DBRP September 2019 Update - a podcast by Phil Fields

Hi there, my friend!

Today I want to share important news that I hope will be of interest to you. We have a new online forum for encouraging each other in our Bible reading! Because of that, in just a few days I will close our Digging Deeper Daily Facebook group. In my opinion, that group never really fulfilled what was needed for building a sense of community among all those following the Digging Deeper Daily reading plan. Over 3 ½ years, over 2,000 people signed up for that group, but most never came back to participate in it.

Our new forum is located at biblereaders.info. This is a dedicated forum, only for us. It has these categories:

 One advantage of our new forum is that visitors and members will be able to find information readily. For this reason, when you share something in one of the sections of this forum (perhaps a short observation about a verse), please spell out the complete Scripture reference. That way someday someone doing a search on the Internet may find your post.   

 The suggestion to have an Every Weekend Encouragement section was made in one of the comments at the Facebook group. The idea was interesting to me, but I was a little worried that I would be the only one sharing there. I am so happy that Carol Visser has already written a post for that section of our forum! I envision this section as containing 1-2 page-long devotionals. And this is the perfect place for you to share your testimony. That’s what Carol is doing.

I am aware that some of the people who listen to the DBRP or follow the RTMD reading plan cannot attend a church. Some wives are forbidden to attend church by unbelieving husbands. We have one member of our forum already who lives in a predominately Muslim country. Some members may have disabilities that prevent them from being more active in churches. So while we recognize that an online community will never be able to take the place of face-to-face fellowship, there is a valid ministry we can provide in our forum to those who need it.

I’m sure that some who will listen to this podcast will be those whom we might call seekers. Maybe you haven’t decided on believing in Jesus yet. But you're interested in what you are reading in the Bible, and you have questions. The new forum is for you too! Perhaps we should add a new section just for you. The best place on the forum now for you to ask your questions is the ‘Look what I found’ section. But if you don’t want to ask your question publicly, look at the posts made by some of the other members and send a Private Message to one of them via the forum. If you don’t get an answer right away, please choose one of our moderators, and I’m sure they will answer.

I hope that a number of people will make the Prayer and Praise section of our forum a place they visit frequently. I hope we can develop a roster of regular prayer warriors. In the Facebook group, few people ever shared a prayer request. I did that several times, even once recently, and the results were amazing. It is the Prayer and Praise section of our forum that will show if we are becoming a real community or not. Let prayer be the main strategy of our lives and of our fellowship together.

In the top ‘Look what I found’ section, I would like to see 10 or more people sharing Every Day. That’s my prayer request today! Ask God to show something to you as you read the Bible, and then when a verse jumps off the page, tell us why it impacts you. I request that you always say something about any verse you share. Just a sentence is enough! And again, please put the completely spelled-out reference somewhere in the subject line.

I hope many who listen to this podcast will include a visit to our forum once a week or so, and I am so thankful to all who will be actively sharing. Even if you seldom visit it, please know that it is there when you have a question, or when you have an urgent need for prayer.

Gale and I are planning to go together to Indonesia on October 3. Gale will enjoy two weeks of being with Hannah’s family. Our grand kids in Jakarta are currently 10, 9, and 3. I will stay longer— a total of 7 weeks. My prayer requests concerning our ministry are these:

• Please pray that I can finish preparing these books for consultant checking that will take place in November and December: Exodus, Deuteronomy, Ecclesiastes, and several Psalms.
• Please pray that a good location can be found for all the consultant checking, where local people can be found who are willing to come daily to examine the Scriptures.
• Please pray for God to lead several skilled people to join our Bible translation organization in Indonesia, so that the whole Old Testament we are working on will be ready to publish in 2023.

May the Lord bless you ‘real good’. Thanks for listening.

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