meet grant hayneS MISSIONARY. FOUNDER. YOUR PERSONAL TRAVEL ADVISOR.
Your Ministry Travel Advisor: Why Experience Matters
Choosing the right ministry travel advisor makes all the difference between a vacation that leaves you more exhausted than when you started, and one that genuinely restores you. Grant Haynes isn’t a travel agent who happens to work with churches — he’s a thirty-year support-based missionary who became a credentialed travel advisor specifically because he saw how badly ministry leaders needed someone who understood both worlds.
As an Independent Affiliate of Outside Agents — one of the largest host travel agencies in the United States — Grant has access to preferred supplier pricing, professional booking systems, and industry relationships that individual travelers simply can’t access on their own. But what truly sets him apart isn’t the credentials. It’s the perspective. He has lived the realities of fundraising support, serving overseas, and trying to be present for family while carrying the weight of ministry. When he plans your trip, he’s not processing a transaction — he’s investing in your long-term health and longevity in ministry.
WHo We Are
MINISTRYVACATIONS.ORG IS NOT A TRAVEL AGENCY THAT DECIDED TO TARGET PASTORS.
It was built by a missionary who spent thirty years watching what sustained, unrelieved ministry does to the people who have given their lives to it — and decided to do something about it.
If you are a pastor, a church staff member, a missionary, or a ministry leader of any kind, this agency exists specifically for you. Not as a marketing niche. As a mission…
Grant Haynes has spent nearly thirty years as a support-based missionary — raising his own financial support year after year, serving among unreached people groups in some of the most demanding ministry environments imaginable, and doing all of it while raising a family on the field.
He and his wife served for fourteen years in Oaxaca, Mexico, where all three of their children were born. For the past sixteen years, Grant has been serving among refugees in Clarkston, Georgia — one of the most ethnically diverse square miles in America — through Global Frontier Missions, the organization he founded.
He knows what it costs to be in ministry. He knows the weight of raising support, the exhaustion of serving people whose needs never stop, going 20 years without a sabbatical, and the quiet guilt that comes with trying to justify taking a real break. He knows what it means to go on furlough or home assignment and then need “a vacation from your vacation”! He has felt every one of those things personally — and that is precisely why he started Ministry Vacations.
Passionate About Serving Ministry Leaders
We can assist in planning transformative journeys, ensuring ministry leaders can find renewal and purpose in travel designed specifically for their mission-driven lives.
THIRTY YEARS ON THE MISSION FIELD
Grant knows what it costs to be in ministry — the weight of raising support, the exhaustion of sustained ministry work, and the guilt that comes with trying to justify taking a real break.
YOU CANNOT GIVE WHAT YOU DO NOT HAVE
“Having to raise my own financial support for thirty years, combined with all of the stress of being on the mission field serving among unreached people groups, has made me passionate about people in ministry relaxing and getting refueled so that they can continue pouring themselves out for others. You cannot give what you do not have. Rest is not a luxury — it is how you stay in the game.”
— Grant Haynes, Founder, Ministry Vacations
Reach out today and let us start planning that sabbatical you have been knowing you need, that Holy Land tour, that staff reteat, that church mission trip, or anything else we can serve you with.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest…” — Matthew 11:28
What You Can Expect When You Work With Grant
- A real conversation, not a sales pitch — Grant takes the time to understand your needs, your budget, and your season of life
- Direct access to Grant himself for every trip — no call centers, no automated systems
- Transparent pricing with no hidden fees
- A Gratitude Gift donated to your church or missions organization with every completed trip
- Specialty expertise in Holy Land tours, sabbatical planning, family vacations, river cruises, Alaska and Hawaii getaways, and group mission trip travel
For travel safety information and destination resources for your next ministry trip, visit the U.S. State Department’s official site at travel.state.gov.
Ready to start planning with a ministry travel advisor who genuinely understands your world? Contact Grant today at 770-609-7451 or info@ministryvacations.org for a free, no-pressure consultation.
YOU HAVE EARNED YOUR REST.
LET US HELP YOU TAKE IT.
No obligation, no pressure. Just a conversation with Grant about where you would like to go and how MinistryVacations.org can serve you.
WHAT IF YOUR NEXT TRIP FUNDED YOUR CHURCH?
Download our free guide — discover how every trip you book can redirect travel commissions to your church, missionary, or non-profit at zero extra cost.
H1: Why I Built a Travel Agency Around Generosity
[Section 1 — The hook/origin — NOT the burnout story]
I spent nearly 30 years as a support-based missionary. Most of that time was in Oaxaca, Mexico, working among unreached people groups. Some of it was in Clarkston, Georgia — one of the most ethnically diverse zip codes in America — serving refugee communities alongside Global Frontier Missions, the organization I founded.
In that world, you think hard about money. Every dollar that comes in is someone’s act of generosity. You know what it costs people to give. You know what it means when a gift arrives unexpectedly. And you learn, over time, that the way people spend and give reflects what they actually believe — not just what they say they believe.
When I became a travel advisor, I brought that same lens with me.
[Section 2 — The conviction]
H2: The Travel Industry Has a Secret. I Decided to Use It Differently.
Here’s something most people never find out: every hotel, cruise line, tour operator, and resort in the world builds a commission into their pricing. It’s been part of the industry’s structure for over a century. When you book through Expedia or directly with a cruise line, that commission funds their bottom line. The price you pay is identical either way.
When I started StewardTravel, I made a decision: a meaningful portion of every commission I earn goes to my client’s designated church, missionary, or nonprofit. Not as a thank-you. Not as a loyalty program. As a structural feature of how this business works — because I believe that’s what faithful stewardship of a business looks like.
That became the Gratitude Giving Program. And it’s the reason StewardTravel exists as its own brand.
[Section 3 — Competence reassurance — address the “side hustle” concern without naming it]
H2: This Is a Real Business. You’ll Get Real Service.
I want to be direct about something: StewardTravel is not a hobby, a side project, or a ministry fund with a travel website attached. It is a fully accredited travel agency — CLIA and IATA credentialed through Outside Agents, one of the most respected host agencies in the country.
I have access to the same supplier relationships, preferred pricing, and booking systems as any professional travel advisor. I work with every major cruise line, hotel group, tour operator, and resort network. I’m not searching Kayak. I’m pulling from the same wholesale and preferred rate systems the industry runs on.
What the missionary background gives you isn’t a less-professional advisor. It gives you an advisor who has personally navigated international travel in difficult contexts, understands cross-cultural complexity, has been to many of the destinations your faith community cares most about, and built a business specifically because he wanted the profit structure to reflect kingdom values — not shareholder returns.
[Section 4 — Who this is for]
H2: Who Books Through StewardTravel
You don’t have to be a pastor. You don’t have to be in ministry. You just have to be a Christian who thinks about money the way Christians are supposed to think about money — and who’d rather their travel commissions fund something that matters than disappear into a corporation’s marketing budget.
My clients are Christian families planning a cruise or resort vacation. Couples finally doing the Holy Land trip they’ve talked about for years. Empty nesters ready to see the world. Small groups from churches traveling together. People who want their vacation to be excellent — and to mean something beyond the itinerary.
If that’s you, I’d love to plan your next trip.
[Section 5 — Business as mission — brief, confident, not a fundraising appeal]
H2: One More Thing Worth Knowing
StewardTravel operates as a business as mission venture. That means the business itself — not just the giving program — is part of how I fund ongoing kingdom work. I’m not asking you to support me financially. I’m telling you that when you book a great trip through an advisor who genuinely serves you well, the whole transaction is pointed in the same direction: toward something that matters.
You get an expert who plans a trip you’ll love. Your designated recipient gets a meaningful gift. And the business that made it happen is run by someone who started it for exactly the reason it looks like he started it.
That’s the whole story.
[Section 6 — CTA]
H2: Ready to Plan a Trip That Reflects Your Values?
Let’s start with a free, no-pressure consultation. Tell me where you want to go, what your timeline looks like, and which church, missionary, or nonprofit you’d like to designate. I’ll take it from there.
[Button: Schedule a Free Consultation]
[Button: See How the Gratitude Giving Program Works]