Jim and Marsha Booker’s lives can be summed up in three words: faith, family and travel.
Both Jim and Marsha grew up in in Shelbyville, a city east of Louisville in Kentucky. Jim was very active in music. He belonged to several singing groups and traveled a lot performing with them. His love of travel rubbed off on his high-school sweetheart, Marsha, and the couple continued to travel quite a bit after they were married.
Travel has helped Jim and Marsha make an impact on their friends and family. Jim is senior pastor of Kenwood Northeast Baptist Church in Crestwood, Kentucky, and the couple has inspired a love of travel in their church family. Not only has the church’s travel group increased in numbers, but other blessings have followed, too.
“It really brought us together as a family and blessed us,” Jim said. The couple feel that travel has been a tool for their group both to deepen their bonds and grow in their faith.
When planning their trips, the Bookers make sure everything is a wholesome and uplifting experience that also includes a little something fun for everybody.
“We try to keep it fun and keep it Christian,” Jim said. That means including some things while excluding others. They make a point to avoid certain movies, but “we love comedy, especially Christian comedy.”
The group also enjoys devotions and Bible studies while traveling. Marsha said each morning before setting out on the day’s activities, the group prays together for safety, for their plans that day and to thank God for the time they have to spend together. They also enjoy singing songs suggested by the different members of the group.
Travel and faith often go hand in hand on their trips. Marsha remembers a moment from a trip to Hawaii when their group came together with many other travelers from more than 100 countries. Everyone sang “How Great Is Our God” in their own language.
“All those people singing together just struck me how we can all come together and make such beautiful music, each in our own different languages,” she said.
