New Around the Mission
Podcaster and Church Planter Calls Churches to Listen to the Bible in Community
January 13, 2011
Just in time for New Year’s resolutions, podcaster and theAM church planter Brian Hardin of Four Winds Mission in Spring Hill, Tennessee, is inviting hundreds of local churches to listen to the entire Bible in community during 2011.
The venture is an extension of Hardin’s Daily Audio Bible (DAB) ministry, a daily 30-minute Scripture podcast available on iTunes and DailyAudioBible.com. Each day, the former record producer reads an Old Testament passage, a New Testament passage, a Psalm and a Proverb to tens of thousands of listeners worldwide—covering the Bible in one year. But now he’s inviting his own 60-attendee church plant, as well as other local churches, to experience God’s Word as one body.
Brian Hardin in studio
“For years we wanted to extend this invitation to the local church, but it's never been our desire to become the next ‘fad’ for Bible reading,” Hardin says. “Finally, this year we created a video featuring the voices and faces of the community itself, explaining what happens when you actually expose yourself to the Bible every day.”
More than a hundred churches downloaded and played the two-minute promo video during services on the three Sundays leading up to the New Year; others continue to play it. Hardin says many congregations who watched the testimonies accepted the challenge, and several, including Four Winds, even decided to base their sermons or midweek teachings on the Scriptures readings.
Hardin knows daily exposure to the Word of God changes lives. He’s received e-mails about marriages saved and suicides averted after listening to Daily Audio Bible, and he believes the Bible can change the Church from the inside out when everyone is on the same page.
“I've seen this work in community in very dramatic ways. When the Bible is the basis for why a community exists, there is a baseline to fall back on when the seas get high and relationships get stretched.”
The community endeavor began January 1, but Hardin says it’s not too late for churches to play the video and get their congregations on board for the rest of the year.
“I believe every pastor and priest would love nothing more than for their congregants to spend a year in the Bible,” he says. “My hope would be that my fellow missionaries in theAM would encourage a missional posture of heart fueled by a daily and intimate relationship with God's Word.”
Join other theAM churches that are listening to Daily Audio Bible in community. Download the two-minute promo video here.
Posted By: Cynthia P. Brust
Categories: Faith in Action
