Pastors and church leaders can enrich the lives of fellow Christians by encouraging them to take advantage of Scripture-based tours. As they take the opportunity to travel together, they enjoy fellowship and see the world through the lens of Scripture. As pilgrims experiencing a life-changing tour, they will thank you for the rest of their lives for making it possible for them to take advantage of this opportunity.

Taking a Scripture-based tour and seeing the sites in places such as Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho and Rome means your staff and members will:

Expand their Bible knowledge. Read the Bible in color. If you have been on a pilgrimage, I need say no more. If you have not, you will visualize the Scriptures.

Learn about foreign cultures. You will gain a new understanding of problems your missionaries encounter in travel and living in a foreign land.

Learn the geography. You will gain new insights into how biblical events relate to one another. See Bible events as more than stories, but real time and place history.

Visit New Testament sites. Visit sites from Ephesus to Thesoloniki, then to Rome and Athens. Bible knowledge will come with each visit.

Sense the history. See on-the-ground prophecy being fulfilled. Gain a new perspective of current events.

Extend the ministry. Lead the people of your congregation in travel and the discovery of biblical knowledge.

Evangelize. Invite the unchurched to travel with your group and begin a continuing ministry in their lives.

Teach biblical truths and application where Bible events took place. The people you take on tour will never be the same. Their faith will be strengthened and lives changed. I have witnessed people who were speechless when attempting to thank their tour leaders for letting them come.

There are benefits for the tour leader and the tour member. Few Christian leaders have the financial resources to visit Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the rest of the world, and must learn about these locations through books and films. Becoming a tour host enables the leader to enlarge his travel experience and add to his knowledge of the world. By organizing and conducting tours, the tour host attains this knowledge without personal expense and actually can have cash in hand to underwrite extra expenses or provide resources for later travel. As a tour host, the leader can extend his ministry.

Tour hosts can earn free trips for recruiting passengers that they enlist on the tour. For each paying passenger not counted toward a free trip, the host receives a commission of 10 percent of the tour's selling price in cash. There is no limit to the number of free trips that can be earned with Maranatha Tours.

Travel is a great way to fundraise. For instance, if you had a group of 40 join, you could earn cash to use as you wish. While traveling, you also have the opportunity to lay your ministry on their heart. Many ministries have a list of needs that they share on the tour bus, pray for and fundraise for while on the tour.

You will also have the opportunity to lock in long-term support. One of our ministries has shared with us that passengers that have been on their trips have given 60 percent more than the norm. This is a great long-term relationship.

The most important decision you will make regarding a spiritual tour is choosing the company that will arrange the tour. You are responsible to and for your people and must be sure they receive the best tour for dollars spent.

Look for a company, like Maranatha Tours, that specializes in tours that visit places of the Bible or history that has developed our knowledge of the Bible, and believes that touring is a ministry as well as a business. The company should have established a record of service in this very competitive market.

Join us on a life-changing journey!

Greg "The Chef" Reilly graduated from Western Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon. After he opened his own restaurant, he believed God called him to join the family tour business. He is the General Director of Maranatha Tours, and also now is producer and host of his own online show, Cooking Thru the Lands of the Bible.

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