Pastor Scott Siddle of He Cares Fellowship located at 16475 Hwy 178 in Weldon had the support of his church, friends and his family; wife Deena, son Steven, daughters Amber, Tricia and K.C. and his son in law Travis Lowry (married to Amber) to go on a trip of a lifetime to the Holy land.
Siddle has been actively involved in the ministry in various positions including Praise Team, Youth Pastor, Bible Study Leader, overall servant since 1991. When the opportunity to attend Golden Gate Theological Seminary in Mills Valley, Calif., Siddle jumped for the chance and in 2003 he graduated with a diploma in Christian ministry.
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When asked what motivated him to become a Pastor, he said, “It was more of a calling than a motivation to become a pastor. I had always desired to continue my education after high school, and had tried several times attending different college programs. When I found out about the program through Golden Gate, which was designed for working people, it was a good fit. So twenty years after graduating high school, I graduated seminary. Then the fellowship started through a Tuesday night Bible study, and for the first few months we met in someone's home until the current location came available three years ago.”
Siddle and his wife enjoy going to Christian retreats, they have been attending various programs through Hume Lake Christian Conference Center, Hume CA. (north of Fresno in the Sequoia Nat. Forest) their daughter K.C. has even attended youth camps there.
Scott and Deena have also been to couples and Marriage conferences in the past few years. (Visit humelake.org for more info). “At last year's Romance retreat the director of adult ministries, Eric Simpson, was sharing about their preliminary trip to the Holy Land in conjunction with GTI Tours,” said Siddle.
Siddle mentioned that GTI Tours is a Christian owned and operated full service tour operator specializing in ministry travel since 1992.
“Simpson's explanation of the trip as a pilgrimage was something that very much appealed to me. This was not your everyday drive from site to site, jump out and take pictures trip. I knew I had to experience it,” Siddle said.
Siddle along with 22 others went on this journey to the Holy Land, Siddle said, “and I do mean journey intentionally” they began March 1 leaving from LAX on a 13 hour non-stop flight to Tel-Aviv.
Their tour leader was Kent Dobson. “Kent studied in Israel and is a very accomplished teacher of Israel's history, geography and Biblical studies,” said Siddle.
Siddle mentioned that after landing in Tel-Aviv (which he was advised ahead of time to have his hiking boots on or readily accessible) the group met up with their co-leader Boaz, a seventh generation Israeli, and their bus driver, “the best bus driver in the world, hands down-Dorron,” said Siddle.
They were shown one of the local sites near Tel-Aviv and given some of the local history and customs, and they spent their first night near Te-Aviv and then set out on the journey of their pilgrimage.
Siddle said, “Now I must explain the term pilgrimage; many trips to Israel consist of riding the bus from historic church to church to church, taking pictures and getting back on the bus. This journey was nothing like that. Often times we would be traveling down the road and our bus would stop on the side of the highway, we would get out and hike for awhile (any where from a few hundred yards to several miles) then we would sit in an area or ancient site, open our study guide and our Bibles and proceed to study about the very spot we were sitting.”
This process continued as they traveled to the Dead Sea area where they spent three days in the area, then they traveled south into the Negev, spenting one day at the Dead Sea and then north where they spent four days in Galilee.
Siddle mentioned that they also included a driving tour through Golan Heights. “After Galilee they worked their way over to and down the coast and ended their journey with three days in Jerusalem.
“Our travels took us through ancient cities such as; Gezer, Bet-Shemesh, Lakish, Tel-Arad, The Zohar Wadi, En Gedi, Qumran (home to the dead sea scrolls), Masada, The Mt of Beatitudes, Korazim, Bet-Saida, Mt Arbel, Gamla, Caesarea Philipi, Susita, Mt Carmel, Caesarea by the sea, Bethlehem and many sites in Jerusalem. All total it was over 40 sites that we visited in 12 days,” Siddle said.
The trip back home for Siddle was a bit longer, a non-stop flight that took nearly 15 1/2 hours and when he got home he and his wife went away for one night to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
When asked what motivated him to take this trip, Siddle said, “The main motivation for this journey was to simply allow the Holy Scripture to come alive to me. To study things like Sampson, David and Goliath, Jesus and the disciples in the very land where they lived and walked. I also had one main goal in mind on this journey and that was to become a better student (Hebrew word Talmid) of Jesus, God and the Bible.”
Siddle was asked what he learned from the trip about the Bible and, if anything, about himself; he said, “No matter what we think we know about God and His land, His people, His Word, His will for us, none of it will come as alive to us without a pilgrimage devoted to Him. Not everyone can be blessed with the opportunity to travel to the Holy Land, and I feel very fortunate and thankful to have gone.”
Siddle mentioned there are many thanks that are due to the folks in his fellowship who did fundraisers and donated in order for him to go on this trip. Siddle says the trip was a combination of spiritual, emotional and physical; “one that is hard to put into words,” said Siddle.
“The Bible has always been seen not only as a spiritual book but as a historical document. When you stand in the area you are actually studying and you see the majesty and provision of God, it makes it hard to deny His existence. While on the trip we studied everything from the Hebrew writings (Old Testament) to the New Testament,” Siddle said.
The public is invited to experience this pilgrimage to Israel on Saturday April 7th at 6pm at He Cares Fellowship, 16475 Hwy 178, next to the KOA campground in Weldon. Siddle said, “We will be having a time of fellowship, desserts and sharing of the journey.”
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