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| Good News in the News | ||
Good News Travels: Enjoying, exploring God's CreationBy Jason EvansEASLEY - Good News Travels is a company that delivers not only great vacations but the good news of Jesus Christ."We try to be different from other tour companies in that we incorporate a devotion and prayer into our trips," said president John Tribble. "I don't take lightly that Good News Travels is in our name," he said. "It carries with it a certain amount of responsibility." The company is celebrating its 27th year. "What we try to do here, as far as the Christian witness (is concerned), is how we try to treat our customers," Tribble said. "Trying to do, even in difficult situations, the right thing, the thing that we feel is going to bring glory to the Lord." In 1979, Tribble served as minister of activities at Taylors First Baptist Church. "One of my responsibilities was to work with the senior adults," he said. "One of the activities that they enjoyed the most was taking trips and traveling." In fall of 1981, Tribble bought a motorcoach and began calling on churches directly. "Back then the market was very defined," he said. "Senior adults and Southern Baptist church groups. That was the main focus." Taking tours to the 1982 World's Fair caused Goods News Travels to become better known. "That gave us a tremendous boost," he said. "We ran 69 tours and that really got our name out." In 1995, Tribble decided to focus Good News Travels on group tours. "We work with group leaders," he said. "A club chairman, a pastor, a travel chairman, a schoolteacher, anyone who might be in charge of travel." His company custom-designs group tours, Tribble said. "We do a lot of school trips," he said. "We work with a lot of gifted and talent teachers and social studies teachers." The company offers both domestic and international tours. "Probably 75 percent of what we do is domestic motor coach trips," he said. "We also do cruises. That's grown quite a bit." Popular domestic destinations include New York, Charleston and Savannah. Cruise destinations include the Caribbean and Alaska. Good News Travels will hold a gospel singing cruise with the Melodyaires and other groups next February, Tribble said. "It'll be a special time," he said. One of next year's trips will give participants a chance to "ride the rails," Tribble said. "We have a Colorado train trip this year ... we ride four different scenic trains," Tribble said. Pricing depends on the size of the group and the company can accommodate groups of almost any size, Tribble said. Goods News has begun offering volunteer tourism for students, Tribble said. "This is the first year we've begun to promote that," he said. "These trips will consist of anything from working with a local orphanage to cleaning up a city park to working with Habitat for Humanity. "It just depends on the age of the students and also what the teacher wants to accomplish on the trip," he said. "Many teenagers, and adults as well, are interesting not only in being entertained but they're wanting to participate in a trip where they can give back to the location they visit." Other "voluntours" include traveling to a marine science center to help clean up beaches and protect sea turtle habitat, he said. "Several years ago, we did what we called 'A Christmas Tour of Giving,'" Tribble said. "A group went down to Charleston and bought gifts for underprivileged children." The company also offers basic missions trips, Tribble said. "We've done everything from setting the basic mission program up, organizing the activities, the work schedule," he said. "We can do as much of that or as little of that (as a group wants). Sometimes people just want the transportation to a particular location." Past mission trips include West Virginia and the Texas-Mexico border and providing transportation to North Dakota and Upstate New York. A trip to the Billy Graham Library is very popular, Tribble said. "We couple that with a trip to the NarrowWay Dinner Theater," he said. A trip to Washington, D.C. has a Christian-related sightseeing emphasis option, Tribble said. "The whole aspect of the sight-seeing was based on how our country was developed on strong Christian principles," he said. "The guides talked about how our Founding Fathers, how much of a Christian influence they had over early legislation." Trips to the Creation Museum outside of Cincinnati are also in the works, Tribble said. "That is a world-class museum," he said. "I'd encourage anyone who gets the opportunity to visit. It talks a lot about the creation of the world. "(The museum) doesn't put down evolution so much as it just presents the other side," Tribble said. "It lets you decide how you want to." | ||
