The Rev. Michael D. Matlock, Ph.D. is a Professor of Inductive Biblical Studies, Old Testament and Early Judaism at Asbury Theological Seminary. Fr. Matlock also serves Christ's Church as an assisting priest at St. Andrews Anglican Church. At Asbury, Professor Matlock also chairs the Department of Inductive Biblical Studies. He holds academic degrees from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Asbury Theological Seminary, and Southern Wesleyan University. In addition to teaching Holy Scripture to seminary students and church laypeople in Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, and Turkey, Fr. Matlock teaches biblical theology and preaches at churches around the world. For additional details, see his Asbury webpage: http://asburyseminary.edu/person/dr-michael-d-matlock/ Professor Matlock is engaged in biblical and theological scholarship for both the church and the academic guild. His books include Discovering the Traditions of Prose Prayers in Early Jewish Literature (T&T Clark) and a devotional commentary, Daniel 1-6 (Seedbed). He is currently writing two commentaries, 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles and the Prayer of Manasseh for the Septuagint Commentary Series (Brill Publishers). He has written articles for such publications as the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, T&T Clark Companion to Second Temple Judaism, and the Global Wesleyan Dictionary of Biblical Theology. He has also written essays for collections in the Library of New Testament Studies (T&T Clark), Deuterocanonical Books and Cognate Literature (De Gruyter), and Ancient Israel and Its Literature (SBL) as well as for stand alone volumes published by Baker Academic and Eisenbrauns. Dr. Matlock is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, Catholic Biblical Association of America, Institute for Biblical Research (serving as associate editor of BBR), and the National Association of Professors of Hebrew. I invite you to join me in my next JCBS course in Israel and around the Middle East. This type of pilgrimage learning will change your life as it has my own. For many, the travel courseis like a retreat and thus a time to concentrate on spiritual formation without distractions. There is time for prayer and meditation, learning and enrichment. For many others, the course-trip is a rich time of intercession when a Christian can pray for a special intention or an occasion to offer thanksgiving for blessings received. For other, this is a time to read the Holy Scriptures with fresh, engaging, and enlightened eyes. The travel course can do any of these things and so much more to deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ.