New York, NY September 2007 -- Gone are the chicken dinners and fish fries. And gone are the car washes as the main vehicles of fundraising for churches and church groups. Churches are going to the internet to raise money by purchasing a low cost and effective franchise in the online travel business. "It only makes sense" says J.E. White of The Minority Home Based Business Report, which is a website that provides free information to minority entrepreneurs. "Churches have the loyalty of their members as instant customers because the church members would rather book online travel with their church rather than Expedia or Priceline especially since the church fares are competitive with the more popular online travel sites." Additionally, now churches and church groups can plan church retreats, cruises and marriage encounters and receive the commissions that the travel agent or salesperson would normally receive in addition to the fees that the church would normally charge for the particular activity.

Pastor Michael Claiborne of the Christian Love Tabernacle, PMC Ministries in Philadelphia Pennsylvania is a man of the cloth and a businessman that sees the potential of the online travel business and is taking positive advantage of it. He sees the online travel business as a means of church income and an "opportunity for the church to start a business without a lot of overhead and start-up costs." "Pastor Mike" as he affectionately called by his flock and people that know him calls the online travel business "a fund raiser that never stops raising" He says "no one travels as much as church folks so the members can book their travel online with the church. It is like an offering you don't have to ask for." He says that "churches could benefit like never before" and "if you want to travel why not travel with the truth". More church leaders are seeing the vision of Pastor Mike and are venturing into the online travel business as an opportunity for perpetual and low pressure fundraising for the church.

Church fund raising may be one of the most challenging types of fundraising events a person will ever try to carry out successfully. It is challenging because you are often dealing with people who have little or no experience at raising money in any type of setting. Most churches typically turn to the standard church fund raising events, but this is no time to be like everyone else. The percentage of income that Christians give has been declining for 30+ years. Current percentages are 1 ½ to 3 ½ percent. Barna Research recently reported that although 17% of Christians say they "tithe" - but only 3% actually give 10% or more of their income to the church. Therefore the online travel is a great way for the church to compensate for declining donations.

For more information on the opportunity of the online travel business go to http://www.rootsrecoveredtravel.com/ or visit The Minority Home Based Business Report at http://www.theminorityhomebasedbusinessreport.com /.