Stephen Katz was raised in a Jewish family in the Chicago suburbs, where they attended a Conservative synagogue. He had his bar mitzvah at age thirteen. In college, Stephen wrote a research paper on why most Jews in the first century didn't believe Jesus was the messiah. Stephen read what traditional Jewish scholars had to say on the subject—as well as what Christian scholars, secular historians and textual critics had written. He also interviewed two rabbis and two Christian ministers. Halfway through his research he was beginning to lean in the direction that it just might be true—that Jesus might actually be the Messiah, but being Jewish made it hard for Stephen to seriously think in those terms. Around that same time, his Gentile girlfriend, Laura, recommitted her life to Christ and told Stephen about it. He was impressed by the positive changes he saw in her life and by similar qualities he saw in some other Christians he had met. Wanting to know the truth more than anything, Stephen began to pray, “If there is a God, show me. And if Jesus is the Messiah I'm willing to find out.” Within a few months, Stephen became a believer in Jesus. He completed his studies, spent a year in Israel with his new wife, Laura, and returned to Chicago, where he practiced social work for ten years. In 1989, Stephen began missionary training with Jews for Jesus and he now serves of Branch Leader at the Washington, D.C. office, as well as holding the ministry’s portfolio for their work in Israel. Stephen and Laura have four children.
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