Using the visual resources from EIN, you can lead virtual tours of sites like Caesarea Philippi, home to the “Gates of Hades.”

Jay Lauritsen

Pastor Jay Lauritsen took his Bible study group to the Gates of Hades recently without leaving the comfort of his own church building.

Lauritsen is one of a growing number of pastors who’ve discovered the powerful impact of video resources from Experience Israel Now.

“When we did the study on the Gates of Hades, it’s like their eyes opened up wide,” Lauritsen said. “I mean, all of them! It was like they all said, ‘Wow!’ at the same time. They knew the Bible, and they knew the story. But they had always thought Jesus was just throwing something out there, just saying something in an unusual way. They had no idea there was an actual place called ‘The Gates of Hades!’ And they certainly had never connected the power of what it all means.

“It saves me a lot of time in my messages. An hour of words cannot describe what I can simply and more quickly show them. What they see and experience is so much better! They are able to grasp the lessons in God’s word in a much greater way!”

Lauritsen used several of the presentations in a small-group setting, and some of them in sermons with the entire church.

“There was a little bit of a learning curve getting used to it,” the pastor said, “but it was easier than a lot of the Bible software I have.”

Additional help, he pointed out, came from church members who knew how to set up the Apple TV technology he used to show the Keynote presentations.

Perhaps the most surprising benefit of using the resources was what came next, Lauritsen said.

“Once they saw that there was actually a place called ‘The Gates of Hades,’ they started thinking about the other places in the Bible. Now they know there’s more to be discovered, so they’re digging in to other places through their own studies.”