Gateway Teams

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.