visit Amazon.com.
By reaching Jewish people in New York City through Jews.com, we’re effectively reaching the broader Jewish community.
It’s like Jesus said, from Jerusalem to Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth. We’re doing that in the United States, starting in New York City.
The response has been massive. We’re getting so much traffic on the website, and we’re also driving people there through digital ads.
CHARISMA: What kinds of responses are you receiving?
SCHNEIDER: We have several categories.
We have people expressing hatred toward Jews. There’s a lot of antisemitism. There’s tremendous angst over Israel, Gaza and Iran. It’s a very polarized environment.
Then we have people in the traditional Jewish community who are very angry with what I’m doing. We have Christians sending theological questions, but that’s not really what we’re there to do.
Then we get what we’re after: Jewish people writing in.
One person wrote, “My father has many objections to my consideration that Jesus is the Messiah. And his criticisms seem valid to me. Even though I don’t agree, I don’t know how to handle his objections, how to respond, and it gives me great anxiety that I don’t know what to believe. Any guidance is appreciated.”
Here’s another one. This is the bullseye: “How can I, as a Jewish man, follow Jesus as the Messiah?”
Another person wrote, “Hi, I happened upon your website Jews.com, and I was wondering if you can briefly share your mission statement. I would love to continue a dialogue with you, as I am a searching Jew.”
And another person simply wrote, “I need God.”
Just someone crying out for help.
CHARISMA: What happens after someone reaches out?
SCHNEIDER: I have somebody associated with my ministry representing me who lives in Israel. He’s a Messianic Jew. He has the Hebrew, the apologetics and the Messianic prophecies, and he’s being sensitive and compassionate with people.
We are following up.
I’ve also made a file of people like these whom I’m going to begin following up with myself to try to shepherd the people God is bringing to Himself through my ministry.
Follow-up is critical.
CHARISMA: What are the biggest obstacles Jewish people face when they’re considering Jesus?
SCHNEIDER: This is really important.
So many Christians say, “How could Jews not see that Jesus is the Messiah? How could they not see all the Messianic prophecies?”
But it’s not so simple that there are 300 black-and-white Messianic prophecies in the Tanakh that Jewish people should automatically recognize.
There are some—Isaiah 53, Micah 5 and others. But the rabbis have come against our interpretation. They’ll say Isaiah 53 isn’t referring to the Messiah; it’s referring to Israel.
By and large, the vast majority of Jewish people don’t know what the Tanakh says in detail. They’re secular Jews. They don’t know what the Scriptures say.
Jewish people have been brought up in an environment where they’ve been told, “We’re Jews. We don’t believe in Jesus.” Jesus is viewed as the God of the other people—the Gentiles. “They’re not like us. We’re Jews. We’re the covenant people.”
That’s the first reason.
CHARISMA: What does Scripture say about Jewish people coming to faith in Jesus, and how do you understand that in relation to the Lord’s return?
SCHNEIDER: Romans 11 speaks about a partial hardening happening to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has been brought in, and then all Israel will be saved, and the Deliverer will come forth from Zion.
This is the ushering in of the kingdom of God into the earth, the glory of God revealed in Messiah.
There is a process through which a mass of Jewish people will come to faith. As they come to faith, they’ll look up and cry out to Messiah to come. The Bible says that as they cry out, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” that will usher in the glorious return of Jesus.
This is why Yeshua said to the Jewish people as He was preparing to go to the cross, “You will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
So this is an end-times movement.
When you think about the way Jews.com started—the birth of it—this is a signal and a trumpet that an end-times move of God is now taking place on earth.
This is a tool for a critical mass of Jewish people to come to faith, resulting in Jewish souls crying out for Messiah to return, which is going to usher in the kingdom of God.
It’s not my ministry only. There are other Jewish pioneers who have been out there from way before me preaching Jesus. But with Jews.com, we have such reach and such an opportunity to make a massive difference in bringing Jewish people to faith.
CHARISMA: Many Christians pray for Israel and support the Jewish people. Why should sharing the gospel also be part of that?
SCHNEIDER: The first thing that needs to happen for a Christian to make a difference and bring the love and message of God’s salvation to Jewish people is very basic.
Number one, a Christian needs to make up their mind to be obedient.
Jesus’ last words to His church were to go and make disciples of all nations, preaching the gospel to the ends of the earth.
We can’t allow anything to stop us from putting Jesus first and obeying Him.
Once we have that in place, we need courage. There are a lot of Christians who love God but lack courage. They’re intimidated to share with others, especially Jewish people, because they think, “Who am I to share this with a Jewish person?”
Some feel inferior because Jewish people are God’s chosen people. Some think Jewish people know the Bible better than they do. They look at Orthodox Jews and think, “Look how religious they are. I pale in comparison.”
We have to break off that spirit of inferiority and fear.
All a Christian has to do is say to a Jewish person, “Hey, I came across this website. I think you might be interested in it. It’s called Jews.com. Check it out.”
You can say that to your neighbor, your co-worker, your doctor, your lawyer or a Jewish person you come across: “I came across this website. I thought you might find it interesting and thought-provoking. It’s called Jews.com.”
The website does the work. It begins by introducing the possibility: “Have you ever considered that Jesus might be the Messiah? I invite you to explore this with me.”
CHARISMA: Finally, how can Christians pray for and get involved with Jews.com?
SCHNEIDER: When I came to faith back in 1978, I was searching for God through the New Age. I was reading a New Age book about a guru when God revealed Himself to me in a vision of the night as Jesus.
I didn’t understand the uniqueness of Jesus yet. I had never read the New Testament. I only knew that I’d had a vision of Jesus.
Later, I was traveling with some people who were talking about the New Age and different spiritual masters. As I was half asleep, listening to them, there was one girl who would mention Jesus.
Every time she said “Jesus,” it was like I was awakened from my slumber. Every other word was lulling me to sleep, but whenever she said “Jesus,” there was music in the name. There was life and color in the name.
That’s my point.
When Jewish people come to Jews.com, what we need to pray is that the Holy Spirit would fill the words and fill the videos, that people would experience the reality of His life and His presence—that Jesus would be lifted up to them supernaturally and draw them to Himself.
That’s the first thing.
The second way to get involved is through Discovering the Jewish Jesus. We’re believing for God to supply the resources necessary to keep doing what we’re doing through this campaign, starting in New York City and then expanding into other metropolitan areas where Jewish people live.
Because of the domain name, the technology we have today to reach people digitally and the resources behind it, it’s a whole new level.
It’s a whole new thing.
Abby Trivett is a writer and editor for Charisma Media and has a passion for sharing the gospel through the written word. She holds two degrees from Regent University, a B.A. in Communication with a concentration in Journalism and a Master of Arts in Journalism. She is the author of the newly released book, The Power of Suddenly: Discover How God Can Change Everything in a Moment. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected]. Learn more about Abby at abbytrivett.com.
