Pray BFF Letter #264

August 15, 2015

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To The World!

Dear Prayer Partners,

Nepal's peaks The Lord started BFF (2000) near the beginning of the digital revolution which is now reaching the shores of each continent impacting many lives. BFF’s focus has always been ‘releasing God’s truth’ to people around the world. There have been epic changes in how the world communicates, learns and lives. Smartphones are popping up everywhere, even in the distant Sahara desert and towering peaks of Nepal. Thanks to some aggressive companies like Google, Apple, Samsung, Facebook and the like, this thrust into the digital age will only continue at a faster pace.

Narrowing our focus

I am still pushing to update all the 3-ring binder books to regular paperback. The Romans commentary has been expanded significantly, and final proofing is complete. There are still several larger books waiting for transformation.
The BFF website update is in progress. Sometimes it requires quite a bit of concentrated time. Fortunately, we have our team in India working with us. I attempted the web update twice before, but lacked the skills, time and energy that the large BFF website requires. Hopefully, with our combined efforts and lots of wisdom, it will be more attractive, targeted, time-saving and effective in releasing God’s truths.
Over the past few years we have been fairly successful at getting audio/visuals and translated handouts into over ten different languages. This is significant, especially considering our very limited budget. Only by God’s grace could this have been done. But it still remains a challenge. Last week, I completed the edit of the ten Genesis audio/videos in Hindi. This week I am finishing up the Hindi Godly Man sessions. After this, two more full sets of Hindi messages and one Chinese series remain. The plan is to get these set up in the new web page format, ideally saving me much time.
Distribution has always been a difficulty. We are still getting near 100,000 visitors to our website each month. This is good, especially with many more websites popping up. But I think we can go further. We are not only web-based, but have books, computer resources and in other places. We have many English resources, but those in other languages are still few. So, with a little money in our translation fund, we want to stretch out to key people groups that are rather isolated from the English language such as China, Burma, South America and India. One task we can do is to translate more books, but to do them well is more difficult.
My dream is to actually get them published locally in each country and distributed there. Wherever I go, Christian leaders see how helpful they are and ask if they can sell them in their own country (in their language). They don’t understand we do not have the $5,000-$7,000 to do this. (In these markets one has to print thousands of books from the start.) We have not been able to do this even though solid Christian books continue to be greatly needed. Think of Burma just stepping into the modern world. Good Christian books will go far to help them.

Family

Keep our family in mind. We are helping three of our children through the college process.

Allison is finishing her Master’s in NYC at Pace, but she needs a good job to live! Her 1-year assistantship is over. She just moved to a new apartment and is hoping to secure that needed job in an area of her expertise.
Daniel, though local, has started a full-time training program to become a Physical Therapy Assistant. He will be busy attending classes on two campuses and maintaining two part-time jobs.
Kathryn is off to Elgin, Illinois this coming Thursday. This will be her first time away from home and family. She is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Interior Design. Though she has funds for this semester, there are still needs for the fast-coming spring semester. Though doing well in virtual school, she has much to adapt to at the Christian campus of Judson University (interestingly connected to Adoniram Judson, the first missionary to Burma).
Then we have Isaac and Rebekah still at home finishing up their basic schooling. Isaac is doing fine with interactive virtual classes, and we are trying to move Rebekah that way. We need wisdom and good timing.

Praise!

Glad that the Romans commentary came back with the final proof edit.
Our website is ready to migrate to a new dedicated server.
Had great times getting ready to co-teach the Book of Revelation starting in September.
Thankful for all the faithful steps Allison, Daniel and Kathryn have taken to get where they are.
Grateful that Daniel and Isaac can help log, transport and split the wood. God has given us free wood again–but we need to do the work to make it usable!

Join Paul on Twitter! @PaulJBucknell

Pray!

Safety and adjustment for Kathryn’s move to Chicago area next Thursday, August 20th.
Wisdom how to proceed getting more books properly translated into more languages.
Grace to actually publish and distribute our books into local national markets.
Full provision for BFF and family.
Such dire flooding needs in NE India and Burma.
For God’s help to properly step into new website ‘wineskins’ for the purpose of bringing His truth to more people throughout the world, causing them to be revived and stirred up to serve Him.
Paul’s hope to move forward in writing in the next month.

As always, thanks so much for your prayers!

Paul

Rev. Paul J. Bucknell, President and Instructor

Biblical Foundations for Freedom

____________________________

Email: pb@foundationsforfreedom.net
Phone/text: (+1) 412-398-4559 (Mobile)
3276 Bainton St, Pittsburgh, PA 15212 USA

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