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To have such a gift like a Torah Scroll Parchment is very precious to us, to have one that speaks of the release of the captives from Egypt by the power of our God and King is truly priceless for us.  I suppose the one that has Exodus 13:14 through 14:28 contains the portion that speaks so greatly to us. 

I know it is easy to write wonderful words in an email expressing our gratefulness and gratitude for this gift but, I wish you and your team could really see into my heart and see how precious this is to us.  To write anymore would be less impacting than I desire so I send you Peace and love in the name of Jesus.

Jeff GillumWaco, TX

I am Armando Lagda Valdez, married to Lilybelle Grace Mamaril.  God blessed us with four kids (3 boys and 1 girl), plus added precious children under our care.  I am a product of “Calvary Bible Institute” – supervised by Sir Ken Sandberg.  My wife and I are pastoring a church in Davao City, that is affiliated with – Maranatha Fellowship in Maryland, USA (IPHC).  We have established relationship with Sir Ken & Ma’am Cris and partnered with them in equipping the saints through conferences, summer camps and at CBI.

And just recently, after our Sunday morning service (Nov. 8, 2009), we received a phone call with the grandest surprise – A TRIP TO ISRAEL!  It blew me away and made me shout for joy!  Hallelujah, glory to God!  To step in the soil of Israel was only a dream that we hope would come true sometime in the future.

Now, that the door to visit the birthplace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is in progress, I can’t explain the thrill and excitement going on as the days go by.  The trip to Israel is truly a big inspiration to us and this is happening because of the Lord’s kindness through my Bible School mentors (Sir ken & ma’am Cris) and through your generosity.  Honestly, we don’t really know how to express the gratitude and the joy that is within us.  Words may fall short to express it, but we sure are grateful to the Lord and to you.  May the good Lord multiply your blessings!

Again, i want to let you know that we appreciate the love, the blessings and the big heart.  Thank you for sponsoring our trip.  Indeed, we don’t know how to repay you.  Simply, because we don’t have the capacity to do it.  But the Lord Yeshua HaMashiach will!

God bless you and your family Sir Byron and Ma’am Tammy.  God bless you sir/ma’am John Turner.  God bless the “Father’s House Foundation”.  God bless “CBI” family.  We look forward to see you on December 5 & 6, 2009.

To Sir Ken and Ma’am Cris, thank you for the high level of trust and favor.  God bless us all.

In Christ,

Armand & Lilybelle V

Armand & Lilybelle VDavao City, Philippines

I would like to take this opportunity to express my most heart-felt thanks to both of you for the opportunity you made possible for me, and my peers here in Susanville, to go to the land of the Bible.

It was an extraordinary trip for me personally.  Everything in my Christian walk has been affected by this trip.  Already the Word of God has become more alive as I read and replay the places I walked and the things I saw and heard during my time in Israel.  I know I will never be the same and I am looking forward with anticipation to the next trip I can make but this time with my wife.

John and Roxie are the best.  They were a joy to be with and love their heart for the people of Israel and their passion for Pastor’s, and others, to experience our other home.

Thank you again and my God’s most abundant blessings be yours.

With Gratitude;

Allen J. Barger, Pastor

Allen J. BargerGrace Fellowship ChurchSusanville, CA

Dear John,

Thank you for your kindness and generosity in preparing us for this trip to Israel, our flights, insurance, and insight to expectations of the trip. You were so kind to meet us at the airport, help us through the terminals and take us to the hotel. We are so grateful to you.

We would also wish to thank Byron and Tammy, Kevin and an extra special thanks to Moshe.  He is so kind, considerate and so very intelligent. I will remember his every word as I read my Bible.

The whole group of 27 are such beautiful Christian people, I feel as if I had known them my whole life.

I have read and studied the Bible for years but could never put myself in places where the events took place, now I too can say “I was there”.  I haven’t been able to put my Bible down since I came home.  There are not enough words to express the way I feel about this wonderful trip (I call it a journey through the Bible).  Thanks to all of you who have made this an unforgettable experience.

Mildred GrindstaffMedford, OR

April 6, 2009

Dear Byron, John, and Father’s House,

Thank you so much for sending me to Israel.  I have tried to wait to write a thank you until I had time to process more of what we saw, heard, and experienced.  The truth is, I am still in something of a state of awe at the wonder of God manifest by the whole trip.

It has been a long-standing desire of mine to go to Israel and see the places where biblical events took place.  I could never have imagined the impact that being there would have on my understanding and perspective on the Word of God.  There is a deep, spiritual stirring in my soul that is like a revival meeting but much deeper and longer-lasting in its influence.  There is new fire in my preaching and new depth in my teaching.  People here at First Baptist have commented about the difference they hear and see in me.

The things I have learned and believed for years have been re-formatted by the trip.  I know them in a way I could not have known them before.  It is in a small way like what our transition from hope to sight will be when Jesus comes: We hold to the reality, but we have not experienced it in its completeness.  I know that I have yet to experience the fullness of Who God is and what redemption is, but there is a greater appreciation for the revelation of God in His Word and in His Son that makes the present reality so much sweeter!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for answering God’s call to send pastors to Israel.  John, thank you for being with us and making the trip more wonderful with your songs and your servant heart.  Byron, thank you for your heart to help move us toward revival through the experience of biblical places in Israel.  You have blessed my life and enriched my ministry more than I can express.

I am encouraging every believer to go to Israel and experience the wonder of the land of Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and the disciples.  We are praying and working on details to try to take a group back in 2010 because the excitement of the group that went has taken hold of the church!

Daniel E. Crosby, Ph.D.PastorFirst Baptist ChurchCleburne, Texas

This was the greatest journey I have been on in my life. I’ve not been out of the states, never even been to Mexico and all of a sudden I am invited to go as a part of a group to Israel…. It was just a life changing experience for me.

Having seen in my own mind, trying to picture where Jesus walked and what it was like to walk there and then to be there was such a phenomenal change in my life…and to walk, not just where Jesus walked, but as we walked thru the ruins of David’s house and remembering those stories…. I get God bumps right now just talking about it. But I didn’t really go having any idea how it was going to impact me and my ministry back home…. but so many people in our church have talked about it has changed the dynamics… of my ministry there. I don’t know that I sense it that much but they said they just sense such an intensity in the message…. Now even when I’m sitting in my easy chair at home reading my Bible and I read a verse and all of a sudden I realize I’ve been there.. I’ve been there and I see what that really was.

Randy MacPastorCornerstone Christian Fellowship ChurchGlen Rose, Texas

The trip was really totally and completely life changing for me personally and for me as a Pastor because it allowed me to see the Bible kind of in a three dimensional aspect as opposed to just reading about and studying about it. Actually going to the places, seeing the things we saw, meeting the people and being exposed to the atmosphere of the culture and all of those things, it was just a period of time that really has forever and completely changed my life.

Paul PinyanPastorFirst Baptist ChurchRio Vista, TX

Dear Byron,

My brother it has been too long sense I have seen you, Tammy and Isaac.  I have such fond memories of our 2011 trip to Israel.

I have just returned from the second trip (June 2012).  I can tell you that there is no such thing as a bad trip with Father’s House.  My first trip was marvelous. 

The team of you and Moshe did an excellent job and I loved every minute.

I was disappointed when I learned that Moshe would not be with us on the second trip.  The second trip was as marvelous as the first.  We revisited some of the same places and I departed from each with an expanded appreciation, blessing, and understanding of each.  That is the way the body of Christ is supposed to work, isn’t it.  John Turner and Ron did a masterpiece rendition at repeats and new sites.

I so much thank the Lord and Father’s House for making this possible.  My life and ministry were changed after my first trip, but the second trip completed the transformation.

After 58 years of preaching/teaching the Word, I can tell you that theses two trips have enriched my teaching and reading the Word.

Mel BradfordPrison ChaplinArkansas


The recent trip to Israel was a tremendous blessing.  I personally have been able to travel to the Promised Land now on three different occasions.  While each one was special, I think this last trip was the most meaningful because of who went with me.  This is the first opportunity I have had to take members of the Bono congregation as well.  Seeing their joy and amazement at being in the land of the Bible was priceless.  The trip to Israel, over 3,000 dollars.  The gasoline to the airport and home again, 60 dollars.  The smiles and tears on faces of those who saw where Jesus walked, lived, taught, and died…PRICELESS!  They will never view the Word of God in quite the same light again.  Chris Ellison, fellow Bono traveler, perhaps summed it up best.  When ask what he thought about the trip, he said “It’s not just a story anymore!”  The Word has taken on new meaning and a passion for learning more of God has been stirred.  I would encourage, challenge, implore…beg if need be…any Pastor to find his way to a Father’s House tour of Israel.  It is unlike any other tour and is certain to spark renewal in the hearts of all those blessed to go.  Not to mention, the Word promises that God will bless those who bless Israel.  Be blessed by the Father’s House so that they in turn will be blessed in future trips and so that you might bless others with this life-changing experience.  Just let the blessings flow!

Kevin BentleyFather's House Foundation

Overwhelmed! That’s the word that comes to mind when I think back on my Israel trip in February of 2017.  My name is Micah Smith, I am a worship pastor for StoneWater Church, and my life will never be the same after visiting Israel.

The presence of the Holy Spirit was overwhelming!  So many times throughout the trip, I found myself humbled in the presence of God. I truly feel like I clearly heard God speaking vision and direction into my life in many different areas.  God also gave me visions like I have never had before.  Visions about my children and even future generations in my family.  

I also had the privilege of leading our group in a time of worship in St Ann’s Cathedral.  The moment I started singing, I was in awe of the sound I was hearing.  An inexplicable sound that can only be created by the voices of God’s children worshiping Him.  God’s presence was so real and tangible! It was an incredible moment with the group.

I was overwhelmed by the reality of who God really is.  I constantly found myself in awe of the preciseness of God.  It was amazing to see that everything God has done, is doing, and is going to do is exact, precise and His perfect plan. I could physically see how God created things, placed things, planned His creation and His people, and it was all for a perfect and precise purpose. It was so fascinating to take the knowledge I had of the Bible, and then see the physical locations where these events took place.  Until I physically stood in these places, I didn’t fully understand the magnitude of what God was doing in those moments, and how it impacted His people.  

I was overwhelmed by the group of people I was with and the leaders of the trip.  Moshe took us to amazing places and the information he presented us with left me in awe.  This is a journey you have to take to accurately understand the people, places and events that took place in the Bible.  John and Roxie were incredible hosts! I loved being able to ask John questions that brought a lot of clarity to my biblical understanding.  I was also blessed with an amazing group of people that attended the trip with me.  We created great memories together, and it was a blast to experience all of this with them.

 I can truly say that this journey to Israel was life changing for my family and I.  God is continuing to use the experiences I had in Israel to teach me, and grow me into who He wants me to be.  Thank you to everyone who makes these trips possible. I cannot wait to go back!

Check out Micah leading worship in St Anne’s cathedral here!

​Overwhelmed!
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