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Isaiah 26:8: Our Defining Verse

Yes Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you. Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. -Isaiah 26:8

“Twenty Six Eight? Like… the numbers? It’s a church? Huh, that’s interesting. What does that mean?”

Sometimes we affectionately refer to ourselves as the duck-billed platypus of the church world. Think about it, we are a messianic, charismatic formative church in Boise, ID. If the name of our church were not enough, toss around the words Messianic, and it’s enough to get a curious look.

But our church’s very name expresses who we are in just a few words. Isaiah 26:8 speaks to our walk as Christians who consciously follow Biblical principles as we blend Christian and Jewish beliefs and practices. This distinctive mixture is known as messianic. We “walk in the way” of God’s laws by meeting on Saturday mornings (called Sabbath) and we celebrate the biblical feasts and festivals.

To many Messianic Jews, this sets us apart, because we are Gentiles who walk in Jewish convictions but with no Jewish heritage. To many Christians this makes us different because we walk in the Jewish practices and Mosaic covenants of the Jewish people. Yet, our identity is clear in a broken world: We seek the name of the Lord. Literally in the waiting, we long for and we desire to see the face of Jesus Christ. In remembering who he is, we are reminded of what he has done and who we were made to be. We love Jesus’ church, the Jewish people, and the nation of Israel. That is who we are: A messianic community who build formative communities that extend Jesus’ life into the world.

Find out more about our vision here.