"OUR WORLD HAS CHANGED!"
In the spring of 1981 when we started working with a small church in North Alabama life was much different. We had no cable television, no cell phones (our only phone was on a party line), one vehicle which we shared, and very little to our name.
In our church work we typed the weekly bulletin on an old IBM typewriter, we cut a stencil, then it was printed on an older Rex Rotary machine. We had a daily fifteen-minute radio program that we either produced live in the radio station or recorded on a cassette tape recorder. The church had less than seventy members and most of the good people were a part of two good families who had lived in this wonderful community for many years.
During these years I remember going to the sale barn, helping haul hay, helping people work their gardens, and generally it was a very wonderful time in our lives. We still remain in touch with a number of those wonderful Christians. We love them dearly and will always be thankful for the help they gave us in our early years of marriage life and church work.
The daily radio program still stands out in my mind as one of my all-time favorite works we have been involved with. It was a wonderful blessing being a part of that program every weekday for nearly four years. It took a lot of study and a lot of legwork to make it happen. As I mentioned, most of the programs were recorded in the office on a cassette recorder. We would then drive to the radio station and hand deliver them. Out of necessity I even learned how to cue up the programs at the radio station.
A week or so ago my brother Dale called and asked if I would produce five daily devotions for a new Podcast that has been started called “Equipped Today.” Dale is a part of a group that has started a new Podcast Network. The name of the network is “The Equip Network.” You can learn more by going to Www.TheEquipNetwork.com. The podcasts are being published this week.
There really was not enough time on my schedule to do this, but how can I say no to Dale? I love my brother dearly and I’m convinced that he is on the cutting edge of helping churches use technology to do our work. In addition, he explained to me how simple this would be (even for me!)
It is difficult to believe. The devotions were recorded in my house, while sitting in my chair, on my I-phone. Then, they were immediately sent to Dale as an email from my phone. Wow! It is incredible to me what we can do these days.
We all know that God has given us the command to take the Gospel to all the nations in the entire world. (Matthew 28:18-20) We should use every available resource to teach as many people as possible. We need to share the glorious Gospel with everyone we possibly can.
There are so many churches and preachers who are using numerous methods to share the Word of God. May we do all that we can to encourage all of these good works.
Dear Father, we are thankful for the wonderful progress in technology that has occurred in our world in recent years. Help us to utilize every possible method to take the message of salvation to our world. Dear God, we thank You for allowing us to be the vessels that transport Your Word. Please bless every effort that is being made around the world to share the Gospel.