Group Leaders

This page has been provided for Pastors, Priests, or Group Leaders to outline important aspects of the trip that may be beneficial to rewiew especially if this is your first tour to the Holy Land.

This page has been provided for Pastors, Priests, or Group Leaders to outline important aspects of the trip that may be beneficial to review. especially if this is your first tour to the Holy Land. These may help you answer questions of your members.

1. Safety

You’ve probably noticed already how the moment a trip to the Holy Land is raised, well meaning people will tell you it’s not safe to go there. This is a major deception against Christians having this life changing experience.

Tourism in Israel was breaking all prior year records with over 4,500,000 visitors in 2019 before Covid appeared in the world. International media reports the slightest occurrence of trouble while we’ve become numb to our bigger safety issues here.

You might address this issue continually as each of your passengers will hear the same warnings from their loved ones and even casual acquaintances. They need to be informed of these facts to reassure their family and friends.

Click on the “Journeys Unlimited Logo” immediately following this paragraph to read a letter discussing how Israel is 10 times safer than our major metropolitan areas! Although this letter is very dated, sadly crime in the USA has only gotten worse.

2. Trip Promotion

While you’re being introduced to our service and this website, we are providing you an “Emailable” flyer. This outlines the itinerary, costs, terms, and registration information.

Please make us aware of any errors in the information that we have personalized for you. We will quickly correct those and send an Emailable final flyer for you to use.

The Emailable flyer will be the least expensive method of marketing your trip. You’ll want to email that to church members, family, community contacts, and friends.

Simultaneously we can order you “Hard Copy” flyers for you to display in the church or office and hand out to prospects. This is a beautiful 4 page flyer with a separate Insurance page for you to insert.

Click on the “Journeys Unlimited Logo” immediately following this paragraph and scan the attached “12 Easy Steps to Earning Free Tours and Joining the Ministry of Travel” prepared by Journeys Unlimited.

Also click on the following “Guide Book Cover” and scan the “Christian Leader’s Tour Planning Guide” prepared by the Israel Ministry of Tourism.

Here you will find specific ideas and forms to use in promoting your trip. Use your own good judgement in deciding your specific methods of getting the word spread but be sure to scan both of these for ideas.

Here are some important general notes for you to consider. First, make a personal commitment to going on the trip before you make the announcement. People won’t take it serious until you do.

Second, encourage those persons who are contagious in their excitement and have contacts within and outside the church. They will lead others to join your group who you may not know.

Third, use the 9 month and 6 month Early Bird Discount to encourage folks to send in their deposits. Until people make a commitment with a simple $250 deposit, they are not really serious.

Last, as the group begins to form consider meeting to pray and build unity and excitement. Use the “Publications” page of this website to study the various sites on the itinerary obviously along with your Bible study.

3. Insurance Considerations

There's a great amount of "Travel Insurance" insurance information provided under the "Passenger" tab. There's also the Insurance pages attached to the Emailable Flyer and also inserted in the 4 page Flyer. But these is still basic information which may be asked of you are as follows:

Do I get back my insurance payment if I have to cancel my trip? The answer is no. Their insurance went into effect the moment they sent in their Registration Form and payment primarily for Trip Cancellation.

Why do they encourage me to commit and pay for the trip insurance right away? They will not be covered for a preexisting condition, which many of us have, if they wait over 7 days from initial registration. So it just makes sense to do it at the same they first register.

4. Costs on the Flyer

Your flyer features your tour's Base Price however there are optional costs or “Not Included” items. These are necessary to separate as not everyone will want those options.

Optional Insurance: This is optional so can’t be added to the featured prices because not everyone will wish to buy it or purchase their own plan. Or it could be a different price between passengers from different states.

Tipping: This is the amount passengers bring on the trip to give to you the Group Leader. You'll collect that from each passenger later in the trip when the bulk of it is needed. That way you're not carrying what could be over a thousand dollars until it's needed.

This is for dining room staff, bellhops, tour guide, and driver. Passengers don’t have to tip at all individually. You'll be provided a thorough break down on how much to tip each party.

Single Room Supplement: This is the additional cost someone will have to pay who is rooming alone. Hopefully each of your single passengers has someone to stay with. Three can stay in a room which is obviously crowded but saves many hundreds of dollars for that single.

Meals Not Mentioned: Hotel accommodations are part of the featured price and include breakfast and dinner. The cost of lunches are an added expense that passengers would need to be prepared to pay out of pocket.

The featured price of the trip in the large font includes round trip airfare from the departure city noted on the flyer. Transportation to that city is not included. In some cases we will assist in getting the best domestic fare.

??. Harry's Holy Land Presentation

I will be available to you almost anytime to give a one hour Holy Land Presentation to your church after your group begins to form. I’ve done over 200 of these and I bring all the equipment that is necessary.

This presentation should be open to anyone interested in learning about the Holy Land whether they’re going on the trip or not or even if they’re not members of your church. So please invite as many as possible.

The verbiage you could use to promote the presentation is as follows:

"Join Pastor (your name) of (your church name) and Harry Welton of Journeys Unlimited for an inspirational sight and sound presentation on the Holy Land. The one hour show is designed in part, for those curious to journey there with Pastor (name) and Harry Welton who has led groups to the Holy Land numerous times. But all are welcome who would like to learn about the land ‘Where Jesus Walked.’ Be sure to attend this informational meeting to learn all about the wonderful experience of visiting Israel."

Your Role in the Holy Land (Add pdf)

First time Group Leaders who have not yet been to the Holy Land sometimes feel hesitant in their roles. It’s important to understand that we have excellent Guides who do all the lecturing on the bus and at the sites.

The Pastors, Priests, and Group Leaders bring to the trip the most important element to make this a truly life changing experience for those following you. That is the spiritual and fellowship aspect of the trip.

You don’t have to have been to the Holy Land to prepare for that aspect with some simple guiding principles that we will provide you as you plan for the trip.

You might have meetings with your individual groups early in the morning or in the evening. Perhaps the most important opportunity is the devotion sites during the tour. Open the below attachment to review suggestions.

Israesl Ministry of Tourism (Add Links)

We are very fortunate to have a wonderful Israel Ministry of Tourism in the United States and Canada. Click on the Journeys Unlimited logo to see a list of the offices for the one closest to you and call their number.

Please mention that Journeys Unlimited suggested that you call and request their Pastor’s Tool Kit which contains videos and printed materials giving you even more promotional ideas.

Request copies of the “Biblical Sites for Christian Visitors” which is an outstanding booklet to give each person sincerely interested in going on the trip. This is also found on the Publications page. Click on the cover:

Go to the Home page of their website and familiarize yourself with their helpful tips for visiting Israel in addition to what you find on this website and other material you may study.

Trip Promotion

This page has been provided for Pastors, Priests, or Group Leaders to outline important aspects of the trip that may be beneficial to rewiew especially if this is your first tour to the Holy Land.

Trip Promotion

This page has been provided for Pastors, Priests, or Group Leaders to outline important aspects of the trip that may be beneficial to rewiew especially if this is your first tour to the Holy Land.