Journey of the Reformation

Journey Overview

Join us in Weimar, Germany for an inspiring encounter with Reformation sights and a fascinating immersion into German culture and cuisine. Our journey will also take us to Berlin, where we will explore complex cultural issues that emerged through both hot and cold war that continue to impact our world today.

We will visit Germany in summer when flowers are in full bloom, and the warm air seems to enhance the taste of Thüringen cuisine and the refreshment of Lutheran Tea. Your journey will offer you the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful German landscape from mountains to rolling farmland. Our daily adventures will take us to destinations of compelling historical, religious, and cultural, significance.

Your Hosts for Our Journey

The Reverend Janis Mikits offers an intriguing background that uniquely positions him to serve as your journey host. In addition to serving as a parish pastor who will offer rich theological perspective when seeing Luther sights, Reverend Mikits has over two decades of military service experience that includes serving as a diplomatic attaché specializing in the former Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries. Exploring Berlin with Pastor Mikits promises to be very helpful cultural and theological insights to fellow travelers.

Pastor Mikits grew up in the small town of Beech Grove, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis. After his high school graduation, in 1995, Pastor Mikits accepted an appointment to the United States Military Academy (West Point) where he graduated in 1999. Reverend Mikits served over 20 years in the Army as an Artillery Officer, a West Point Professor, and as a Foreign Area Officer (FAO), the Army’s version of a diplomat.

Reverend Mikits served overseas for 11 years (9 years in Germany and 2 years in Ukraine). He served two combat tours in Afghanistan. He also spent two years at the Harvard Kennedy School, taught Economics at West Point, learned Russian, and earned another two degrees along the way. He served at several U.S. embassies in the Eurasian region.

Reverend Mikits often shares how God used his more than two decades of military service to prepare him for his life of service to God’s people as a pastor. As he reflects on his military service, Pastor Mikits sees how God poured blessings beyond measure upon him while also humbling him and teaching him patience.

In 2018, Reverend Mikits felt the Holy Spirit urging him toward a different path. Reverend Mikits matriculated at Concordia Seminary—St. Louis in 2019.

One week after graduating from West Point, Rev. Mikits married his high school sweetheart and best friend, Amy. Since becoming a dual-parish pastor’s wife, Amy is very busy attending various Bible studies, teaching Sunday school, and visiting many of the older women in the two congregations.

Pastor Mikits and Amy are now “empty nesters.” They enjoy daytrips, visiting family, solving crosswords, and watching football or murder mysteries. Pastor Mikits and Amy also enjoy hobbies that include hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, and gardening.

The Reverend Jordan McKinley has a background in the German language. His language skills and theological acumen will serve fellow travelers well. Fellow travelers will find Pastor McKinley welcoming and engaging as a host.

Pastor McKinley was born to Mr. and Mrs. Jeff and Susan McKinley on July 15th, 1983, in Kokomo, Indiana. He was baptized into Christ on August 14th, 1983, the 14th Sunday after Trinity at Zion Lutheran Church in Kokomo, IN, by the Rev. Donald O. Studt. He was confirmed at Zion Lutheran Church in Kokomo on May 31st, 1998, the Day of Pentecost.

He graduated from Northwestern High School in 2002. He is a 2006 graduate of Ball State University, where he earned a B.A. in History with a minor in German.

Upon graduation, he worked as a dispensing optician at an eyeglass shop in Fort Wayne. He married his wife, Andrea (nee Wagner) of Bloomington, Indiana, in the summer of 2007 at Grace Lutheran Church in Muncie, Indiana. Later that summer, they moved to Muncie, where Andrea taught in the Muncie Public Schools. He worked at the Muncie Public Library.

In 2008, he and Andrea moved back to Fort Wayne, and he started his studies at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, IN. During his course of study, Andrea worked at St. Paul’s Lutheran School in Fort Wayne, and they had their first child, Naomi, in 2010. From 2011 to 2012, the McKinleys lived in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, where he served as vicar at Our Savior Lutheran Church under the Rev. Steve Sanderson. While in Colorado, their son, Collin, was born.

In 2012, he was called to serve the dual parish of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Bennett, Iowa, and St. Paul Lutheran Church in Stanwood, Iowa. He was ordained and installed as pastor of those congregations on June 24th, 2012, the Nativity of St. John the Baptizer. In 2013, their son, Theodore, was born.

Pastor McKinley received a call to serve Trinity Lutheran Church in Vallonia, IN, in June 2015, and he was installed as the pastor of Trinity on August 23rd, 2015.

Day 1 – Wheels up!

Monday, June 7, 2027

Journey of the Reformation fellow travelers depart on an overnight flight to Germany. The destination airport will be determined at a future date.

Day 2 – Weimar, Herzlich Willkommen!

Tuesday, June 8, 2027

Upon our arrival in Germany, we will travel to our beautiful four-star hotel where we will have time to unpack, relax, or maybe even explore a bit before we gather for our spectacular welcome dinner. We will enjoy a tour of a local brewery in Weimar with an opportunity to taste Lutheran Tea. Our tour will be followed by dinner at the brewery. D

Day 3 – Truly Medieval Experience

Wednesday, June 9, 2027

After a wonderful breakfast, we depart for Erfurt with a stop at Lutherstein Stotternheim, a small park that commemorates the Luther praying to Saint Ann when he was caught in a thunderstorm. Erfurt was situated at the economic crossroads of the medieval world, and today, is a thriving city. We will visit the Augustinian monastery where Martin Luther lived as a monk in the in the early sixteenth century. After our tour of the monastery, our exploration of this fascinating town will include some shopping on the famous Merchant’s Bridge (Krämerbrücke) which is the oldest inhabited bridge north of the Alps. We will return to Weimar for dinner. B, D

Day 4 – The Reformation in Global Perspective

Thursday, June 10, 2027

We will enjoy a beautiful ride to Coburg where we will enjoy a fascinating tour of the Veste Coburg. This wonderfully preserved castle houses some fascinating reformation era artifacts as well as an amazing art collection including works by Lucas Cranach the Elder. We will return to Weimar in time to relax before dinner. B, L

Day 5 – A Mighty Fortress

Friday, June 11, 2027 NOTE: Consider moving to Saturday

In Eisenach, the birthplace of Johann Sebastian Bach, we will visit the Bachhaus Museum with a short concert on baroque keyboard instruments. We will then ascend the mountain to Wartburg Castle. For over 1,000 years, the Wartburg Castle has provided the setting for understanding critical intersections of German history. Living in exile disguised as a knight, Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German while living here. We will return to Weimar for dinner. B, D

Day 6 - The Reformation 500 Years On

Saturday, June 12, 2027

When we visit Wittenberg, we will visit the birthplace of the Reformation. We will visit sites and churches made famous by their association with Martin Luther and the Reformation. We will also look forward to hearing A Mighty Fortress is Our God played on an organ in a sixteenth century church as we experience worship in English. B, D

Day 7 - Never Forget

Sunday, June 13, 2027

Your encounter with this extraordinarily well-presented German testimony and commitment to “never forget” promises to be profound on our visit to K-Z Buchenwald. We will gather in the evening for dinner and conversation over all that engaged us in this penetrating experience. B, D

Day 8 – The Life and Death of Martin Luther

Monday, June 14, 2027

The Geburtshaus that commemorates the birthplace of Martin Luther and the Sterbehaus which commemorates his death will no doubt stimulate conversation on a range of topics about life past and present. We will then travel to Berlin where we will check into our hotel and enjoy dinner at a local restaurant. B, D

Day 9 – Wars Hot and Cold

Tuesday, June 15, 2027

We will enjoy a tour of Berlin with an emphasis on World War II sights. We will visit the Holocaust Memorial and exhibition followed by a visit to the Allied Museum. We will enjoy dinner at a restaurant in Berlin.

Day 10 – About that Wall, Mr. Gorbachev

Wednesday, June 16, 2027

We will enjoy a tour of Berlin with an emphasis on World War II sights. We will visit the Holocaust Memorial and exhibition followed by a visit to the Allied Museum. We will enjoy dinner at a restaurant in Berlin.

Day 11 – Life in East and West

Thursday, June 17, 2027

After breakfast, we will proceed to the most famous Cold War crossing point between East and West Berlin, Checkpoint Charlie which served as the designated gateway for Allied personnel, diplomats, and foreign tourists. Although a highly commercialized memorial and tourist attraction, this remains a must-see attraction. We will also be guided through the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. We also enjoy a guided tour of the German Spy Museum before proceeding our farewell dinner in Berlin. B, D

Day 12 - The Formal End to our Purposeful Journey

Friday, June 18, 2027

The memories will indeed last a lifetime. We hope your journey will continue with your new friends. Our journey concludes with the departure of our flight home.

B = Breakfast included L = Lunch included D = Dinner included

Purpose

As we reflect on the Protestant Reformation in Germany during our journey, we may want to ask: How can events and ideas that emerged and unfolded more than 500 years ago continue to exert such a powerful influence today that millions of people around the world consider “Lutheran” to be an indelible part of their identity? Our time in Berlin will surely stimulate questions about what living as a Christian today means for us in our own time, especially in light of recent well-known and documented attempts to revive socialism.

When we pause to reflect on our sources of inspiration; the places we have visited that have influenced and shaped our perspective, there are likely places and experiences we can name with certainty. Journey of the Reformation was created to provide multiple encounters with places sure to deepen the faith and enrich the life of fellow travelers as we consider our perspective in light of a distant past that continues to form and shape who we are as Christians today.

The purpose of this journey is to explore what living more than 500 years after the Reformation means for us today. At the turn of the sixteenth century, breathtaking change created an increasingly complex world demanding of Europeans a reassessment of their place in the cosmos and God’s relationship to the natural world. Along this purposeful journey, we will visit Reformation sights as well as sights of more recent historical events that continue to exert their influence on us today.

Our Philosophy

We hope you will measure the quality of your journey not by the quantity of sights you see, but by the invaluable experiences you absorb.

Balance of stimulating experience, serious reflection…and just plain fun.

One word describes our intention for your journey: balance. We believe each place we visit should relate to whole story, the arc of a narrative. We believe in creating journeys formed and shaped as narratives; journeys that are serious, purposeful, and fulfilling with time to reflect with fellow travelers or alone while providing opportunity for experiences that are just plain fun.

Expert interaction and rich personal encounters

Rather than a trip led by a tour guide trained to disseminate information from a script, we endeavor to seek experts to lead you on a journey who are available as a resource for as much depth as you desire or to leave you to your own reflection.

Few beautiful base locations

Too often, group travel can leave you feeling like you are part of a herd of a large group of strangers hustled from sight to sight, packing and unpacking every day of your trip. With us you will stay in two beautiful locations that serves as a base for our excursions. Changing hotels as few times as possible during a journey allows greater opportunity to experience people and culture.

Meticulously planned; yet flexible journey

How does a trip become a journey? Carefully selected excursions that form a narrative, staying in one beautiful base location, with time and flexibility for reflection, and activities that are just plain fun.

Cuisine as a delectable complement to culture and conversation

Cuisine, and the wonderful dining experiences we share in an eclectic array of venues, provide a delectable complement to your rich encounters with the culture and the delightful conversation you enjoy with fellow travelers.

Arrangements

Flight Information

As a fellow traveler, you will have the flexibility to choose how you will join your cohort to formally begin your journey. Purposeful Journeys marks the formal beginning of your journey with the welcome reception and dinner at our destination hotel. On most journeys, you will have three options to join your cohort. Below are the options for joining your cohort with the primary advantage for each option:

Join Your Cohort on Our Group Flight: On most journeys, Purposeful Journeys will arrange a group flight from a major airport in closest proximity and convenience for the majority of the cohort. The group flight will include a transfer from the destination airport to the hotel.
Advantage: This is often the most cost effective and certainly the most convenient option.
Meet Your Cohort at the Destination Airport: For a number of reasons, you may want to choose a flight other than the group flight and still meet your cohort in time to transfer from the destination airport to the hotel. Fellow travelers who choose this option will incur an additional cost for the transfer from the destination airport to the destination hotel.
Advantage: Fellow travelers may find a balance between the convenience of choosing their own flight from an origination airport other than the airport where the group flight will depart while still taking advantage of the group transfer to the destination hotel.
Meet Your Cohort at the Destination Hotel: As a fellow traveler, you may want to choose to meet your cohort at the destination hotel in time for the formal beginning of your journey with the welcome reception and dinner.
Advantage: This option offers fellow travelers the most flexibility. Fellow travelers will need to weigh the flexibility of this option with what will likely be additional costs.

Group flights will usually be announced between 60 and 90 days prior to departure of your purposeful journey. Fellow travelers will be kindly requested to choose the option for meeting their cohort to formally begin their journey soon after group flight arrangements are announced.

Purposeful Journeys will arrange a group flight departing from a major airport. While the specific price of the group flight cannot be determined until the flights are booked, based on current market conditions, flights will likely cost around $1400.

Hotel Accommodations

We will change hotels only once after arriving in Germany. Arrangements have been made at the beautiful and fascinating Best Western Grand Premiere Russischer Hof in Weimar. In Berlin, our cohort of fellow travelers will be staying at the wonderful Titanic Chausee.

Meals

Most meals you are likely to desire are included in this purposeful journey. We believe that dining experiences offer a window into the local culture. Breakfast and Lunch or Dinner is generally included each day with any exceptions in the itinerary. Meals provide time for us to relax, experience the culture, and discuss all that we have seen and experienced as fellow travelers that day. See the current, tentative itinerary for details.

Ground Transportation

Transfers to and from the arrival flight into and departing flight from Europe will be provided. Other ground transportation will be provided throughout the journey.

Sightseeing and Events

This purposeful journey includes several premium sightseeing opportunities and tours. As details emerge, specific information will be shared with fellow travelers.

Journey of the Reformation Land Only Cost—$5,150
(You may save more than $700 if you apply early)

Current Incentives:

Save $300 with a special journey host discount code
Save $150 if you apply early
Save $150 if you choose to settle your balance prior to the due date of your first payment
Save 3% if you choose to settle your balance by check instead of credit card

Your journey includes:

Taxes and airline surcharges
Gratuities for service staff, coach driver(s) and guides
Deluxe coach transportation throughout your itinerary
Double occupancy hotel room ($950 single supplement for Israel)
Meals as specified in the final itinerary
Admission fees as specified in the final itinerary
Only goods, services, or activities as explicitly included in the General Terms and Conditions.
An offer for Cancel-for-Any-Reason (CFAR) travel insurance at the cost of a Basic Travel Insurance policy

Your journey does not include:

Round trip airfare
Alcoholic beverages, bottled water, after dinner drinks
Any goods, services, or activities expressly excluded in the General Terms and Conditions.
Cancel For Any Reason Travel Insurance

Remittance Schedule:

A decision on travel insurance is required for approval of your application
Once your application is approved, you will receive an invoice/statement that reflects your choice for settling your balance. Your first payment will be due approximately 60 days after your application has been approved.
If you choose to avail yourself of the Pay-in-Full discount, you must settle your balance in full before your first payment is due as reflected on your invoice/statement.
If you choose to make payments, your payments will be divided into monthly payments with a final payment due as specified on your invoice/statement.
Payments will become due as specified in your remittance schedule.
Final payment must be received no later than the date specified on your invoice/statement and remittance schedule.

General Terms and Conditions

We cordially invite you to apply to join us as a fellow traveler

Our journey application process has changed. We now offer Cancel-For-Any-Reason (CFAR) travel insurance for about the cost of Basic travel insurance. We no longer collect any deposit at the time you submit your application.

Your application now requires a decision on travel insurance. Your application will not be deemed complete until you have either declined to purchase NTA Travel Connect travel insurance or paid your travel insurance invoice. Once you complete your application form, you will receive a quote from Purposeful Journeys for CFAR travel insurance. Your quote will be about the cost of Basic Travel insurance, a large discount. You will also receive a more detailed explanation about NTA Travel Protect travel insurance. By using this process Purposeful Journeys can guarantee that fellow travelers purchase their CFAR travel insurance policy within the 14-day window allotted for purchasing CFAR travel insurance. You may also decline your purchase of travel insurance.

We are delighted you are taking the step of submitting your application to become a member of a journey with us. We look forward to notifying you of your acceptance as a fellow traveler.