TGOC ANNOUNCES
THE NEWLY REVISED
"TRUTH SERIES"
OF LESSONS

As many of the "netizens" who visit our Website are aware, in addition to routinely adding new programs to our Website, we also are in the process of revising a number of the programs that have been on our Website for quite some time. This "refreshing process" is ongoing one--and one that will take quite a bit of time and effort. But we believe that it is necessary, and that in the end it will pay huge dividends.

With that in mind, we are pleased to announce the availability of the first lessons in our newly revised Truth Series, which Ben Bailey just recently completed filming. Here are the titles that eventually will compose the new series:

These new programs (in both video and audio formats) will be posted to our Website in groups of two (every other week), and will appear in the same order as the list of titles above. As always, written transcripts and study questions also will be available for each program. We invite you to view or listen to these programs at your earliest convenience. Trust us when you way that you will not be disappointed!

TGOC ANNOUNCES
NEW BIBLE-READING
SCHEDULES!

Here at THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, one of our most frequently used adages is, "There's no moss growing around here!" By that, of course, we mean that we are always looking for additional ways to "take the whole Gospel to the whole world," to help spread the borders of the Lord's kingdom, and to help people increase their spirituality.

What better way to accomplish all three of those things than to encourage people to read their Bibles more? As the apostle Peter put it, it is in God's Word that we find "all things that pertain to life and godliness" (2 Pet. 1:3).

So, in order to help more people learn more about God's Word, we have developed two different Bible-reading schedules. There are already a number of good daily Bible-reading schedules available for people who want to read through the Scriptures once in a year. But have you ever seen a schedule that allows a person to read through the Bible twice in one year? Or four times? Well, that is what our two new schedules are designed to do. The first one presents a schedule of Bible readings by which a person can read through the entire Bible twice in a twelve-month period. The second schedule takes a person through the Bible four times in that same period.

Both schedules are available as PDFs through a dedicated link on the left-hand side of our Website. Each schedule consists of two 8.5x11-inch pages which, when printed front and back, can be folded in half to form a single 5.5x8.5-inch sheet that is convenient for inserting into a purse, briefcase, billfold, Bible, etc. [The schedules are especially eye-catching when printed on colored paper.] We hope you enjoy these new Bible-reaching schedules, and that you will profit from their use. And, for your convience, you can click the following links to receive each of the schedules.

Daily Bible-Reading Schedule Two Times Per Year

Daily Bible-Reading Schedule Four Times Per Year

TGOC ANNOUNCES
THE NEWLY REVISED
"TRUTH SERIES"
OF LESSONS

As many of the "netizens" who visit our Website are aware, in addition to routinely adding new programs to our Website, we also are in the process of revising a number of the programs that have been on our Website for quite some time. This "refreshing process" is ongoing one--and one that will take quite a bit of time and effort. But we believe that it is necessary, and that in the end it will pay huge dividends.

With that in mind, we are pleased to announce the availability of the first lessons in our newly revised Truth Series, which Ben Bailey just recently completed filming. Here are the titles that eventually will compose the new series:

These new programs (in both video and audio formats) will be posted to our Website in groups of two (every other week), and will appear in the same order as the list of titles above. As always, written transcripts and study questions also will be available for each program. We invite you to view or listen to these programs at your earliest convenience. Trust us when you way that you will not be disappointed!

TGOC ANNOUNCES
THE NEWEST ADDITION
TO ITS WEBSITE—
BIBLE CROSSWORD PUZZLES!

As various and sundry school teachers through the years valiantly struggled to impress upon us, learning doesn't have to be boring; it can be fun! OK. Finally we get it! While for some of us there are undoubtedly certain subjects that will never be "fun" to learn (trigonometry and botany spring immediately to mind!), surely it is safe to say that God's Word won't ever be included among such subjects. Surely, two of the nice things about spending a lifetime engaged in a study of the Bible is that there are always new things to learn, and there are always new ways to learn them.

When Paul told his young protégé Timothy, "Study to show yourself approved unto God..." (2 Tim. 2:15), the apostle gave Timothy a command that was generic in nature, not specific. That is to say, Paul told Timothy that, yes, he did need to study. But he left it up to Timothy as to how he went about doing that study. We today have the same freedom to choose a variety of means by which we can study God's Word.

We can, for example, simply read and digest the text. We can listen to sermons, classroom lectures, or audio recordings. We can view instruction on the Web or via DVD. We can do worksheets. We can take quizzes. Or, we can even....do crossword puzzles!

Interestingly, up until now each of the methods of learning mentioned in the above paragraph has been readily available here at the GOSPEL OF CHRIST Website—except one: crossword puzzles. We are happy to announce, however, that we now have created a new section on our Website that is devoted to learning God's Word via crossword puzzles (proving once and for all what our teachers tried so diligently to drill into us—learning really can be fun!).

Our new crossword puzzles are interactive, which means that you can work them online right from your computer. Plus, each puzzle also will be available as a PDF for those people who want to print the puzzles and use them in settings such as classrooms, jail and prison ministries, camps, etc. Additionally, our plans are to produce the puzzles according to a variety of difficulty levels—so that visitors to our Website will be able to find a study level that suits them personally. [And, to answer the obvious question, yes, there is a way for you to get the answers to questions you can't seem to answer on your own; after all, we don't want you to leave our Website frustrated!]

We will be adding new crosswords frequently, so be sure to return to our Website often to see what's new. While we will not be mentioning in our bi-weekly newsletter each new crossword puzzle that we add, we will be providing a link in the right-hand section of each newsletter so that readers can easily access the crossword-puzzle page on our Website to check for new additions. [If you are not currently receiving our electronic newsletter, be sure to sign up via our Website.]

We hope you enjoy this new addition to our site, and that you can use the crossword puzzles to not only increase your own knowledge of God's Word, but to also teach others as well. As always, our goal at THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST is "to take the whole Gospel to the whole world"—even if we have to use a crossword puzzle to do it! We invite you to join us in this Bible-based goal. Along the way, if we can be of any assistance, feel free to call on us. We are here to serve.

WOW!

TAKE A LOOK AT
OUR 2007 STATS!

Now that 2007 is history, we would like to share with visitors to our Website some rather intriguing year-end statistics. By the time that December 31, 2007 had come to an end, our Website had received more than 3,518,934 page-hits (an average of 293,245 per month!). The 2007 figure was more than double the number of page-hits we had in 2006 (1,627,081). Of equal interest is the fact that the 2007 figure represented visitors from 141 different countries. We also learned from a year-end review of our 2007 statistics that visitors to our site are staying longer and doing more while on the site.

In 2005, the bandwidth downloaded from our Website was a "mere" 65 gigabytes. In 2006, it climbed to 407 gigabytes. But in 2007, it was 832 gigabytes! Plus, in 2005 we received 322 free-media requests (for CDs and DVDs) through the Website. In 2006 we received 1667. And in 2007 we received 2,515. During the twelve months of 2007, we shipped those free media to 49 states in America, and to 35 different nations around the globe.

Needless to say, we are overjoyed at these results­-which is why we wanted to share them with you. With each passing day we are working ever more diligently to carry out our goal of "taking the whole Gospel to the whole world." Join us in this task, won't you, by sharing the news about our work (and our Website) with neighbors, family members, or friends. We certainly would appreciate it. And, we believe, so would they.

TGOC INTRODUCES ITS
NEW, REVISED LESSONS ON
THE BOOK OF ACTS

As regular visitors to our Website are well aware, we make available on our site video and audio lessons (with written transcripts and study questions) for each Book of the New Testament. The production of those 100+ lessons took several years to complete. Once the process was finished, we then turned our attention to producing various other series (such as our Fundamentals of the Faith, More About Jesus, Motivational, Soul-Saving, Truth, Topical, and Worship series). We will be adding more new series in the future, of course. But in an effort to keep the materials on our Website as updated and fresh as possible, it also is our intention to eventually revise each of the studies on the books of the New Testament.

The first New Testament book to be revised was Matthew. We have now completed the Book of Acts. As of the writing of this notice, we have the first four lessons in that series available on our Website. Those lessons are: (1) "The Gospel in Jerusalem—Part 1" (covering Acts 1-4); (2) "The Gospel in Jerusalem—Part 2" (covering Acts 5-8); (3) "The Gospel in Samaria" (covering Acts 9-12); and (4) "The Gospel into All the World" (covering Acts 13-16).

We will be placing additional lessons from the Book of Acts on the Website as they become available. We believe you will find some rich and rewarding material in these important lessons from the Book of Acts, which details the beginning and history of the Lord's church. Watch for new additions to the series in the weeks ahead.

WOW!

TGOC WEBSITE PASSES
THE 3,000,000
PAGE-HIT MARK!

We hope you will pardon our pleasure "peeking through," but we wanted to share an important milestone with visitors to our Website. First, however, let us offer up a couple of "historical tidbits" to help you understand what this milestone means. On Friday, June 22, TGOC's Website broke the 1,000,000 page-hit mark. Then on Thursday, September 13, we surpassed the 2,000,000 page-hit mark. As 2007 began, we had been hoping to hit that 2,000,000 goal. Once we did, we then set our sights on reaching two different goals: (1) 3,000,000 page hits; and (2) 3,254,162 page-hits.

We are pleased to announce that on Wednesday, November 28, TGOC's Website broke the 3,000,000 page-hit mark!

But you're probably wondering: "What's that strange figure of 3,254,162 page-hits all about?" Here's the explanation. In 2006 we had 1,627,081 page-hits. So, once we passed the 2,000,000 mark on September 13 of this year, we then began dreaming of actually hitting 3,254,162, which would mean that we had successfully doubled the number of page-hits we had in 2006. Now it appears that our dream may very well come true.

Needless to say, we are absolutely thrilled to have reached the important milestone of seeing our Website hit 3,000,000 page-hits. And, we will be anxiously awaiting December 31 to see if we do actually succeed in doubling our 2006 numbers as we strive to "take the whole Gospel to the whole world."

In the meantime, now that we have surpassed the 3,000,000 mark, it presents us with a brand-new challenge. "The bar," as the old saying suggests, "has now been raised." In 2008, we want to surpass the 4,500,000 page-hit mark.

Thank you for helping us reach our 2007 goal. Now, about that 2008 goal....

TGOC ADDS EIGHT
NEW TITLES TO ITS
"MOTIVATIONAL SERIES"
OF LESSONS

 

Several months ago, we announced the availability of a completely new group of programs—our "Motivational Series." The first installment of that series consisted of eight lessons with the following titles: (1) "The Blessed Life"; (2) "Excuses, Excuses, Excuses"; (3) "Relighting Our Passion for Jesus"; (4) "The Power of Persistent Prayer"; (5) "Comfort from Above"; (6) "The Greatest Things in Life"; (7) "Reward for Service"; and (8) "The Suffering of Job."

From the inception of the series, it was our intention to continue adding titles to it. Now we are pleased to inform you that eight more titles have been included in the series: (9) "The Eternal Kingdom"; (10) "Dare to Be a Daniel"; (11) "You Are the Salt of the Earth"; (12) "The Non-conversion of Felix"; (13) "The One Faith"; (14) "The High Cost of a Free Gift"; (15) "Christian Living"; and (16) "The Open Books." Ben Bailey is the speaker for lessons 1 through 8; James Gravelle is the speaker for lessons 9 through 16. Additional titles are in the works, and will be added to the series in the future.

As with all of our programs, the new additions are available in both video (broadband and dial-up) and audio formats. Plus, of course, transcripts and study questions are available on our Website as well (in both PDF and html formats). We invite you to visit our Website to take advantage of these new lessons. We think you will be glad you did.

TGOC ANNOUNCES THE FIRST RE-MAKE
OF THE BOOKS IN ITS NEW TESTAMENT SERIES

As most people who routinely visit our Website are already aware, we make available both video and audio presentations (with accompanying written transcripts and study questions) for each of the 27 books of the New Testament. As you can imagine, it took a lot of time and effort to eventually complete the presentations for all 27 of those books (some of which have up to 12 parts).

However, in addition to continually producing new series (such as our Evangelism Series, Truth Series, Worship Series, Topical Series, Fundamentals of the Faith Series, etc.), it has been our intention for some time now to begin a sort of "refurbishing process" that eventually will result in a complete set of revised and updated programs for the entire New Testament.

We are pleased to announce that the first programs in the revised New Testament Series are now available on our Website. Ben Bailey has just completed presenting eight entirely new lessons (compared to four in the old series) on the Book of Matthew. We will be making these new programs available on our Website at the rate of two lessons every two weeks until all eight have been posted. As with the lessons in each of our series, written transcripts and study questions also are available for each of the new lessons. [NOTE: The old series on Matthew has been removed from the Website and is no longer available.]

In the future, we will be posting additional newly revised books, too. The next New Testament book that is scheduled for revision and production is the Book of Acts. Be watching for it to appear on our Website in the months ahead. Our ultimate goal is to eventually replace each of the "old" programs on the New Testament with a revised version. Yes, this will take a while. But bear with us—we're working on it!

TGOC ANNOUNCES
THE FIRST ROUND OF BIBLE QUIZZES TO
ACCOMPANY ITS VIDEO/AUDIO PROGRAMS!

As visitors to our Website already know (from a previous announcement that we placed in this space a few weeks ago), we recently added a completely new section to our immensely popular Website: Bible Quizzes. When we first posted the new quizzes, there were eleven quizzes available in three different categories (Old Testament, New Testament, and History & Geography). It is a serious understatement to say that the new Bible quizzes are being received with incredible enthusiasm by visitors to our site. And those visitors have been as gracious with their comments as they have been generous. Here, for example, are just three of the many comments we have received thus far:

"I teach high school Website development in a public-school system. Though I can't bring a Bible into my classroom, I can teach the fundamentals by giving examples from your Website. The quizzes are a perfect example, and while learning how the tests are given, my kids find they enjoy taking the quizzes, too. Thank you for providing this valuable teaching tool."

"I am very anxious to use the quizzes in our studies. We appreciate your work and especially enjoy the quiz feature. We will make another contribution very soon. Thank you again, and may God continue to bless your work."

 

"As a mom, I have been trying to find a way to bring our family together for devotional time. Your quiz section has helped me do just that. Our children are 12 and 14, and are in a stage where it is hard to get them still for any time at all. They love going through the online Bible tests. We have been doing one or two at a time. Are you going to be adding more soon?"

 

As you may have noticed, the last quote above ends with the question, "Are you going to be adding more soon?" The answer to that question is: Yes, we certainly are! In fact, we will be adding not only additional quizzes in each of the three categories that are already available, but we also will be adding completely new categories!

And that brings us to the reason for this special announcement. As of April 1, 2007, we are announcing the first series of Bible quizzes that eventually will accompany many of our video and audio programs!

The first program for which we have produced quizzes is our new Evangelism Series. [Currently, only four of the eight lessons in that series are available online; the other four will follow in the coming weeks.] We have just completed crafting one quiz to accompany each of those first four lessons, as follows (clicking on the title will take you directly to that particular quiz):

While the quizzes for the general categories (like Old Testament, New Testament, and History & Geography) have 25 questions per quiz, the quizzes for the video/audio programs contain only 20 questions. And, while the quizzes for the general categories come in various formats (such as easy, moderate, difficult, and extreme), the quizzes formulated from the video/audio programs are available in only one format. The reason for this, of course, has to do with the fact that the questions for the quizzes on the audio/video programs are formulated directly from the content of those programs—content that does not lend itself to categorization into easy, moderate, difficult, or extreme subdivisions. Rather, the quizzes that we are creating from the video/audio programs are intended to: (a) strengthen a person's Bible knowledge on a specific subject (e.g., sin, Jesus, the Bible, salvation, etc.); and (b) encourage a person to want to learn more by viewing or listening to the programs themselves.

Our current plans are to produce quizzes for many of the 160+ video/audio programs that are currently on our Website, and to continue to create quizzes for each new program that we add in the future.

We will, of course, continue to announce the availability of more new Bible quizzes here on the home page of our site, as well as in our e-newsletter and in our printed newsletter. Be sure to watch for future announcements regarding those additional quizzes. And while you are waiting, by all means, take some of the quizzes yourself! You might be just surprised at how much you will learn. [But be careful. Rumor on the grapevine is that the quizzes are addictive!]

 

TGOC ANNOUNCES NEW
" MOTIVATIONAL SERIES"

Just a few short weeks ago, we announced on this home page the posting on our Website of the first four lessons in our new Evangelism Series. Those lessons (and quizzes to go with them!) are now available in video, audio, and written transcript formats. In the coming weeks, we will be announcing the last four lessons in that series. But in the interim, we are pleased to announce our new Motivational Series.

Ben Bailey (the speaker for the series) does his usual excellent job in presenting the material contained in each of the lessons, which were specifically designed to help Christians find encouragement and strength from the eternal principles in God's Word. The titles in the new Motivational Series will be released over the next several weeks.

We invite you to preview each of these new lessons in our new Motivational Series. You will find them available on our Website in video, audio, and written transcript formats. [NOTE: Currently, we are in the process of preparing quizzes to accompany the lessons in this series. Watch for future announcements on this home page, in our e-newsletter, and in our printed newsletter about the posting of those quizzes. If you are not familiar with the new Bible quizzes that we are posting online, why not take a moment to familiarize yourself with them? We think you will find them to be challenging, educational, and, yes, even fun!]

 

1.5 MILLION PAGE-HITS...AND COUNTING!

In our last e-newsletter, we mentioned that our Website had experienced a record-breaking month during October 2006. To refresh your memory, in 2005 our Website generated a total of 322 free-media requests. In October alone of this year, we received 266 requests from 34 states (in a single month!). From January 1 through October 31 of 2006, we received 1,200 requests! Plus, in all of 2005, visitors to our Website used 65 gigabytes' worth of material. In October of 2006 (again, in a single month!), that usage level stood at 78 gigabytes! Between January 1 and October 31, the total was 300 gigabytes.

November has now joined October as yet another record-breaking month for THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST Website. Just a day or so before November came to an end, we recorded the single page-hit that pushed our Website past the 1.5 million mark for the year (and we still have a month to go!). People are coming to our Website in huge numbers because on our site they can find video materials, audio materials, and written materials (all completely free of charge!) that they can use in their personal study of God's Word. Plus, from our Website people also can submit their own free-media requests so that they can use the materials we produce to teach others in classroom or private-study settings.

We are pleased (and honored!) that so many people are finding our Website to be such a valuable resource. And we are working hard to make sure that the site continues to remain fresh and relevant. We update the information on our home page frequently, and we are continually adding new materials to the Website. In fact, as proof of that last point, we invite you to turn your attention to the next section of this e-newsletter, which announces still more new offerings to our site. Enjoy!

 

THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST RECOMMENDS...

From time to time in our e-newsletter, we would like to make recommendations to you, our readers, from which we believe you might benefit. This is one such occasion.

We would like to bring to your attention the work of World Video Bible School (WVBS). This non-profit work is now celebrating its twentieth year of continuous operation. And with each passing year, its offerings grow and its services increase. WVBS maintains a very professional Website (www.wvbs.org), which we encourage you to visit. From that site, you can get a good overview of the various products and services that WVBS makes available. For example, you will find that WVBS offers a complete book-by-book study of the entire Bible on DVDs. Plus, WVBS produces DVDs on a variety of other biblically related topics (Christian evidences, marriage and family, moral issues, etc.). Written notes also are available for most WVBS study topics (thousands of pages of invaluable notes are available on a single CD, for example—at an incredibly small cost).

One of WVBS' most successful projects is its newest offering————a professionally produced program on DVD titled Searching for Truth. WVBS has already distributed more than 300,000 copies of this new program, which contains five chapters dealing with such things as: the Creator; authority in religion; the church; the house of God; and the plan of salvation. Those of us at THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST highly recommend Searching for Truth, as well as all other WVBS products. Visit WVBS on the Web, or call them at 512/398-5211 to request their new 2007 catalog. You'll be glad you did.

 

ANOTHER TELEVISION STATION BEGINS
SHOWING TGOC VIDEO PRESENTATIONS

Recently, we learned of yet another television station that has started airing GOSPEL OF CHRIST video presentations. KTSS (which is located in Hope, Arkansas) reaches more than 35,000 homes in the following communities in both Texas and Arkansas: Antoine, Ashdown,  Blevins, Buckner, Delight, Emmet, Foreman, Fulton, Hope,  Lewisville, Murfreesboro, Nash, Nashville, McNab, McCaskill, Mineral Springs, Pleasant Grove, Prescott, Saratoga, Spring Hill, Stamps, Texarkana, Wake Village, and Wilton.

KTSS, which is available on a number of different cable television systems, is airing TGOC videos in the following time slots: Sunday at 11:30 a.m., Monday at 6:30 a.m, and at varying times on Friday afternoons between 2:00 and 5:00 p.m. [For a broadcast schedule, go to www.KTSS.com]

Watch this e-newsletter for future announcements about other television stations carrying TGOC videos. And if you know someone who lives in the southwestern Arkansas area, please forward this newsletter to them so that they will be aware of the fact that KTSS is now carrying TGOC videos. [If you would like to view TGOC videos, visit that section of our Website at Streaming Video.]

 

"SPECIAL EDITION"
OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST
E-NEWSLETTER

On October 9, we sent out the first of our newly formatted e-newsletters. It is our plan to send out an e-newsletter approximately every 2-3 weeks. The response to the new format has been incredible. People seem to appreciate receiving occasional updates, as well as having links right at their fingertips to various items on our Website. In addition to the fact that we have received numerous compliments about the change in format, the number of page-hits to our Website have increased dramatically. This means that more people are enjoying more access to our materials--which is the purpose of having an e-newsletter in the first place!

Today, however, we are sending out a "special edition" of our e-newsletter because we have some truly exciting news that we would like to share with you. Here is that news.

THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST NOW BEING SHOWN IN JAMAICA!

At THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, we produce approximately one new video program per week throughout the year. These videos are shown on a number of television stations around the country (see our Broadcast Schedule for a current listing of the cities, stations, channels, and times of our programs). In addition, our videos are aired as part of the daily programming schedule for the Gospel Broadcasting Network (go to www.gbntv.org for a current schedule of all GBN programs).

However, it now is with great pleasure that we announce that, for the first time that we know of, GOSPEL OF CHRIST videos are now being shown on foreign soil. A little over a week ago, Derrick Brown, minister of the St. Jago Church of Christ in Spanish Town, Jamaica, West Indies, contacted us to request copies of our video lessons so that they could be shown on cable channels MTM-TV and LBN-TV, as well as on the Web ( www.mercyandtruth.tv ). Plus, Derrick informed us that the programs also will be available in the coming weeks on the the congregation's Website ( www.stjagochurchofchrist.tk ) as a part of their "Bible Talk" series, which is aired on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and at various other times during the week.

Our goal is to take the whole Gospel to the whole world. That is not merely our motto; it our mission! Having our videos aired on stations like those in Jamaica is an important step in achieving that goal. [Currently, we are in the process of adding several other television stations to our broadcast schedule. In fact, in our next regular e-newsletter, we will be informing you about some of those new stations.]

While we are writing, we would like to inform you of the fact that many television stations have a policy of providing free air time for the broadcast of religiously based programs. Recently, some friends of our work contacted a local station in their area to see if the station had such a policy--and it did! As a result of a simple inquiry (requiring little more than a phone call or two), our videos are now appearing (three times a week!) on yet another television station--thereby allowing us to reach even more people with the Gospel of Christ.

What about you? Do you have a local television station (or multiple stations) in your city or area? If so, we would like to encourage you to call the station(s) to ask if complimentary time is available for programs like the ones we make available. We will be more than happy to send samples of our video presentations to you or to the station manager, in the hope of getting those presentations aired in the future. If we can help you reach the lost in your area, please let us know.

 

THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST ANNOUNCES
A "NEW LOOK" FOR ITS WEBSITE!

On Monday, October 2, we mailed approximately 20,000 copies of our third-quarter printed newsletters. The feature article of that newsletter was titled "THE 'NEW' GOSPEL OF CHRIST WEBSITE." On Monday, October 2, we also unveiled the new home page of our Website. We have been working quietly behind the scenes for the past several months in order to streamline our Website and to make it much more professional in both appearance and ease of use. We still have much work to do with the subpages of the site (this definitely is "a work in progress!"). But we would like you to take a look at the new home page. Feel free to let us know what you think by sending us an e-mail from the "Contact Us" section of the site.