Shalom, friends.

Christ Church Jerusalem is starting a new feature called the Artist Corner, where we will introduce you to some of our talented and creative friends from around Israel.

Today we start with Baruch Maayan.

Baruch never finished his degree at the art school in South Africa where he was to major in sculpture. While doing a 7-day blindfold experiment in the clay sculpture studio, he had a radical and very real personal encounter with Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah. For a while, he laid down his artistic gift as meaningless as if his whole life’s thrust had been useless, vanity.

A year later, Baruch received a revelation that God can use his gift; in fact, God is the one who gave the gift! He has since been encouraged by the scripture:

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship.'”

Exodus 35:30-33

In 1999, Baruch and his wife, Karen, made aliyah (immigrated to Israel) from South Africa and since then have been involved in leadership and ministry in Tel Aviv and the Negev. They have raised five children in the Land, to the glory and praise of God.

Baruch is inspired by the word of God as he plants and encourages communities of believers in Israel and among the nations.

Below is a sample of Baruch’s work. See more at baruchmaayan.com.