June 15-19, 2020 TourMagination is celebrating 50 years of helping people of faith explore, experience, and expand their worlds. The company began in 1970 to help North American Anabaptists explore their heritage in Europe. See a timeline of important milestones.
Help us celebrate with these online events:
Tuesday, June 16, 8 PM ET/7 PM CT/5 PM PT, The Anabaptist Story Lives On: Virtual Museum & Archive Tour. This week we stop at the Mennonite Heritage Center, in Harleysville, PA. Collections Manager, Joel Alderfer, will give an overview of the Mennonite Heritage Center and Its’ wonderful Fraktur Collection, REGISTER. WATCH a video trailer.
Wednesday, June 17, 8 PM ET/7 PM CT/5 PM PT, invite your friends and family to watch a YouTube premiere of Anabaptist storyteller John Ruth’s 92-minute heritage film Is There a Lesson? John recounts major threads of the Anabaptist story in Europe and beyond as viewers enjoy photos and video footage of locations where important historic events took place. John led heritage tours with TourMagination for more than 45 years. Is There a Lesson? was shown at live events across North America between 2018 and 2020 to raise funds for Mennonite museums and heritage centres. For the first time, it is being released online to be enjoyed by a wider audience. FOLLOW THIS LINK to request a reminder about the premiere.
“For 45 years, beginning in the early 1970’s, I accompanied and led TourMagination tours. I wanted to leave something of that story to my family, while allowing anyone else interested to come along. What resulted, with the help of TourMagination and my videographer son Jay Ruth, was a 92-minute memoir / travelogue / documentary. While it was first being shown to church and historical society audiences in late 2018, I was injured in a fall, which delayed further editing. But now, in June 2020, TourMagination is releasing it to you and the public via Youtube. As you watch, I hope you’ll consider the theme introduced in the title, “Is There a Lesson?” Bon voyage!”–John L. Ruth
Thursday, June 18, 8 PM ET/7 PM CT/5 PM PT join the TourMagination 50th Anniversary Reunion with president Audrey Voth Petkau and beloved tour leaders Nelson Kraybill, Len Friesen, and John Sharp for an evening of reminiscing about tours to the Holy Land, Europe, Russia, and more. During the Zoom webinar, we will share photos, stories and reflections about past TourMagination tours. We will also invite you to share your memories in the chat and will unmute a few people to share a story or two. REGISTER for this 1-hour interactive online event.
You can also read reflections from some of our long-time tour leaders: Bob & Margaret Nally, Fred & Shirley Redekop, Jack & Irene Suderman, and Tom Yoder Neufeld.
Is there a registration link for John Ruth’s film on June 17?
Not yet Allen, but there will be. We need to determine the best way to show his film online.