DBRP_351Phil'sPlans

I want to tell you my plans for 2017.

Just before the new year, I will put out a short introductory podcast about the Digging Deeper reading plan and podcasts. I will post this on the DBRP web page and in the Digging Deeper Facebook Group. If you have liked the DBRP this year, please share the introductory podcast with your friends.

Right before New Year’s day, it would be great if you would adorn the Digging Deeper Facebook group with some comments about the DBRP, because I anticipate that January 1-2 will be the highest time of the year for people to visit our web site and the Facebook group. The very last days of 2016 are the strategic times to encourage others to make the New Year’s resolution to try harder to read the whole Bible in 2017. Please make a post telling why you would encourage others to use the DD reading plan or listen to the podcasts. Please don’t praise me in your message. That won’t help me or the visitors. Instead, talk about things like the pacing of the reading plan, or insights you found, or ways the Scripture has blessed you this year. Best of all, could some of you share a story that shows the effect that God’s Word brought to your life this year?

Here’s my plan for next year: I will re-release two podcasts per day— rebroadcasting the 2015 NLT series of recordings, and the 2016 GNT series. The reason I am re-releasing them is to make it convenient for the people who start at the beginning of the year using the various listening apps. If you’re one of the many who will not finish the 2016 series by December 31st, I encourage you to just keep going! You don’t want to miss way the DBRP plan keeps getting more powerful the closer you get toward the end of the year.

The new thing I am planning is to make another completely different series of podcasts which will go deeper into the New Testament. I will be reading from a completely new translation and adding more detailed commentary. This series will really be Digging Deeper, and is intended for those who want more insight. I hope I can keep to a schedule of publishing once every week. I’ll try to do a sample before the start of the new year, so you can see if you want to join in the group. I hope that people will do more than listen, but actually join in discussing with me.

My new podcast series is not intended to meet anyone’s daily devotional needs. I just invite you to add it to what you will do in the new year. If you have listened to me read to you for a year, I encourage you to find something new for your daily devotions next year. I have only found two read-the-whole-Bible in-one-year podcasts: The Daily Audio Bible with Brian Hardin, and the Daily Radio Bible with Hunter Barnes. Both are slicker productions than mine! And I am shocked that so far I have not found any other one-year whole-Bible podcasts. If you find another, please let me know. If some of you are considering doing your own Bible podcast, I say, “Do it!” Obviously there’s plenty of space for your voice to be heard. If any of you would like a few how-to-get started pointers, just let me know. My e-mail address is in the episode notes. (phil dot fields at pbti dot org)

News about our family: Our oldest child, David, is a principal in a tech company that deals the management of large amounts of data, and interpreting of that data to make intelligent business decisions. (solve100.com) He with his wife Jen, and their kids Luke and Laura are 13 and 11, and are all “doing us proud.” Our next child is Rachel, who just returned to Tanzania (east Africa) for 6-9 months to wrap up her management of finances for the mission team there. Her health is a bit better than when she came home 7 months ago, but unfortunately, still not good enough to stay long-term in Tanzania. (My wife, Gale, and our daughter Rachel have many of the same health challenges.) We all praise the Lord that Pioneer Bible Translators has said that her branch-level finance experience will be invaluable in the home office in Dallas. That’s where she’ll relocate after she gets back from Tanzania. For more information, see the episode notes. (Here’s the link for donating to support Rachel.)

We are just back at home from spending time with Hannah and Brandon’s family in Seattle. Their children are Ava 8, Joel soon to be 7, and Devan 9 months. They will never be allowed to return to their former ministry in Pakistan, but we praise the Lord that He has given new a ministry to them in Jakarta, Indonesia. Jakarta happens to be a place where refugees from Afghanistan and Iran get stuck in their processing. Some of these refugees bring their children. Brandon will be managing learning centers teaching the children of these refugees, which is a ministry that has been set up by the church I attend in Jakarta. Such refugees are very receptive to the Gospel, and that church’s ministries are bearing much fruit among them. Brandon and the family are scheduled to go to Indonesia in June. This new assignment means that they will need more financial support, but their temporary job in Seattle makes it very difficult to develop new support contacts. (They are currently ministering to refugees in Seattle.)  If you would like to join their prayer team, you can contact them via the link in the episode notes. (brandonbaughn at gmail dot com) I am thrilled that I will now be able to visit Hannah and Brandon’s family on my twice per year trips to Indonesia.

Thanks for your prayers for all our family.

Check out this episode!