Kinds of Travel
If you would like to experience the Bible Lands firsthand, recognize that you may join an announced travel package or craft a trip of your own. Each year, we build trips to many destinations across the Mediterranean Basin. These range in size from two to fifty-two persons (see here for more on group travel). Special care is given to calibrate each package to specific physical, educational, and spiritual goals. Three levels of engagement emerge.
Students from Johnson University gain orientation to Sepphoris before visiting the site. Image taken by Adrienne Griffin.
Study-Tour
First, our association with colleges and universities produce highly-focused groups that move with energy, stay at budget-level accommodations, and receive academic credit from their home institutions. Faculty members are encouraged to help shape itinerary design, educational outcomes, on-site teaching, and assessment. Reading and writing assignments augment the experience. These study-tours are typically an extension of existing curriculum. Host institutions earn credits to offset faculty costs and encourage professional development plans. For more on study tours, click here.
Dan Blanton, a member of Cincinnati Christian University'study-tour to central Turkey in 2009, captured this exquisite image. While first impressions can appear guarded, rural residents are quick to extend hospitality.
Pilgrim Tour
Second, our association with local churches and church leaders produces more traditional pilgrim-style experiences. These travel teams move at an easy pace, lodge in comfortable facilities, and place value on sightseeing, camaraderie, casual cultural engagement, and contemplative exercise. As with educational trips, church leaders may earn credits as hosts and are encouraged to participate in the planning and execution of the journey. After all, shouldn't a spiritual pilgrimage be an extension of a ministry design? For more on Pilgrim Tours, click here.
The Jesus Trail is a trekking experience that crosses Lower Galilee in Israel. Photo by Kim Wilcoxon.
Extreme Adventure
Third, our association with special individuals produce experiences that are best described as extreme adventure. Recent small group experiences include trekking (and tent camping) across Galilee (the"Jesus Trail"), walking across Spain on the Camino de Santiago, scuba diving in the Roman harbor at Caesarea, climbing Jebel Musa (the traditional Mt. Sinai) in Egypt, and climbing Agri Dagh (the traditional Mt. Ararat) in Turkey and Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. For more on extreme adventure, click here.
Georgiana and Vicki on the helipad of the cruise ship, Celebrity Reflection.
Outcomes
What kinds of trip excites you? The study-tour? The pilgrim-tour? The extreme adventure? Some combination of all of the above? Perhaps a better starting point is this question: What specific outcomes do you seek? The exercise of head, heart, or legs? If you are a group leader, maybe you should ask yourself: What specific outcomes do I desire for my group? Does it concern spiritual disciplines, team building, personal healing, global ministry awareness? There is value in these outcomes and a hundred others. Narrowing your list to what is best and what is feasible requires planning.
Many questions should be asked of your travel provider before the rush to the price tag. Cross-cultural experiences are too valuable to be wasted on bargain-basement traps with poorly aligned priorities.
If you are serious about an engagement with the Lands of the Bible, contact me here. I'd love to dream with you.
Come on. Let's discover the place where faith begins!
