On our Holy Land Pilgrimages we always visit Bethany. My guess is the majority of groups do not stop here, but I would hat to miss this spot. Bethany could be considered a suburb of Jerusalem. The Gospels share with us that Jesus stayed here often with some friends. So we visit the house of Mary & Martha, as well as the Tomb of Lazarus. Can you imagine the witness that Lazarus was for Jesus being the promised Messiah, the Son of God? He was a walking, talking, BREATHING testimony to who Jesus was. In fact, Lazarus was such a powerful sign for Jesus that the Gospel of John shar ..read more

Last month we were supposed to leave for Israel to lead our annual Casting Nets Ministries Pilgrimage to the Holy Land! Unfortunately, we were not able to go. But everyday I put up pictures on social media of the places that we would have visited. Going through all the old photos really made me think, “What does it mean to be a pilgrim?”  St. Peter speaks of Christians as being in “exile” which means they are not in their homeland (cf. 1 Pet 1:1, 17). St. Paul tells us that our citizenship is in heaven (cf. Phil 3:20). And in the Book of Hebrews, Christians are described as ..read more

One of the highlights of visiting Galilee, the northern region of the Holy Land, is a stop in Capernaum. Capernaum was headquarters for the “Jesus for Messiah Campaign”. It was the home of St. Peter, the “Town of Jesus” and sight of many dramatic stories of the Gospel including the Bread of Life Discourse in the synagogue ..read more

If 100 people were asked right now, “Would you like to see more political ads and social media posts,” how many would say yes? I think the number would be none, zero, zilch, nil, nada! I think all of us are ready for this election cycle to be over and yet we still have a week and a half ..read more

Most Christians can rattle off the answer to the question, “what is the greatest commandment?” That is to love God and love neighbor. Or specifically, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mk 12: 29-31 ..read more

On our Holy Land Pilgrimages we always visit Bethany. My guess is the majority of groups do not stop here, but I would hat to miss this spot. Bethany could be considered a suburb of Jerusalem. The Gospels share with us that Jesus stayed here often with some friends. So we visit the house of Mary & Martha, as well as the Tomb of Lazarus. Can you imagine the witness that Lazarus was for Jesus being the promised Messiah, the Son of God? He was a walking, talking, BREATHING testimony to who Jesus was. In fact, Lazarus was such a powerful sign for Jesus that the Gospel of John shar ..read more

Last month we were supposed to leave for Israel to lead our annual Casting Nets Ministries Pilgrimage to the Holy Land! Unfortunately, we were not able to go. But everyday I put up pictures on social media of the places that we would have visited. Going through all the old photos really made me think, “What does it mean to be a pilgrim?”  St. Peter speaks of Christians as being in “exile” which means they are not in their homeland (cf. 1 Pet 1:1, 17). St. Paul tells us that our citizenship is in heaven (cf. Phil 3:20). And in the Book of Hebrews, Christians are described as ..read more

One of the highlights of visiting Galilee, the northern region of the Holy Land, is a stop in Capernaum. Capernaum was headquarters for the “Jesus for Messiah Campaign”. It was the home of St. Peter, the “Town of Jesus” and sight of many dramatic stories of the Gospel including the Bread of Life Discourse in the synagogue ..read more

If 100 people were asked right now, “Would you like to see more political ads and social media posts,” how many would say yes? I think the number would be none, zero, zilch, nil, nada! I think all of us are ready for this election cycle to be over and yet we still have a week and a half ..read more

Most Christians can rattle off the answer to the question, “what is the greatest commandment?” That is to love God and love neighbor. Or specifically, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mk 12: 29-31 ..read more