Christians United For Israel Partners With Global Christian Travel To Build Increased Pastoral Involvement

Second Jerusalem Summit targeted as first major cooperative event

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., August 27, 2008 – Jacksonville-based Global Christian Travel announced today that it was partnering with Christians United For Israel (CUFI) on a project designed to increase the involvement of pastors and their congregations at CUFI’s Second Jerusalem Summit scheduled for March, 2010. 

Global Christian Travel is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Philadelphia-based Gil Travel, the nation’s leading travel management company sending tourists to Israel. CUFI is a national Christian grassroots movement focused on one issue: supporting Israel. CUFI’s membership is rapidly growing and changing the nature of support for Israel in America.  This partnership affords each organization an excellent opportunity to capitalize on each other’s strengths and increase support for the nation of Israel.

Global Christian Travel has been designated a “Recommended Travel Partner” by CUFI, and will be working closely with CUFI and their national leadership to maximize participation in the Second Jerusalem Summit.  To celebrate the new partnership, Global Christian Travel sponsored the Pastor’s Reception at CUFI’s Third Annual Leadership Summit last month, which was held in Washington DC.  Several hundred pastors participated in the event that included every state in the union, as well as several foreign nations. 

Pastor John Hagee, CUFI’s national chairman, spoke at the Pastor’s Reception and emphasized the importance of a highly-qualified partner for pastors planning on brining groups to visit Israel.  “When I started the ministry so many years ago, I naively thought anyone could provide travel services for me. I still remember getting picked up at the hotel around 10:30 or 11:00 in the morning, and getting back by 3:00 in the afternoon.  And that was called ‘A Touring Day’! Well, as our needs grew and the ministry demanded so much more, I realized that we had to have our needs handled by true professionals. A group such as Christians United For Israel requires a seasoned professional tour operator, one that can handle all the details of a large group tour so I do not have to worry.  We are pleased to have Global Christian Travel as one of our sponsors.  They are precisely the kind of professionals we require.”

EL AL Israel Airlines, the official airline of the State of Israel, participated with Global Christian Travel in providing an all-expense-paid 10 day tour of Israel. “Global Christian Travel and their parent company Gil Travel are significant partners,” said Ofer Gat, EL AL Airlines CEO of North American Operations, who participated in the event. “We look forward to working with them to maximize CUFI’s ability to bring people to this important summit in Jerusalem.”

Planning for the 2010 summit begins September, 2009. CUFI will use a combination of emails and mailings to inform their city, state, regional, and executive directors that Global Christian Travel is the recommended tour provider and encourage their leadership to plan their March 2010 trips to Israel with them. These weekly announcements will include links to Global Christian Travel’s website, where specific information regarding traveling to the summit will be available. CUFI will also include a reminder in their weekly Monday Leadership Update email with text provided by Global Christian Travel and a link to Global Christian Travel’s website.                                                                        

Pictured above are CUFI National Director Pastor John Hagee (center) with Global Christian Travel Managing Directors Dr. RJ Gosselin (left) and  Michael Cardy (right) at the Third Annual CUFI Summit in Washington, DC.