(Dr. Hepfner with his wife, Gina)
Our Jewish born leader, Dr. William Hepfner, grew up being referred to as "Little Moses." This nickname was the result of his being left on a doorstep in a basket at the age of 3 months and at the age of 9 months being adopted and raised in a Gentile household. Throughout his lifetime, he attended almost every kind of Christian Church and/or denomination until he received the Lord in 1980 and became Baptized with the infilling of the Holy Spirit. For the next ten years he played his trumpet in every Praise Band he could find. When he was not in Church, he preached on every street corner where someone would listen to the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. In the early 90's he was received into Sweetwater Bible College, and that should be the end of the story, but it's not. In 1993 he was transferred to Mesa, AZ and became a Pastor with the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC). Soon, signs and wonders became the earmark of his ministry and many have found salvation in Jesus Christ the Messiah. All credit goes to the Lord and Dr. Hepfner has been a vessel used by the Lord for healing, deliverance, and the raising of some from the dead. He continued to spend many evenings on the streets, ministering to those in need. Then, in 2003, he was sent to the IPHC’s Church Planters School, and now has been credited for being a Mother Church to 6 new Church plants. However, this is still not the end of the story. Because he was Jewish, he knew the Lord was calling him back to his “Jewish Roots”. In 2006, after a year of Torah (Old Testament) studies, he began to minister to Messianic Jews on Saturday while continuing to minister to Christians on Sunday.
It is noteworthy that the IPHC has accepted the Messianic Congregation into full membership, and embraces Jewish roots and teachings. In fact, the IPHC organization has added the major Jewish Holidays to their website calendar, and has done a two page article in their world-wide newsletter about this Messianic congregation in Mesa.
That is still not the end, in May of 2008, Yeshua ha'Mashiach Messianic Congregation, after a two year courtship, was accepted as a full member congregation into the Messianic communities leading organization, Tikkun Ministries, headed by Dr. Daniel Juster, the author of “Jewish Roots”.
Dr. Hepfner knows that this is still not the end of the story and states that, “With the Lord, anything is possible.” More is definitely yet to come. We hope you will come and join us, and become a part of this exciting and wonderful move of God.
