Greetings brothers and sisters in Christ!
Yes, we know it’s July, but June just got away from us, and we have so much to share with you this summer, that we may actually get another newsletter out to you later this month, so let’s call this the ‘June’ newsletter. Let’s get right to it!
Retreat News
Memorial weekend saw 28 adults and over 20 children, from many different backgrounds, gather in Orlando at the largest-yet Biblical Families retreat. But we are just getting started. The worship, and the fellowship, was very moving, and continued through all of Monday. We joked that it was the “retreat that wouldn’t end”, but no joke, 14 of us were still able to gather the next Friday night for Sabbath dinner and worship together. I could quote attendees, but you can read their retreat posts here, and see just a few pics here.
I know this sounds like a broken record: but if you want to know what quality of people God is calling to plural marriage (or at least an understanding of its Biblicalness), you NEED to make it to a retreat. If your family needs support in this calling (whether or not you are currently walking it) you NEED to make it to a retreat. We had so many more people who wanted to make it to Orlando and couldn’t, that we have to give one more chance at a major retreat this year, and give a better option to folks not on the East coast, so…
This is ANNOUNCING the last Biblical Families retreat of the year: October 10-12th, 2009
Location: Western US, you tell us! Here are your choices:
1) Northern California – drivable from San Diego to Seattle, most likely a hotel in the Sacramento area.
2) Las Vegas hotel - not on the strip. May seem strange, but should be cheap, lots of flights, easy to get rooms right now and a meeting room, and food in the hotel - and, hey, it's Vegas, who's going to care about a handful of polygamists?
3) Denver area – setting would need to be researched. This is centrally located all the way from Chicago and Dallas to the entire West Coast.
If you could make one or two of those locations, but probably not another one – we want to know. Your input will make the decision – and give us an idea of how many rooms we need. (So if you are interested at any of these locations, let us know that, too.)
Vote now, or give us your feedback, just send a quick note to: retreats@biblicalfamilies.org
We will make a final decision on a location within a few weeks, and announce it in the next newsletter.
Other news
‘Introductions’ teaser
Do you know what the question is that we get asked most frequently (far and away) by email, here at Biblical Families? Probably no surprise, if you think about it. It’s this: “How can I (or my family) meet a Godly woman who’s open to plural marriage and joining my family?” Well, we’ve been giving it a lot of thought, and we have an answer (or two)! But you are going to have to stick around and get the next release of the newsletter to hear our answer. (You want to find out where the retreat is going to be, anyway… that’s more important, right?)
INTERNET UPDATES
Twitter:
Lots of new things are happening online for Biblical Families. First, if you have not had the opportunity, please take advantage of our Twitter feed at http://www.twitter.com/biblicalfamily . On Twitter, you will receive Biblical Families updates, as well as news headlines related to plural families. We are seeing tremendous growth on Twitter, and it is a great opportunity to introduce more people to the Biblical Families web-site, and to invite people to join in the discussion.
Facebook:
Secondly, we are seeing growth on Facebook as well. The big news is that we have now set up a separate page for Biblical Families at the following link: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000043833025
Please note that this is a DIFFERENT address than our group page on Facebook. We will continue to use our group page for discussions, but this new page is set up to provide networking and community for those interested in Biblical Families. It is also designed to present a more 'public' face to our online ministry.
Biblical Families Radio:
Biblical Families has a unique opportunity to provide a forum for a more personal connection for participants, using a 'talk-radio' type format. In vision, the program would feature commentators who could answer difficult questions, and also allow for audience participation for discussion. And rather than ask if you’d like to participate in this, let’s just find out: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Biblical-Families
This is very much a ‘Beta’, and we could end up changing how we approach this altogether, you can help us work out the kinks. We are going to try a couple of live, interactive, broadcasts this month, see the site for more info.
RSS Feeds:
Next, on our forums you might have noticed some new icons beside our topics: These icons represent RSS feeds for a particular topic. Okay, Doc, what is an RSS feed? Good question. Basically, an RSS feed allows anyone to 'feed' a particular topic to a separate site, such as a personal blog, a FaceBook account, twitter, etc. This gives you, the forum user, the opportunity to share a particular topic with others. The RSS feed will allow you to get real time updates and new postings on topics of your choice without having to navigate to the site itself. This is a custom feed made specifically for Biblical Families. Right now it’s available per topic, but we may add by forum section if that’s of interest to people.
All of this new online exposure has both its good and its bad points. Obviously, having the opportunity to share and witness the love of Christ with others through the ministry of Biblical Families is an awesome experience. However, the dark side of things is that because of the primary focus of our ministry (Christian plural families), we do have a tendency to attract some whose motives are less than honorable. I would encourage everyone that uses the internet, whether it be the forums, FaceBook, Twitter, or whatever it is, please always keep your guard up, and always be sure to ask the Holy Spirit for discernment.
We are always looking for new ways to connect, and to provide a place of 'virtual' fellowship. We are open to suggestions as well, so if you have an idea that you think would help, please respond to this email with your thoughts.
Private Forums:
There are now 3 private forums available: Men’s, Women’s, and Singles. Obviously, some may qualify for two of these. (But not for all 3!)
These are truly private forums! A place where the guys won’t “accidently” read or post in the Ladies Only forum – we’ll never see it. And vice versa. To access these forums you have to already be a forum member, already have participated enough (email or forums or retreats) with us in some way, so that we know who you are and your gender, and then you have to request access to the forum.
If you are interested, first sign up for the forums, log in, then go to User Control Panel, Usergroups tab, then under NON-MEMBERSHIPS, select Women, Men, or Singles and Submit. Then wait for a moderator to approve you. Ladies, if you are not known to the ladies yet, you should first drop an email to them at femina@biblicalfamilies.org. Guys, you can write men@biblicalfamilies.org – just tell us a bit about yourself. These are really a members-only, non-public, forums – these posts won’t be indexed by search engines or otherwise made publicly viewable.
Your private forum will then show up at the bottom of the forum page ONLY when you are logged in.
Information overload!! – so we’ll wrap up.
Stay focused on God’s plan for you – anything done in your own strength is doomed to failure.
Let us know how we can be of service to you.
Any comments and/or suggestions on any of these are appreciated and can be directed to Staff@BiblicalFamilies.org
Yes, we know it’s July, but June just got away from us, and we have so much to share with you this summer, that we may actually get another newsletter out to you later this month, so let’s call this the ‘June’ newsletter. Let’s get right to it!
Retreat News
Memorial weekend saw 28 adults and over 20 children, from many different backgrounds, gather in Orlando at the largest-yet Biblical Families retreat. But we are just getting started. The worship, and the fellowship, was very moving, and continued through all of Monday. We joked that it was the “retreat that wouldn’t end”, but no joke, 14 of us were still able to gather the next Friday night for Sabbath dinner and worship together. I could quote attendees, but you can read their retreat posts here, and see just a few pics here.
I know this sounds like a broken record: but if you want to know what quality of people God is calling to plural marriage (or at least an understanding of its Biblicalness), you NEED to make it to a retreat. If your family needs support in this calling (whether or not you are currently walking it) you NEED to make it to a retreat. We had so many more people who wanted to make it to Orlando and couldn’t, that we have to give one more chance at a major retreat this year, and give a better option to folks not on the East coast, so…
This is ANNOUNCING the last Biblical Families retreat of the year: October 10-12th, 2009
Location: Western US, you tell us! Here are your choices:
1) Northern California – drivable from San Diego to Seattle, most likely a hotel in the Sacramento area.
2) Las Vegas hotel - not on the strip. May seem strange, but should be cheap, lots of flights, easy to get rooms right now and a meeting room, and food in the hotel - and, hey, it's Vegas, who's going to care about a handful of polygamists?
3) Denver area – setting would need to be researched. This is centrally located all the way from Chicago and Dallas to the entire West Coast.
If you could make one or two of those locations, but probably not another one – we want to know. Your input will make the decision – and give us an idea of how many rooms we need. (So if you are interested at any of these locations, let us know that, too.)
Vote now, or give us your feedback, just send a quick note to: retreats@biblicalfamilies.org
We will make a final decision on a location within a few weeks, and announce it in the next newsletter.
Other news
‘Introductions’ teaser
Do you know what the question is that we get asked most frequently (far and away) by email, here at Biblical Families? Probably no surprise, if you think about it. It’s this: “How can I (or my family) meet a Godly woman who’s open to plural marriage and joining my family?” Well, we’ve been giving it a lot of thought, and we have an answer (or two)! But you are going to have to stick around and get the next release of the newsletter to hear our answer. (You want to find out where the retreat is going to be, anyway… that’s more important, right?)
INTERNET UPDATES
Twitter:
Lots of new things are happening online for Biblical Families. First, if you have not had the opportunity, please take advantage of our Twitter feed at http://www.twitter.com/biblicalfamily . On Twitter, you will receive Biblical Families updates, as well as news headlines related to plural families. We are seeing tremendous growth on Twitter, and it is a great opportunity to introduce more people to the Biblical Families web-site, and to invite people to join in the discussion.
Facebook:
Secondly, we are seeing growth on Facebook as well. The big news is that we have now set up a separate page for Biblical Families at the following link: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000043833025
Please note that this is a DIFFERENT address than our group page on Facebook. We will continue to use our group page for discussions, but this new page is set up to provide networking and community for those interested in Biblical Families. It is also designed to present a more 'public' face to our online ministry.
Biblical Families Radio:
Biblical Families has a unique opportunity to provide a forum for a more personal connection for participants, using a 'talk-radio' type format. In vision, the program would feature commentators who could answer difficult questions, and also allow for audience participation for discussion. And rather than ask if you’d like to participate in this, let’s just find out: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Biblical-Families
This is very much a ‘Beta’, and we could end up changing how we approach this altogether, you can help us work out the kinks. We are going to try a couple of live, interactive, broadcasts this month, see the site for more info.
RSS Feeds:
Next, on our forums you might have noticed some new icons beside our topics: These icons represent RSS feeds for a particular topic. Okay, Doc, what is an RSS feed? Good question. Basically, an RSS feed allows anyone to 'feed' a particular topic to a separate site, such as a personal blog, a FaceBook account, twitter, etc. This gives you, the forum user, the opportunity to share a particular topic with others. The RSS feed will allow you to get real time updates and new postings on topics of your choice without having to navigate to the site itself. This is a custom feed made specifically for Biblical Families. Right now it’s available per topic, but we may add by forum section if that’s of interest to people.
All of this new online exposure has both its good and its bad points. Obviously, having the opportunity to share and witness the love of Christ with others through the ministry of Biblical Families is an awesome experience. However, the dark side of things is that because of the primary focus of our ministry (Christian plural families), we do have a tendency to attract some whose motives are less than honorable. I would encourage everyone that uses the internet, whether it be the forums, FaceBook, Twitter, or whatever it is, please always keep your guard up, and always be sure to ask the Holy Spirit for discernment.
We are always looking for new ways to connect, and to provide a place of 'virtual' fellowship. We are open to suggestions as well, so if you have an idea that you think would help, please respond to this email with your thoughts.
Private Forums:
There are now 3 private forums available: Men’s, Women’s, and Singles. Obviously, some may qualify for two of these. (But not for all 3!)
These are truly private forums! A place where the guys won’t “accidently” read or post in the Ladies Only forum – we’ll never see it. And vice versa. To access these forums you have to already be a forum member, already have participated enough (email or forums or retreats) with us in some way, so that we know who you are and your gender, and then you have to request access to the forum.
If you are interested, first sign up for the forums, log in, then go to User Control Panel, Usergroups tab, then under NON-MEMBERSHIPS, select Women, Men, or Singles and Submit. Then wait for a moderator to approve you. Ladies, if you are not known to the ladies yet, you should first drop an email to them at femina@biblicalfamilies.org. Guys, you can write men@biblicalfamilies.org – just tell us a bit about yourself. These are really a members-only, non-public, forums – these posts won’t be indexed by search engines or otherwise made publicly viewable.
Your private forum will then show up at the bottom of the forum page ONLY when you are logged in.
Information overload!! – so we’ll wrap up.
Stay focused on God’s plan for you – anything done in your own strength is doomed to failure.
Let us know how we can be of service to you.
Any comments and/or suggestions on any of these are appreciated and can be directed to Staff@BiblicalFamilies.org