Shalom Dear Friends,
As we move past our summer break and into September, we thought it was time we brought you up to date regarding the first half of 2011.
WHAT ARE THOSE FUNNY LITTLE SQUARES DOING ON EVERYTHING?
Those of you who receive our surface mail, paper newsletter may be curious about the little squares that now appear on the front cover. Those funny little things will soon be appearing on all our printed material. So what are they?
The funny little squares are called QR codes. QR is short for “Quick Response.” QR codes contain Internet site addresses. They are used by people who have a QR code reader, usually in their smartphone (No, it is not misspelled. “Smartphone” is a new English word.). A smartphone, according to dictionary.com, is “a device that combines a cell phone with a hand-held computer, typically offering Internet access, data storage, e-mail capability, etc.” These days smartphones are as common as Starbucks.
By using their smartphone to read a QR code the individual can be immediately taken to the Internet page encoded in the funny little square. Our two QR codes contain, 1) the address of HaDavar’s Internet web site, and 2) the address of HaDavar’s facebook page (Again, facebook is not misspelled and is not capitalized. It is the name of the organization. We oldsters have to get used to the new English grammar used today.).
One decade into the 21st Century, the Internet and its social media tools, like facebook, have become a primary means of communication. These are tools that the current generation of Jewish people around the globe use every day. Consequently, HaDavar must utilize the tools available to us to spread the Good News of Yeshua the Messiah and to make available solid, conservative discipleship material to the worldwide Jewish community.
I am told that by the year 2015 systems will be in place that will connect the entire world by the Internet. So, welcome to the 21st Century, HaDavar, with its QR codes, spelling changes, and grammatical exceptions.
We have been staffing our Bible book table on the campus of the University of California Irvine most Fridays since the beginning of the year. We are very excited about the opportunities the Lord has extended to us to reach into the lives of the young students (the vast majority of them with smartphones).
Most of these students are biblically illiterate. They may be attending a 21st century university to receive a 21st century education, while using 21st century technology, but they are totally unfamiliar with the best selling book of all time—The Bible (5-6 billion copies printed. The next most influential book comes in at a measly 900 million copies printed.)
It is impossible to share with you all the conversations that go on at the book table, so you will just have to read between the statistics. Use your imagination freely. We talk, literally, with the world and with every opinion under the sun—Catholics, Muslims, Jews, atheists, agnostics, Iranian, French, Chinese etc., etc., etc.
Here are the statistics for January through July 2011:
- Bibles Distributed 410 copies
- Literature Distributed 1,715 pieces
- Prayed to Receive Christ 12 students
There are many features on our site that you may not have utilized or even known they were there. Under the School of Biblical & Jewish Studies (SBJS) tab, you can find online classes that you can download and listen to on your own schedule. There are schedules for current and upcoming classes held here at the Irvine Community Church campus. There are articles on critical issues such as prophecy and current news from Israel…plus much more.
Look through what is available. Encourage others who are interested in studying the Scriptures to use HaDavar’s website.
You all are team members with us as we serve the Lord together. As a result, we receive a steady flow of responses from our team ranging from newsy information to serious prayer requests. We read them all, appreciate them all, and pray for them all! Out of gratitude to God we would like to share a few with you and our thanks to everyone who sends us notes.
Bill D. from the UK wrote, back in November 2010:
Thank you so much for the N/Letter. We have an American Orthodox rabbi going around the Schuls (synagogues) preaching against J for J etc. I was invited to attend by an Orthodox Jewish man who is a Holocaust survivor (S. please pray for him). Your links in this N/Letter have given ammunition to read what the anti missionaries say. … Please pray for protection, wisdom, and health as the L-rd sends me to many Jewish people in the UK. Thank you for what you are doing. Please keep up the good work.
Maria D. wrote in May 2011:
I appreciate and love the fellowship with Bob’s class. What I have learned so far has impacted my life…giving a sense of who OUR HOLY GOD IS! Looking forward to new classes!
Kathleen L. wrote concerning her Jewish friend:
I had an excellent day with L. Praise God She was very bold with questions and God gave me very bold answers. All of her stuff was trying to figure things out in the natural-man and I kept turning her back to God and His word. At the end of the day, I had brought my small Tanakh (Old Testament) and had her read Jer. 31:31 with me, pointing out that it was the “new covenant” and then I handed her the New Covenant I got from you and said “This is that—okay?” She was getting it! I told her to read John first. She was very excited it was in Russian. She said that was better for her. She had a lot of questions about you. Asked where I got the Bible and I told her the Jewish man who teaches the Tues. night class. The wheels are turning! Thanks for prayers.
Thanks for being part of our ministry team.