Will you be there?

We are gauging support for a tour of Israel that will be a reuniting of friends, many from First Baptist Brandon youth group, FSU days, and onward. It’s a time to reignite our common history, to celebrate our common faith, and to be together again as a community of friends, packing up the dreams, in the fertile soil… of the Holy Land. As we all know, Gary Alley married Sharon in Jerusalem and they are raising their three boys in the center of it all, just about 4 miles from the Old City. He is a co-pastor at Narkis Street Congregation, the same place he first attended and served in some 25 years ago.

The tour would center us in Jerusalem and then go out to the major sites of our faith story including Caesarea, where Peter baptizes Cornelius, Nazareth, home of Jesus, the Galilee region, where Jesus spends so much of his ministry, Qumran, where the Dead Sea scrolls were found, Jerusalem, where Jesus died and resurrected, where the Holy Spirit came, and so much more. We are working on the exact itinerary. Zach Kincaid is serving as tour director but Gary, expert extraordinaire will be our guide.

We are thinking middle of June 2022. The tour would be 14 days total, including travel and the round-about cost would be $4,000 per person. The cost would cover the tour bus and driver, most of the food, all the lodging, and all the admission into various sites. We’re still working on the exact numbers.

Right now we need to really assess interest because we’d need at least 20-25 to sign up to make this even possible. Will you be a friend forever? : ) We’ll want to confirm the number by fall 2020 with a few hundred dollar deposit by spring 2021 (believe it or not, we need to book rooms that far in advance). The balance would not be necessary until fall 2021. Make sense? Let Gary and Zach know what you think, even if it’s a big fat “No thanks”.