Just outside of Nazareth, the Valley of Megiddo.

GYI Israel continued...


March 16, 2008 (journal)

Last day in Israel! So much has happened over these past 12 days, it really is hard to begin to process it all. But, we weren’t finished yet either!

We began by heading up to the highest peak surrounding the Sea of Galilee, Mt. Arbel. You could see so incredibly far from this height; the entire area north of the Sea, the town of Magdala and the route where the ancient road came between dominant high cliffs from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee. Many battles were fought on these heights because of the caves there and the attack positions that were there.

The incredible view of the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee from atop Mt. Arbel. Along the lake in the foreground is the site of the ancient village of 'Magdala' (think Mary) and in the distance, also along the lake, is Capernaum.

We then headed towards Nazareth itself, passing through Cana, site of Jesus’ first miracle and on to Mt. Precipice on the outskirts of the city. This is the site where Jesus was likely forced by his own home townspeople to the edge of a cliff to be pushed off, but he wasn’t. What I didn’t realize was that this cliff also overlooks the Jezreel Valley, also know as the Valley of Armageddon, the site of the last battle described in Revelation. Across the valley was also Mt. Tabor, one of the sites thought to be where the Transfiguration took place; and also the site where Gideon took on the much larger Midianite army; and where Deborah inspired (on Mt. Tabor) the Israelite army to defeat the Philistines and their iron chariots. It was incredibly inspiring to look out over all of these sites from this one location and know that we serve the same God.

From this mount, we headed down and crossed the Jezreel Valley to pass the ancient and present city of Megiddo (form which Armageddon gets its name) and head up to the top of Mt. Carmel. We recounted the story of Elijah and the priests of Baal that took place up here and also looked down on the Kishon river where all of those same priests were slain by Elijah after the confrontation. It was cool to see where this place was in relation to Mt. Carmel, a very rocky place where Elijah made this stand.

We then headed to the Mediterranean coast and the ancient city of Caesarea; where Peter realized the worth of Gentiles in God’s plan, where Paul spoke before Felix, Festus and King Agrippa; and to see what an incredible capital city Herod built for Israel. It was inspiring in itself just to be on the shores of the ‘Great Sea’, but Dann Spader also spoke to us in our final assembly in the Caesarea theatre. He spoke about the fact that this was where the Gospel was sent out into the world and here we were from 53 different countries, evidence of the fact that the Gospel had gone into the entire world! This was a great place to spend a few minutes (which I did) of reflecting on God’s plan, looking out at the water and seeing the remains of this once very large and influential city.

Herod the Great's proposed capital sea-coast city for Israel, Caesarea; much of it is still intact including an artificial harbor (constructed over 2000+ years ago, imagine it!).


At Caesarea with my good friend Paul Ewing who came to GYI Israel from Osaka, Japan where he and his family are planting a church.

From Caesarea it was back to our final stop of the trip, our hotel in Tel Aviv where I write from now, anticipating my early morning start to go back to Milwaukee tomorrow! I can’t wait to share all of this with my wife, Shelly…it would have been so much better to have her here…but I hope all of you can catch a little of what God did in my heart over these past days.



It’s hard to put it all into words, what an experience it was to be with all of these other youth leaders, to share in a great conference and to experience Jerusalem and Israel. But I think our guide for these past 5 days, Hannah, said it best. “Before, you had a 2-dimensional idea of where the events of the Bible took place; now you have a 3-dimensional idea. Tell your friends and families not to wait until they’re old to take the opportunity to visit Israel; as Joshua and Caleb came back with the favorable report, as opposed to the rest of the spies, go home and do the same!” Well put Hannah.

At the 'Gates of Hades' in Caesarea Philippi; location of the Temple of Pan in the first century AD.

GYI Israel continued...

March 15, 2008 (journal)

This day is hard to describe and even harder to take in because we essentially covered the entire area north of the Sea of Galilee where 80% of Jesus’ recorded ministry took place.

We began by driving along the eastern and northern shores of the lake eventually making our way up to the northern-most reaches of present day Israel; a finger of territory that goes up between Lebanon and Syria. Along the way we saw the Golan Heights to the east and understood first-hand how that disputed territory creates a difficult situation for Israel if it would be given back to Syria; particularly for the farmers along the eastern shore of the Sea who had one time drove armoured tractors to guard against attack. We also passed the Genesseret region where the demon possessed man was freed and the spirits were sent into the pigs nearby. On the northern shore we went past Bethsaida, over the Jordan river on the north side of the lake, and up to the ancient area of Dan. The Dan river source is right in the area where Jeroboam erected a golden calf for the northern kingdom of Israel, but it’s also the site where Canaanite idols were worshiped (near the Dan source) and a tell is which was a series of Canaanite and Israelite cities, one on top of the other. We saw a gate here from King Ahab’s time into the city of Dan and a courtyard/market area as well. Interestingly, in one of the walls in that courtyard, one of the stones found there had markings on it that was an inscription by King Ben-hadad of Assyria who won a victory over the Israelites at this site. The inscription mentions the “House of David” as being defeated here; the first mention ever found of King David outside of the Bible.

We were also shown and told about contemporary conflicts right in this same area; where Lebanon (Hezbollah) forces had attacked and burned relatively newly planted Israeli forests; where Syrian forces have a well fortified fence and signs warning of land mines (from the 6-day war in 1967) still are posted.

We then went to a place I had been anticipating the entire time we’ve been in Israel; Caesarea Philippi. This being at one of the other 2 sources of the Jordan River besides the Dan river, it became a site of worship to the god Pan and had a history of incredibly defiled pagan worship and was known as the “gates of Hades” in Jesus’ day by the large cave in the same location where this pagan worship temple was. Because I had a heard a Ray Van der Laan teaching from this sight a while ago regarding us as the church being on the ‘offensive’ against even the ‘gates of Hades’; I was hoping that someone would be sharing this truth. Sure enough, Josh Patty who works with Josiah Venture in Slovenia was asked to and did share on that very subject as we stood on the site of that ancient pagan temple! Peter’s confession of truth about who Jesus really was/is takes on an awesome relevancy when you consider the context of this place where it was said. For me (and I think a number of others), this was the most exciting and relevant on site teaching we had; particularly because Josh shared how dark his ministry context really is and how the Baptist church in that country had done very little in over 80 years of existence. A very exciting piece of Scripture when you understand the context!

One of the carved out niches in the side of the mountain of the Temple of Pan where idols were placed over 2000 years ago. If you look closer, there's an inscription you can read underneath the niche (that is, if you can read Latin!).

This site is also known as the Banias spring and a little ways away from the original temple site, we walked to a large waterfall and along the continuation of the swift river that eventually becomes part of the Jordan. From there, we made our way back to the Sea of Galilee and were treated to a fish dinner at a restaurant right on the northern shore of the lake. It was great Tilapia; tropical fish which is actually native to the area…the Sea of Galilee creates a tropical, humid climate around its shores allowing for the growth of many plants, crops and fish!

At the shores of the Sea of Galilee after a great fish dinner; seems appropriate!

We then headed over to the site of the Sermon on the Mount and had an opportunity to sit alone on the hillside for a short time as well and see the church erected on the same hillside. The next stop was where Jesus spent a lot of time and where Peter lived with his mother-in-law, Capernaum. It’s a small coastline town where we heard a reading from one of the many scriptures that take place here. We then headed onto boats for a cruise on the Sea itself! While on the boat, Israeli music played, people danced and Denis from Romania shared an inspiring message regarding Jesus walk on the water (this water!) and calming of the storm. We landed at the dock at Tiberius and got onto our buses to head back to our ‘villas’ and dinner, but the day wasn’t quite over yet. Those that were interested were invited to back to Tiberius for a multi-media presentation called “The Galilee Experience” that chronicled 4000 years of history in this region, from Abraham until the present.

The synagogue at Capernaum that Jesus often attended.


Dancing aboard the "Jesus Boat"!

An incredibly inspiring (and tiring!) day where I felt like we truly walked in the footsteps of Jesus and heard his message anew on the Galilee shores and at Caesarea Philippi.

In Scythopolis; a tiled inscription in Greek along the main street ('Cardo') from the 7th century Byzantine period amazingly preserved.

GYI Israel continued...

March 14, 2008 (journal)

Unfortunately it was time to leave on this morning and begin to head north along the Dead Sea and the Jordan River. Our stops began first with Qumran, the site of the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls. We walked around the excavations of the Essene community that lived at this site and were responsible for creating and hiding the scrolls in the first century BC. It is amazing to understand that previous to the discovery of these scrolls, the earliest Biblical manuscripts were 1000 years newer and that the scrolls showed that current editions of the Old Testament were entirely accurate with them! Amazing stuff!

A view of what has become known as 'Cave #1' where the first of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947.

We then began a 2 hour drive along the Jordan Valley passing by Jericho; which has the distinction of being the oldest and lowest city on earth. Unfortunately for us, it lies in West Bank territory and it’s not possible for an Israeli tour bus to go there. We then made it to the region south of the Sea of Galilee and the ancient (and current) city of Beth Shean and the Roman and Byzantine city known as Scythopolis. A tell at this site contains 20 layers of ancient cities and is where Saul and his 3 sons committed suicide and David wrote his lament. But, the most impressive thing to see here is the ruins of the city the Romans constructed, Scythopolis, which was part of the Decapolis referenced in the Gospels. Because of where it is, Jesus would almost assuredly been here. What’s amazing is that this has only been uncovered in the last 20 years and the immensity of what was uncovered and how well so much of it has been preserved. A theatre, streets, baths and meticulously placed tile, everywhere, and all still in tact. We even had an assembly of our entire 5 bus group in the theatre and we didn’t even come close to filling a 10th of it! David from Zambia gave us all a short devotional. This was an amazing and huge uncovering of this ancient city. In fact, it had been entirely covered over by earth to a depth of over 15 feet; all of which was excavated. The life of this city ended abruptly in the 8th century with an earthquake and one of the former inhabitants was even found under a fallen pillar with a bag of coins in his skeleton hand!

Using the toilet "Roman-style"; apparently privacy wasn't much of a concern!
A view over the entire excavated city of Scythopolis; all uncovered in the last 20 years. The theatre is at the other end of the city, the 'Cardo' (main drag) to my left lined with pillars.

We then arrived at our hotel; beautiful ‘villa’-style individual rooms looking out over the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee. An incredible ending to a great day.

On top of the fortress 'Masada'.

GYI Israel continued...


March 13, 2008 (journal)

This was the day that we would go to Masada, the fortress that Herod the Great constructed on sharp cliffs overlooking the Dead Sea. But, what Masada is most known for is the last stand of 200 Jewish zealots and their families when Rome was trying to root out all opposition after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD. These 200 holed up in Masada with the Romans closing in all around them. Over the course of 3 years the Romans camped out around Masada and began a task of building a ramp to lay siege on the fortress and overtake them. It not only took 3 years for them to make the ramp (with much assistance from other Jews that they had captured previously), but it took 3 months for them to break through once having started the assault on the fortress. An amazing account (with thanks to Josephus Flavius). It was very cool to see all that had been constructed at this place; palaces, huge cisterns, even a synagogue. It was a huge fortress! It was also neat to get there via a cable car!

The view from atop 'Masada'.

The Romans' ramp that was constructed over 3 years to assault the Zealot group holed up in Masada in AD 73.

From Masada some of the group went to Ein Gedi for the hike that those of us who were a part of the pre-conference had done the previous week; the rest of us headed back for rest and relaxation at the hotel! Finally. We had been keeping quite the pace for over a week at that point and an afternoon of relaxing was appreciated by just about everyone.
A view of sunset over the Dead Sea with the Mountains of Edom in the background in the east.

GYI Israel continued...

March 12, 2008 (journal)

With the GYI Summit ending the evening before, it was now time to begin the 5-day Post-Conference Study Tour of Israel. It turned out that my roommate Nicky would also be on the same bus (#4 of 5 altogether) and that we also would be roommates in our hotel at the Dead Sea!
As we left the Regency hotel in Jerusalem, we didn’t leave Jerusalem itself just yet as our first stop was at ‘Yad Vashem’, the Holocaust Museum. The Holocaust left such an indelible mark on the Jewish people that the nation of Israel even created a law that such a museum would have to be constructed in remembrance of this incredibly great tragedy. Yad Vashem actually has a few different elements to it.

The first thing that was pointed out to us was a number of trees on the site with plaques next to them honoring 22,111 Gentiles (Oskar Schindler is one) who had something to do with helping Jews escape the Holocaust. We then headed into a hall of remembrance for the 1,100,000 children ages 1 hour to 18 years that died. We walked through a room of darkness, candles and mirrors and as we walked through, names, ages and countries of these young victims were read, echoing through the room. Just as I was about to exit the room, I heard the name of a child who was 9 years old and immediately my thoughts went to Kameron as tears came to my eyes. The horrors of the Holocaust being inflicted on innocent children is too much to take….

At the Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem, our guide shares about this sculpture depicting Janusz Korczak, who tried unsuccessfully to save the children of his Warsaw orphanage.

After this we spent 1 ½ hours in the museum itself. It is not only an incredibly well done factual experience explaining all of the factors over many years that led to the Holocaust but there are also repeated video testimonies scattered throughout the museum experience where now older Jewish men and women tell their stories of horror and escape; most of them recalling for the first time these horrific experiences from their childhood. It’s hard to explain the impact this all has on you because it doesn’t seem that it could possibly be real somehow and that it could have happened within the past 70 years. It also forces me to come face to face with my own German heritage and the fact that this happened at the hands of German people; a few people in the group asked me how it all made me feel in light of that….sobering to say the least.

At Yad Vashem, a remembrance room that has the names of each of the death camps tiled into the floor.

From Yad Vashem we headed to a shopping mall with a food court (we had stopped there in the previous week as well) and went to a Falafel stand; it’s pretty good stuff! After lunch, we stopped at an incredible community that basically lived underground and we walked through the tunnels/caves which had been below their homes. The rock in that area is so soft that it is quite easy to scrape away and these people carved out an immense existence underground.

An ancient underground community in the south of Israel; birds were kept in these holes and their waste used for fertilizer.

We then started to head south to the Dead Sea passing through the Valley of Elah where the confrontation of David and Goliath took place; we even had a couple people on the bus act it out as it was read! Shortly after this, we began our descent of over 500 meters to our hotel on the shores of the Dead Sea; a really nice place with a spa, Jacuzzis and even a Dead Sea water pool.

The steps Jesus was led up heading to Caiaphus' house.

GYI Israel continued...


March 11, 2008 (journal)

Our morning session was one of worship and a message by Australian Campus Crusade National Director Bill Hodgson. Bill spoke on the Good Soil that Jesus spoke about where the seed bore fruit and how that Good Soil would be where movements of multiplication would begin. I also went to the elective session on Josiah Venture’s work in Eastern Europe which was definitely inspiring to hear of their work in 11 different countries.

We began our time in Jerusalem on this day with a stop at the location of the house of Caiaphus where there is a church commemorating the place where Peter denied Christ 3 times. Prisoners’ quarters are there including a deep pit of which Christ would have been kept in below the present church building. Also of significance is a staircase up the adjoining hill where there is almost full certainty that Christ would have been brought up these stairs to be questioned by Caiaphus and then taken away to see Pilate. We spent some time alone on these stairs reflecting on what Jesus endured in this place and how he was deserted by even those closest to Him. It was quite a meaningful time.

From there we went to the Garden of Gethsemane and had the opportunity to sit among the olive trees and pray in those groves across from the east wall of Jerusalem and the Kidron Valley where Jesus prayed for us before He died. There is also a church next to the Garden that has beautiful pictures depicting Jesus’ arrest where we had time to pray and think about Jesus’ sacrifice for us.

Olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane some of which are estimated to be close to 2000 years old.

We then headed to the ‘Garden Tomb’ site which is located right next to a rock formation that bears a significant resemblance to a “Skull”. The tomb is in a Garden and according to our guide this site has a number of resemblances to the descriptions in Scripture of the place where Jesus was laid after His crucifixion. The most significant thing about the tomb however, is that it’s empty! And of course, it doesn’t matter where Jesus’ tomb is because it is empty! This is all of course the cause of much speculation as the “Church of the Holy Sepulcher” is traditionally known as the site of Golgotha…but…

The "Garden Tomb". I'm smiling because it's empty!

All 250 of us then headed up to the top of the Mount of Olives, of which Gethsemane is located at the bottom. And as we gathered at the top of Mount to commemorate where Jesus ascended to heaven, Dann Spader excitedly and quickly (because there was a freezing wind blowing!) shared about Jesus ascension from this place but also that He promised to return as well to this very same spot! Wow! All praise be to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ forever and ever!
But we weren’t quite finished yet! One final session still awaited us back at the hotel as Dave Patty shared on the 3 final conversations of Jesus at breakfast, in Galilee and in Jerusalem…and….the long-awaited GYI Summit at Jerusalem was over! But not really… as a majority of the conference participants would begin a 5-day study tour in Israel.

Dann Spader speaking to our entire group on the Mt. of Olives. To the west, a beautiful sunset over the old city of Jerusalem with the Temple Mount and the Kidron Valley in the foreground.

Also of note, are the many conversations and networking opportunities that were afforded during our days together here; divine appointments from which only God knows what will happen down the road. Over 50 countries are represented here at the GYI Summit and it’s going to be exciting to see how God uses all of these new friendships that have developed!

On the Temple Mount in Jerusalem; the Muslim shrine 'The Dome of the Rock' that commemorates where Mohammed ascended to heaven.

GYI Israel continued...

March 10, 2008 (journal)

This morning’s session with Mark Edwards had to do with ‘being’ a follower of Jesus and ‘doing’ the work of discipleship. We also had an elective session where we could go and hear about what God is doing in various parts of the world. I went to the Latin America session with an emphasis on Costa Rica which is cool because there are about 5 youth leaders/pastors here from there who only speak Spanish and it’s clear that being here in Israel is a once in a lifetime experience for them!

Our Jerusalem tour on this day began with getting 250 people on 5 buses to the entrance of the Temple Mount by a certain time because visitors are only allowed there when the Muslim authorities decide that it’s ok. Well, we got our entire group there on time and we were let in! It was a surreal experience to say the least to be able to walk on the Temple Mount. THE Temple Mount where each of the Temples were constructed and God inhabited the Holy of Holies. Today neither of the 2 main structures there are the Temple, but the mosque El Aksa and the Muslim shrine The Dome of the Rock. Our guide Shai told us that every Friday you can find 15,000 men praying towards Mecca on the Temple Mount. As we walked across these grounds, we heard how the King of Jordan in the first half of the 20th century donated the pure gold that is on top of the Dome at a price of 18 billion dollars, we saw the ancient gates of the eastern side of the city wall and Temple Mount, and we marveled at being on the sight containing 3000 years of the history of God’s people.

As we exited on the north east end of the Temple Mount, we soon found ourselves at the Pool of Bethsaida where the sacrificial animals were cleaned and approved by the Temple priests. A church was there next to that place where Jesus healed the paralytic man and we had the opportunity to sing as a group inside. We soon found ourselves walking down what is known as the ‘Via Dolorosa’ where there are countless shops and of course the 14 stations of the cross representing Jesus walk to Calvary from Pilate’s court. We walked through this Muslim quarter of Old Jerusalem where there were countless shops and had some time to shop as well before continuing on into the Jewish quarter.

Along the 'Via Dolorosa', the 5th station of the cross where Simon of Cyrene was forced by the Romans to carry Jesus' cross.

Before we left the Old City, we went past the church of the ‘Domitian of Mary’ where Catholic’s commemorate Mary’s ascension to heaven, to the Upper Room where the Last Supper was, and to the traditional site of David’s tomb.

That evening we had our worship and debriefing session but a few of us also had another rare opportunity; we would go back to the Western (Wailing) Wall and see what is known as the Rabinnical Tunnels. These tunnels were dug along the lower portions of the Western Wall in some cases right under homes in the Muslim quarter. This was a most amazing thing to see as there were perfectly preserved stones of the wall Herod constructed in the first century BC; 2 of these stones are the largest stones used in any construction in the world. The tunnels follow along the Western Wall all the way to the north-western corner of the temple walls and, of great interest and reverence to the Jews, the tunnel goes in close proximity to the site of the Holy of Holies in the original Temple. Reservations for this tunnel experience along the lower regions of the Western Wall had to be made 4 months before we came, so it was quite a unique experience that we were able to have. The only difficult part of seeing these tunnels was that we weren’t able to go until 10:30pm! But it was worth it!

Inside the Rabbinical tunnels along the Western Wall of the Temple, our guide Koren speaks to us in front of the largest stone in the world ever used in construction. It weighs 570 tons and is 44 feet long, 10 feet high and 12-16 feet deep. The next largest stone in the wall is a mere 40 feet long. The largest stone in the Great Pyramid weighs 11 tons. The wall was built by Herod the Great in the first century BC.

"Herodian" - the great man-made fortress constructed by Herod the Great in the first century BC just south of Bethlehem.

GYI Israel continued...


March 9, 2008 (journal)

Each of the next 3 full days of the GYI conference would be literally packed with morning and evening sessions as well as full afternoons in Jerusalem. Sunday March 9th started with a great session (the worship team, a multi-national group of conference participants, was great at each session) where Mark Tittley from J-Life based in South Africa shared what was for me the message with the most impact during the entire conference. Mark shared about ‘My Religion Meets the Master’ emphasizing how Jesus confronts us with the Kingdom of God and how it seems to be glaringly lacking in our Gospel presentations and at odds with religious culture and the culture at large. Profound insights regarding ‘religion’ were presented as well regarding the fact that Jesus observed religious practices, James described acceptable religion and Christianity being a religion is not a call to legalism but a call for people to enter the Kingdom of God!

Mark really struck a chord with me. And it was great because that afternoon while we were in Bethlehem (go figure!) having lunch, Mark asked sat across from me and we were discussing his message and really resonating on many topics as well as current Christian authors/leaders that were inspiring us and Mark’s message that morning (can you say ‘The Secret Message of Jesus’)!

But let me back up, before we would go to Bethlehem, it was necessary for us to cross into the West Bank territory which is occupied by the Palestinians. The difference between this area and Israel is quite graphic, namely because of the huge wall separating the West Bank and Bethlehem from Israel. Old images of Berlin and new images suggesting a wall between the US and Mexico were mentioned by many….
Part of the West Bank wall at Bethlehem seperating the Palestinian occupied territory from Israel.

But, we continued through Bethlehem (for now) and on to the Herodian; a massive man-made hill south of Bethlehem constructed by Herod the Great (Rome’s appointed ‘King of the Jews’ when Jesus was born in the first century BC). It is an incredible fortress that Herod constructed largely to protect himself from his enemies which he amassed in quite a large number by his policies as well as his paranoia (he killed many members of his own family out of suspicion). There were many tunnels, sisterns and much of the palace ruins intact that we had the chance to go through. We also heard Dann Spader share with us about these fields being where the shepherds of the Christmas story heard the angel chorus, right there in the shadow of Herod’s palace.

After Herodian, we went to lunch in Bethlehem (as was mentioned above) sang Christmas Carols (!) and listened to the testimony of a Palestinian pastor (Johannon) who has and still does endure incredible hardships as a Christian, but even more because of his ethnicity. Pastor Johannon shared how God had used dreams to draw him to Himself and he asked us to pray for Palestinian Christians and their plight behind these walls…. We also saw an incredible (and huge) scale model of Jerusalem at the time of Christ that had the entire temple constructed.

Pastor Johannon sharing with us over lunch in Bethlehem.

Our evening session (and the other 2 to follow) was one of worship and debriefing what we had experienced that day which was very helpful for the whole day’s experience.

The streets of Jerusalem....

GYI Israel continued...

March 5-8, 2008 (journal)

My niece, Megan dropped me off at Goerkes Corners for the bus after saying good-bye to Shelly and Kameron in the morning. I slept almost the entire way as the bus made its way down from Brookfield to O’hare where I had a couple of hours to wait before getting on my flight to London.

The flight seemed longer than usual because I couldn’t seem to sleep (unusual for me), but I finally ended up at Heathrow early Thursday morning after having watched 3 movies on the plane! I only had to wait a couple of hours for the flight to Tel Aviv and in a short time (4 hours or so) I was in Israel.

I was a little apprehensive as I made my way through immigration and customs because of all you hear going on in this country, but my suitcase made it as well (although the handle was entirely broken off) and I was on my way through what would prove to be some very busy but very meaningful days.

A few other folks that were also here for GYI shared a shuttle with me and we were off to Jerusalem and the Regency hotel. Once having arrived, checking in and having dinner, I headed off for bed….until midnight, when someone was trying to get into my hotel room! I had turned the dead-bolt and my newly arrived roommate (Kyle from Kuwait) couldn’t get in, so I let him in and went back to bed. But before I went to bed, I sat on the edge of the bed thinking that it was already morning and that I had already slept through the night! But once I figured out that I still had at least 6 more hours to sleep and had a laugh about it with Kyle, I fell right back to sleep.

We started Friday morning early, as would be our daily routine, checking out of the hotel and loading on a bus. We headed for the old city of Jerusalem and began a walking tour through the Armenian and Jewish quarters that would led us eventually to the Western or “Wailing” Wall. Along the way, our guide Koren (a very cool guy and Messianic Jew by the way) pointed out a number of things of interest in this ancient city. Unfortunately, one of those things was a posted announcement regarding a funeral for a young man who had just been shot the night before; one of 8 in a Hebrew University campus that had been shot by a Palestinian teenager. It kind of sobered him for a moment and then we moved on….

It’s interesting when you arrive at the Wailing Wall. We heard an orientation regarding it and then were given the option of going closer. After initially heading down the wrong side (I was heading into the women’s section !), I made my way up to the wall. I passed and took pictures of a Bar Mitzvah taking place near-by, saw numerous Orthodox Jews reading their ‘Torahs’ and even heard a ‘Shofar’ being blown. It seemed ok to do so, so I went up to the wall myself and put my hand on it; it’s hard to explain what started to come over me at that point, a flood of feeling, impressions and definitely the presence of God as I really didn’t say much but was spoken to through these impressions and the Holy Spirit’s presence there….that’s about all I can describe….

There was definitely a feeling of kinship as well with all of the Jewish believers around me that’s hard to explain. Being the first full day of the trip, this experience seemed to define in a way some of what God may be about in this time in Israel. Being at the wall, we were also able to go into an inside area where many men were praying and reading the Torah at the Western Wall. We spent some more time around Jerusalem and then got back in our bus and began our journey south into the Judean Desert where we would spend the night at a Bedouin Camp.

The Bedouin Camp was an oasis in the region of the ancient and modern cities of Arad and definitely in the wilderness! We were first treated upon arrival there by a camel ride in the desert; our camel was not too pleased with lifting up me and my invited friend from Japan, Paul Ewing! The camel made all kinds of noises as he lifted us up and as he let us down!

Paul and I upon our less than pleased camel!

A Bedouin man shared with us about their way of life, made us some bread on an open fire with coffee and tee and also shared some of his music with us on his lute. After a great dinner where we sat on mats in a large tent, we had some time together as a group to worship and share some thoughts with each other about our experiences so far. About 150 youth leaders were a part of these initial 2 days of pre-conference before the GYI Summit officially began in Jerusalem.

Before going to bed (in a very large tent with 120 other men!), my new friend Kyle and I took a walk out away from the camp to get away from the lights and see all of the stars. We talked about the fact that this area really looks no different today really than it did back when the Israelites would have been wandering in the desert for 40 years. Getting back to the tent, we were greeted by a chorus of 120 snoring men which made it a little hard to get to sleep!

Waking up the next morning we descended over 500 meters to the lowest place on earth, the Dead Sea. We went north along the Dead Sea’s western shoreline (which is receding at the rate of 1 meter a year) to Ein Gedi where we had a 1 ½ hour hike up the stream to a waterfall. It was cool to think about this area where David had hid from King Saul with its cliffs, heights, shady areas and interesting animals (some of which we saw; ibeks, hyraxes).

It was then time to continue on to the northern edge of the Dead Sea before we headed west and ‘up’ to Jerusalem, the Regency Hotel, and the GYI Summit where about 100 additional youth leaders would join us! We had our Opening Session that night with Dann Spader, president of GYI, sharing what it will take to see a movement of God among the youth of the globe.

I also met my new roommate Nicky Joya, a professor at a Seminary in the Philippines, this night and we spent some good time getting to know each other; many other meetings/networking/friendship opportunities would take place as well.

(to be continued)

GYI Jerusalem 2008



As we mentioned on our March 25 post, I (Randy) had the incredible opportunity to attend the Global Youth Initiative (GYI) Summit in Israel from March 5-17! (http://www.globalyouthinitiative.com/)


GYI had been working over the past 2 years towards a large gathering or ‘Summit’ of Leaders that are involved with raising up the next generation of Christian leaders world-wide. The ‘Summit’, Jerusalem 2008, was an unprecedented gathering of 250 leaders representing 53 countries that came together. The theme of the conference was ‘Jesus On Location’ and was a gathering quite unlike anything anyone there had ever experienced before.


All 250 GYI participants standing on the Mt. of Olives. The Temple Mount (including the Dome of the Rock) in the old city of Jerusalem is in the background.



Blowing one shofar was not enough to start off GYI!

Often when people are asked about what it was like to go to Israel, there is a difficulty, as there is with many who travel cross-culturally, in explaining and communicating through words and 2-dimensional pictures what can only be explained experientially. Israel is no different, except that the added dimension for many people (myself included) is that if you’ve grown up reading the Bible and studying the lives of the Israelites, Jesus and the early church, you’re no doubt familiar with all of these places in Israel and you find yourself walking/seeing/feeling and yes, even smelling all that once was only words on a page!


Very hard to express, but yet, I would definitely have to say that Israel is a place that everyone should experience sometime.

In addition to the experience of being in Jerusalem and the land of Israel as a tourist/pilgrim (?), etc. as many others have done, Jerusalem ‘Summit’ 2008 participants also had the programming/teaching/dialogue of the conference to experience, and countless networking opportunities among the 250 attendees. All this to say, it continues to be quite a lot to get one’s head around! I’m sure pictures, feelings and images will continue to come to mind for a long time.


An opportunity for Randy to pray at the Western Wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.



Nicky Joya, a Seminary professor from Manila in the Philippines and Randy’s roommate at GYI on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

The great thing about our (Gateway Teams') participation in GYI is that it has been more about the networking opportunities created in such an alliance of organizations than anything else (although the time in Israel and the Jerusalem ‘Summit’ itself was obviously an incredible opportunity!). When we were invited to be a part of GYI 2 years ago at the meetings in Malaysia, that opportunity proved to be very instrumental in the formation of “New Vision-New Aim” and the idea of Gateway Teams being strategically involved in discipleship and leadership iniatives.

So now, as we have networked these past couple of years with our GYI connection with Sonlife Africa/J-Life (Cameroon) and ‘developing connections’ with Sonlife Latin America (Mexico), BIG (Romania), and Josiah Venture (Bulgaria) that were all formed and/or strengthened at GYI Malaysia, we’ve seen Gateway Teams moving forward under the priorities of “New Vision-New Aim”. And, after some discussions at the Jerusalem ‘Summit’ with these ‘developing connections’, we’re excited to see what form our Mexico, Romania and Bulgaria work will take in the years ahead in the areas of discipleship and emerging leader development.


The networking component of GYI and this Jerusalem ‘Summit’ in particular was a powerful thing! As were the great challenges we had during the conference and during our time seeing the city of Jerusalem and Israel – (go to http://www.globalyouthinitiative.com/ to download audio files of those sessions and see more pictures).

What a great opportunity! And what a tremendous time we live in, having the opportunity to develop community and share resources across many borders, cultures and languages!




At the “Gates of Hell” (really!) in Caesarea Philippi, site of Peter’s confession, ‘You are the Christ’ – Matt. 16:13-20. Please take a moment and check out the context of this passage; an incredible truth for the church. We are on the offensive!

Thanks for reading and for your prayers!
- Randy

PS - although daily blogging was not possible for me from Israel, I still journaled almost everyday. Those journal entries will appear daily over the next week or so with additional pictures....thanks for reading!