Come Sunday, members of First Baptist Church in Morganton will receive a different type of challenge involving Lent and the Bible.
Lent is the 40 days proceeding Easter, when Christians observe a time of prayer, fasting and or penitence. During this observance, First Baptist will challenge its congregation to listen to the New Testament's scriptures via audio Bibles.
Fred Schuszler, minister of education said packets including an audio disc of the New Testament are available to people who are up for a challenge.
"They are asked to spend 28 minutes a day for 40 days during Lent and they will have gone through the entire New Testament," he said.
The program is sponsored by Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Faith Comes by Hearing.
"They try to print the Bible in different languages," Schuszler explained.
The audio disc can be downloaded to MP3 players including the IPod. It can be played on an MP3-compatible player. Or it will work in a DVD player. For anyone in the congregation who might feel technologically deficient, Schuszler will arrange for volunteers to help.
He said, "This is especially a way to reach the youth. For some young people, even if they've been in church their whole life, they maybe have never been through the Bible."
However, said Karen Breedlove, chairman of the education committee, "This is not just the New Testament for children. It starts in Genesis and touches on the main Bible stories and includes printable worksheets."
She said Faith Comes by Hearing offers offers a separate children's packet.
Breedlove became aware of Faith Comes by Hearing when she saw it on a CNN segment.
"Their main ministry is to get the Bible out to people all across the world in their native language," Breedlove said.
For places such as Haiti, with limited electricity, Faith Comes by Hearing can provide a solar-powered player called a Proclaimer, similar in size to a portable radio.
The challenge is to buy and distribute the devices, Breedlove said.
A grant provided the New Testament audio disc packets to churches at no cost. The hope is they can bring forth an awareness that results in special offerings to help purchase Proclaimer boxes to spread the word in other nations and other languages.
For more information, contact Fred Schuszler at 437-2544 ext 14.
On the Web: Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, http://www.thefellowship.info/ygtt
Faith Comes by Hearing, www.faithcomesbyhearing.com to hear a free sample of the audio bible
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