Promoting your trip:
Bringing a group on a study program is one of many steps in making disciples of Jesus. If the people are a part of your church, you are simply adding another venue through which they can learn more about the God they serve and the Savior they love. This will be a life-changing experience, so you needn’t feel reluctant to talk about the trip, explaining its benefits, and speaking of the anticipated experience. It’s good for the participants, and will help them love and serve Jesus more effectively for a lifetime!
Perhaps more will join with your group if you forthrightly explain why you want them to go and what you anticipate will happen in and to them. Here are some means of communication that may be useful:
→ Announce the trip during any regular announcements, whether at church services, Bible study, or any venue where people who want to grow are in attendance.
→ Ask our office for some posters of your trip and place them in conspicuous places.
→ If you are a Pastor or Minister, connect the passages that are a part of your study to the geography and culture of the Bible, remarking that these are the kinds of things people can learn through touring.
→ You may find it helpful to use video or still shots of the place in the text, allowing people to see your past trips and, at the same time, gain some understanding of the terrain and nature of the land they are reading about in the text.
→ Some leaders have found that if they post social media articles about things related to the land, they generate interest for their tour.
→ Most group leaders hold an information meeting to lay out the plans for the trip and to answer general questions a new traveler may have. CTSP can send someone or
meet with your group via Zoom if that would be desired. Several group leaders tell us that hold an informal “get together” and serve Israeli foods... pita, hummus, cucumbers or Halva, and Baklava, (sweet treats), they purchase at a local grocery store in the “kosher food” section. Throw in some dates, nuts and figs to add some “nash” items ... recognizing that all of these foods require little preparation beyond opening a bag and plating them. If you are more adventurous, you my want to make falafel balls (the mix is found in many grocery stores), or even break some eggs and make a delicious “shaksuka.” Other group leaders say they like to hold the meeting in a place where they have decorated the room with blue and white (the color of the Israeli flag). If you have screen capability in your meeting room, you may use powerpoint to show slides of sites you will visit (if you need these images, contact out office and we’ll get something put together for you!) In addition, if you want to engage people in “group play,” ask us for a “geography quiz” you can offer with interesting facts about certain Biblical sites.