When Gayle Timberlake first walked the streets of Jerusalem after college, she realized her faith had a missing piece — the land. “I knew the God of the Bible,” she told Rabbi Rami Goldberg on Biblical Money, “but I hadn’t met the God of history who walked in a specific place.” That shock of recognition set her course. Today, through the Simka Foundation, she takes Christians to Israel, Turkey, and even Saudi Arabia; leads weekly Shabbat gatherings across U.S. cities; and equips pastors and business leaders to read Scripture in the culture and language that birthed it. The conversation was recorded for Israel365’s podcast, which connects Jews and Christians who care about strengthening Israel.
Timberlake didn’t start in ministry. She cut her teeth in Texas banking and corporate marketing, then shifted into executive coaching for CEOs and founders. The twist: she builds coaching around the biblical calendar. Clients track rest, focus, and goals by month, then measure output against those rhythms. Not all her leaders are religious. They don’t have to be. She pushes “ancient wisdom that works” — guard your speech, prioritize real rest, build community, and keep your word.
Her favorite warning comes wrapped in a fishing story. In Baja, she spent twenty minutes muscling a tuna to the boat. At the last second a sea lion blitzed in and tore it to pieces. “That’s what happens to leaders who work alone,” she says. “Isolation makes you tired and easy to take out. Build a team that runs with you.” That’s how Simka restarted in 2022 after a long pause: with a tight, like-minded team and a clear brief — correct bad teaching, build real friendships with the Jewish community, and get people on the ground.
Simka’s work is practical. Shabbat tables where Christians learn the weekly portion. A Shabbat Guide that was shipped to donors of Christian broadcasters. An app with teaching from top scholars and partners like the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. Tours that put people under desert stars to talk about Abraham’s promise, in the very place he heard it. Events in Austin that bring rabbis, pastors, and civic leaders together to stand with Israel. An 18-month wall calendar that starts on Rosh Hashanah, illustrated by an Israeli artist, so homes can live the seasons of the Bible.
Her academic depth makes the trips more than tourism. Timberlake studied at Jerusalem University College and Hebrew University, earned a PhD in Second Temple Judaism at Stellenbosch in South Africa, and works through the first-century Jewish world with care — idioms, customs, law, daily life. She pushes back on sloppy assumptions that feed subtle antisemitism: language myths, misreadings, and the habit of stripping the New Testament of its Jewish roots. “Our biggest threat isn’t missiles. It’s the lie,” she says. “Christians absorb distortions for years. We correct them with history, geography, and text.”
She doesn’t scare easily. Timberlake has led groups through Turkey’s underground churches in Cappadocia, across Saudi sites linked to biblical history, and under the star-filled skies of South Africa’s Karoo. “I probably just forget to be afraid,” she laughed. “My focus is on getting everyone safely where they need to be—and letting the land itself do the teaching.”
The through-line is simple: truth, teams, and tangible practice. Timberlake coaches executives to lead by those rules. She runs Simka by them, too. And she brings that same clarity to Israel365’s audience — that faith lives best in community, on a calendar, and in a place.
Watch the full interview with Gayle Timberlake on Biblical Money.
