A Florida church tour group of 54 people who had been in Israel when Hamas first launched its attack in the southern part of the Middle Eastern nation has returned safely to the United States.
Travelers who joined an annual tour of the region with members of First Baptist Church of Fernandina Beach arrived home safely late Sunday, among them being Senior Pastor Zach Terry.
In an interview with The Christian Post, Terry recalled that when his tour had “first received word that something had happened, it caught us off guard.”
Terry said there had been “a lot of uncertainty about whether this was a skirmish or something that might escalate,” however, as time passed, “things were moving toward an all-out war.”
He added, “I don’t think I fully relaxed until we were back in Jacksonville, Florida. Many familiar faces were gathered at the airport to greet us. It felt great to be home.”
The FBC Fernandina Beach tour group was one of many church-supported trips to the Holy Land that found itself in Israel not far from where the terrorist attacks were launched on Oct. 7.
Last week, a group of around 50 people in a tour group hosted by Sunnyside Baptist Church of Kingsport, Tennessee, safely returned to the U.S. from Israel.
That group was able to leave the country on a predawn flight via Turkish Airlines from Tel Aviv to Istanbul, Turkey, and then took a flight from Turkey to Atlanta, Georgia.