Sukkot 2022 in the Texas Hill Country

Ron First • November 14, 2022
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"In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps." Proverbs 16:9

By Ron First
CMJ USA

The CMJ USA Texas H ill C ountry team was so excited about the plans that we had for our Sukkot celebration! We had a week of festivities planned with three enthusiastic and prominent local churches. The schedule also included teachings by Dr. Terry Harman (The Tabernacle Man) at each church. Sadly , Dr. Harman had to cancel his appearance s during Sukkot. Despite the fact that the Lord did not allow the planned event s to happen as scheduled, we were still able to host a very productive Pastor’s Appreciation Dinner and one of our churches held a Sukkot event celebrating the first day of the f east!   

T he first night of Sukkot , CMJ co-laboring congregation Christ Our King Anglican Church (COK) celebrated with a s ukkah (tabernacle, booth), a short Sukkot teaching, videos of Israel , along with great fellowship! COK has experience celebrating Sukkot and other Leviti cus 23 feasts throughout the years , but this year’s festivities were special as they were joined by Roca Fuerte , the Spanish- language church that rents COK ’ s sanctuary for Sunday afternoon services. A large part of Roca Fuerte attended and contributed to this wonderful event . T he fellowship hall was full to capacity with adults and kids of all ages . COK children’s director Catherine Howanstine engaged the children with activities in the sukkah.  

Sukkah built by Christ Our King in New Braunfels

Our Sukkot week culminated in a Pastor’s Appreciation dinner at my home on the Sabbath that was the penultimate night of Sukkot. We hosted 11 people , including a pastor of an area church, his wife, worship leader and youth director! It proved to be a wonderful time of fellowship, worshiping the Lord through kiddush , * oneg , * Bible study/ discussion , prayer – culminating in us entering the s ukkah at our home. This was the first Sukkot event and Shabbat experience for our friends at Calvary Baptist Church of San Marcos! We are encouraged that a relationship forged with this one extremely supportive Hill Country church was reestablished and strengthened – perhaps for future CMJ events!  

* kiddush – li terally me an ing sanctificatio n , i t is a blessing recited over wine (or grape juice) and wine to sanctify Shabbat and Jewish holidays.
* oneg – literally meaning joy, it is the ritual of eating, singing, and fellowshipping together during Shabbat  

Lord willing and should h e tarry, perhaps next year we will resurrect our original multi-church Sukkot project and have Dr. Terry Harman visit us and present his insights and truths about the foreshadowing of Jesus in every aspect of the tabernacle! Even so Maranatha Lord Jesus!  

celebrating Sukkot with Christ our King and Roca Fuerte

Ron First serves as the southwest coo r dinator of CMJ USA. He is a Jewish follower of Jesus excited to tell anyone how he met the risen Messiah. Ron is a retired professional musician and educator. He owns Christian Insurance Services and lives with his wife Journeth in New Braunfels, Texas. Invite Ron to teach at your church: ron.first@cmj-usa.org.

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