The Genesis of Kingdom Journey: From Pilgrimage to Purpose
The Jesus Boat: A model and the preserved fishing boat found in the Sea of Galilee, dated to the time of Jesus. Both are on display at Kibbutz Ginnosar.
I thought it made sense for our first blog post to be about the Kingdom Journey genesis story, so here goes: Kingdom Journey, in one phrase, is God-inspired for sure. The rest of this post shares our genesis story in more detail.
In 2010, the senior pastor at our church - Dr. Gil Watson - told our Men's Bible study group that he would make a final Holy Land pilgrimage, in 2012. We immediately began to beg him to make that final run with us in tow, and he agreed. Our trip, in February 2012, was simply awe-inspiring. If you’ve been on a Holy Land pilgrimage, you know the almost indescribable experiences and how they affect you. If you’ve not been, you need to go. I’ll leave it at that for now.
A couple months after we came back, I began to ask God to help me understand what my pilgrimage experience could mean beyond its impact on me. Without an actual plan or vision, I’d shared my story with my family and many friends, at church, and even at a local public school. But I felt there was more to come, and I needed God to share his plan with me. His answer came around 6:30 AM one spring morning, as I was in the middle of a morning Masters swim practice.
Some call it a “lightbulb moment,” but I know God put the idea, almost fully formed, in my head as I swam. I jumped out of the pool in the middle of a set; I knew if I didn’t write it down immediately, I’d forget it over the remainder of practice. I walked up to my coach, Danny, and asked him to please text me a note. I then poured out these phrases: ‘9th and 10th graders with their parents. Read the Bible together, and talk about what it means to them. Go to the Holy Land. Be stronger in their faith going into serious HS/college years.’ He hit “send” and I got back in and finished practice.
I got to work on the idea that day. Less than a month later, Rand Eberhard, then Director of Student Ministry at Northside UMC, and I had a name - Kingdom Journey - a three page written plan, and an appointment with Dr. Gil to hopefully get his support. Dr. Gil listened thoughtfully to our vision, and followed along as we walked him through our plan to bring it to life. When we finished, he told us he and the congregation were fully on board. We were in business! The Sunday after Labor Day the inaugural Kingdom Journey class met. Two years later, we took the first Kingdom Journey pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The rest, as they say, is history.
If you want to learn more about Kingdom Journey, check out this episode of the Dialogic Disciple podcast.
The Jesus Boat: A model and the preserved fishing boat found in the Sea of Galilee, dated to the time of Jesus. Both are on display at Kibbutz Ginnosar.
