Monday, July 2, 2012 - BFF #210

Abundant Blessings

“God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth may fear Him.”

Psalm 67:7

Dear Prayer Partners,

I stand amazed at what God has done through BFF over the past twelve years. Trying to understand the implications of what God has given us is not easy. For what eternal purpose has God inspired the many Biblical training materials available through BFF?

Psalm 67:7 (above) gives guidance for what we need to be doing with His gifts. We want to use BFF resources so that the power of God’s truth effectively reaches the ends of the earth in such a way that people are shaped by that truth and the presence of God (my rough translation for ‘fear Him’).

What resources?

Last month’s letter reported on the upload of many materials to the ‘cloud’. Basically, this means we have completed individual linked listings to connect all our materials–not the web materials but the Powerpoints, books, articles, videos, audios, handouts all in easy to use formats. The shift to e-Resources is happening very quickly. I-pads are everywhere. People will be viewing all this on televisions soon. Good competition (if it ever comes) will only speed up this e-transition.

The thousands of articles and associated files, powerpoints, etc. are now linked from master indices. (I am not including BFF’s other large bilingual resources here, though they are important.) We are now responsible to distribute these seven huge resources of Biblically-based, media-enhanced English Christian training materials (BFF libraries).

Who to equip?

How do we deliver the resources to those who need them most? Fortunately, those with internet access can get them at our online BFF store. What about people in developing countries?

This is not so easy. Right now we ship BFF’s special two-sided Dvd (8gb) to those in full-time ministry in that part of the world. Unfortunately, we can no longer contain all the resources. Shipping prices are rising quickly. Granting download access can easily swamp our limited capability, which translates into more money and server problems.

In any case, we need much wisdom and compassion to push ourselves to the limits of our service. Every step has ramifications that I have not fully thought through. Let me provide one scenario that has been on my heart recently.

Serving training institutes

Could BFF resources be used in all the Bible colleges / training institutes in developing countries? This would be a huge project. There are well over a thousand of them. From my experience they are very appreciative of all resources, but good, helpful books and materials, help them tremendously.

A sister, with her doctorate in Christian library science, went to a foreign country to inspect the libraries of a few respected seminaries. These people do not use English as their main language, but she told me that they were very interested in having our resources available for all the students. BFF resources are so practical and right at their level. I had given her several DVD’s to distribute. It only confirms what I sense is very important.

How should we go about this? What is the policy? Who will write to them and introduce BFF? Should I offer to travel to each country and distribute the ones I can and ship the rest? Should we prepare 50gb flash drives for each school so they can keep them or install them on their personal computer networks then send the flash drives on to another school?

I find that school principals in poorer countries usually have a computer or access to one (i.e. from a friend). Sometimes these schools do not even have a computer of its own. Can we dream big and offer their library an iPad or laptop computer with the BFF resources available on them to be used by the students who otherwise have no access to a computer?

I sincerely need your prayers as we seek God’s leading.

Praise!

• God has given me extra stamina to edit the new book, The Life Core: Discovering the Heart of Great Training, twice now. This is an exciting book that lays the foundation for revival and provides the keys to more effective training– coming soon!

• The Chinese library has now been uploaded to the cloud.

• We now have coordinated all seven libraries under a Main index.

• Thank the Lord for using the Sunday Genesis message (Three Steps to A Growing Faith on Genesis 14) to touch the hearts of His people.

• Two more volunteer editors for various materials!

Pray!

• God’s hand in finishing the details for the three seminars in the Philippines this fall.

• The IRS somehow never sent me a letter with their request. Now they need another 30 days to send out a new letter. Pray the government will speedily reinstate BFF’s tax-exempt status.

• Wisdom for how and if we should offer online courses.

• Wisdom to organize schooling for our children next year.

• Focus and wisdom to prepare and launch our D2, Reaching Beyond Mediocrity Video training series.

• Pray that God would bless us to distribute His training materials to strategic places that need them, and in turn greatly bless them, that they become more effective in His service, and they, in turn, bless more people (Psalm 67:7).

Thanks so much for all of your prayers!

Paul

Rev. Paul J. Bucknell, President and Instructor

Email: pb@foundationsforfreedom.net

Phone: (412) 761-3508

3276 Bainton St., Pittsburgh, PA 15212 USA

Table of Contents

Title Page

Abundant Blessings

“God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth may fear Him.”

Serving training institutes

Praise!

Pray!

Thanks so much for all of your prayers!