Headed For Israel!
Lord willing, Cindy and are leaving for Israel Tuesday morning July 3rd! We are taking a vacation / sabbatical of sorts for a couple of weeks, followed by another couple of weeks at our International Foursquare Convention in Jerusalem sandwiched between days of touring in Israel & Greece. I'm inviting you to "come along" on our journey... electronically of course! This will be my first try at blogging, and after looking at all the options I feel that this is the best way to keep in touch with any who care to follow along.

To say that we are excited would be an understatement. There are so many things about this trip that are pivotal for Cindy and I. I will share just a few…

*In September we celebrate 30 years of marriage! This trip is a start on that celebration. Cindy and I began our relationship “officially” in Israel… it is really where we “fell in love” over 30 years ago in early 1977. Each of us knew that we cared about the other before Cindy left for Israel in late December of 1976, but we weren’t at all sure that the feelings were mutual or how strong they were until after she left to work in Israel and I went to join her a short time later. Vered Hagalil (a guest ranch where Cindy worked) and the hills around the Sea of Galilee hold many great memories for us… We will spend almost a week in the Galilee area, walking, visiting old familiar places, and hopefully seeing some old friends. We will also spend a bit over a week in Eilat, enjoying the majesty of the Red Sea above and below the water, with a side trip to Petra.

The picture above is of Cindy and I with the Judean Hills around Jerusalem in the background. It is one of our favorite pictures!

*We will be joined in Israel on July 17th by sixteen pilgrims who we have the privilege of leading “up to Jerusalem” as we gather along with almost 2,500 saints for our Foursquare Convention in Jerusalem sandwiched between days of touring the land. It has always been a dream of mine to lead teams to His Land and share my love and passion for Israel and Israel’s God in the land. To get to do so with this group of friends is so deeply meaningful to me. And my hope is to do it again in a few years, so those of you who were not able to join us can do it then!

*After more than 25 years of licensed Foursquare ministry Cindy and I will be “officially” ordained, and the ceremony will be in Jerusalem! I cannot tell you what this means to both of us at this season… God knows. By God’s grace and with Cindy’s hard work she has received her International Foursquare ministerial license (Yay Cindy!) and the National Board has approved her ordination as well. This has been a healing Process for us and we are believing for fresh anointing from Jesus as we continue to live out our commitment to Him to serve His precious bride.

We've created a team blog that is at http://www.israelteam2007.blogspot.com/. They will be posting their comments on the trip, and you are welcome to follow along there as well.

This will be the longest that we've been away from home and Church in our entire marriage. From beginning to end it will be just over a month. Cindy and I aren't good at "getting away", but we're getting better. The last time I missed a Sunday was February of 2005! My apprehension has turned into peace as I think of the fine team of well prepared servants that will be doing ministry at Living Way Church in Lakewood while we're gone, as well as the wonderful family that will be staying in our house during that time.

Thanks for going on this journey with us... We love you!

Thanks for your love and prayers, Tom & Cindy