Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
We hope you have had a great summer, filled with the favor of the Lord, growing closer to Him and your family. If you can believe it, Fall is just 2 days away - this summer has flown by for us, as we have stayed busy on various Biblical Families initiatives, not to mention our jobs and family commitments. Many Biblical Families members and staff have commented that they can sense it’s a time of change: in our world, in our country, what God is doing in our lives and our families; it’s also been that way for Biblical Families – we’ve felt God leading us in a number of areas this summer, and we are doing our best to follow Him where He leads. We re-iterate yet again that we don’t want this ministry to be about us, or just doing what interests us – if it’s not His direction, we’d rather not waste our time, since only He brings the increase.
As you’ve probably seen if you’ve been on the forums or website, one “common theme” that’s been on many of our hearts this summer is meeting the needs of single mothers, our modern day “widows and orphans”. We are pursuing several practical ways we can do this – if you’d like some ideas on what you can do in your area, write us at staff@biblicalfamilies.org. One thing we’ve done is create a new web page just for single moms, and are running some google ads that go direct to this page. We’re sure some end up shocked! – but we haven’t received any negative feedback yet.
4th Biblical Families Radio Broadcast, tonight 9pm EDT!
We’re getting great feedback on our hour-long interactive Radio Broadcast – and we already have more ideas for targeted shows than we can cover in a “month of Sundays”. This is clearly going to grow into an important outreach. We promise we will cover all manner of issues, from theology, to practical family matters. If you can’t tune in on Sunday nights, don’t forget you can always listen to the archive later. On our Resource page you can listen directly. It’s possible to call in from your computer, or with a land line. We expect to have a show most Sunday nights – so check the schedule on line.
Tonight’s (Sunday 9/20/2009, 9pm EDT, 8 Central, 7 Mountain, 6 Pacific) broadcast will feature an interview with Jay Carper, who will be sharing about his new book “Commentary on Marriage in the Bible, Volume 1” , and things he learned in the 12-year process of creating it. Jay focuses this text on marriage and the Torah. We will be talking about how understanding the Torah's approach to marriage can help us better understand the Christian approach to the union. There should be time for call-in questions also.
West Coast, Las Vegas, Biblical Families Retreat, October 9-11th, 2009
It’s not too late to decide to come to Las Vegas! In just 3 weeks we’ll be gathering, and we have a number of last minute additions that we’re very exciting about – bringing the number of attendees close to our East Coast retreats this year, with many new families planning on attending. Doc has settled on a theme for us: “Choosing to Love”, and we are bursting at the thought of the fellowship, and iron-sharpening-iron, that awaits us in Las Vegas. Our retreat rate for the hotel is still available at this date, though it could disappear any day (already extended). Write today if you’d like details: Nathan@biblicalfamilies.org This will likely be the last notice you receive before the retreat.
We are also in the planning stages for 2010 retreats, so anything you’d like us to consider, locations and dates, let us know.
How can I help?
A number of folks have asked how they can get more involved with Biblical Families, and some have stepped up to the plate to help in a way unique to them recently (You know who you are, thank you!). But here’s 2 specific ways you can be helping right now:
Biblical Families FAQ
We have been asked repeatedly for more “content”, specifically on Plural Marriage – and it’s definitely on our heart to provide. In fact, we have a working FAQ, but it doesn’t have quite enough information to go public yet, and we have such little time to write. So we thought, there’s a lot of eloquent members in our forums – why don’t we get them to participate? So here it is: if you have an idea of something that’s on your heart, that you think Newcomers to our site and forums would like to know, write it up and send it to us at faq@biblicalfamilies.org. Our forums have grown so large (8,000 posts very soon), that it’s getting hard to find some of the “gems” that others have written. Feel free to dig up something that you know was helpful – by you or someone else, and send it along. It doesn’t have to be directly plural marriage related, think of if it would have been helpful to you when you were seeking Biblical direction on families, and if it belongs in one of these Newcomer sections:
For Everyone, For Men, For Married Women, For Single Ladies
We’d love to see some ladies answer some questions. We may need to edit things down a bit, and we can’t promise to use everything, we want to keep this very targeted, but we’d appreciate any help you feel led to give.
Giving
We know it’s a tough economy. We would like to thank everyone that has made a donation to Biblical Families. Your contributions allow us to continue to minister to and support those who seek us out: It’s important to us to offer all our services free so that no one who may need something we can provide goes without. Our funds go totally to ministry expenses related to the website (ads mostly) and retreats – our Staff and Board are nonpaid volunteers. If you are in a position to help, and if Biblical Families has been a blessing to you, then pray about how you can help, and thank you ahead of time for any support you are able to give. You’ll find a Paypal Donate button on our main page, and on our contact page an address for sending checks if you prefer. Our treasurer sends end-of-year giving statements to all who request it. Thanks!
God bless, “see you” on the broadcast tonight! Biblical Families Staff
We hope you have had a great summer, filled with the favor of the Lord, growing closer to Him and your family. If you can believe it, Fall is just 2 days away - this summer has flown by for us, as we have stayed busy on various Biblical Families initiatives, not to mention our jobs and family commitments. Many Biblical Families members and staff have commented that they can sense it’s a time of change: in our world, in our country, what God is doing in our lives and our families; it’s also been that way for Biblical Families – we’ve felt God leading us in a number of areas this summer, and we are doing our best to follow Him where He leads. We re-iterate yet again that we don’t want this ministry to be about us, or just doing what interests us – if it’s not His direction, we’d rather not waste our time, since only He brings the increase.
As you’ve probably seen if you’ve been on the forums or website, one “common theme” that’s been on many of our hearts this summer is meeting the needs of single mothers, our modern day “widows and orphans”. We are pursuing several practical ways we can do this – if you’d like some ideas on what you can do in your area, write us at staff@biblicalfamilies.org. One thing we’ve done is create a new web page just for single moms, and are running some google ads that go direct to this page. We’re sure some end up shocked! – but we haven’t received any negative feedback yet.
4th Biblical Families Radio Broadcast, tonight 9pm EDT!
We’re getting great feedback on our hour-long interactive Radio Broadcast – and we already have more ideas for targeted shows than we can cover in a “month of Sundays”. This is clearly going to grow into an important outreach. We promise we will cover all manner of issues, from theology, to practical family matters. If you can’t tune in on Sunday nights, don’t forget you can always listen to the archive later. On our Resource page you can listen directly. It’s possible to call in from your computer, or with a land line. We expect to have a show most Sunday nights – so check the schedule on line.
Tonight’s (Sunday 9/20/2009, 9pm EDT, 8 Central, 7 Mountain, 6 Pacific) broadcast will feature an interview with Jay Carper, who will be sharing about his new book “Commentary on Marriage in the Bible, Volume 1” , and things he learned in the 12-year process of creating it. Jay focuses this text on marriage and the Torah. We will be talking about how understanding the Torah's approach to marriage can help us better understand the Christian approach to the union. There should be time for call-in questions also.
West Coast, Las Vegas, Biblical Families Retreat, October 9-11th, 2009
It’s not too late to decide to come to Las Vegas! In just 3 weeks we’ll be gathering, and we have a number of last minute additions that we’re very exciting about – bringing the number of attendees close to our East Coast retreats this year, with many new families planning on attending. Doc has settled on a theme for us: “Choosing to Love”, and we are bursting at the thought of the fellowship, and iron-sharpening-iron, that awaits us in Las Vegas. Our retreat rate for the hotel is still available at this date, though it could disappear any day (already extended). Write today if you’d like details: Nathan@biblicalfamilies.org This will likely be the last notice you receive before the retreat.
We are also in the planning stages for 2010 retreats, so anything you’d like us to consider, locations and dates, let us know.
How can I help?
A number of folks have asked how they can get more involved with Biblical Families, and some have stepped up to the plate to help in a way unique to them recently (You know who you are, thank you!). But here’s 2 specific ways you can be helping right now:
Biblical Families FAQ
We have been asked repeatedly for more “content”, specifically on Plural Marriage – and it’s definitely on our heart to provide. In fact, we have a working FAQ, but it doesn’t have quite enough information to go public yet, and we have such little time to write. So we thought, there’s a lot of eloquent members in our forums – why don’t we get them to participate? So here it is: if you have an idea of something that’s on your heart, that you think Newcomers to our site and forums would like to know, write it up and send it to us at faq@biblicalfamilies.org. Our forums have grown so large (8,000 posts very soon), that it’s getting hard to find some of the “gems” that others have written. Feel free to dig up something that you know was helpful – by you or someone else, and send it along. It doesn’t have to be directly plural marriage related, think of if it would have been helpful to you when you were seeking Biblical direction on families, and if it belongs in one of these Newcomer sections:
For Everyone, For Men, For Married Women, For Single Ladies
We’d love to see some ladies answer some questions. We may need to edit things down a bit, and we can’t promise to use everything, we want to keep this very targeted, but we’d appreciate any help you feel led to give.
Giving
We know it’s a tough economy. We would like to thank everyone that has made a donation to Biblical Families. Your contributions allow us to continue to minister to and support those who seek us out: It’s important to us to offer all our services free so that no one who may need something we can provide goes without. Our funds go totally to ministry expenses related to the website (ads mostly) and retreats – our Staff and Board are nonpaid volunteers. If you are in a position to help, and if Biblical Families has been a blessing to you, then pray about how you can help, and thank you ahead of time for any support you are able to give. You’ll find a Paypal Donate button on our main page, and on our contact page an address for sending checks if you prefer. Our treasurer sends end-of-year giving statements to all who request it. Thanks!
God bless, “see you” on the broadcast tonight! Biblical Families Staff