The nation of Israel, the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, were called the apple of God’s eye in Zechariah 2:7-9 and the prophet warned — “for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye.” For the Jewish people, the land of Israel, persecution has followed the people called to be a blessing. For those who have walked the land of Israel, in spite of the sensational news flowing from the Middle East, have seen with their own eyes the sweet peace and prosperity that continues to cover God’s people. Bishop Darren Michael Sophus, pastor at Zion Hill Christian Fellowship in New Iberia was headed to the Holy Land for the first time the same day the church he pastors broke ground on West Main Street. He knows the calling of God, the instruction of Holy Spirit regarding the Jewish roots of the faith in Christianity, a faith often marred and disputed by the very people claiming to be followers of Jesus. Sophus and the disciples of Zion Hill have known persecution and judgement from within and outside of the churches of the Teche Area. Still, they press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of them. His passion was recently explained.

Your church is part of the crusade to be held this Saturday. How did that come to be?

I was approached a year ago and have been to meetings and support the events of New Chapter/P.U.S.H. Transitional Aftercare and Mentoring Program, but my schedule has not always allowed me to participate. Even this Saturday, we will have people there, but I will be out of town until in the afternoon. We’ve been an advocate for them. I have a heart for the community and all that transpires in the city where I’m privileged to be a bishop.

How did your church congregation become known as the Black Jews?

I’ve never taken it personally, but rather as an honor. I literally say we have had to suffer for Our Savior. We’ve been a church for 17 years, 10 years on this ground. I literally was headed for my first pilgrimage to Israel the day they broke ground for this church. We had a passion for Israel from the day we opened the church, but I was in a pursuit of knowledge. I didn’t know how to go about it. Ironically God opened some doors at First Baptist in Broussard where Evangelist Al Gish was holding a conference on End Times. He and I have become good friends since then. That was my pursuit to seek knowledge and to better educate the people I was entrusted with about Israel. That’s how that opened up and that burning desire for me to go where I preach about. That place that I studied about in Bible college has become a reality to me. It’s not a story, it’s reality, it’s life as we know, where our Messiah lived. I read it as life, what actually happened. We have a whole ministry we dedicate to it call the Garden of Israel Ministries. Every second Sunday of the month we take a special offering and distribute it to ministries that love Israel, Jew and gentile, we send it far and wide. The ministry is based on Psalm 122:6, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May those who love you be secure.” That’s our foundation and it brings unwarranted castigation, criticism. It’s broad. I get a lot of persecution as a black pastor for supporting the Jews when there are blacks in need. We’ve done conferences, but have not had many from the area attend. In Galatians 3, it says we are the seed of Abraham, by faith. Every promise given to Abraham and the Jews has been given to the gentile believers through faith. We have been grafted into the root.

What are some of the things you’ve done different than other Christian congregations?

We’ve had Messianic Rabbis come to speak at End Times conferences. We even had a Rabbi come here that fought in the Six-day War in Israel. God wants us to get the message out about Israel and the message of these last days. We have persecution because of that stand and limited support but we take that stand and statement seriously. As blacks, too often we’ve been taught about prosperity and overcoming, the importance about material things. We’ve forgotten it’s not about materialism but our relationship with the Lord. That’s my aim with the church, to educate and make that statement. For God, I fully embrace that persecution.

Do you have an example of extreme persecution in our city?

In the flood of 2016, we had a woman who came in from New Orleans and when she saw the Star of David in the front of the church, she left and started spreading rumors that we were a cult. It went from one thing to another until our shelter was shut down and the police confiscated our things until they couldn’t prove out what she was saying. They returned everything after almost a year, but the damage had already been done. We were accused of stealing food stamp money, which wasn’t true, but it took a long time to overcome those false accusations. It all goes back to her not understanding our love for Israel and the Star of David. There’s a lot of things I could share with you, but that is one of the most recent. I told the congregation, a lie lasts for a moment, but the truth endures forever. They called us the day Billy Graham died and told us to come pick up our stuff. They found no evidence to back up her accusations, which we already knew. It’s a task taking a stand, but I wouldn’t take it any other way.

Do you have a business besides the church ministry?

My wife Ernestine and I started Angels Among Angels in 2001 and in 2002 the Lord started this church. It’s a licensed early learning center at 103 Craig St. We’ve had that business 20 years. At times it has been the biggest tither for our church. When collections were low, we were blessed to be able to give big tithes to undergird this church financially. God always blesses her. I understand clearly what God is doing and we don’t take advantage of that.

Have you noticed a change in the spiritual climate in the Teche Area recently?

Oh yes, but it started a long time ago. One of the things we have to do is continue collaborating faith based people together and be wise of the division that the enemy uses to bring distractions. We have to be community minded. Years ago we would do block to block crusades, not in a building but in different parts of the city during daylight savings time. We were out there doing church when no one else was doing it, every week. We came under persecution. Then the door opened and more churches started doing it and now you see the Boots on the Ground, prayer walks, all that we do. The Lord went before us. We didn’t see the whole picture. That’s one of the great commissions, go into all the world.

What has God put on your heart for the future of this ministry?

I’m trying to mobilize by educating my ministers through personal teaching as well in the pulpit to spread out and get the message out. I have a vision to go into different communities to education people and ignite their interest, a flicker creates a hunger for knowledge, expand beyond the walls of the church the message of our soon coming Lord Jesus Christ. At the same time, show the bridge connecting our Jewish heritage with the Messiah. In some cases, people don’t see the Jewishness of the Bible. They struggle, but 90 percent of the writings are from Jewish descent. We don’t practice Judaism, but we embrace some of her teachings. Christ fulfilled four of the seven feasts and he’ll fulfill the rest.