On April 24, over 800 of us set sail on Royal Caribbean’s Odessey of the Seas on a 9-day cruise through the Mediterranean with Kristi McLelland.
For those of you that aren’t familiar with her, Kristi McLelland is a Bible teacher who loves to help her students learn the historical and cultural context of Scripture. If you haven’t heard her teach before know this—I have had so many aha moments listening to her because of context I was missing from my Western lens. I was especially looking forward to learning from her along a journey to sites like Ephesus and Athens!Â
Our cruise started in Rome, and Kristi welcomed us by saying, “We are the people that God has brought to experience this together. It’s like a big table that the Lord has set—He’s inviting us to it.” She explained that while we typically learn sitting at desks and reading books, there is something special about biblical study trips that let us experience things we can’t in a classroom.
The theme of Kristi’s teaching for the week was helping us understand the kingdom of empire versus the kingdom of God. Together we learned that the world of empire was all about who was on top and had power while the kingdom of God was about living laterally with our brothers and sisters, like mustard seed, full of the welcome of heaven. We started in Genesis, spent time in Isaiah, and then made our way to the New Testament looking at teachings of Jesus and then at Paul’s letters.
Along the way, we made stops in Crete, Santorini, Ephesus, Mykonos, Athens, and Naples.
The teaching was intentionally planned with the order of our stops so the day we got to explore Ephesus, Kristi taught about it right before we reached port! It was an incredible day that was a highlight for so many of us—getting to walk the marble streets and ruins of Ephesus right after learning about what an empire it had been in the past.Â
As Kristi said during her teaching, “Empire has an expiration date. The kingdom of heaven does not.” Carrying that phrase with you while you personally walk the streets of a long past empire is not an experience I will soon forget.
In our teaching before our Athens stop, we looked at Paul’s speech in Acts 17 and learned about the world of Athens. The very next morning, we got to visit the Parthenon and Mars Hill—reading Paul’s words in Acts 17 while we stood on Mars Hill.
Some of our other stops like Santorini and Mykonos, although not biblical sites, allowed us to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation and continue to digest and take in all that we were learning together on the ship. I was so grateful of the rhythm of teaching, adventure, and rest throughout our 9 days. It was a pace that helped me really absorb and savor what I was learning!
Along the way we also had fun together—playing games, having small group huddles where Kristi gave us pop quizzes, and getting to know each other throughout the week. In so many ways it felt like camp for adults; by the end of the week, we felt like we had really experienced something special together.
At the end of our time, Kristi left us with this: “The question that we all go home with is this one: In a highly stratified, vertical world of empire (of power and acquisition), are we as followers of Jesus learning how to live laterally as brothers and sisters in the kingdom of justice and righteousness?” It’s a question I’m still thinking about, and I hope it’s a challenge to you, whether or not you were able to join us on this cruise!
I’m writing this as a sit on a plane, heading home from a truly great adventure. At the beginning of our cruise, Kristi told us, “You’re getting ready to experience things that you’ll never forget.” I couldn’t think of a truer statement about our nine days!
If you missed out on this adventure, we have more ahead of us! Join us September 25–October 3, 2026, as we cruise the coasts of France and Spain with Lysa TerKeurst. And mark your calendars for a 2027 cruise announcement on May 22! Come experience Bible teaching and an unforgettable adventure with us—we can’t wait to meet you there.Â
