By Danny Bullock, Pastor • Antioch West, Magnolia
Executive Editor’s Note: We ran an article in the January 22 issue to help fill some spots on a special “BMA” group tour to Greece led by Danny Bullock.
I want to say a special “Thank you” to the Baptist Trumpet and Editor Jeff Herring for making our recent group tour of Greece and Ephesus so successful. The really nice promotional article of the trip in the paper resulted in 12 people joining our group within two weeks. That gave us 12 more Baptists to tour with us and created enough excess funds to pay for almost all the tips for everyone.
We had 43 people walk through the ruins of Corinth, hear about that culture’s immorality and then stand on the Bema where Paul would have been judged. We then walked to the top of the Acropolis in Athens and heard about more pagan culture that Paul and others would have faced. Dr. Eric Goble, pastor of Brister Baptist Church in Emerson, stood as close as possible to Mars Hill (due to construction) and shared Paul’s message, addressing the crowd about the God they didn’t know. We also walked beside the river at Philippi, where Lydia was baptized after coming to faith in Jesus. We heard Paul Bullock, pastor of College View Baptist Church in Magnolia, tell of how that humble beginning of Christ’s kingdom in Europe would be eventually more powerful than what Roman generals had tried to accomplish in battle just miles away a century before.
We drove through Thessaloniki, where Paul faced much opposition to his evangelism. Then the next day, we sat in a Jewish synagogue in Berea/Verea, just a few feet above the first-century synagogue where Paul would have spoken. That is where those hearing Paul preach would have come daily to take the scrolls and search the Scriptures to know if what he preached was true. We learned that one of the scrolls housed in that very synagogue room where we sat had the name of Paul written in a margin. The Nazis captured that scroll in 1943 when they killed some of those Jews and took others to concentration camps. That scroll was eventually taken to somewhere in Hungary after the liberation of the camps, but never returned to the few Jews of Berea who requested it.
Even though this trip was mainly about Greece, many of our group still felt that Ephesus was their favorite site to see. Walking through all those ruins and learning about the power and splendor of that great city where Paul preached and Timothy pastored made it a very special time. Knowing that walking down Curetes Street, leading from the upper part of Ephesus to the agora/marketplace below, may have taken them within a few feet of Tyrannus’ house gave some new insight. Sitting in the large agora beside the Library of Celsus, they learned that they were exactly where Demetrius stirred up all the silversmiths and caused a riot, which led thousands to gather in the theater, which could be seen above the agora. All of this made Acts 19 come alive.
Of course, Israel has many more Biblical sites within a short distance, but Greece and Turkey also provide many places with Biblical significance to help Christians better understand Scripture. If any pastor would like help developing a tour to either Greece or Turkey, I would gladly connect you with Immanuel Tours (dan@immanuel-tours.com). They have worked in Israel for almost 50 years and have now expanded to these countries. They can help you save money for your people. Contact me at danbull0550@gmail.com if I can help or answer any questions.
