Eddie Going into Full-Time Ministry

HHMI Newsgroup Archives

From: Eddie Chumney
To:    heb_roots_chr@hebroots.org
Subject: Eddie Going into Full-Time Ministry

     EDDIE CHUMNEY GOING INTO FULL TIME MINISTRY

    Dear Mishpochah (family):

          I have VERY exciting news to announce to the newsgroup (the 
HHMI family). The God of Israel / YHVH has convicted my heart that it 
is now time for me to go into full-time ministry and dedicate the rest of 
my life to be used by the Almighty in whatever way He chooses to help 
to promote the restoration of our rich Hebraic Heritage in Messiah to the 
body of Messiah.

         For the past 17 years, I have worked with a fortune 500 
company as a computer professional. I graduated from college with a 
bachelor's degree in Computer Information Systems in 1985 and a 
Master's degree in Business Administration in 1989. My last day with 
my present employer will be March 29, 2002.

       In 1995, Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int'l was born. In 
November, 1996 the HHMI newsgroup started. We just completed our 5th 
year. Since that time, over 8,000 people have subscribed to the HHMI 
newsgroup. The newsgroup is literally touching the lives of thousands 
of people all over the world.

      I've also written three books. The 'Seven Festivals of the 
Messiah' was first printed in October, 1994. 'Who is the Bride of 
Christ?" was first printed in May, 1997. My most recent book, 
'Restoring the Two Houses of Israel' was printed in September, 1999. 
All three of these books can be read in both English and Spanish at 
the HHMI webpage located at:

   http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/2175/heb_root.html

   There have been hundreds if not thousands of newsgroup members who 
have ordered one or all of these books over the years. Many have 
written and told me how much these books have been a blessing to them 
in studying and learning about their Hebraic roots.

  Since the start of the newsgroup in 1996, I have worked a 40 hour 
week and have tried to keep pace with the ministry demands of Hebraic 
Heritage Ministries Int'l. As the ministry has grown over the years, 
working a full-time job and keeping up with the demands of the 
ministry in my 'spare time' has been extremely demanding. It has 
become increasingly demanding as I accepted the call of the God of 
Israel / YHVH in June 2000 to go to New York. Since June 2000, I have 
made many plane trips to New York from Ohio. During this time, I 
worked 4 ten hours days in Ohio and flew to New York for the other 3 
days of the week. It became increasinly evident that I needed to make 
a choice to move to New York and go into full-time ministry or cease 
from going to New York. Why New York?

   Around 1990 (before HHMI existed) and while I was trying to do the 
best that I could on a daily basis to love the God of Israel will all 
my heart, mind,  soul and strength while attending Sunday church on a 
weekly basis, I was watching a Christian TV program on TBN and the 
message being preached was from Acts 1:8 that the 'restoration of the 
Kingdom to Israel' (Acts 1:6) would be preached in 'Jerusalem' and in 
'Judea-Samaria' and then to the 'ends of the earth'.  Like many in 
the Christian churches do to this verse, when the Pastor when sharing 
this message, he spiritualized the application stating that 
'Jerusalem' was your local ministry, 'Judea-Samaria' was following 
your local ministry when your 'tents got expanded' and the fullness 
of your calling would be to the 'ends of the earth'. I did not know 
in 1990 that this verse was about the 'restoration of the kingdom to 
Israel' (Acts 1:6) or the restoration of both houses of Israel 
(Ezekiel 37:15-28) !!!

     At this time in 1990, the God of Israel spoke to my heart in His 'still 
small voice' and told me that I would serve Him in three PRIMARY 
places in my life. First, would be my local area in Canton / 
Massillon, Ohio being 'Jerusalem'.  After this would be in New York 
being my 'Judea-Samaria' and following New York would be Israel being 
my 'ends of the earth'.

  I was born in 1963.  I started going to church when I was 5 years 
old. In 1989, when I was 25 years old, was the first time when I 
'discovered' my Hebraic roots in Messiah. It started out in a very 
simple manner. In 1989, I heard somebody talking about the Biblical 
Festivals and they taught that:

#1) Messiah died on Passover

#2) He was in the ground the next day on the Feast of Unleavened 
Bread

#3) Messiah was resurrected on First Fruits

#4) The Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh) was outpoured in Acts 2 on the 
Festival of Pentecost

   In other words, the main events of Messiah's first coming namely 
His death, buriel, resurrection and the outpouting of the Holy Spirit 
happened on the Biblical Feast days mentioned in Lev 23.

  WHAT? I've been going to church since I was 5 and I never heard 
THAT! So, it created a hunger within me to learn more. From 1989-1992, 
I studied intently the Biblical Festivals and other aspects of my 
Hebraic heritage in Messiah. I was FASCINATED! I was SO EXCITED that 
I HAD to share what I had learned with others. BUT ... I thought that 
I was the ONLY ONE that felt this way. Then, I found another, then 
another, then another. I celebrated my first Passover with others who 
were seeking to discover their Hebraic roots in 1994. In 1994, I also 
wrote a Chrisitan Passover Haggadah explaining how each step of the 
Passover Seder speaks to us as believers in Messiah.

   My first opportunity I had to share about our Hebraic heritage in 
Messiah in my local community came in 1993. I had shared with other 
Christians at work and several of them wanted me to teach a Bible 
study. This began my 'Jerusalem' (local area) ministry which the God 
of Israel had told me would happen three years prior in 1990. In the 
fall of 1993, I met a Pastor at a local park in my area and by 
'accident' I discovered he was searching for his Hebraic roots also 
and thought that HE was the ONLY ONE !!! He was elated when he 
discovered that I was teaching a Bible study on the subject on Monday 
nights and asked if he could attend.

   After attending the Monday night Bible study, this Pastor asked if 
I could teach the same Bible study to his church people on Wednesday 
nights. I agreed to do so. I had to drive about 45 minutes to teach 
the Monday night Bible study and I had to drive about 1 hour to teach 
the Wednesday night Bible study at the Pastor's house that I met at 
my local park.

  At this time, the Pastor told me that he took Hebrew classes at our 
local Jewish community center. I was excited and told him that I 
would like to take Hebrew classes also. After I took the intro course 
on the Hebrew alphabet, we both took the more advanced classes. While 
taking one of these classes, I met a lady in the class who told me 
about a group of people that she knew who was interested in gathering 
together for Friday night fellowship to honor the Sabbath. She asked 
me if I was interested in meeting and joining the group and of 
course, I was very interested.

  This Friday night Sabbath fellowship group didn't really have a 
leader in the beginning so they asked me to lead some Friday night 
Sabbath services. Soon, they asked me to teach a Hebraic roots Bible 
study. So, at this point in time (1994), I was now teaching 3 at home 
Bible studies in three different cities on our Hebraic roots.

   In 1995, the God of Israel spoke to my heart about forming a 
ministry which became named, 'Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int'l'. 
When the God of Israel / YHVH spoke to my heart to name the ministry 
INTERNATIONAL, I LAUGHED at Him! What? I am teaching three Bible 
studies to a total of 25 people on three different nights and I am 
busy working a full-time job and you want me to start a ministry and 
call it INTERNATIONAL ???

   Little did I realize that soon after I filed the articles of 
incorporation in the state of Ohio so that HHMI could be a non-profit 
ministry with the state of Ohio that I learned about something called 
the INTERNET.  In 1995 / 1996, I became fascinated with the internet. 
Why would anyone buy a computer and get on the internet, I wondered?
Anyhow, I decided after going to the bookstore and buying lots of 
books that I would create a webpage for HHMI where those interested 
in studying their Hebraic roots could find links to a variety of 
subjects pertaining to the Hebraic roots of Christianity.

    In curiosity, I created a webpage for the ministry where people 
who were interested in studying with others could link up and study 
with others all over the world through e-mail. But would anyone visit 
the website/? Would anyone sign up and show a desire to become 
members of a newsgroup. I was SHOCKED when I first started to get 
inquiries. However, people kept subscribing and subscribing and 
subscribing virtually EVERY DAY for over 5 years. Today, the ministry 
receives on average over 150 new subscribers each month.

 With new internet demands on my time to send out newsgroup e-mail 
and begin to answer TONS of people's questions pertaining to our 
Hebraic Heritage and as I wrote two new books during this time, I 
started to become SWAMPED with keeping up with the ministry and 
maintaining my present job as I also started to be invited to speak 
at Hebraic roots conferences and weekend seminars through the 
Internet and newsgroup contacts from around the USA and the world.

   After meeting the Pastor at my local park in the fall of 1993 and 
teaching a Bible study on the Hebraic roots of Christianity at his 
house on Wednesday nights, he invited me to co-pastor with him at the 
church and to teach the Hebraic roots of Christianity with him to his 
church. I started to do this in the spring of 1994. I did this until 
the spring of 2000 when my 'Judea-Samaria' door opened.

   Through a contact that I made while attending a conference in 
Florida in January 1995, I met somebody at this conference from New 
York who also had a heart and interest in the Hebraic roots of our 
faith in Messiah. After initially meeting at the January 1995 
conference and after losing touch with him until July 1996, I had an 
opportunity to visit with him in New York in 1997 and at the 
invitation of his pastor, I spoke to my friend's church on the 
subject that the Messiah was born a Jew, lived a Jew, died a Jew and 
was returing to rule and reigh during the Messianic Era as a Jew 
teaching the Torah from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2).

  Initially, this pastor at my friend's church embraced the message. 
After I left, he decided to condemn the message and began to 
persecute my friend. This caused untold hardship upon my friend and I 
felt compassion upon him and decided to help him out through his 
difficulties. My friend left this church and eventually after a 
couple of years ended up at another church in Freeport, NY.

   Because of my friend's hardship at his previous church and the 
challenges that I faced in trying to help him out through his MANY 
problems which were started when the pastor at his former church 
started to persecute him severely (put dirt in his gastank and 
permentantly damaged his truck, kicked him out of the apartment where 
he was living because he was renting from a relative of this 
Pastor etc) after I preached that Messiah was a 
Jew at this church, he eventually sought help for this and other 
things in his personal life at this church that he discovered in Freeport, 
NY.

   In order to help my friend through his personal problems which 
started from the pastor at his former church persecuting him because 
he turned his back on the Hebraic roots message, I flew to Freeport, 
NY to meet with my friend and with the new church and the new Pastor 
who was trying to help him through his problems.

  I shared my testimony and how I met my friend and all the things 
which happened over a several year period with the Pastor in 
Freeport, NY for nearly 3 hours. After this time, the Pastor asked me 
to eat at the local restaurant and then preceeded to ask me if I ever 
thought about coming to NY.

  The FIRST thing that came into my mind was what the God of Israel 
spoke to my heart in 1990 about after leaving my local area of 
ministry which happened to be from 1993 - 2000 that he had a work 
for me to do in New York. So, I KNEW when this Pastor asked me this 
question that this was the 'open door' or my 'Judea-Samaria' on how I 
was going to go to NY.

 At this time, I wasn't ready to make a full-fledge committment and 
change my life and move to NY. So, I asked my employer if I could 
work a 4 day work week and fly to NY to be with this church and 
this Pastor the other three days of the week. Miraculously, my employer 
agreed so I have been on this schedule while trying to keep up with 
an increased ministry workload since the spring of 2000.

  Upon getting to know the Pastor in Freeport, Long Island, NY better, 
he told me a story that several years ago that the God of Israel 
spoke to his heart and told him that YHVH was in the near future 
going to take the churches on a 'right hand turn' and those churches 
who didn't take the 'right hand turn' were going to be left behind. 
Then, this Pastor in Freeport told me that the God of Israel asked 
him that when this 'right hand turn' was taken whether this Pastor 
was going to take this turn with the Spirit of the God of Israel.

  The Pastor replied to the God of Israel and told him that if this 
is where He was going to be taking the churches that He wanted to go 
where the Spirit of YHVH was leading. However, the Pastor didn't 
understand what this 'right hand turn' was until he met me.

   Over the next year or more, as I travelled to NY each week, I had 
MANY discussions with the Pastor about the Hebraic roots of 
Christianity. Finally after a period of time, the Pastor told me that 
he now understood that embracing the Hebraic roots of our faith in 
Messiah was the RIGHT HAND TURN that the God of Israel had spoken to 
his heart regarding several years prior.

   Eventually, the Pastor asked me to teach several classes on the 
Hebraic roots of Christianity including the Biblical Festivals and on 
the my latest book, "Restoring the Two Houses of Israel".

  These classes concluded at the beginning of September 2001. At this 
time, I knew that my life was coming to the 'crossroads'. With the 
September 11 events, my heart became increasingly burdened for NY. 
Therefore, I knew that I had to decide to be obedient to the calling 
that the God of Israel had on my life to teach the Hebraic roots of 
Christianity to the body of Messiah and to make Freeport, NY my 
personal headquarters to do this or I had to forget about my calling 
that the God of Israel spoke to my heart about in 1990.

   As I struggled with the decision and as the demands of the 
ministry has gotten greater and greater, I realized that the time was 
NOW to go into full-time ministry.

   Joseph was 17 years old when the God of Israel gave him his dream 
that would eventually be fulfilled when he was united with his 
brothers after being sold by them.

  The God of Israel spoke to my heart and told me that the calling 
upon my life was to teach the body of Messiah about our hebraic 
heritage in Messiah including the Sabbath, Torah / Grace, Festivals 
etc and the propetic significance of the story of Joseph in our generation to 
restore and reunite both houses of Israel (Ezekiel 37:15-37). Because 
of this calling upon my life, the God of Israel spoke to my heart and 
told me that just as Joseph was given his dream when he was 17 years 
old that I would be leaving my place of employment after 17 years 
to be used in the end of days to fulfill the heart of Joseph to be 
reunited with his brothers.

    I notified my family of my decision (I am single) on December 15. 
On January 14, I told my employer of my intentions to go into 
full-time ministry. My last day of work with my present employer will 
be on March 29.  I will be in transition to make the move into 
full-time ministry in April and plan to move to Freeport, NY sometime 
in May.

   All of the members of the HHMI newsgroup desire to receive the 
HHMI newsgroup e-mail because YOU have had a 'pulling' in your heart 
to discover, study and understand your Hebraic heritage in Messiah 
also. As you can tell from my own personal testimony, growing and 
embracing your Hebraic Heritage in Messiah is a JOURNEY. It is a 
PROCESS. It is a WALK of faith.

     I pray that my testimony will be an  encouragement to you to despise 
NOT the 'day of small beginnings'. Just be faithful in the PRESENT door that 
the God of Israel has opened to you whether it be PERSONAL study or 
with interaction with a fellowship group.

     With the decision and calling to go into full-time ministry, in 
the world's eyes, I am giving up a lot of security for the 'unknown'. 
However, this is the choice that Abraham, the father of our faith, 
also made. However, our SHALOM and our SECURITY is in EL SHADDAI !!

                      (End Part 1 of 2)

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