I believe so! and it's disturbing...there is an entire segment of the travel industry today focused strictly on Christian overseas religious travel.....most of these trips are to the "Holy Land".... "Holy Land" travel agencies offer special trips just for pastors to train them on how to lead their own trip.There are 8-day trips, 10-day trips, 11-day trips. You can select trips where you "follow Jesus", or "footsteps of Paul." Some are land-based, some are cruises. Some focus on trips for Catholics, others for Methodists, even some for Mormons...Some highlight history, like Danube River trips, sometimes including stops in Rome.
These "pastor only" trips, called "familiarization tours" are offered at a greatly reduced price, and some agencies offer to refund the cost of the entire trip if the pastor commits to getting 15 or more to return to the Holy Land in the next 18 months....just how many of these pastors view their pew sitters congregations as a market with deep pockets....rather than as people of God who need to be fed?....do they really want to reach the "lost" so they can help them find the truth of Jesus Christ, or do the "lost" represent to them an untapped market of potential storehouse tithers? are these "Holy Land" trips another example of fleecing God's people? FBC JAX WATCH DOG!
