Thousands of books throughout history claim to hold all the answers—but the Bible is unique. No other book has had such an impact on human history, and few inspire such strong emotions. When it comes to the Bible, people have loved it and hated it, but one thing they have never done is ignore it.
These resources will help you discover and explore the Bible for yourself.
“The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”
- Zephaniah 3:17
Today's passage is from the New International Version of the Bible
Powered by BibleGateway.com
I’ve been using my navy blue, leather-bound Bible for years. Flipping through it shows the marks of my relationship with it: the frayed bookmark, the pocket I added to the back and the scuffed cover that make it mine.
If you were to browse through Matthew, you would see where as a senior in high school I underlined my way valiantly through the wisdom of Jesus’ words. You can achieve a similar look to your copy of Matthew by taking a black pen willy-nilly to the bottom of every fifth verse.
Thing was, at that time, I could have cared less about the translation. I was full of the vitality that comes along with a renewed interest in one’s faith. You could have given me the Precious Moments Bible, and I would have loved it.
Which raises an interesting question to me now: What would I be doing if I didn’t speak English?
Well, your options become severely limited, or you don’t have any options to begin with. If one speaks English they have a myriad of choices to read the Holy Bible (most of which you can find on a little site we call BibleGateway.com).
If you’ve ever wondered if a country does have the Bible, let me point you towards WorldMap.org. They’re a ministry that publishes evangelistic statistics, including whether or not the country has the Bible in their language.
Take Angola for example. There’s still a large chunk of that country that needs a translation of the Bible, which was news to me.
There are a few ministries in the Gospel.com community that are devoted to the gargantuan task of Bible translations like IBS and the Lutheran Bible Translators (check out their list of translations).
If you’re interested at all in this part of spreading the Word of God, you might want to check them out so you can know how better to pray for them and support them. You can also read some of their efforts in other langauges via the BibleGateway.
Baptist Global Response’s Jeff Palmer says they’re partnering with the Southern Baptists in an emergency response. A needs assessment is ongoing. “The first thing we’re going to do is get water, food and shelter to those who are in need. That in and of itself, people coming from halfway across the world, is a testimony to the people who are there. It’s the love of Christ that compels us, and we are commanded to help those who are in need.”
Even as Christian relief teams are being assembled, Palmer says, “Prayer is the strategy that we want to mobilize, first and foremost–praying for those who are in suffering, those who’ve lost family members, those already responding to the effort, [and] also pray for wisdom and knowledge of how to respond.”
Another story includes quotes by an International Aid representative who says that they’re standing by to help as well. If and when we learn of other Gospel.com ministries working in the area, we’ll post an update here on the blog. In the meantime, the ongoing relief efforts are certainly something to add to your prayers this week.
So you’re interested in reading the Bible… where do you start? The Bible’s not like a novel, or a history book, or most any other book—it’s a collection of many different stories, in many different literary genres written by a wide variety of authors, each with a unique background and motive for writing.
In other words, while it’s certainly possible to start reading on page 1 of the Bible all the way through to the end, that’s a pretty challenging undertaking even for a dedicated reader.
This question “how do I go about reading the Bible?” is one we’ve talked about here in the past. Here are a few highlights to help you get started actually reading the Good Book:
The Navigators has an essay that suggests the best way to read the Bible is in very small chunks, rather than trying to dive through numerous chapters and books all at once. They recommend spending seven minutes (no more, no less) of time in the Bible each day—you can increase the time later if you want, but if you’re just starting out, the most important thing is to make it a daily habit.
Many people find it helpful to follow a Bible reading plan as they make their way through the Bible. Such plans usually spread the task of reading the entire Bible across a year, so that after 365 days you’ve made it all the way through. One nice thing about many Bible reading plans is that they organize your reading according to a set theme (chronological, topical, historical, etc.) rather than telling you to just start with Genesis 1 and read straight through. We’ve collected a lot of links to free online Bible reading plans from around the Gospel.com community; there’s almost certainly one that matches your reading preferences.
Once you take a look through some of these resources and get started reading the Bible for yourself, you might find yourself surprised at how easy and enjoyable it is to read the Bible—far from being a laborious literary task, it can be a refreshing and inspiring way to start (or end) each day on the right spiritual note. So don’t be scared away by the Bible’s page count—dust off that old family Bible and try fitting some Scripture reading into your daily routine.
What is Gospel.com?
Gospel.com is a community of Christian organizations all committed to doing ministry online. You can explore hundreds of different topics or get to know the many ministries that make up our community.
Each day we highlight the newest and best resources here at the Gospel.com blog, so check back regularly to see what's happening!
"Tell a man that there are 400 billion stars and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench
has wet paint and he has to touch it."
[ from witandwisdom.org ]
"It isn't difficult to make a mountain out of a molehill, just add a little dirt."
MOST IMPORTANT THING - EVANGELISTIC SITE RELAUNCH
A group of Christians in Oklahoma have just relaunched the MOST IMPORTANT THING site
with a redesign and new features. It focuses on testimony, plus questions for inquirers.
Detailed review: http://www.worldvillage.com/sitereviews/believers.html?id=392
New features include an email newsletter which is written for inquirers (a rare thing,
this) and an e-card option which brings new people to the site. This e-card concept is
only used by a handful of other outreach sites, yet it has great potential. Team member
Chris Forbes writes about it:
"Visit http://www.mostimportantthing.com/People/Ecards.aspx and see how you can now send eCards from the Most Important Thing website. Take a moment to encourage someone you know with one of our free eCards. All you do is pick the card you would like to send, put in a few lines and send. Surfers will be able to explore the gospel after they read your note. This is a great way to share the gospel with people. Then, show your leaders how to use the eCards to develop potential prospect for your ministry. The personal touch will make a difference! The eCard is designed to help meet the emotional needs of the people you want to reach in a positive way. Two of the most basic emotional needs are to feel loved and appreciated and to be recognized and important to others."
Chris suggests we get into the mentality of sending an e-card to anyone: those who have
a new job, got married/engaged, new baby, new house, share your hobby. In marketing terms,
he calls it 'prospecting'.
THE PASSION - IMPACT IS GROWING
In UK, the Good Book Company's Passion tracts are selling fast at 10 for a pound. They
write, "We've been astonished and thrilled by the reaction to our two new tracts that pick
up on the theme of Mel Gibson¹s film Passion. We've had to reprint twice, and have
sent out over 150,000 to evangelistically minded churches throughout the UK. One minister
in London managed to convince his local Odeon Cinema to actually hand out the tracts to
everyone who buys a ticket to see the film. We've had encouraging reports that people are
happy to take a tract, and many are willing to talk after seeing the film." http://www.thegoodbook.co.uk/
God is using the various evangelistic PASSION sites: for the passionofchrist.com site
last month - 100,000 sponsored ads appeared on Google, 9000 people read the evangelistic
message on the site, 132 professed salvation, 78 wanted more information.
An Arabic PASSION outreach site is now online. Please put this on your prayer list, and
also link to it, to give it higher link popularity.. It is strategic. http://www.passion-of-jesus.org/
Mary and I went to see the film last night. It's everything that has been written about
it. I think it will be very significant for the 10-40 Window nations.
CREATIVE EVANGELISM
Mike Lawrence is a New York-based illusionist whose evangelistic programs are used in
schools, churches, prisons, etc. http://www.christianmagician.tv/
TESTING OUTREACH LEAFLET FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS
SGM UK need testers for their new multi-lingual leaflet for asylum seekers. "When
finished, each booklet will contain two languages - English alongside a common
asylum-seeker language - to help asylum seekers to learn English. Initially it will be
available in Farsi, Somali, Turkish, Arabic and Albanian. We have a prototype of the
booklet printed, which we are trying to test with asylum seekers - to identify any
problems with the design and text before the product is printed."
There's a questionnaire to guide testers. This page gives more info and a PDF sample: http://www.sgm.org/sp_projects/asylum_seekers.htm
FOOT-OPERATED WOOD LATHE - a small engineering company in our village with a Christian
managing director produces a foot-operated wood lathe. It is appropriate for occupational
therapy/orthopedic rehab departments in the west, but is also very useful in the
non-western world for small craft applications because no electricity is needed. The
company is also interested in licensing local production of the lathe in non-western
countries: http://www.acres-willington.co.uk/
OLDER PEOPLE. The Pew Internet & American Life Project has released a new report on
use of the Internet by older Americans. (22% of 65+ have access.) This suggests that we
should be creating outreach sites which address the specific concerns and felt needs of
older people: http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=117
MEN ARE MEN AND WOMEN ARE WOMEN. A research study by MSN has come to some conclusions
which are probably not very surprising. They analyzed thousands of online cyberchats over
a two-week period. They found that four-fifths of participants never strayed beyond
several areas of topic: current culture, solidarity, food, relationships, money, social
activity and general banter. However, men tended to cover three or four defined topics,
whereas women would range over five to seven, and were more likely to chip in with
references to solidarity (how stressed or unwell they were feeling), relationship matters,
gossip, and food. Women could easily skip from one topic to another, men tended to focus
on one subject in detail.
TEACHERS - if you are a Christian teacher, AND working in a Christian school, there's
no-pay gradebook software waiting for you if you ask. (Sorry, if you are not in both
categories, you have to pay.) http://www.1st-class-software.com/
THE ONLINE HONESTY PARADOX: Cornell University professor Jeffrey Hancock conducted an
experiment recently that concluded people are less likely to lie online than when talking
in person or on the phone: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/21/magazine/21ESSAY.html
HUMOR
BOOK REVIEW: THE HUMOR OF JESUS by Henri Cormier, USD 5.95, pub: Alba House, New York,
1977. ISBN 0-8189-0356-2
There are only about four books in print which address the vital issue of humor in the
Bible. Cormier's book is a most refreshing and insightful look into the ways Jesus used
humor throughout his ministry. His background is not only that of a French-Canadian born
in 1909 - of whose generation we might expect a more formal religious viewpoint - but also
that of a life-long Catholic priest. Yet you can count on the fingers of one hand any
passing references to doctrines which are uniquely Catholic. His gentle treatment of the
subject is thoroughly biblical and a pleasure to read.
The book is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online suppliers.
Other humor books are reviewed on our humor page, and the downloadable e-book SERVE HIM
WITH MIRTH is now available in Microsoft e-book format for portable devices: http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/resources/humor.php
TIPS
WINDOWS TASK MANAGER - if you use Windows XP, the task manager does a lot more for you
than you may think, including closing down frozen programs. To open it, just right-click
on the task bar: http://www.sysopt.com/articles/TaskManager/index.html
COMPUTERS FOR BEGINNERS - very useful advice pages, will help anyone. I found out some
great things I had not known about Windows XP: http://tmbzone.com/
We have previously featured FIRES OF DARKNESS as a site ministering to both Christians
and non-Christians in the area of recovery from s--.al addiction and hurt: http://www.firesofdarkness.com/
They have now opened a separate online bookstore with a very wide range of Christian books
to help people in this area. http://www.NewHeartBooks.com/
CONFERENCE: TECHNOLOGY IN WORSHIP
Kevin Roberts writes, "My church is hosting a conference on the use of technology in
worship. It will deal mainly with the use of visual and audio technology in worship
services. It's a one-day conference on May 1 in Denver, Colorado, USA. One keynote speaker,
Quentin Schultze, has written books on the subject, so he knows his stuff." http://worshipandtechnology.org/
DON'T MISS THE BULLETIN
These days, email-delivered newsletters have a struggle. Filtering may block even the
subscription-confirm email, let alone the newsletter itself. Also, list software will
delete a subscriber if their email address is temporarily unavailable and bounces
messages. So, to ensure that you continue to receive the Bulletin safely:
- please add web-evangelism.com and guide[at sign]web-evangelism.com to any filter
'whitelist' of approved senders you have
- subscribe also to the backup alert email which tells you when a new issue is
published:
mailto:web-evangelism-subscribe@topica.com
- download an RSS newsfeed aggregator program and insert this URL into it: http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/resources/bullfeed.xml
The RSS feed has just been added. Feedback and comments are welcome. It is early days
for RSS, complicated by competing formats. Only when RSS capability is built into browsers
will it really become effective. More on RSS: http://ifc.gospelcom.net/internet_tech/546/
SEARCH ENGINES AND PAGE PROMOTION
I've warned before of the dangers of near-identical duplicate content. Yahoo is now
banning sites where this seems to be the case! (Note that the Guide content sharing system
is safe, because it is javascript generated.) http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?p=83120
SPORTS-RELATED SITES Since sport is one of the most popular interests on this planet,
it is an ideal subject for bridge-strategy outreach sites. So it is nothing short of
tragic that there are so few: http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/resources/sport-pages.php
If you have a sports-related site or individual page, submit it to this new sport
directory: http://www.the-sports-arena.com/
LOST VISITORS: the most frequent reason why Christian webpages do not get many visitors
- incorrect use of the title tag in the head of each page. Yet it is simple to remedy: http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/rd?b0404titletag
CHURCH WEBSITES: Google is now testing a local search option. To ensure your church (or
other locality-based site) gets listed, ensure that your street, town, zip/post code,
state and country appear on your front page where they can be easily found by the Google
spiderbot.
FREE CHRISTIAN CONTENT FOR WEBSITES
There are many sources of free content for Christian websites, very often as Javascript
inserts, which can enhance any site. But where to find it? Marshall Bowling writes,
"While managing my church's web site, I was constantly looking for free content that I
could use to improve the site and to give people a reason to return to it. Free content
that changes on a regular basis is the best way that I know of to get people to come back
and see what is new. This in turn gives you and opportunity to reach out to them with
other content on your web site.
It seemed difficult to find free content that was appropriate for a Christian web site
and to then keep track of where I had seen it. The result of that frustration is this
website. Its sole purpose is to provide Christian webmasters with a single source from
which to locate free Christian content."
Marshall offers content links in a wide range of categories: bible verses, devotionals,
games, ezines, cartoons and many more. So if you need content, or have syndicated content
you would like to offer to other websites, visit: http://freechristiancontent.org/
Don't forget that any page of the Web Evangelism Guide can be syndicated into your own
web site, just by pasting a line of Javascript onto your page. You could even add several
pages, making menu links between them. Pages will conform completely to your own style.
Could a page or more from the Guide help your site? It is safe from the 'duplicate
content' problem mentioned above. http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/resources/free-content.php
IF ONLY...
- a Christian had thought of that and built a Bridge Strategy site around it:
Display the latest Bulletin on your site
• Each issue can be syndicated into your own website, updating automatically.
then copy/paste (CTRL+C/CTRL+V) this code into your own page:
help
(Please do NOT copy the actual contents of any Bulletin issue onto your own site:
reasons.)
You can also add a blog-style taster to your linking page, using
this code.
Or add Bulletin subscribe form or scroller.
Other options for re-use.
Latest Bulletin:
Twice monthly
All items from the Bulletin are free for editors to re-use.
Thousands of books throughout history claim to hold all the answers—but the Bible is unique. No other book has had such an impact on human history, and few inspire such strong emotions. When it comes to the Bible, people have loved it and hated it, but one thing they have never done is ignore it.
These resources will help you discover and explore the Bible for yourself.
“The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”
- Zephaniah 3:17
Today's passage is from the New International Version of the Bible
Powered by BibleGateway.com
I’ve been using my navy blue, leather-bound Bible for years. Flipping through it shows the marks of my relationship with it: the frayed bookmark, the pocket I added to the back and the scuffed cover that make it mine.
If you were to browse through Matthew, you would see where as a senior in high school I underlined my way valiantly through the wisdom of Jesus’ words. You can achieve a similar look to your copy of Matthew by taking a black pen willy-nilly to the bottom of every fifth verse.
Thing was, at that time, I could have cared less about the translation. I was full of the vitality that comes along with a renewed interest in one’s faith. You could have given me the Precious Moments Bible, and I would have loved it.
Which raises an interesting question to me now: What would I be doing if I didn’t speak English?
Well, your options become severely limited, or you don’t have any options to begin with. If one speaks English they have a myriad of choices to read the Holy Bible (most of which you can find on a little site we call BibleGateway.com).
If you’ve ever wondered if a country does have the Bible, let me point you towards WorldMap.org. They’re a ministry that publishes evangelistic statistics, including whether or not the country has the Bible in their language.
Take Angola for example. There’s still a large chunk of that country that needs a translation of the Bible, which was news to me.
There are a few ministries in the Gospel.com community that are devoted to the gargantuan task of Bible translations like IBS and the Lutheran Bible Translators (check out their list of translations).
If you’re interested at all in this part of spreading the Word of God, you might want to check them out so you can know how better to pray for them and support them. You can also read some of their efforts in other langauges via the BibleGateway.
Baptist Global Response’s Jeff Palmer says they’re partnering with the Southern Baptists in an emergency response. A needs assessment is ongoing. “The first thing we’re going to do is get water, food and shelter to those who are in need. That in and of itself, people coming from halfway across the world, is a testimony to the people who are there. It’s the love of Christ that compels us, and we are commanded to help those who are in need.”
Even as Christian relief teams are being assembled, Palmer says, “Prayer is the strategy that we want to mobilize, first and foremost–praying for those who are in suffering, those who’ve lost family members, those already responding to the effort, [and] also pray for wisdom and knowledge of how to respond.”
Another story includes quotes by an International Aid representative who says that they’re standing by to help as well. If and when we learn of other Gospel.com ministries working in the area, we’ll post an update here on the blog. In the meantime, the ongoing relief efforts are certainly something to add to your prayers this week.
So you’re interested in reading the Bible… where do you start? The Bible’s not like a novel, or a history book, or most any other book—it’s a collection of many different stories, in many different literary genres written by a wide variety of authors, each with a unique background and motive for writing.
In other words, while it’s certainly possible to start reading on page 1 of the Bible all the way through to the end, that’s a pretty challenging undertaking even for a dedicated reader.
This question “how do I go about reading the Bible?” is one we’ve talked about here in the past. Here are a few highlights to help you get started actually reading the Good Book:
The Navigators has an essay that suggests the best way to read the Bible is in very small chunks, rather than trying to dive through numerous chapters and books all at once. They recommend spending seven minutes (no more, no less) of time in the Bible each day—you can increase the time later if you want, but if you’re just starting out, the most important thing is to make it a daily habit.
Many people find it helpful to follow a Bible reading plan as they make their way through the Bible. Such plans usually spread the task of reading the entire Bible across a year, so that after 365 days you’ve made it all the way through. One nice thing about many Bible reading plans is that they organize your reading according to a set theme (chronological, topical, historical, etc.) rather than telling you to just start with Genesis 1 and read straight through. We’ve collected a lot of links to free online Bible reading plans from around the Gospel.com community; there’s almost certainly one that matches your reading preferences.
Once you take a look through some of these resources and get started reading the Bible for yourself, you might find yourself surprised at how easy and enjoyable it is to read the Bible—far from being a laborious literary task, it can be a refreshing and inspiring way to start (or end) each day on the right spiritual note. So don’t be scared away by the Bible’s page count—dust off that old family Bible and try fitting some Scripture reading into your daily routine.
What is Gospel.com?
Gospel.com is a community of Christian organizations all committed to doing ministry online. You can explore hundreds of different topics or get to know the many ministries that make up our community.
Each day we highlight the newest and best resources here at the Gospel.com blog, so check back regularly to see what's happening!
So you’re interested in reading the Bible… where do you start? The Bible’s not like a novel, or a history book, or most any other book—it’s a collection of many different stories, in many different literary genres written by a wide variety of authors, each with a unique background and motive for writing.
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