Walking the Ancient Roads this Fall - Spain & Portugal
This fall, God willing, Barb and I will leave the U.S. and spend approximately three months walking through Spain, Portugal, and parts of southern France—not as tourists, but as pilgrims. Frequenting albergues, hostels and the occasional couch, we will walk Portuguese Camino in reverse order from Santiago de Compestela, Spain to Porto, Lisbon and eventually Lagos where the slave trade began. We will visit places where the histories of Christianity, empire, conquest, kings, crusades, and religious power intersect. From the Knights Templar and the Crusades to the Doctrine of Discovery and the rise of the Portuguese and Spanish empires, we want to examine how Christianity became entangled with conquest, domination, and political power—and how some of those same ideas may echo today in American exceptionalism, dominion theology, and the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). Through it all, we will return to one fundamental question: Does this look like the Jesus revealed in Scripture?
We will also follow another historical trail through Spain and southern France, exploring regions important to the development and transmission of medieval Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah. As our research has increasingly taken us into concepts such as restoration, human participation in cosmic repair, spiritual ascent, and mystical interpretations of Scripture, we want to stand in some of the places where these ideas developed and examine their history firsthand. We want to carefully compare these streams with today's Christian streams—including restoration theology, manifest sonship, dominion theology, Latter Rain and the NAR—and allow Scripture to remain our measuring line.
But Documenting Domination will not only look backward. As we walk through Spain and Portugal, we also intend to examine the human consequences of domination today, including human trafficking through the centuries, the African slave trade, exploitation, migration, and the ways vulnerable people can become casualties of systems built around money and power.
Pellegrino means pilgrim, and this journey is ultimately about people: walking slowly, meeting individuals along the road, sharing the Gospel, praying with those God places before us, and allowing Him to continue exposing and changing our own hearts. Whether standing before a castle, an ancient religious site, a monument to empire, or simply talking with someone beside the road, our desire is to point away from systems and back to Jesus Christ and the truth of His Word.
We are stepping onto this road the same way we entered the desert: by faith. We believe that if God wants us to have something, He will put it in our hands. We don't know how every mile will unfold or how every need will be met, and we don't need to. We will simply walk, document, preach the Gospel, and trust Him for what comes next, welcoming those He prompts to pray, encourage, or help with the journey. We will be sharing this journey with you on YouTube, Facebook and Substack, so please subscribe and walk with us. From the desert to the ancient roads of Europe, our destination remains the same: eyes off the systems, eyes off ourselves, and eyes fixed on Jesus.
