Main Street Baptist Church

Pastor Chuck took a Holy Land Pilgrimage from February 9 to 19, 2009.  Here is just a bit of the story of the trip.   

I returned to the United States on February 19th.  Our group landed at JFK in New York at 6:00 a.m. after a twelve hour flight from Tel Aviv, Israel. We had been up for about 31 hours at that point. I then had to fly down to Richmond and then drive home to Luray. When I finally went to bed that night, I had been up for 47 hours.

 I was tired, but filled with awesome memories of a great trip.  The Knights Templar were wonderful to give all the pastors such an experience.  Our tour company, Gate 1 Travel, was terrific: everything was arranged and there were no hitches along the way. Our tour guide, Ezra, was just fantastic and so knowledgable. 

We took a whirlwind tour of Israel from Jaffa to Caesarea to Mt. Carmel to Galilee to the Jordan River to Nazareth to Jerusalem to The Dead Sea to Masada and Qumran, and also to Bethlehem, which is in Palestinian control. 

Some experiences were most memorable:

* Being baptized in the Jordan River

* Eating a "Peter's Fish" meal at the Sea of Galilee

* Floating in the Dead Sea

* Walking on the steps where Jesus walked in Jerusalem

*Seeing the traditional sites of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus

*Seeing the traditional birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem

* Standing in a dungeon where Jesus might have been imprisoned for a while

* Sharing communion with my fellow pastors in the Garden of Gethsemane

* Visiting Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial and museum in Jerusalem

I will never forget this experience for it has given me a whole new way to read the Bible.  I can now see the places I read about because I have been there.

                                              Chuck Jolley

Western Wall in Jerusalem

The Temple Mount in Jerusalem