In December, Providence Baptist Church No. 2 Pastor Glenn Bonds and others will travel to the Christian Holy Land, and they are inviting anyone interested in the community to go with them.

An informational meeting about the trip to Jordan and Israel will be held Friday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. at Providence Baptist Church No. 2.

Those who attend the meeting will have the opportunity to listen to a presentation from Billy Wayne Morris, pastor of Pinetucky Baptist in Cleburne County, who has been on numerous trips previously and is going again with Bonds’ group in December.

Bonds said he and Clanton resident Don Graham, an itinerant evangelist and revivalist, are hosts for the trip, which is set for Dec. 1–10.

“This is my second trip,” Bonds said. “We went in 2011, and this year, we will have a pastor with us, Bro. Billy Wayne Morris. We had talked to him, and he just encouraged us to go back.

“We started hearing from different people in our churches. People had shown an interest in one day being able to see the land of the Lord.”

Those who attend the meeting do not have to commit to the trip, Bonds said.

The trip is being coordinated through Maranatha Tours Inc. of Phoenix, Ariz.

It is open to all ages, but children need to be accompanied by a parent, Bonds said.

Bonds and his fellow trip organizers also want people to know the trip is not limited to just one Christian denomination.

“It’s not a denominational trip,” Bonds said. “It’s open to anyone.”

Bonds added that no limit exists concerning how many people may go on the trip, and those who go don’t have to be Chilton County residents.

“In 2011, about 35–40 people went,” Bonds said. “We don’t have a limit on number as far as how many go.”

The group will fly out of Atlanta to Aman, Jordan, where they will spend a couple of days before moving on to Israel.

“We will cross the Jordan River where Joshua most likely crossed with the children of Israel,” Bonds said. “Then, we will take a bus over into Israel.”

Bonds said the group would stay near the Sea of Galilee in a “kibbutz,” a communal settlement in Israel.

During the trip, the group will see sites including Petra, one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World; Nazareth, where Jesus spent his boyhood; Caesarea on the Mediterranean Sea, where Paul the Apostle was imprisoned; Jerusalem and Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ; the Garden of Gethsemane; the Temple Mount; and more.

“I think visiting the Holy Land for Christians would bring the Old Testament scriptures back to life because you’re going to see the things of past biblical history,” Bonds said. “It will enable you to connect that to the new truth of Christ because the places we will see are sites of past events, but they’re also sites of future events that have yet to be fulfilled as far as the coming of Christ.”

Bonds said a tour guide from Maranatha Tours would lead the group through Jordan and Israel.

“Normally, they are tour guides that have been working Holy Land tours for many years,” he said. “That’s one of the keys to it being an enjoyable, educational, successful trip. Maranatha always has the very best guides.”

The cost of the trip is all-inclusive, which means all expenses such as meals are covered aside from trip insurance and souvenirs.

“I think it is a trip that will motivate you to be more committed to serving Christ,” Bonds said. “That would include serving people because Christ said, ‘I did not come to be served; I came to serve.’ That’s every believers’ calling.”

Providence Baptist Church No. 2 is located at 6197 County Road 97 in Clanton.

For more information, call (205) 755-4126.