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Dear Partner,

Mat 28:18-20   And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

From the time Sue and I first read these words in the bible so many years ago that command from the lips of Jesus to go and "teach all nations" has been the focus of our ministry. The Lord continues to watch our faithfulness in stewarding the teaching gift we have received. As He finds us faithful at each level of stewardship, He then increases our capacity to reach more and more of the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It began small, just a few people in our living room as we taught from the bible each week. Then the Lord began having us send free cassette tapes of those lessons to a few friends and relatives at their request. We had no idea in those early days that He would expand that cassette tape ministry to include thousands of families in over 53 nations of the world … and that they would all be sent free and postage paid. We were amazed at that level of stewardship, but the Lord had bigger ideas in mind.

Beginning January 1st of this year, all of the tape series in our entire teaching library became available online at the MEDIA section of our website (www.garycarpenter.org). The Lord's instructions to make the messages available to the people "free like water" were accomplished for everybody on the planet who has access to the Internet. There are some days that just one of the messages from that inventory will be downloaded more than 900 times … in a single day! Multiply that by the 300 messages at the website and it boggles the mind when we think, "How long would it take for us to travel the world and teach those messages over and over again to different peoples in all nations?" We were amazed at that level of stewardship, but the Lord still had bigger ideas in mind.

There are many people in the world who have computers, but either have no access to the Internet or else what access they do have is so slow that downloading the audio messages is simply not practical. Just yesterday I was speaking with a lovely couple in South Africa who have this very problem. They have good computers at home, but the Internet service in their area is very poor and it is simply impractical for them to try and download the messages that way. The good news is … Jesus has had them, and all who have the same problem, on His mind and has had us working on a solution for them.

Beginning in May, we will have available all of the teaching series I have done over the years available on a single DVD. Instead of trying to slowly download the teachings, one at a time from the Internet, they can simply insert the DVD into their computer and have instant access to ALL of the teachings at once. Think of it … more than three hundred audio lessons on a single piece of plastic! It will also include all of the written manuals and teaching helps so people can print them out on their home computer.

When I told the couple in South Africa about this they were very excited and their first question was, "Are we permitted to make copies of the DVD to share with our friends?" I said, "Of course you can make copies. Our goal here at GCM is to get the message out to the nations. Duplication is encouraged! It helps save us postage!" I always say that with a grin on my face and people usually laugh, but the truth of the matter is that these DVD's will empower every single person who receives one to become a "teacher" in the body of Christ. All they have to do is share the teachings on the DVD with others. They can invite them to their home to listen to the messages. They can make CD copies for others using their home computer. They can even copy the entire DVD to share with others who have computers capable of reading them. Many people will no doubt copy the messages to their iPod devices also. The possibilities are endless!

What a day to be alive! It makes me wonder what the Lord has in mind for the future. I have a feeling, "THE BEST IS YET TO COME!"

Once again Sue and I (and all of us here at GCM) want to thank you for your continued prayers, financial support, and your encouraging love as we labor to "teach all nations." We cannot help but be reminded of the apostle Paul's words to his beloved friends in Philippi who prayed for him and sent financial support many times to help Paul accomplish all that Jesus called him to do in his generation:

Phil 1:3-6   All my prayers for you are full of praise to God! When I pray for you, my heart is full of joy because of all your wonderful help in making known the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And I am sure that God who began the good work within you will keep right on helping you grow in his grace until his task within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns. [Living Bible]

Sue and I love you and appreciate you. We thank God for your generous and giving heart. God bless you!

Your friend and co-laborer,

Gary Carpenter

 

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