Read daily Journey Home updates from Israel!

On our 2008 Journey Home Tour to Israel, participants are visiting biblical sites, seeing firsthand some of the life-changing projects supported by The Fellowship, and getting to know the people and places of modern Israel. You can get a taste of what the trip is like by reading these daily tour updates written by tour participant Sandy Thorn Clark. And if you'd like more information on how you can participate in our next Journey Home Tour, sign up to request more information on the 2009 tour.

A lifetime dream of visiting Israel and walking in what is known as the Land of the Bible became a reality when five jets delivered excited participants from the United States, Canada and Germany in The Fellowship's 2008 Journey Home Tour to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv last Friday. Read More

Realities of the modern fears faced by Israelis came to the forefront during the second memorable day of The Fellowship's Journey Home 2008 Tour. Sunday began with a somber visit to a Tiberius bomb shelter, one of 2,000 bomb shelters in Israel renovated by donations from Fellowship supporters. Yael Eckstein, daughter of Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, president-founder of The Fellowship, and an IFCJ staff member, proudly showed tour participants the fully operable residential shelter that could be home for up to eight families should missiles again target Israeli homes. Read More

The power of unconditional love was evidenced firsthand by participants in The Fellowship’s 2008 Journey Home Tour when they paid a heart-wrenching Monday visit to Migdal Ohr, home to 6,000 Jewish orphans and unwanted, undesirable children from broken homes – a major project funded by IFCJ supporters. Read More

Jubilant singing of “Jerusalem,” cheers of “Hallelujah!” and heartfelt tears prevailed during Tuesday’s emotional entrance into Jerusalem by The Fellowship’s 2008 Journey Home Tour. Read More

Wednesday’s hectic schedule for participants in The Fellowship’s 2008 Journey Home Tour included a breakfast talk by David Baker, senior foreign press coordinator for the Israel Prime Minister’s Office; a lunch discussion with Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder/president of the IFCJ; a visit to a Fellowship project giving hope to the elderly, and a memorable, steep walk down Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives. Read More

A dinner celebrating the success of Wings of Eagles, an IFCJ program (in partnership with the Jewish Agency for Israel) which has brought 300,000 Jews to Israel, highlighted The Fellowship’s 2008 Journey Home Tour on Thursday. Read More

Standing in the somber and stark Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem, Israel's compelling memorial to the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, participants in The Fellowship's 2008 Journey Home Tour Friday vowed that "never again - not on our watch" would such atrocities against humanity ever be repeated. Read More

Communion in Jerusalem's Garden Tomb, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and a walk along the Via Dolorosa ("Way of Sorrow"), the traditional pathway Jesus took from the 'hall of judgment" to Calvary, highlighted Saturday's schedule on The Fellowship's 2008 Journey Home Tour. Read More

The final day for two-thirds of The Fellowship's 2008 Journey Home Tour began at Beit Canada Absorption Center in Jerusalem, a project for new immigrants to Israel funded by IFCJ in conjunction with the Jewish Agency. Read More

Questions – particularly those questions individuals need to ask themselves – were the subject of talks by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, IFCJ founder/president, as he filmed upcoming segments of his “Journey to Zion” TV program on Monday before an enthusiastic audience of participants in The Fellowship’s 2008 Journey Home Tour. Read More

“God can be wherever we let Him in,” reminded Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, IFCJ founder/president, during a Tuesday morning inspirational talk with participants in the three-day extension portion of The Fellowship’s 2008 Journey Home Tour to Israel. Read More

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, IFCJ founder/president, provided the most memorable moments of the last full night and full day of The Fellowship's 2008 Journey Home Tour. Read More

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein greets Journey Home tour members during lunch in Tiberius

Journey Home group members inside a renovated bomb shelter in Tiberius

IFCJ Tour Director, Rev. Jerry Clark with girls of Migdal Ohr

Scripture reading at ancient Roman city of Bet She'an

Garden of Gethsemane

Several tour members prepare to be baptized in the Jordan River

Singing songs of praise and worship in the Upper Room

Jewish religious students on their way to the Western Wall to pray and study

The Western Wall

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein prepares to film a Journey to Zion television segment in the Garden Tomb in front of Journey Home Tour group members

Rev. Jerry Clark, IFCJ Director of Church Relations with Rev. Ken Gaub, Yakima, Wa. Rev. Gaub has led over 180 trips to Israel