Information for Pastors Leading A Trip

We look forward to assisting you in making your trip to Israel the best ever. As we considered what a pastor might need to know or possibly do to lessen any confusion, we assembled the information below.

This trip is similar to past mission trips abroad where your team needed to complete a registration form, obtain a Passport, airline ticket and obtain international health insurance.

If helpful, consider designating someone, other than the pastor, to be a strategic person for trip participants to go to if questions arise. This could be the “church tour leader,” under consultation with the pastor.

Vetting Potential Travelers

We ask for your assistance in lovingly exhorting those who cannot walk or barely breathing to not go on the trip and anyone near the mentioned categories. While some use their portable O2 machines on the trip and walking sticks, we need your wisdom in vetting your possible applicants. Please consider mental stability and physical limitations.

We ask that you attend to any of your congregation who must go to Urgent Care or the hospital or have an established traveler from your congregation assigned to the task. Most medical centers speak English.

Recruitment Meetings

We would be happy to Skype or Zoom into any recruitment meetings you hold. We are here to help you get them ready to register and on the bus. We encourage you to ask those who cannot participate in the trip to consider sponsoring a pastor, group leader or ministry student.

Bible Boot Camps

Registration

A traveler will need an email address in order to register for the trip. This could be a problem for an elderly person with no computer or computer skills. These individuals will need someone to help them initially register and remember their username and password for the registration site.

Consider having a registration room after a church service to help those who need help registering or some other method of assistance with the registration process.

Forms that must be uploaded at some point in the registration process include:

Passport – Picture of your Passport that includes a clear image of the Passport page with your picture and long number across the bottom of the page.
Booked airline paperwork – Do NOT book airline tickets until Bible Unplugged emails that the trip has made. Need a minimum of 30 paying customers on the bus.
Proof of international/foreign health insurance

Airline Tickets

Consider using an agent you know and trust to book the airline tickets after the trip is confirmed and all is a go. One question to ask the agent surrounds how they would help you if your travelers miss a flight due to weather or delay and you are stuck in an airport? Does the agent have 24-hour access in case of significant travel issues? Sometimes an airline company will not help you and require you to use your travel agent if a problem occurs.

Consider direct flights to Israel from major hubs like NYC, Chicago, DC… Delta, United and possibly other carriers have direct flights from the USA to Tel Aviv. Cheaper flights are available but jet lag can be really rough if you jet around the world prior to landing in Tel Aviv. Just a suggestion.

Some travelers want to go early to acclimate to Israel. If so, ask your travel agent to assist with the arrangements and make sure you include these dates in your international health insurance application.

Passport

Each traveler must have a Passport picture uploaded onto the Bible Unplugged registration site 90 days prior to departure. This is required by Israel and we ask that you help us get this task accomplished.

Consider having someone provide assistance to those needing help with obtaining a Passport. There are several steps to be taken prior to presenting the application.

Everyone applying for a Passport for the first time must present a certified birth certificate with their printed paperwork. See the website below for more information.

Go to this site and complete the application ONLINE and print the application paperwork to take and present at the Passport office.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports.html

Ask each person to take their printed, Passport application paperwork and other requested documents with them to the Passport office, wherever that may be. This expedites the process.
Typically, pictures can be taken at the Passport office in the Post Office or library.
Count on 6-8 weeks for a Passport to arrive in your mailbox.

Each traveler will need to use the same legal name on your Passport, as the name on your airline ticket using the same spelling. Security will compare your Passport name with the name on your airline ticket. If different, there will be problems for the whole group.

We hope you will consider having an “Upload your Passport” party to help those who might struggle with this task. We must give all the Passport information to the Israeli government, so it is necessary to get this info uploaded.

One last thought regarding Passports includes the idea of asking all to make a copy to keep at the church in case one is lost or stolen. If this happens, it will require an all-day trip to the American Consulate. This process can be shortened if there is a copy of the Passport available by fax.

Roommate

Everyone will need a roommate or ask for a single room (limited number) with an attached fee. This is something you grab when registering for the trip. The buddy system works well. Each should be somewhat aware of physical concerns of their roommate and where a list of current medications is located in case it is needed immediately.

Safety Concerns

We recommend having your travelers, as a team, view an online safety video or have a guest lecturer at a pre-Israel party or review tips of how to stay safe in a foreign country. At Evangel, all global ministry leaders view this online video prior to an international trip. There is a fee included by Crisis Consulting International. https://www.cricon.org/video_travel

This is not mandatory but recommended.

Foreign/International Health Insurance

If you are an Assemblies of God credentialed pastor, your travelers can use Mission Assure international health insurance through the Assemblies of God Financial Trust. Everyone on the trip MUST have health insurance that is valid in Israel. Medicare is not valid in Israel and Mission Assure is a low-cost health insurance to provide medical services when in Israel.

The AG pastor will need to get the COMPLETED form from Bible Unplugged, provide a completed form to each traveler, have the traveler sign the form, pastor will upload the form on the appropriate website and pay the fee by credit card for each traveler. A card will be issued to the group/traveler and then uploaded on the Bible Unplugged registration page.

The following video is helpful for tour leaders/pastors who desire to learn more about Mission Assure

The pastor must be credentialed by the Assemblies of God, per the Mission Assure office. Travelers do NOT need to be a member of an Assemblies of God church. We hope to meet with an Assemblies of God missionary on each trip to Israel.

Money

Travelers will need to bring enough cash money to cover any transportation needs from the airport should it be needed, all/most lunches, drinks when we stop and for lunch, shopping and unexpected expenses.

Your group can exchange money at the airport. It helps for all to have a few shekels from the start. You might not have the best exchange rate, but consider exchanging $100 each at the airport.

American Express is not really accepted. Visa & Mastercard are widely accepted. Travelers Checks are useless. There are few ATMs. Fanny packs are great to use for safe keeping of money and Passports and are available in theft resistant styles. https://www.amazon.com/Travelon-Anti-Theft-Waist-Black-Size/dp/B001TQTWGW

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Have questions or need more information? We’re here to help!