Southside Pride

Sometimes it’s good to go backwards in order to go forward. Through Crossing Borders, a very specialized travel company, church groups have the opportunity to tread the soil of their spiritual ancestors and come back refreshed, transformed, more open and with a changed perception of reality. “Travel with a purpose,” the motto of Crossing Borders, turns a tour into a pilgrimage, a time for sacred space, devotion, reflection and worship.

Lori Moline and Martha Van Gorder, owners of Crossing Borders, have been working exclusively in the travel industry since they graduated from college 20 years ago, Lori with a degree in urban studies from Augsburg and Martha with a degree in international relations from Hamline. Eight years ago, as they were changing jobs, a chance conversation led to the formation of Crossing Borders.

This past year, their ability to stay afloat in the face of challenges brought on by world upheaval won them the Emerging Business Owner of the Year Award from the National Association of Women Business Owners. Their ability to identify their niche in the market was also cited, along with their commitment to preparing U.S. travelers to be respectful and responsible abroad.

In Minnesota and, increasingly, in the rest of the United States, Crossing Borders has served Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Evangelical, Interfaith, and a few Methodist and Catholic churches. (There are Catholic and Methodist tour companies who plan similar tours in other parts of the country—Crossing Borders is the only company of its kind in Minnesota.) Trips are custom-made by Crossing Borders for each church community, beginning 12 to 18 months before departure. The group describes the area they want to see and whether the focus is to be on history, scripture, music or missions. On average, a tour lasts 13 days and costs $2,500 to $3,500 per person.

Because of the huge network of international ground operators that Moline and Van Gorder have established, they are able to arrange practically anything. Despite the violence that has curtailed Holy Land tours since 2000, the fear brought on by 9/11 and now the war with Iraq, Crossing Borders was still able to send 20 tours in 2002.

The exchange rate of the dollar, since the beginning of 2003, has been extremely disadvantageous but trips are still on the drawing board. Westminster Presbyterian Church, in downtown Minneapolis, is planning a trip to Scotland, the headwaters of their church heritage, and to Ireland to connect with Celtic spirituality. Dr. Phil Quanbeck, professor of religion at Augsburg College, is planning to lead a group in 2004 to Scandinavian countries and to St. Petersburg, Russia. Other trips in the works are to Greece, Turkey, Italy, England, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria and China.

Group orientation and special leadership training for church leaders are provided by Crossing Borders. Participants are encouraged to read novels or other books representative of the culture they will visit. Also, attention is given to dress and demeanor. Travelers are encouraged to step back and take things in openly without judging them. It is suggested that for the best rapport they dress like their hosts, i.e., usually a little bit dressed up, in darker clothes, and without tennis shoes and sweats with writing on them.

Groups from our neighborhood were able to make pilgrimages in 2002. The Central Lutheran Church Choir sang throughout the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. A highlight, especially for director Mark Sedio, who learned Slovak from his immigrant mother, was a standing-room-only performance in a Slovakian village church.

Pastor William Heisley of Mount Olive Lutheran Church (down the street from our office) who loves French art and culture, hosted a tour called “Springtime in France.” They saw cathedrals, chapels, chateaux and castles, impressionist paintings—and croissants. While on a tour of the organ at St. Sulpice, Heisley was given the privilege of playing the king of instruments.

In 2003, during the war, Messiah Lutheran Church in Moundsview went to Turkey and Greece to walk where the apostle Paul walked as he preached about Jesus. Months before they left, the group studied Paul’s journeys, the geography and recent history of both countries. In Istanbul and Izmir, Turkey, they met with Christian church communities. Unique to Crossing Borders tours are the opportunities to meet local people and worship in local congregations. Especially during a period of violence and unrest, people enjoyed the security of traveling in a group.

Sometimes visiting the stones and bones of the past can truly lead to propelling one’s energy into the future—to a new relationship. When St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi went on a Bible study tour of the Holy Land, they were unprepared for the impact Fr. Chacour, a Palestinian Catholic Melkite priest and three-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, would have on their lives. They were completely moved by his message of nonviolence and his conviction to preach and live the Sermon on the Mount. Since then, Fr. Chacour has come to St. Andrew’s where he spoke to a crowd of 300 people, and St. Andrew’s has become involved in the support of the Mars Elias School that Fr. Chacour started over 20 years ago in Ibillin, his village in the region of Galilee. A Holy Land tour originally planned for October 2001, which was to begin with a four-day service project at the Mars Elias School, is still on hold.

For more information about Crossing Borders call 952-995-9585 or 1-800-990-6811 or contact them at 7805 Telegraph Road, Suite 210, Bloomington, MN 55438-3408 or crossingborders@worldnet.att.net. Ask them for one of their evocative newsletters which demonstrate as much as anything that, for Moline and Van Gorder, their business is a vocation.