Phoenix Shout-out

I just got back from 5 fabulous days in Phoenix!! What a great time we had promoting our trip to Israel next March.  It is going to be another amazing trip and we are praying for the Lord to open doors for more folks to join us, so if you're interested -- let me know!!! Click here to visit the site and download a brochure.

Dr David Barnes, John Rinehart, Med Skeens, me,
Don Schepemaker, Michelangelo & Jon

It was a whirlwind trip that began when we got into town on Wednesday. Our friends Anita and Mark had us over for a fabulous dinner. Thursday was a flurry of activity at Southwestern College, talking with the students at chapel, a panel discussion on ministry, then lunch with the team. What a great Christian college and any college student that is interested in going to Israel with us can get 3 college credits through Southwestern!

Bowling at Lucky Strike

Then we hopped on the light rail and headed downtown for a fun night out. Michelangelo took us to a really cool place - Lucky Strike Lanes. I wasn't prepared to bowl, but it was such a fun time and the food was great!! And Don was The Man... seriously... 180+ is pretty impressive.

me, Rosie & Sandi

Friday I got to have lunch with two of the sweetest women I know, Sandi and Rosie. Sandi and I have been friends since we met on our 2009 Israel trip, but we were only Facebook friends with Rosie... until now. We enjoyed a 2+ hour lunch and got to know Rosie better. What a precious lady and what a remarkable testimony she has. Then Sandi took me to Fashion Square Mall to visit with our friend Glenda... and of course SHOP... 'nuff said :)

Friday night we went to Cibo Urban Pizzeria in downtown Phoenix. What a fun night! If you live in Phoenix, you have to visit this cool downtown bistro. They have a great menu, yummy desserts and live entertainment. Michelangelo and Jon put on a great show to promote his new cd: The Come Away Project. You can download it on iTunes or buy it here on cdbaby. Great alternative Christian rock, and you won't be disappointed.

Jon & Michelangelo
These guys will be blessing us in Israel

I got a little work done on Saturday before the party at Rick and Debbi's house. What gracious hosts they were and they allowed us to show photos of our past trips to Israel and explain our Holy Land ministry to some friends who are interested in making the pilgrimage with us. I recently blogged about our experience and vision, so click here if you'd like to read about what makes our trips distinctive.

Worship at Kineo

Sunday morning was a special blessing because I got to visit Kineo Church, a vibrant and dynamic church plant in downtown Phoenix. Jeff Skeens is a fresh, young, energetic preacher who is on-fire for Jesus. The Lord's hand is all over this faithful group, and it'll be exciting to see how He uses this fellowship for His kingdom.

And one last shout-out to Med and Gail Skeens - Dad and I can't thank you guys enough. Your gracious hospitality went above and beyond anything we could have hoped. We loved meeting your sons and their families, and you are truly blessed and you are truly blessings to everyone around you. And thanks a bunch for letting me take a catnap on your couch Sunday afternoon. The red-eye back to Roanoke was... hmm... let's just say, less than restful...

I'm so blessed to have these friends, these precious brothers and sisters in the Lord. I love the Body of Christ and how we have an instant bond because of our faith in the Lord Jesus. I'm constantly amazed at Who He is and What He does.

Pilgrimage Prayers

I'm not wishing my life away but I can't wait for March 2011 when, good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise, I will make my third visit to the Holy Land! This eight-day adventure is a once in a lifetime journey through the land of God's chosen people, and it's a trip that is bathed in prayer and very carefully planned. Israel is a very safe place to be, regardless of the images we see on American television, and walking where our Lord lived and ministered is an experience that is second to none!

There are a LOT of Holy Land tours out there, many of them hosted by internationally known Bible scholars and teachers.  Kay Arthur regularly travels to Israel and Joel Rosenberg has planned a 12-day tour in May 2011.  In fact, we bumped into Chuck Swindoll's tour this past March and were bumped from our hotel in Jerusalem because the Insight For Living tour needed more rooms! This turned out to be a blessing in disguise when we got a hotel upgrade because of them - thank you, Chuck! When we toured Masada we constantly passed Insight groups, so we decided to count them. This task was easy because each was led by a person holding up a sign that identified their color-coded group, and so we counted... and counted... and counted... and stopped at 14! Do the math on that - 14 buses with 30-40 people on each bus... unloading at each site... with bags and cameras and jackets and hats... checking in and out of hotels... with all that luggage to move and identify... Don't get me wrong, I love Chuck and Insight For Living is a wonderful ministry, but it's just plain hard to travel with a group that size!

And that's what makes our tour unique. We purposely take smaller groups because we want to create an atmosphere of community. When you tour with larger groups you HAVE to keep to a fixed schedule for logistical reasons and to accommodate the various sites, but with such large numbers moving at a set pace, it looks more like a cattle drive than a pilgrimage. We intentionally and prayerfully work toward creating community in our group.

Worship in the Shepherd's Caves
in Bethlehem

We plan times of worship, both corporate and private, and we try to keep our schedule flexible enough to allow us to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit. This past trip we had a time of prayer at the pools of Bethesda for one of our pilgrims who had been battling cancer. What a precious time it was to lay hands on him and lift him up in prayer, and to do it at the place where Jesus ministered!

This morning the Holy Spirit impressed on me to compile my list of petitions for the 2011 trip. I thought this was a little bit early to be doing that since we typically start praying about specifics a few months closer to our departure, but I went ahead and wrote them out. These are just a few of the things I am already praying for this trip:

Team: for focus; for us to guard our time in the Word; to be sensitive to the Spirit's leading before, during and after the trip; for our witness to our guide, driver, and hotel staff...

Logistics: for flights and connections and luggage, for a godly tour guide, for good weather and safe travel, for accommodations for worship at particular sites, for a God-ordained moment everyday...

Pilgrims: for the Lord to lead people to this trip, for their hearts to be prepared, that their relationship with the Lord would be deepened and forever changed, for us to bear much fruit with those around us, and to build meaningful relationships and feel a part of the family of God...

Jordan River baptisms

These are just a few of the things our team is praying as we anticipate our 2011 journey. There are lots more pictures - click HERE to see Galilee and click HERE to see Jerusalem and Judea. There is a downloadable brochure at our host's website - www.medskeens.com  If you are interested in joining us, we would love to talk with you! Please pray about it and contact me for details.

I am already praying for YOU!