Our story

Andy Cook was involved with prison ministry during much of his 27-year career as a pastor. Who knew that a group of prisoners would take him to Israel?

As Cook made more and more trips to Israel, he wanted to show the men in a prison Bible study class what he was learning in his own tours of Israel. He had a few photographs, but what if there was more? What if he could create a virtual tour of biblical sites as if he were leading them on the ground in Israel?

He shared the dream with the men. They began to pray. Some fasted.

And before that 13-week study was finished, Andy was on his way to Florida, where he would meet with executives from the Christian Television Network. A year later, three photographers accompanied Andy to Israel to shoot some short videos for the network.

“While we’re here,” the pastor told his photographers, “shoot lots of B-roll. Land, clouds, rivers, birds … everything.”

They did. By the time that 2012 shoot was done, Experience Israel Now had a great start on its library of “background” video clips from Israel.

A dozen trips to Israel and a decade later, EIN has what is believed to be the largest library of drone video clips of biblical sites of any organization, hundreds of professional photos and hours of on-the-ground video clips. All of it merges into our unique EIN presentations, and is now available for use by Bible teachers everywhere at ibiblestock.org.

For a few years, Cook used the clips to supplement his sermons at Shirley Hills Baptist Church in Warner Robins, Georgia. Then came the invitations to schools, regional church events and college ministries. A series of “virtual-tour” presentations developed.

By 2015, EIN had much more video on hand, and Pastor Andy felt a call to lead Bible conferences on a full-time basis. Since then EIN has been to locations as far away from Georgia as New Orleans, Oklahoma, Minneapolis, New Jersey, and Zambia!

And whenever possible, Pastor Andy is still visiting prisons, bringing Israel to the men who prayed the ministry into existence.

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