http://beta.mystudybible.com/

HCSB Online Study Bible

The first attached document #1 gives an introduction to the OL3C project with an early initial proposal. By the end of the three year project the following four outcomes are expected:

• Shell book Creation: Hundreds of resource shells are available in Shell book format for localization by local learning communities, and thousands of localized editions are available to demonstrate the success of the approach.
• Library System: Development agencies and local learning communities alike are using the Open Library for Local Learning Communities (OL3C) to share both resource shells and localized editions.
• Training Development: Development agencies and local learning communities have access to the training they need for creating resource shells, making localized editions, and using the Open Library.
• Community of Practice: A self-sustaining consortium of all the agencies participating in the OL3C is functioning as a community of practice to share results, promote best practices, establish standards, and make strategic decisions regarding the future of the OL3C.

The specific tasks and responsibilities to accomplish these goals are given in attached document #2. OL3C Preliminary Plan. In this document the detailed objectives that MAFLT has been asked to be responsible for are given in 1.1a through 1.1L. We are being asked to manage the development of the online open library that will allow worldwide multilingual sharing of shell book and PDF resources. The online library will facilitate the search for and downloading of existing resources in major trade or national languages so that they can be contextually moved to local heart language resources and uploaded to the online open library.

A preliminary model of this functional concept has been created and is located at www.worldvision.ol3c.org This pilot site will guide you through the extensive shell books resources it contains and gives access to. This is mean to only be a concept example and not a GUI design for the OL3C project. It is an example of a tailored agency portal within OL3C.

Zambian pastor, Michael Mutale, writes to MAF-LT’s Mike Holman,

Mike,

Am fine. I have been doing trainings. I had a group of pastors who had interest in Digital library and we had a good time together.

Please do pray for me as I go next week out to meet 60 pastors from the North western part of Zambia.

Please do check some of the testimonies from the brothers here. I will send more testimonies.

Thank you for everything.

Michael

Pastor Victor Mwila. He has 12 churches under his denomination. He is always checking for lessons to teach his members. (my members grow spiritually each time I spend time checking for more teaching materials. Thanks

Rev. Boston Mwwebela. He is the training officer for the Australian Baptist Churches in Zambia. He holds training programs through out the year. (This tool, meets the needs of many of my trainees. It is a miracle and thank you very much.)

Pastor Weston Mwape. One of the trainers who have imaged as a result of being with me all the time. Now he spends time working in the oral school. (my time with people is made easy with this tool.) Thanks Mike.

Pastor Mpatisha. Works with AWANA. He is doing his work throughout Zambia. (stories are easy to tell to children now that my head is full of these bible verses. Thanks)

Evangelist Webby. He is working with CMML. He is all over Zambia. ( I reach new areas and people gather around me to hear the bible. This does it it all for my calling people together. I just summarize. Thanks.

Darkness will not stay with us any more. The light is on and we serve with confidence. Pastor Lester. He is a trainer and works with different denominations. He is also working at interdenominational level and He is working with me to burn cds for pastors.

“One lady told how she had lost three boys and two daughters to malaria, another man spoke of the three children that he had lost to malaria . . . the stories went on and on.  One chap said that until the missionaries came to Malamaunda, they had no access to any medicine due to their remote location, and the death toll each year was in the thousands.  Even now, the villages “close” to Malamaunda are a number of days walk away, and Bob Kennel told how a man had tried to bring his child sick with malaria to the village where Bob was - a three day walk.  After a day’s hike, the child died in the man’s arms and all he could do was return home to bury his little child.  This is happening right now.  As I write this, people here in PNG are dying from malaria . . . only a very short flight away from Australia.  This should not be happening . . . this must not continue to happen.”

Lets not ask “What would I do?

Ask “What can I do?”

Imagining myself as that father carrying his sick child rammed home the impact that malaria has.

While in PNG I met with:

• PNG Bible Society
• Leaders from the Baptist Union of PNG
• Staff from the Christian Leaders Training Centre (CLTC)
• Staff from New Tribes Mission
• Staff and management committee of CRMF (Christian Radio Missionary Fellowship)
• MAF Papua New Guinea Board
• John Kupp, Senior Pastor PNG Christian Centres
• Staff from MAF Papua New Guinea

The MAF LT component of my visit was to share with various groups of people the ministry of MAF Learning Technologies.  It is important at this stage of the ministry in Asia Pacific for our staff and those connected closely to us, that it is clear what MAF Learning Technologies ministry looks like so they can communicate to others and potential partners the ministry services and vision.

The most common need described to me was for resources. Learning materials (printed or digital), Bible studies, courses. When I talked about audio resources such as sermons, books, Bibles there was a great amount of interest. The barrier here appears to be access. For example, many of the MAF national staff can afford an MP3 player, but cant access audio Bibles or teachings – and want to! Internet accessible resources are not an option to them – dial-up is slow and unreliable, broadband is new and very expensive, VSAT remains the best option for the near future although Telikom now provides a 3G/CDMA USB modem wireless service which is providing good speeds, but still an expensive option for people in PNG, internet cafes where the public can get online are as rare as a coconut in Antarctica. Christian bookshops have music CDs but not teaching. Digital audio players called the ‘Proclaimer’ are being distributed by the PNG Bible Society (on behalf of Faith Comes by Hearing), but no-one I talked to had heard of them or seen any such device around Goroka or Mt Hagen. Feeding resources for ministry is certainly a service being sought by the Church there.

Philip Bungo, CLTC TEE coordinator, was very interested in DEScribe/DEViewer to put some of his TEE material into a digital format. He gave me some of his learning material so that it could be put into DEViewer as a demonstration of concept – this may become a project for the CRMF Learning technologies position holder. CLTC have over 1000 students doing their TEE courses (each under K40 in cost) and believe they would have many more if others in remote, poor communities could afford the fees.

I gave Richard Wali from Papua New Guinea Bible Society a GoBible (audio NIV NT in English, with scripture, stories, key verses available from the menu) which I bought while in the USA. I was prompted by their desire to reach out to the youth of PNG with audio New Testaments, and to develop audio NT in Tok Ples (mother tongue languages) for people in remote areas.

Richard Wali with GoBible

The church leaders I met host conferences annually for their pastors and typically cannot have all pastors come into the conference – both groups of church leaders I met with showed interest in the concept of recording conference speakers and distributing via MP3 or CD. Again their need was for resources – audio or written. John Kupp is running a Bible College in Mt Hagen for a small number of students, but the college lacks formal structure, course curriculum planning and material, and is probably typical of many small Bible Colleges being run by churches in PNG.

Nikolai Ballin (wife of MAF pilot Brad) attended an STS Workshop in 2009 in the USA and has since run a brief introduction to orality teaching technique with her home group. She is very keen to co-ordinate an STS Workshop in Mt Hagen once suitable dates for the program are advised by program management. Other MAF staff were also interested in learning oral teaching strategies.

MAF learning technologies can certainly meet some of the needs in Papua New Guinea. Whether by equipping the isolated church or equipping our staff in order that they may provide spiritual leadership within their communities. CRMF have budgetted for a Learning Technologies position on their staff and I believe this person will assume responsibility for co-ordinating MAF Learning Technologies ministry projects within PNG.

Please give thanks and pray with me:

• For continued contact with people we can serve and minister to in Papua New Guinea
• For the future MAF LT country co-ordinator for Papua New Guinea
• For the enthusiasm and excitement showed by many who heard of the various MAF LT ministry services
• That we can connect people in PNG to other ministries willing to serve the people in PNG

At one of the evening board meetings with MAFLT partner ProMETA, Judy Musselman gave Mauricio a box of Spanish versions of the Bible in cassette format, some cassette players and some cranks to power the players in places with no electricity nor available batteries.

Mauricio and his wife Rosalia were invited to the small rural village of Abangaritos, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, to attend a short weekend mission trip with their local church youth group. Mauricio had to preach that Sunday in San Jose, but decided to be in Abangaritos from Friday night to Saturday afternoon. Very short trip.

Because of MAFLT’s involvement in Orality, Mauricio had learned that almost 70% of the worldwide population are oral learners. Mauricio decided to bring some of those Bible cassettes and devices with him, as maybe the Lord had people in that area needing access to the Word but without the possibility of reading the Bible.

His van was already full with his kids and their luggage, plus one more invitee; 6 people total. However, they made room for some of those kits.

They had a great opportunity to share the Gospel, pray, and spend time with some of the families in the area, as well as share some groceries with them. Mauricio preached on Friday night even though electricity was gone for most of the message (fortunately, his flashlight worked well).

In this joint project with the Faith Comes By Hearing ministry, staff from the PNG Bible Society distribute the Proclaimers to isolated churches through the four ministers fraternals operating in Papua New Guinea.

What is a Proclaimer?
The Proclaimer is a digital player dedicated to playing God’s Word in the local heart language.

• An installed microchip contains Scriptures in the heart language; the chip will not erase or wear out from frequent playing.
• The battery will play for 15 hours and can be recharged enough times to play the entire New Testament more than 1,000 times.
• The Proclaimer has a built-in generator and solar panel to charge the battery.
• The solar panel, in addition to charging the battery, will run the Proclaimer even without battery power as long as there is sunlight.
• The sound is digital quality and loud enough to be heard clearly by groups as large as 300.

The Proclaimer was developed primarily as a playback device for poor and illiterate people who may not have any other source to hear God’s Word.

PNG Bible Society Vision

The PNG Bible Society has a vision and a passion to see more young people involved in reading and hearing the Scriptures – especially in their own language or ‘Tok Ples”.  They have plans to build a studio in their existing warehouse in order to make audio recordings of the New Testament.  There are over 800 different languages in Papua New Guinea and they have determined that the best place to start is with the Enga region tok ples, which amazingly is spoken by the one people group.

On Friday I visited the Christian Leaders Training College (CLTC) in Banz, Papua New Guinea.

I met with Mr Philip Bungo who is the co-ordinator for the TEE (Theological Education by Extension) program being run by CLTC.
CLTC has designed this program to cater for lay workers, elders, pastors, local Bible school teachers, and church leaders to study towards their “Certificate of Christian Foundations”.

“The need for sound Biblical teaching and training of Christian leadership is one of the most urgent issues in our country and the South Pacific Islands today” says Mr Bungo.  Mr Bungo came to Christ through studying a TEE course when in prison many years ago.

The Certificate of Christian Foundations is a course which is designed to integrate Biblical knowledge to equip and enable a student to become a true disciple of Christ.  The courses also equip a student to minister to their churches and families.  Students are able to learn in their home community and not leave home or travel across PNG to study.  This also allows students to remain active in ministry while they study.

There are three main components of TEE study:

1. Home Study – a goal set of one unit per week (approx. 4 hours) with students studying at home using learning material provided by CLTC. Workbooks contain learning notes, questions and revision tasks
2. Practical Assignments – Each unit of study has a project or practical assignment to be done i order to put their learning into practice.
3. Regular Small Group Seminars – these provide opportunity for students to share together what they have been learning.  Led by a tutor, these groups are occasions of mutual encouragement, fellowship and spiritual growth.

He currently has over 1000 students across the country studying various courses on topics including:

• Discipleship
• Worship
• Marriage and Family Life
• Life of Christ
• Childrens Ministry
• and 11 other topics

Each of these courses costs less than PGK40 (40 Kina is about AUD$17) and yet despite the low costs many Papua New Guineans in remote areas simply cant afford to take the courses.  If you are prompted to help support the training of isolated PNG church leaders by covering their costs for some or all of their TEE courses contact me.  The courses are made available in both English and Tok Pisin and can be studied in a group of 7 – 12 led by a tutor or in isolated student mode.

As these students grow spiritually, the Church in Papua New Guinea becomes more spiritually mature and better equipped to be used by God to reveal Himself to others.

Pray that all those wanting to study, learn and grow will be able to with the removal of whatever barriers they face.

Son of Hamas is the story, so far, of Mosab Hassan Yousef, the eldest son of Sheik Hassan Yousef one of the founders and leaders of Hamas.  Hamas is a Palestinian Islamic resistance movement in the West Bank and Gaza, and listed by the USA, EU and others as a terrorist organisation.

Mosab grew up in Ramallah, about 10km north of Jerusalem and at a young age began to fight back against the Israeli authorities.  As a child he saw his father arrested and jailed for months at a time and he himself was eventually arrested by the Israelis, eventually reaching a point where he agreed to spy on Hamas for Shin Bet (Israeli Internal security service).  His involvement with the Hamas leadership made him a valuable asset to Shin Bet and over the ten years he was working for them he prevented many attacks and assassinations by Hamas. During this time he was impacted by the teachings of Jesus Christ and eventually accepted the truth that Jesus is Lord and his saviour.

The book is a great testimony, helped me to understand some of what has been happening in the Middle East and motivated me to learn more about Islamic beliefs and Middle Eastern history.

Son of Hamas Facebook page

Interpret it below:

What impressions do you get when visualising the entire text of Acts in a Wordle?