ECHAD

That’s it folks! Echad had their final art presentation on Thursday evening, the 24th. We had...

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:43:51 -0400

That’s it folks!

Echad had their final art presentation on Thursday evening, the 24th. We had the honor of sharing our music, photography, digital art, and spoken word with our supporters, family, friends, and new acquaintances.

Over 60 people were in attendance, at least three of which were unsaved Jews!

We are so grateful for the work the Lord has done in each of us, both individually and as a group. Nine months ago, a musician, a spoken word poet and videographer, a photographer, and a digital artist came together without the slightest clue as to how to collaborate our crafts into a seamless presentation. But after months of prayer and effort, we were able to show the public just what such a union looks like. We truly became “echad.”

Praise the Lord!

Thank you each for your support and prayers. Stay tuned for information on future Echad teams!

Here is the last window designed by Echad! We painted two hands...

Mon, 21 May 2012 09:36:00 -0400

Here is the last window designed by Echad! We painted two hands in royal purple acrylic, the shape of which we created with Hebrew script. We used crimson acrylic and gesso to create pierced wrists. We wanted to symbolize Yeshua subtly and gracefully. In the left hand we painted the words of Isaiah 49:16: “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.” The right hand is comprised of John 1:14, which reads: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

The sign below displays both verses in English, one on one side, one on the other.

We hope God uses it as a tool to draw the attention of passing New Yorkers!

Last night we had an art presentation in the West Village at the...

Fri, 18 May 2012 10:03:00 -0400

Last night we had an art presentation in the West Village at the Neighborhood Church. The venue was in a great location right on Bleecker Street. This area is a place with a lot of Jewish people, as well as local New Yorkers and tourists who hang out enjoying the restaurants and shops.

There were about 25 people who came to the presentation last night. We started out with “schmoozing” for the first 45 minutes with food, great coffee, and people admiring Brandon’s graphic pictures and Rachel’s two photo collections.

The presentation went really well. We had a video called, “What is Love?,” live original music by Giselle, a couple spoken words by myself, and Brandon and Rachel presenting their art work. At the end of the event, Sam, the curator at the Neighborhood Church, had a Q+A with the ECHAD team about being Jewish believers in Messiah and reaching people through our art—as well as how the arts are viewed in the church itself.

It was a great night. Thank you all for your prayers and support! We appreciate you.

-Jeremiah Perecky

We did it! Echad has traveled to the ends of the country and back! We recently returned from our...

Mon, 07 May 2012 09:25:00 -0400

We did it! Echad has traveled to the ends of the country and back!

We recently returned from our trip to Los Angeles and San Francisco, where we had the opportunity to engage in creative outreach, perform in open mic nights, put on art presentations, and partner with the Jews for Jesus branches in California. We were able to share our faith with the lost as well as encourage many new believing friends through our work!

Here are a couple testimonies from Giselle:

Giselle reports: “We met Dean at a cafe/laundromat called Brainwashed in San Francisco on April 24^th, where we were doing an open mic. He was the facilitator of the night. As part of my set, I sang a song called “War” that I wrote about my Jewish aunt. During my little spiel before I sang, I asked the audience if any one else had a Jewish aunt. Dean raised his hand. After my set, Dean and I started chatting and he revealed that he had grown up in a Jewish family in Queens! While I wasn’t able to share the gospel with him then and there, I handed him our ECHAD business card and directed him to our website. Please pray that he would be curious enough to look.”

And again: “It was the last 5 minutes of our sortie in Hayes Valley, where Rachel and I had paired up to pass out post cards. We were trying to engage with people through an exercise involving some of her photography that had been converted to postcard size and asking questions about what it means to sacrifice. We met John while doing the rounds of the park and he was very obliging in participating in our exercise. He revealed that he had been involved in the Catholic church as a young man, but had become disillusioned with it and had been driven to explore transcendental mediation. Rachel and I were able to share the gospel with him, and though he had heard the message before and wasn’t really open, I think he was really touched by our approach.”

As always, we appreciate your encouragement! We especially extend our gratitude to both new and old Californian friends for their support and love! Now that we have returned to New York City, we continue to experiment with creative outreaches and are preparing for our two final art presentations. Prayers needed!

-Rachel

Jews For Jesus Spring Transformation Window

Thu, 03 May 2012 15:19:00 -0400

stage 1+2

stage 3

stage 4

stage 5

Jews For Jesus Spring Transformation Window

Photo

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:08:10 -0400

CHAMETZ and GUILT.

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:00:00 -0400

On Erev Passover, ECHAD ascended to the upper west with some gospel literature, posters and a garbage bin. We drove up,chose a spot to set up and waited. The upper-west side of Manhattan is fairly densely populated with Jewish people: young families,holocaust survivors and several large synagogues. This has made it a favorite area for our Jews for Jesus missionaries to do street evangelism in.

Passover commemorates God bringing our Jewish people out from the land of Egypt into their promised land of Israel. A believers in Y’Shua,we also see how he ultimately became the perfect passover sacrifice.The scriptures tell us that the Israelite’s could not wait for their bread to rise leaving Egypt so they were instructed to leave with it as it was,unleavened. Chametz or leaven is a symbol for sin and pride in the bible, a little of it causing the entire loaf to become puffed up. Weeks before Passover it is tradition for everything containing leaven to be removed from the home,and burned up in a furnace at the synagogue.

While we couldn’t have a furnace in the upper-west,we decided to have a big trash can with a sign saying ’ CHAMETZ ‘. For 2 hours we handed out tracts and had people refuse them.We had people who were seriously seeking and people who were seriously crazy.

Our objective was to use a timely Jewish holiday to communicate the gospel in a creative way. We are finding in our out reaches that humor goes a long way to break down barriers,to gently impress important and poignant issues. We were able to share with many Jewish people,the miracle of salvation.

Hello, This is Jeremiah Perecky. I made this video to fit...

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:24:09 -0400

Hello,

This is Jeremiah Perecky. I made this video to fit in with our theme on love.

So Much Lovin

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:23:50 -0400

The following few weeks will be extremely busy for us here at Echad.

Each of us are working on our music, photography, writing, videography, and digital art towards a common theme: Love. It’s a vast and overdone subject, but it’s also the most important (1 Corinthians 13:13)!

We’re hoping to bring our work to the west coast in a few weeks and share the BIG love of the Messiah out there, too! Stay tuned!

-Rachel

Echad spent the afternoon talking to people about Jesus.

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:23:21 -0400

Echad spent the afternoon talking to people about Jesus.

Visiting family

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:18:21 -0400

The two days after Echad came back from Chicago, I went to Connecticut to reconnect with my biological father who is Jewish, but does not follow Jesus. I have not grown up with him and I’ve only met him once—four years ago. I showed him the work I presented in Chicago. Since the artwork is spiritual in nature, we talked about spiritual topics. I shared the gospel with him but he did not agree with it. However, he is spiritually hungry and he goes to church. Please pray that he will come to have a relationship with his Messiah.

-Branden

(REFLECTION IN THE BEAN!) Echad has just returned from the Windy...

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:46:00 -0500

(REFLECTION IN THE BEAN!)

Echad has just returned from the Windy City! It was a week-long trip, and being the only one of the group who hadn’t been, I was extra excited, and extra touristy! We visited museums, stores, tall buildings (& short buildings), art galleries, THE BEAN, local coffee shops, and had our fill of deep dish pizza! And obviously, my camera and I bonded really well.

We met a lot of new faces, saw familiar old faces, and had the opportunity to perform at a local coffee shop: J. J. Javas!

Our event, entitled Ignite, combined our weeks of work in digital art, music, photography, and spoken word into one evening of artistic exploration (read a more in-depth explanation of our work in the post by Jeremiah, below). Unlike our performance in New York, which was held at the Jews for Jesus branch in Manhattan, this performance engaged and witnessed to local college students doing their homework, Chicago caffeine addicts, and friends who traveled from near and far to support our work.

We pray that we inspired, encouraged, and planted seeds of truth in the minds and hearts of those around us! Keep us in your prayers as we attempt to continue this work, both across the country, and here in New York!

-Rachel

Giselle and I on the plane on the way to Chicago for Ignite!

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:20:17 -0500

Giselle and I on the plane on the way to Chicago for Ignite!

Ignite Presentation

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 19:18:00 -0500

We had the Ignite presentation this past week on Thursday here in New York, with the theme of darkness and light. We really put into practice the whole “trail and error” mantra by spending the week doing run-throughs. We wrote up basic scripts, worked through technical set up (so many lights!), and felt our way through any music problems that we had.

Our work (and prayer) paid off! The event was a great success. There was popcorn, crackers and cheese, some drinks, and most importantly: there were about 30-40 people who came and enjoyed the night.

To start the event off, Jeremiah and Hannah Zaretsky, our leader and his wife, played guitar and sang a song that Hannah wrote. It set the mood of the night off well. Brandon showed his graphic collection of digital art throughout the night, a triptych entitled “Darkness to Light.” While, Giselle, Jeremiah, and I played guitar, piano, and percussion, and sang a few songs that Giselle wrote.

Rachel displayed her collection of photographs of people in the city who she photographed in a purple mask. The idea she was trying to convey: we need to remove the mask, the misconceptions, and see people (in New York, and across the world) for who they are. To see faces, not stereotypes.

I did two spoken words, one alone, and one as a collaboration with Giselle, about someone in a hard place reaching out for help.

I think we successfully conveyed our theme. We were able to integrate all our pieces and bring a clear gospel message of God’s love to hurting people.

We will have pictures and possible a video to come! Stay tuned…

-Jeremiah Perecky

We are Echad. We are ridiculous. (Who said the masks just had to...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:12:00 -0500

We are Echad. We are ridiculous.

(Who said the masks just had to hang in the window display?)

This week Echad replaced the Valentine’s Day themed front...

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 18:16:00 -0500

This week Echad replaced the Valentine’s Day themed front window display with a new mask themed display. We created this sign for the window.

-Echad

Viola! The final version of the flyer for the Chicago event!...

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:52:00 -0500

Viola! The final version of the flyer for the Chicago event! Come check Echad out at our event: Ignite.

-Echad

The current window with the scaffolding in front of the...

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:31:00 -0500

The current window with the scaffolding in front of the building. Sorry, we couldn’t get a better picture.

Echad will be doing an art presentation in Chicago in...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:29:00 -0500

Echad will be doing an art presentation in Chicago in March! Here is the flyer we designed to help promote the event. What do you think?

The past couple weeks, Echad has been planning, assembling, and...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:38:00 -0500

The past couple weeks, Echad has been planning, assembling, and executing a window display, using the impending doom that is Valentine’s Day as a vein to convey the gospel. That right. I’m talking hearts. And a whole lot of red.

During this adventure, I realized several things. Echad being responsible for the Jews for Jesus window front means:

1. Trips to Home Depot (I don’t think anyone realizes the amazingness that is Home Depot until they have wandered through the chandelier aisle and/or used the cart escalator).

2. Climbing through the fabric forests in tiny textile stores.

3. Taking breaks from hanging signs behind the glass to dance a jig (for all the world to see).

4. Inadvertently injuring ourselves with hot lights, pins, staples, needles, screws, nails, hammers, wrenches, super glue, and any and every object now hanging in our window.

5. Having an awesome window display. Admit it.

-Rachel