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Progress Report for the Ministry

I am now well into the transition from writing Bible commentaries to doing video teachings (and smaller tracts). The studio itself was completed the first half of July and is now ready to use.

As I wrote earlier, I feel like I have written enough material for a Bible School curriculum, and now I need to focus my efforts on short and simple introductory studies. Today we will be sending out the latest FFI bulletin and the latest small tract as well: God’s Purpose for Your Life.

In the past six weeks or so, I have actually written 7 tracts, so I am building up an inventory of these shorter studies. Three of them are for people on the street who know little or nothing about the Bible. Four are directed toward Christians in the Church under the overall title of God’s Wonderful Plan for Creation.

Part 1: God’s Rights as Creator

Part 2: The Merciful Judgments of God

Part 3: The Rich Man and Lazarus

Part 4: The Law of Jubilee

Those that have not yet been sent out are still being adjusted and polished. The 4-part series is designed to teach the Restoration of All Things.

In the end, I see these tracts as introductions into the longer studies. Without these, not many people would be able to sit down and read a longer book. Not many have good reading ability or have the discipline to study. You who read my weblogs and books are somewhat rare and unusual. My goal is to reach more people and to overcome the walls and roadblocks in the way.

New Books

I am also making steady progress in putting the Corinthians studies into print. There will be 4 books on First Corinthians, and one on Second Corinthians. I have finished polishing all of these, and they are now in the second or third stage of proofing. Actually, only the last book on First Corinthians is still being proofed. The first three are ready for publication. But I plan to publish them all at the same time, and these should be ready before the Branson conference in September.

I have just started polishing the study in First John. When that one is finished, then I will be able to spend more time on video teachings and livestreams. Right now I need to finish up the previous projects before devoting more time to the new projects. The final “old” project will be to put the study of Amos into print, but that will not be finished until the end of this year.

Prison Ministry

Close to half of the books that we send out are to inmates, by the way. I have a large “captive audience,” and they have a lot of time on their hands to read and study. Your donations make it possible to provide these books to inmates free of charge. They appreciate it very much.

Since we cannot normally send spiral-bound books into prisons, we use two plastic posts in putting those books together in sending them into prisons. Some prisons do not even allow that, so we have to send the books with loose pages and let them use their ingenuity in holding the books together. Each prison is its own little kingdom, and each has its own restrictions. In fact, many of the Michigan prisons do not even allow tracts with colored paper, so when we send the tracts each month, I have to run off some of them on regular white paper.

Prisons present as many obstacles as possible, but for the sake of the inmates and because of the importance of the message, we do not give up. These studies have transformed the lives of many inmates over the years. Praise the Lord for that!

Of course, our policy is to provide everyone with these books, whether they can afford it or not. I have a suggested price posted in the books, but in the end, I want everyone to have the books that they desire (and will actually read), even if they cannot afford them. All book prices really are “suggested” only.

Bible School

As for the Bible school in the Philippines, as of this past month they have had to decide whether to buy a particular building or to get land outside of Davao City and build something on it. So obviously, the school is not yet ready to open. (The plan is for me to provide the curriculum.) The delay explains why I did not go to the Philippines this summer. Perhaps next year.