Purposeful Journeys

Name: Purposeful Journeys
Address: 3095 Lexington Avenue, Suite 400, Cape Girardeau, MO, 63701, US
Telephone: +15739795501
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Purposeful Journeys

Travel with a purpose: We offer purposeful journeys steeped in history, religious ideas, culture and

12/25/2024

Today, we celebrate the birth of Jesus who was born in Bethlehem for us long ago. Blessings to you and your family as you celebrate Christmas.

These days, as I live out my vocation of mission and ministry in creating faith travel experiences, I often say from direct experience that no preacher is so gifted, so talented, and so articulate as to be able to paint a picture with words as powerful as being present in places where God acted in history for us. The same goes for pictures and videos. Nothing is more powerful than being present and encountering the power of place through faith travel experiences that enrich, enliven, and embolden the faith of fellow travelers so they may be an even greater blessing to others.

Pray for peace in the Holy Land. I do believe peace will return soon, and very soon to the Holy Land. When you are ready, if you are ready, get in touch. We would love to take you one day to see the place where our savior was born for us. Whether your desire is to travel to the Holy Land, Greece, Turkey, Germany, or some other faith travel destination we will take you on a journey to experience the power of a place where God acted in history for us all. Enjoy your Christmas celebration today!

12/16/2024

Thank you Pastor Andrew Packer and the people of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Collinsville, IL for hosting our Info Share last night. We especially appreciated the presentation offered by Concordia University Chicago Assistant Professor of Theology, Rev. Dr. Kirk Clayton. Those in attendance agree that our Christ and Culture purposeful journey to Greece in July 2025 is going to be very special. The optional cruise to the Greek Islands with excursions to Patmos, Ephesus, and Rhodes promise to be as fun as it will be interesting.

If you would like to learn more, get in touch. We would love to share! Click here to learn more: https://bit.ly/4g8jBJf

12/10/2024

Thank you, Pastor Heinz, Kristi, and the members of Trinity Lutheran Church-Lowell, Indiana! What a pleasure to be with you for the Info Share. Thank you, Gary DeValk for providing a wonderful meal.

So many great sights and experiences await us in Germany. Visiting Albl and experiencing Oktoberfest are just two of the highlights. You can learn more about the Journey of the Century by clicking here: https://bit.ly/4eJkIgN

The Journey of the Century will be wheels up before we know it. You are warmly invited to join us on this incredible journey!

11/21/2024

It was great to see Jill Daly of the Israel Ministry of Tourism at the annual National Tour Association and Faith Travel Association Travel Exchange conference.

We agree with Jill that today may not be the best day for Americans to travel to Israel. Although, there is more tourism in Israel today than most Americans may think. Today, however, is an excellent day to begin planning a journey to Israel.

If you are a pastor, or know a pastor you would like to see host your journey to Israel, we invite you to get in touch. Ask us about our Familiarization Tour (FAM Tour) or preparatory journey to Israel next August with incredible incentives. Let’s start planning today for your future journey to Israel.

In the meantime, please pray for peace in the Holy Land. Pray for the release of remaining hostages and for all innocents affected by this conflict.

11/19/2024

We enjoyed a wonderful experience this morning at the annual Faith Travel Association (FTA) breakfast. The event was sponsored by the Israel Ministry of Tourism and EdVentures.

The highlight was the video Patrick produced that FTA has adopted as their promo video. I wrote the script. Patrick did everything else. If you would like to see the video, here is a link: https://bit.ly/3IqpwtM

I was part of a panel talking about the “Why’s of Faith Travel.” I was asked to speak about what is essential to a faith travel experience. I focused on the balance between experiences of the power of place on a faith travel journey and other essential elements of a faith travel experience such as great accommodations, authentic cuisine as a window to a culture, and activities that are just plain fun.

I offered my favorite example of an experience we build into every journey to Israel. Toward the end of a journey to Israel, we take our groups to the old market in Jerusalem. This is a very cool, quite fascinating place. Each traveler is given a card with detachable tabs that become coupons they exchange for food items in the market. Travelers then wander the market on their own with the opportunity to enjoy authentic food, and more importantly, to be immersed in the culture. This is just one example of the kind of experience that contributes so much to an effective faith travel experience that is both purposeful and balanced.

Absolutely delighted to be here. I am humbled by the number of positive comments I have received on the presentation. I am also thrilled by the comments I have received on the video Patrick produced.

11/18/2024

Day 2 here in Huntsville, Alabama at Travel Exchange. A very cool highlight was a presentation by representatives of multiple foreign countries. These brief presentations highlighted the benefits of traveling to each country. Over the next three days Patrick and I will be meeting face-to-face with nearly all of these individuals. Very excited to be here as we learn and are inspired.

11/17/2024

Patrick and I are in Huntsville, Alabama waiting to hear our first speaker, Kristin Scroggin of genWHY followed by a forum on international travel.

So good to be at the National Tour Association and Faith Travel Association annual meeting. Looking forward to a fantastic week!

11/11/2024

Blessings this Veterans Day as I reflect on the evolution of my thinking about holidays like this one. When I was a boy, Veterans Day meant a day off from school and not a lot more. I wish I could say it meant a more than a day off from work when I was a young man. The holiday took on more meaning through my experiences in officiating at the funerals of veterans over the years. Today, Veterans Day has taken on a deeper, fuller meaning.

At the United States Naval Academy many traditions have evolved since the founding of that institution in 1849. One of those traditions is the rite of passage known as the 2 for 7 signing. At the 2 for 7 signing, in exchange for the final two years of education, midshipmen commit to serving five years as naval officers. Therefore, they commit to 7 years of total service inclusive of the education they receive in their last two years at the Academy.

Pictured with this post are of Sam at his 2 for 7 signing. Notice that Sam walks up the stairs alone. He signs his commitment alone with commissioned naval officers as witnesses. This is the tradition. Midshipmen sign their 2 for 7 commitment alone to remind them the decision to serve is their solemn decision they alone can make.

What is not captured in these pictures is the setting in which the signing takes place. Sam, like all midshipmen, signed his 2 for 7 in Memorial Hall surrounded by naval artifacts. On the walls of Memorial Hall are plaques. On those plaques are the names of every midshipmen who offered the last full measure of their devotion in service to their country, and therefore to all of us. These images and the setting for these images are what come to my mind this Veterans Day.

Some reading this post may notice the flag over Sam’s shoulder and wonder about the significance of this artifact. I asked Sam about the flag. Here is his reply:

“It was one of the ensigns of the USS South Dakota (BB-57) which was the most decorated battleship of World War 2. The ship is famous for its role in the Pacific during Guadalcanal and Leyte Gulf as well as several other battles. She also spent some time in the Atlantic.”

Blessings on this Veterans Day. Thank you to all who commit to serve in protecting the freedoms and the life we all enjoy.

10/07/2024

Please remember with me: Today, October 7, marks a terrible anniversary of unspeakable evil perpetrated upon the people, the civilian population, of Israel. The details of what happened that day are far too barbarous and evil to describe in a simple social media post. Civilian hostages are still being held. Images from that day, some images that merely live in my imagination while pictures I have seen, are seared in my memory. I remember. I cannot do otherwise.

Especially this day, I have no patience for politics and even less for moral equivalence. I have dear friends in Israel and relationships with people I cherish. I have dined in their homes and in other ways shared, and continue to share, life with Israelis I have come to know and for whom I care deeply. I remember. Please remember with me.

10/07/2024

All set up for the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod Central Illinois & Southern Illinois Pastors Conference. So very blessed to be here!

05/20/2024

Greetings from the eastern most point of North America. I am honored to be speaking tomorrow at the National Tour Association (NTA) Contact convention in St. John‘s Newfoundland, Canada. Beautiful city. Beautiful hotel. Incredible view from my room. Honored to be here, especially as a speaker.

05/10/2024

As the cliche goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words."

A cliche becomes a cliche when a phrase, no matter how well the words express something true, is repeated often enough and long enough and the words become so familiar that they sound almost trivial. Of course, a picture can convey powerful meaning whether or not that meaning can be expressed in 1,000 words or if 10,000 words might be necessary to exhaust the meaning of a picture.

On Thursday, May 9, my family and I had lunch in Chicago with our partner in Jerusalem and owner of Shatour Israel Experience Ltd., Nathan Shapiro, his wife, Hannah, and daughter, Zivit. Also pictured are my sons, Patrick and Sam. Patrick will be walking in his commencement ceremony at Valparaiso University this weekend. Sam is a Midshipman at the United States Naval Academy. Sam flew to Chicago to join us for the celebration. My wife, Kathy, is pictured in the upper right of this picture. I include this picture to express several ideas. Some of those ideas I will express in this post, but I will spare you reading the balance of most of the words I could use to describe what this picture means to me and those pictured.

Since October 7, I have often expressed that I have been living between perception and reality. We sent a group to Israel in January. They were blessed by an experience of a lifetime. My son Patrick and I traveled to Israel in March. The reality is that traveling to Israel then and now is perfectly safe despite what remains of an ongoing conflict. However, I understand with as much empathy as I can muster, and frankly with as much tolerance of the insufferable, and to be charitable, often (not always) well-meaning, but nevertheless ignorant words expressed on behalf of or in sympathy with Hamas I see, for example, on college campuses that I can muster, that the perceptions of life in Israel and travel to Israel, too often DO NOT comport with reality.

I have come to understand that if a prospective fellow traveler, their family, or extended family perceives that traveling to Israel is dangerous, then more often than not, I will often not be able to shake their perception with facts grounded in reality.

I believe peace will come soon to Israel and that the desire for peace among Arab nations and Israel will prevail over the desire for genocide from the river to the sea as advocated by those who (I can only hope) ignorantly use that phrase without understanding what river, what sea, or what they are actually advocating in using that despicable phrase.

Pray for peace for all people. Pray for a swift end to hostilities. Pray for that civilian casualties will be minimized to the extent possible.

Pray…

Next year, Jerusalem!

05/07/2024

All set up to greet pastors at the Southern Illinois District Pastor’s conference of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Blessed to be here!

04/14/2024

Did you follow the events in Israel overnight? Did you wake up this morning wondering if everything and everyone were alright?

In our home, as the saying has entered the pop culture lexicon, we “cut the cord” some months ago. We no longer have cable or satellite TV services. In the “olden days” of six months ago I have no doubt I would have been switching from channel to channel all night as the skies over Israel were brightly illuminated by incoming missiles and drones being taken out of the sky. Instead, I toggled between news services on my phone and watched events unfold on a small, handheld screen.

Please understand that for me the unprecedented, direct attack on Israel by Iran was not some faroff geopolitical or military event unrelated to my life in a distant, faraway land that I could watch with fascination, but without real connection. I have come to know and care about people in Israel personally. I worried over their safety last night. I dreamed horrible dreams after I fell asleep. I woke up relieved.

The United States, UK, and to my surprise, Egypt and Jordan, joined forces to support an Israeli defense system so impressive I find description difficult. Early assessments seem to indicate that 99% of the over 300 drones and missiles launched by Iran were taken out of the sky. Those projectiles that did get through did minimal damage. No one was killed.

While I have formed very strong opinions that I unabashedly own as biased political opinions, I also recognize that my opinions did not form recently or through isolated experiences as I have come to know people in Israel personally. You see, in my background, for example, I have taken many people through Buchenwald and Dachau. Through those experiences I formed a deep respect for a German society that owns its past and vows to Never Forget.

The experience of a concentration camp (KZ) is always a confrontation with the complexity of our humanity in the face of an unspeakable human capacity for evil. No matter how often I experience the predictable response of people I have taken through a KZ in Germany, there is a part of me that is surprised every time I hear someone say, “If I had lived during that time I would have resisted. I would have spoken up and fought the evil being perpetrated on the Jews, simply because they are Jews.” The words vary somewhat, but the sentiment is always the same.

As for me, I am committed to bringing as many people to Israel as I have time and health to bring them. I am committed to Israel in word and deed. I understand the very real, very rational concerns people express about traveling to Israel, even before October 7. My focus is much longer term. I have developed an unwavering commitment to Israel in word and deed by bringing people, and therefore hope, to Israel in the time I have remaining on this temporal orb. That is my long term focus and where I expect to spend much of my life.

In the present, this morning, in this moment, I am deeply grateful that I could exhale. My friends in Israel are all fine.

Please pray for peace for all people affected.

04/13/2024

Please pray for peace…

Please pray for political and military leaders in positions of power to proceed in a way that deescalates and brings an end to this war. As you can see from multiple headlines, and are no doubt seeing and hearing if you have any access to media at all, Iran has launched a retaliatory strike directly against Israel. Whether this is enough for Iranian leaders to save face and preserve honor as a response to the Israeli strike in Syria such that this is a one time action, or whether this is the beginning of a wider regional conflict that could escalate to global war cannot be known in this moment. Drones will arrive in Israel several hours from now. Let us also pray the end of this conflict will see the safe return of all remaining hostages taken on October 7. Let us pray this is the ugly last chapter in this conflict for all people affected.

04/13/2024

I am sharing a screenshot of a post by Pastor Jim Haack of Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church-La Vista (Omaha), NE. He captures the spirit of the evening quite well. Thank you Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church, Pastor Jim Haack, Kelly Haack, Pastor Bryan and Cheryl Drebes and all who attended. This was an incredible, beautiful, wonderful evening!!!

If you would like to consider a faith travel experience for your congregation, please get in touch with us. We would love to share details about our journeys to Israel with extensions to Egypt and Jordan. We have also worked very hard to develop travel experiences focused on the early church and New Testament in Greece, Italy, and other relevant destinations as well as other appropriate destinations.

We also have a couple of spaces remaining on our Italian river cruise in September. Next week, we will be announcing a journey to experience Oktoberfest. We also have space available on our Christmas market experience in Germany that includes a Rhein river Christmas market cruise.

Get in touch to learn more or visit us at purposefuljourneys.org

03/29/2024

“Τετέλεσται”

Tonight, millions of Christians around the world will hear the English translation of this Greek term used in John 19:30 as “It is finished.” Yes, one word in Greek, in this particular case, requires three English words in translation. The meaning packed into this one Greek word is even more full than the three words required in translation.

A couple of questions worth pondering on this Good Friday…

What is “it” that is “finished”?
What is conceptually signified in your mind when you hear the word “finished” in this context?

In this case, both terms “it” and “finished” are loaded with meaning. The term “finished” means something far more than something like the completion of a project; something more than checking the oven and reaching the conclusion that, “Oh yes, the cake is finished baking.” More than merely a statement of fact that Jesus has died on the cross, the term conveys that something, a “telos,” has been fulfilled, that an objective has been brought to completion.

To state, as a matter of fact, that the agony of enduring the worst death humanbeings could devise at the time is now finished falls far short of the intended meaning in John 19:30. What is loaded into the indefinite pronoun “it” taken with that which has now been fulfilled is worthy of giving us pause, worthy of our contemplation and our meditation on this Good Friday.

What has been fulfilled, brought to completion, on Good Friday, is the story of our salvation that has unfolded from the beginning of all things and as promised immediately after the Fall as asserted in Genesis 3:15. The fact that Jesus died on a Roman cross on Good Friday says not nearly enough as a mere assertion of historical fact. The fact that Jesus died on a Roman cross as a fulfillment of the promise revealed in God’s First Testament FOR US, which entails all of the sin, all that was necessary for Jesus to go to the cross, FOR US, that is the Good of Good Friday.

Pictured in this post is the altarpiece from the City Church in Wittenberg, Germany. From a myriad of possibilities, a couple of things to note about this painting. First, this painting lives in one of two churches famously associated with Martin Luther. This work of art is located in the City Church where Luther preached most of his sermons. The other church, the Schlosskirche or Castle Church is the church famously associated with the 95 Theses. The Castle Church is also the church where the body of Luther is interred.

Another noteworthy feature of this painting is that Lucas Cranach the Elder painted Martin Luther into this piece. For this reason, and with the fullness Luther’s 1518 Heidelberg Disputation in mind, I chose this painting for this Good Friday post. In particular, I had in mind Thesis 21:

“A theologian of glory calls evil good and good evil. A theologian of the cross calls the thing what it actually is.”

Peace be with you as you reflect on the Good of Good Friday. It is finished FOR YOU.

Peace

03/28/2024

The night on which he was betrayed…

One of my seminary professors, Professor Gibbs, used to love to remind us (as I remember his reminder), “Everything you say from the pulpit for the rest of your lives will be a footnote.” His implication, of course, was that everything we say from the pulpit ought to be a footnote. Whether you are attending worship or preaching on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter morning, what can possibly be added to the story of our salvation communicated in these three services?

No matter how eloquent the preacher, no matter how powerful the illustrations or illuminations offered from the pulpit, the primacy of the text must always be paramount. Yet, there are so many details in the story of our salvation that has unfolded from the beginning of all things. Although one immediately recognizes on a journey to Israel that evidence for the precise location where specific biblical events unfolded does vary, the power of experiencing these places is palpable. This is the case for the place that marks the location where the Last Supper took place—the Upper Room pictured in this post.

When you are ready, join us on a purposeful journey to the Holy Land. We had a group travel in January. I just returned from Israel a couple of weeks ago. Travel to Israel is safe now. When you are ready, join us. Come experience the power of place where God fulfilled His promise to “bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” Ephesians 1:10

Blessings on your worship on these occasions of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday.

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3095 Lexington Avenue, Suite 400
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Visiting the market in Old City Jerusalem was one of the most joyful and fun travel experiences I have ever enjoyed. One essential feature of any journey we plan is balance. The purpose of nearly all journeys we plan intentionally engages the power of place. These experiences, while enjoyable, even exhilarating, are often intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally intense. When we plan a journey, we seek to create balance of the intellectually, spiritually, and/or emotionally intense experiences with the space to process those experiences with fellow travelers. Also included are activities which are just plain fun, or at least appear and feel that way. Given that food is a window to a culture, combined with the reality that perceptions of Jerusalem and Israel might continue to make people feel just a tad uneasy, together with several other factors, make this food tasting experience especially joyful and fun. Fellow travelers are given a card with several tabs (pictured below). They then find their way to different venues within the market where they present their tab in exchange for a taste of local cuisine. The atmosphere is fun and very, very cool. We do this experience at the end of a journey when people have become comfortable enough to fully enjoy this experience. People sometimes enjoy this food tasting experience alone, or sometimes with friends they have made on the journey. Whether alone or with old or new friends the tasting tour in the market of Old City Jerusalem is a genuine highlight of a journey to the Holy Land. And, even though less obvious than a visit to an important sight related to the purpose of the journey, you can be absolutely sure the experience is impactful.

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At Malone Clan Expeditions, LLC we are focused on educational and cultural travel to encourage, empower, and enlighten people in their quest for lifelong learning. We fulfill this mission by offering purposeful journeys steeped in history, religious ideas, culture & cuisine.

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