Sukkot Speakers

The Season of Our Joy festival site is unique in many ways.  Some of those ways concern our speakers and the speaking arrangements.  We are not a church nor are we affiliated with any particular organized church.  It was our desire from the conception of SOOJ to bring in speakers who would challenge our thoughts concerning God, His ways, and the future Messianic Kingdom.  We go beyond traditional church structure to bring speakers who are free from church dogma, or their paycheck, to bring information that may be somewhat "out of the box".  Some may say that this is not "safe" - that having teachers who are not confined to a certain theology could invite the adversary to infiltrate.  We reject that view since we've seen the adversary infiltrate highly stuctured organizations, leading many, if not most, of the "sheep" away.  On the contrary, we believe that it's less safe to confine the the speakers to a narrow theological spectrum, thus creating a situation where the audiance is not challenged and thus not equipped to support thier beliefs in the face of the adversary.

Never-the-less, we are concerned about those who are "new" to the walk.  Therefore, we make the speakers accountable to the audiance by providing guidelines for the speakers and for the audiance by which those who are more "seasoned" are able to provide a cover for those who are new.  These guidelines include:

• the selection of speakers who 1) maintain a faith in Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) as the saviour and redeemer of His people, and 2) believe and teach that the Torah (the Old Testament Law) is the instruction book for His people and that it is still relavent for he people of God today.
• the requirement for speakers to avoid teaching about four topics that we deem highly controversial and thus take from the "joy" of the festival.  These include: the calendar, kashruit laws, nature of God, and the Sacred Name.
• the requirement that speakers in both our "Main Sessions" as well as "Break-Out Sessions" take questions during or at the end of their speaking session.  We also limit questions from the audiance to those questions that are relavent to what the speaker just presented, thus giving ample time to challenge anything the speaker may have said.

How Can You Become a Season of Our Joy Speaker?

In most cases, speakers are chosen from within the ranks of those who have attended the SOOJ festival in the past.  We believe that those who are dedicated to observing the Torah and thus attend the festivals (not necessarily with SOOJ) are more grounded than those who may have a lot of theological knowledge, yet fail to follow the instructions of YHVH.  In some cases speakers are chosen from the ranks of "Hebraic" teachers who the SOOJ leadership is familer with via conferences, books, presentations, or their web site.

If you would like to become a speaker, you should:

• contact Tim Kelley (tim@sooj.org) in the early spring of the year you would like to speak.
• be prepared to provide us with some background
• be prepared to provide some information on the topic you would like to present.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Each of our speakers believe that Yeshua is the Messiah and that the five books of Moses (the Torah) are valid for all time - defining the way of life for the people of God. Though Season of Our Joy does believe that all of the speakers have insight into the scripture that might add to your spiritual growth, we do not necessarily agree with or endorse everything they teach - either verbally, in writing, or on their own websites. Nevertheless, we understand maturity and the importance of working together when we can agree upon fundamental principles of unity.

Therefore, it is important that you - the listener - weigh all that a speaker says or writes against the Bible before accepting it as 'truth'.

2011 Speaker's List & Schedule

The following teachers spoke at this year's (2011) festival.

• Eddie Chumney  - Hebraic Heritage International - http://www.hebroots.org/
• Rico Cortes - Wisdom in Torah - http://www.wisdomintorah.org
• Tom Eltrich
• Joseph Good – Hatikva Ministries - http://www.hatikva.org
• Jeremiah Greenburg - http://www.messianicliturgy.com
• Tim Kelley – Ami Yisrael Ministry - http://www.amiyisrael.org
• Everett Leisure - http://www.CreatorsCovenant.org
• Michael Mastropaulo
• Donna McKown
• Ronnel McKown
• Ron Memmi
• John Merritt - http://nepheshchaya.com
• Lee Miller – Congregational Leader - House of David Fellowship, Richmond, Virginia
• Jill Rousseau
• Kelly Rousseau
• Dean Wheelock – Hebrew Roots Ministry - http://www.hebrewroots.net
• Sarah Uhing

Please take a few moments to visit each speaker's web site to learn more about their ministry and message.

For a sampling of last year's (2011) messages - click here

2010 Speakers and Messages - click here

2009 Speakers and Messages - click here