Take Back Your Hopes, Dreams, and Ministry with Christian Travel!
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Why Travel Today?
Traveling with like-minded believers on a journey of faith creates some of the most impactful memories in an individual's life. Exploring the unknown, discovering proofs of faith, and witnessing awe-inspiring sights sculpt minds and hearts in tangent.
Christian travel delivers the perfect remedy in this time of COVID-19 with the isolation, relational struggles, and loss it's wrought!
Reawaken the hope of your faith on a journey designed specifically for clergy and ministry leaders. And then, fueled with a fresh wave of energy, connect to your congregation anew! Facilitate the faith growth, help them find rest in God, and inspire their development in ways only Christian travel can do.
Benefits of Travel
Recently EO's Executive Director of Travel Ministry, Tom Smith, and District Superintendent (North Alabama Conference – NW UMC), Kelly Clem, discussed the benefits of getting away, especially for ministry leaders and clergy members. Kelly reflected on how travel has inspired her own faith journey and connected her to disparate cultures all over the world; discovering and feeling that she's a "citizen of the world" has helped her maintain hope during these current hard times. Empowered with the memories of mission work in Mexico and overseas studies, her love of travel has far from waned during the current pandemic. In fact, she believes the following burdens have only rendered travel more necessary for people today.
• Current stress-levels
• General lack of personal connection
• Effects of long-term isolation
How to Counteract the Effects of COVID-19 with Christian Travel
With EO's help, she and the North Alabama Conference have developed the perfect relief for these hard realities. As part of their Clergy Care Initiative, the conference invites its clergywomen on a Renewal Retreat Cruise! This four-night cruise to the Bahamas offers a safe chance to:
• gather with friends in beautiful and relaxing settings
• exercise critical self-care
• and remember your first calling into the ministry.
Read on to discover what Executive Director of Travel Ministry, Tom Smith, and District Superintendent (North Alabama Conference - NW District), Kelly Clem, have planned to bless women in the clergy!
TOM: You and your husband Dale have traveled with EO before, but you have a different kind of thinking about travel now. … Tell me a little bit if you could about the North Alabama clergy care initiative.
KELLY: Our bishop has made this one of our priorities because we've realized that the clergy are under extreme stress right now. There's a high drop-out rate. All of our counselors are telling us people are dealing [with] a lot more personal issues than before. So we've decided to make a concerted effort to care for our clergy, and this was one thing that we're able to do just right out of the gate - give trips, sponsor trips, give some scholarship help to make trips affordable. Really there's nothing like travel to help you in your ministry and your life and your family.
TOM: So you have a trip that some of you and your folks took previously… So those were all successful, and they came back with good reports?
KELLY: Oh, gosh, they can't stop talking about them. Every time they see me, they tell me more about them, ya know - how much the trip meant to them. That was perfect, and those who said they had never been on a cruise before wondered why they had never done that before. But they didn't realize how much they needed it until they kinda won it, and they were like, "Whoa, I guess I won this! I'm gonna go!" and they all had a really positive experience.
TOM: Great. That's great. So this upcoming trip then that we're focusing on talking about today. We decided to do a retreat cruise?
KELLY: Yes
TOM: Tell me a little bit more about that.
KELLY: I've been in the North Alabama Conference as a pastor for over thirty-five years. We've had so many clergy women's retreats. At first, there were probably about five or six of us. Now there are over a hundred, maybe a hundred and seventy. … We have met together every few years for a clergy women's retreat. The last one we had was about eight hours away, and it was part of the Southeast Jurisdiction, so that was fun. We had a pretty good turnout, but it takes a lot of work - who's going to take the time to plan and pull it off. This [with EO] really seemed like a golden opportunity to travel together. We will plan whatever people want, so there's a lot of flexibility. It will feel like a retreat. We'll have a lot of fellowship. We got all the alone time you want, all the social time you want, and meals are taken care of.
TOM: So it's something that's very inexpensive?
KELLY: Yes.
TOM: So you felt this fit the criteria. What makes it such a great option for you doing this way?
KELLY: I think that a cruise is just so flexible. The cost is right. We've even used retreat centers before, but, ya know, price-wise, you're going to come out pretty close to this. And with all the extras of just being on a cruise together, I'd say it's a great value.
TOM: So, I mean, having a little gathering workshop impromptu on the beach is a possibility?
KELLY: Absolutely! Yes, we're looking for a cabana! Certainly, we will do that. That just really gives us more flexibility for people to do fun things. Just getting out of the country and getting away from the Internet is really good for us. This may be the perfect opportunity to do a retreat cruise.
TOM: So you've traveled quite a bit. How has travel been important to you, your personal faith, to your personal growth, and your ministry through, did you say, thirty-five years now?
KELLY: Yes. This is my thirty-sixth year, actually. Really all my life, I've been given opportunities to travel – for study, seminary, and missions. We went to Mexico to learn about life and ministry in Mexico, many mission trips, overseas mission trips, and study trips. I was part of a study group that went to South Africa. Travel just expands my horizons. It makes me feel like I'm a citizen of the world. I think travel just changes you. The best trips have been where I get to meet other people who live in those places. But ya know, just getting away and getting out of your own little narrow mindset and world and environment is just a healthy thing. I'm a big advocate of travel.
TOM: Great. So it has been helpful in your ministry and how you approach the world, right?
KELLY: Yes. Yes.
TOM: Other folks might be a little hesitant to travel right now. What would you say to encourage them?
KELLY: I think I would say that if you're vaccinated, don't worry. I think that you will be just as safe or safer. I mean, in our restaurants around here, people aren't even wearing masks. People are a little bit more lax than they are on a trip or a cruise or, ya know, in another country. I would just say that this is self-care. You need this. You need to laugh. You need to get out of your house. Most of us have been cooped up in a house to do our work and have our families with us. You just need to get out, get some fresh air, experience God's beautiful world, meet some beautiful people, and just, ya know, take advantage of the opportunity to travel with friends.
TOM: Well, good. Anything else you want to share with our folks as they listen today about travel, your experiences, or the upcoming retreat cruise?
KELLY: I love travel. And I love the way that EO works with us. I'm excited. That's all I can say, really. Trust. … Just take the plunge because you won't be sorry.
