Our congregational leader is Rebbe Michael Marks (Michael ben Yosef) who along with his wife, Winnie, and several other couples, founded Shammash Ariel.  Rebbe Michael and Winnie are Jewish believers who came to Yeshua in 1974.  Michael has served in various ministries since 1975.  Their first ministry was the creation of "Sonshine Mission House" a crisis center in Denver.  During the two years it was in operation, they housed, fed and helped more than 1800 people.

In 1977, they moved to Canon City, where they opened the Shekinah Coffeehouse, a non traditional ministry which provided weekend concerts by contemporary believing musical artists.  The ministry eventually expanded to include a youth-oriented recreation center (Eloheem Alley), a religious bookstore, and community seminars on a variety of youth-related topics.

In 1980, Michael became a Youth Pastor for a mainline Christian denomination in Canon City.  On July 11th 1983 Rebbe Marks received his diploma in Pastoral Theology from the Bible Extension Institute of the Evangelical Church Alliance and was ordained on March 24th, 1984.  In 1985 he spent time in Haiti were he, along with other Americans, built an orphanage.  During his ministry at that church the youth group grew to over 200 young people.

In 1985, Rebbe Marks and Winnie moved to San Jose, California, where he took the position of Associate Minister in the Willow Glen Alliance Church.  In 1988, they returned to Canon City, and opened the Cornerstone Alliance Church.  The desire to practice and teach the whole word of G-d has always been the most important force in Rebbe Michael's life and ministry.  As the Messianic movement has grown and interest in Messianic Jewish life style and worship practice has grown with it, Michael left the traditioanl church to return back to his own people and into the area of Messianic Jewish Ministry in 1996.  The change was mostly due to what he calls "An Encouter with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, while praying on Yom Kippur at the Kotel (Western Wall) in Jerusalem.

On the first Shabbat of January, 1997, with the support of his wife and a handful of families, the Messianic Fellowship, which would eventually become Shammash Ariel Messianic Synagogue, met for the first time.  Since 1997, Rebbe Michael Marks has authored the book "The New Testament and the Law" and, along with his wife, Winnie, has co-authored the book "Traditions: The Reasons Why".  Rebbe Marks is currently working on several new projects.

Rebbe Michael Marks was the first Jewish believer to serve as the National President of Alliance Jewish Ministries Association of the C&MA (Christian and Missionary Alliance.)  He was a guest teacher in the Ukraine in 2001 and 2002 at the invitation of Anshey Rachamin (People of Compassion), as well as being a guest participant at the Hashivenu Conference for many years.