Passages is a nonprofit organization that offers Christian college students with leadership potential a trip to the Holy Land, where they encounter the roots of their biblical faith firsthand and come face to face with the modern miracle that is Israel. Fellow staff and co-hosts of this episode of Passages: Stories from Israel on the Charisma Podcast Network, Jeremy Rivers and Montana Dewitt, sit down with Philip Morrow to hear how his five trips to the Holy Land have grown him both as a leader and a follower of Christ.
On his first trip to Israel with his family, Morrow’s tour guide told him, “I want you to look at the faces of the people who live here. As Christians, I know that you believe God made people with more dignity than rocks, and here, not many tourists show that dignity to the people. And they show a lot more dignity to rocks. I hope as Christians, you can reverse that.”
From there, God used Passages and Morrow’s journeys to Israel to reveal Himself in new and personal ways each time. A staple lesson on humility that Morrow learned on one of his trips translated into the next season of his life as a worship and eventually a youth minister for the First Baptist Church of Rosenberg, Texas.
He says, “I was in the same boat. I was the youngest person on staff, I was the least educated, least qualified, probably least mature person. And I had to get my church engaged in doing something together [in] corporate worship every Sunday. And the only way I could do that was with humility and joy.” He says these two attributes were a core part of his learning experience through his time with Passages.
To hear more on how the Holy Land inspired a leader’s heart within Morrow, listen to the full podcast here. {eoa}
Abby Trivett 
James Lasher