A Tour of Roses is a ministry of reaching out into broken communities with the tenderness and mercy of God. It is a tangible expression of the extravagant love and kindness of the Creator for all who are fractured—in small or large ways—by our own sin, and the sin of others. Through roses, song and story, worship and prayer, it is the hope of Sally and her team that they may be vessels of God’s love and healing for all who struggle with the wounds of the past.
A Tour of Roses – Future Projects
A Tour of Roses—ISRAEL
September 13-28, 2024
A Tour of Roses is a special outreach into broken communities ministering the tenderness and mercy of God. It is a tangible expression of the extravagant love and kindness of the Creator for all who are fractured—in small or large ways—by our own sin, and the sin of others. Through roses, songs, stories, worship and prayer, it is our hope that we may be vessels of God’s love and healing for all who struggle with the wounds of the past.
A Tour of Roses began in September 2009. As a Jewish believer in Jesus, I lead a small team to minister in three former concentration camps and their neighboring towns, as well as conducting a time of worship and communion in Nuremberg at one of the former Nazi party rally grounds—Zeppelin Field. We interceded through worship and prayer for God’s healing of these lands and their people, in the places where 1/3 of the world’s Jewish population was exterminated. We handed out 1,300 long stem red roses in towns associated with the concentration camps during the Holocaust—towns like Dachau, Oswieicm (Auschwitz), and Bergen. Each rose had a card attached to its stem that originally read:
A Rose of Remembrance
Red for the blood of the people who died
Red for the Savior’s blood which was shed for your people and mine
Red for His love which makes love between us possible.
People cried and hugged us. One man received the Lord on the streets of Oswiecim. Many were deeply touched by God through the music and message in the concerts following. Several received the Lord.
In 2010 we ministered on the streets of Nuremburg, handing out 1,000 roses with the same card attached. We also gave out roses on the streets of Krakow, Jedwabne, and the tiny town of Prostyn, (near Treblinka) where I shared songs and testimony in a Catholic church. In 2012 we handed out 4,000 roses in Warsaw, offered 3 free concerts where many prayed and received the Lord. We interceded in prayer and worship at Sobibor. Another 4,000 roses were offered on both sides of the Peace Wall in Belfast, Northern Ireland in April of 2013, along with a free women’s conference called “Beauty for Ashes.” 5,000 roses were presented on the streets of Berlin in October of the same year. Our team also worshiped and interceded in prayer at Ravensbruck and Saschenhausen. In April 2014 A Tour of Roses visited Munich, putting together a Passover Seder meal at the YMCA and handing out 4,000 roses. We then traveled to Mauthausen, Austria, where we met with some of the Catholic community, shared our vision, and participated in a joint Sunday mass in town, along with giving out roses and worshiping together inside the former death camp of Mauthausen.
In 2016 we gave out 7,500 roses in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and in the refugee town of Dheisheh, to the Palestinians, many of whom were spiritually hungry, and profoundly touched as a result. Seventeen of them prayed with our team to ask the Lord into their hearts as a result of this demonstration of the extravagant love of God. In 2017 our team gave out another 4,000 roses in Bethlehem, Jericho, and East Jerusalem during the rioting and tear gas going on as a result of President Trump’s announcement to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. We held a special women’s conference in Bethlehem and almost 70 women made their way through the streets to attend and be ministered to.
God is calling me back to Israel to minister this year. Soon after the events of October 7, 2023, the Lord impressed on my heart to “bring roses to the broken heart of Israel.” We will be doing a special ATOR project in September 2024.
If you’re interested in participating in this special project for A Tour of Roses – here are 3 ways:
- Prayerfully consider joining the team. We are called to be ambassadors of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:16-21). We generally estimate the cost per person to be between $2500-3000 (depending on airfare/housing costs). It might be more. If interested please contact me directly: sally@songs4god.com and I’ll send an application to you via email.
- Commit to praying for the vision and planning of ATOR-Israel (September 2024), and/or for a specific person on a team. Please also continue to uphold our family in prayer as we pursue this calling. You can also email me to join us for specific times of group prayer over Zoom with those who have already committed to this project.
- Prayerfully consider if God would have you participate financially. Since each project is a gift to the people, we expect no financial compensation for what we do. A Tour of Roses, under the administration of Improbable People Ministries, relies on the gifts and contributions of those who feel led to participate through giving. All financial gifts to the ministry for A Tour of Roses or Improbable People Ministries directly are tax deductible. Michael and I have set aside a separate account under IPM for all expenses involved for A Tour of Roses projects. Unless otherwise designated all gifts for A Tour of Roses will go toward the actual costs of the mission and its expenses.
Finally, part of this mission includes sharing God’s heart for healing and reconciliation in difficult places through A Tour of Roses. My hope is to have as many opportunities as possible to share this vision in as many contexts as possible. If you have any suggestions for opportunities to share with churches, congregations, conferences, and colleges please contact Michael O’Connor: ipm@songs4god.com
And for a deeper perspective on the whole project of A Tour of Roses and how it came about, you can read my book, A Rumor of Roses, available in paperback and Kindle through Amazon.
“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Messiah in this way, we do so no longer… All of this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Messiah and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Messiah, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:16, 18-19)
Shalom,
Sally Klein O’Connor
Improbable People Ministries
16722 Mandeville Ct.
Spring, TX 77379
818.821.5419
DONATIONS
Checks should be made out to Improbable People Ministries OR IPM,
designated in the memo for A Tour of Roses. (ATOR)
Online tax deductible gifts may be made here.
Please send a follow-up email to ipm@songs4god.com
to designate this gift to A Tour Of Roses (ATOR).
Also, all team members pay their own trip expenses. If you would like to designate a tax deductible gift to a specific team member please mail your check to the IPM office (above) and designate the team member whose expenses you wish to defray. All team member gifts must be mailed. All gifts received through the online giving page are designated specifically to the general expenses (roses, etc.) for the mission itself.
Thank you for your support of A tour Of Roses
