“Musicianary” Celeste Yohai: A Life of Love, Joy, and Service
Photos courtesy of Karen Lafferty and others
Celeste Yohai
Celeste Yohai, one of the early missionaries sent out from Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, CA, in 1980, passed on June 20 at her home in Amsterdam after serving there for 46 years.
Celeste Yohai grew up in a broken Jewish family near Hollywood, CA. Naturally gifted in music, she and her blind twin sister would often play and sing together. She was kicked out at age 19; soon, depression smothered the music in her heart and she stopped playing. A Christian co-worker invited her to church. “I had grown up with a lot of violence in my home, so I wasn’t used to the kindness she showed me,” Celeste recounted in a 2017 interview, citing: “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and restraint and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4b NASB). One night she visited a Bible study at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. Hearing the Good News that Christ would forgive all her sins, she eagerly followed Him as her Lord and was born again.
Gifted in Worship
Growing in God’s love birthed a new kind of music in her. “As soon as I came to the Lord, I started writing songs again,” she reminisced. “I just sat and worshiped the Lord for hours, and these songs would come out.” Within a year, she was leading worship at a home Bible study in Newport Beach.
My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Psalm 45:1
Celeste taught herself to play guitar as a teen with her twin sister. When she accepted Christ in her early 20s, she immediately began penning worship songs inspired by her time alone with God.
At CC Costa Mesa, Pastor Chuck Smith’s verse-by-verse Bible teaching renewed her mind. “I remember going through the Old Testament with [Pastor Chuck]. On Sunday morning, I would go to all three services and just drink it in,” she said. Celeste, 25, visited her Jewish mother, who saw the change in her. “My mom said, ‘You didn’t just change religions; your whole being has changed.’ I told her, ‘That’s what Jesus does.’”
Eager young musicians with a heart to bring Jesus to Holland gathered at the YWAM Heidebeek campus in Heerde, Netherlands, for a Musicians For Missions summer of service training in 1982, led by Eddie & Vicki Huff (back row, far left) Karen Lafferty (front far left), Celeste (behind sign, navy shirt), and Cindy Lawrie (beside her, behind sign). Second from right, back row, is Belinda Kuhn; Belinda and Karen still mentor musicians and missionaries with YWAM from the U.S. Photo courtesy Belinda Kuhn
Kay Smith also became a mother figure to her. “She had the biggest heart of mercy of anybody I knew. Her heart just so went out to people who were hurting. My heart goes out to the hurting now, too,” Celeste noted. “I think about the poor, the refugee, people in my neighborhood; my heart just lives with them and goes out to them. [Kay] was always an example of that to me—and teaching, always encouraging. She was a mom to everybody.” Friends recalled that Celeste was known for helping elderly people in her neighborhoods with their gardens and other needs.
Called to Holland
In her twenties, Celeste (far left) sings in “Konsert voor de Koning” (Concert for the King) during a worship tour in Holland. Photo courtesy of Karen Lafferty
As Celeste sought God’s will, she felt a call to give her life fully to making Jesus known. As she led worship for Calvary Chapel college-age groups and women’s retreats, the Lord spoke to her. “There was a missionary speaker at one retreat, Joy Dawson. After I shared a song, she looked at me and said, ‘Honey, the Lord told me to pray for you. God’s going to use you.’” Celeste was unsure what that meant. As Joy shared a message on the fear of the Lord, she urged the women, “Give up your rights so that others could have the right to know who Jesus is.” Later, Celeste prayed that prayer: “Lord, I give up my rights so others can know You.” As she prayed, she sensed the Lord impress on her that He would require her to lay down all of her rights for Jesus.
Belinda (left) shares while Celeste (center) plays guitar during a Musicians for Missions Band street outreach in Spain in the 1980s.
Celeste (left) sings with the Christian missionary band Judah at the Konsert voor de Koning tour.
Celeste stayed in contact with her supporters and prayer warriors in the U.S. through newsletters and the “Praise and Prayer” section of Calvary Chapel Magazine.
Karen Lafferty (left) and Celeste Yohai called themselves "musicianaries" for Jesus.
Celeste had gotten to know fellow musician Karen Lafferty, a popular singer/songwriter during the Jesus Movement who wrote the familiar chorus “Seek Ye First.” Karen had been traveling around the world, sharing Christ through music. One night as Celeste prayed, she sensed that Jesus’ words to the rich young ruler were God’s calling for her to go to the mission field: “Sell all that you have ... and come, follow Me” (Luke 18:22). Celeste quit her job and joined Karen in Holland with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). After discipleship training school and Dutch language classes, the two young women and a handful of others shared the Gospel through music, evangelism, and Bible study. “Our first two years, we did mostly music. It took me a few years to realize I was a missionary,” Celeste chuckled, and often referred to herself as a “musicianary.”
Karen remembered, “She was one of my first recruits for Musicians For Missions (MFM). And such a faithful servant of the Lord all these years in Amsterdam, Holland. A beautiful, unique person. Her love for Jesus shined through her in a sincere, loving way. We will miss her greatly, but we praise God we will see her again.”
Celeste (second from right) helping at a Musicians For Missions (MFM) booth with other MFM staff at a music festival.
Friends Remember Her Warmth
Having grown up playing guitar, Celeste learned drums and harmonies to sing for Jesus. Here are Celeste (second from left back row) and Karen Lafferty (second from left, front row) at a Musicians For Missions staff retreat in Holland in 1985. While they worked with YWAM in Holland, both ladies grew at CC Costa Mesa and left all to serve in Holland in 1980. Karen founded the still-active Musicians For Missions.
Organized by Karen, a group of more than 20 friends and family—many current and former missionaries—joined an online call from all over the world to celebrate and remember Celeste two weeks after her passing.
“Celeste had a tough beginning; her parents had two sets of twins within 10 months, and then her father died when she was seven. She a hard life with a single working mom, but she took care of all her siblings until she left home. Then she found you guys [at Calvary Chapel]. That helped her find her calling,” said her cousin Rhonda Weiss Maroney. “We all loved her and still love her.”
Former missionary Mary Ellen Armbruster, who later served as a chaplain in the U.S., was a new missionary when Celeste had shared helpful counsel: “You don’t have to do everything; just do exactly what God calls you to do.”
Mary Ellen recounted a fond memory of Celeste. The two women had been on a musical tour in South Africa with Karen Lafferty. One day they were shopping in Pretoria. “The clerk came out with a black eye,” recalled Mary Ellen. “She told us she was in a car accident. After Celeste and I left, I kept feeling we should go back and pray for her. ... Finally, Celeste said, ‘Let’s go back and pray for her.’”
Celeste (right) with Karen Lafferty and Mary Ellen Armbruster at “Together in Harmony”, an anti-apartheid rally in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1990. Known for her song “Seek Ye First,” Karen brought her music and the message of salvation through Jesus Christ all over the world.
They told the woman, Marina, that they were Christians and would like to pray for her. “She took us back to her office and told us that she had lied to us. She was in her second marriage, and her husband had been beating her, and she hadn’t told anybody. Her family members didn’t want her to leave her husband. Celeste told her, ‘God doesn’t like divorce, but He doesn’t want you to be a battering ram for your husband.’ We prayed for her, and she rededicated her life to Jesus Christ. Two months later, we learned that her husband had killed her and himself. It still hits me today thinking about it, that we were able to go back and pray with her to recommit her life to Christ,” Mary Ellen said with a teary smile. “I have a feeling that when Celeste entered Heaven, Marina was in line waiting to meet her.”
Many of her friends remembered her faithfulness to the Lord, always willing to go and serve, or to help someone in need.
Celeste had been in a Christian band called Judah. Her former band mate, Fred Dallenbach, reflected: “She took God at His word. Her songs were just a real, beautiful reflection of the reality of her life with God.” He cited lyrics to one of her songs: Here I am; I will go in a world where lies prevail/How will they find a place of rest for their soul?/Here I am, send me. He added, “She was a beautiful example of God’s grace and a willing heart to follow the Lord and belong to Him. We are so grateful for her.”
Audience of One
Celeste had not been feeling well in the weeks before her death. Though medical tests had revealed nothing, she was in her front garden on June 20 when she collapsed and could not be revived. She was 77 years old. Her church, Rafaël Amsterdam Noord, held a packed memorial service for her on June 28: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our friend, church member, and worship leader Celeste Yohai.” She served the Lord in Holland for 46 years.
Though Celeste would have liked to have children, she confessed in 2017, she was grateful for the faithful, personal love of Jesus Christ, and for all the friends and their children whom she had enjoyed in her life. She often babysat, worked with countless teens and young adults, and encouraged young people in their musical gifts.
Belinda Kuhn, who served with Celeste for many years in Holland, watched the memorial service in Amsterdam. “I was very impressed by some of the testimonies of those whose lives she had touched. One young man named Noah, maybe 15 years old, shared a teary, loving testimony. Celeste had babysat him for years, taught him many things including guitar, and mentored this young man to grow up and be a disciple of Jesus. It was so precious to see how this church had loved on her.”
Celeste enjoyed an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, shown through her life and her worship songs. One tender song she wrote, Audience of One describes:
“Come,” I hear You say in that still, quiet way...
Into Your presence You have bid me come
Into Your presence, where I’m sheltered and I’m loved
Into your presence, though I’m weak, I become strong
As I worship, as I worship before an audience of One.
They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever. Revelation 22:4-5
One of Calvary Chapel’s early missionaries to Europe, Celeste served in Amsterdam, Holland, for 46 years. She often returned home to visit her family and friends in Southern California. Here she enjoys Lulu’s Restaurant with her niece Sheena Raquel Maroney (left) and cousin Rhonda Weiss Maroney (right).
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