COBB COUNTY, Ga. — As Iran retaliated after the U.S. and Israel struck the country this weekend, a local pastor and his wife spent hours in a bomb shelter in Israel.
With Israeli airspace closed, they’re working to get out of the line of fire.
Pastor Bryant Wright is the former senior pastor at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, and now runs Right From the Heart Ministries.
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Wright, his wife and the group they are traveling with had a harrowing journey to get out of Israel and cross the border of Egypt to safety.
Pastor Wright chronicled each step of his trip through Israel for the tens of thousands who follow him on Facebook, starting last week. But on Saturday, the trip took a turn.
“The sirens went off, Candace, and at that point, I guess you would say the world turned upside down for about 30 hours,” he told Channel 2’s Candace McCowan.
He and his wife were with a group of pastors and their spouses from across the U.S. when the U.S. and Israel struck Iran and Iran’s retaliation.
Video from Israel showed the destruction from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, where Wright heard the sirens.
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“We had to go down to the bomb shelter 13 times over about 30 plus hours. Probably the longest stay down there was about three hours. Most of the time it was about 30-40 minutes,” remembered Wright.
This is Wright’s 22nd trip to Israel. He was there in the days after the war with Hamas started.
Video shows the group in the shelter, at times singing.
“We really felt a real peace; I felt a real peace. My wife felt a real peace,” said Wright.
After more than 30 hours in and out of the bomb shelter, they found an escape. The group drove to the southern end of Israel and found their way out of the immediate line of fire.
“[We] got up early this morning, crossed the border into Egypt,” said Wright. “We definitely feel very thankful.”
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