February News Update

Thank you for impacting lives for eternity!

In recent weeks, you’ve heard me speak with Morgan Jackson at Faith Comes By Hearing regarding the need for audio Bibles worldwide. Let me share how your prayers and support are making a difference.

Through your gifts, you have helped us provide audio Bibles for 1,816,053 people in 39 nation and 85 languages who have never had a Bible in their own language. The breakdown of your gifts includes impact across the following regions:

Africa: 13 nations, 20 languages, 389,674 people

Asia Pacific: 11 nations, 27 languages, 750,116 people

Americas: 6 countries, 15 languages, 399,526 people

Eurasia/Middle East: 4 countries, 6 languages, 111,676 people

South Asia: 3 countries, 8 languages, 199,446 people

Deaf Video: 1 country, 1 sign language, 333 people

U.S. Military: 5 locations in 5 states in English and Spanish, 11,929 people

In addition, approximately 908,000 people in these new groups have come to faith in Christ as they have listened to God’s Word! Nearly one million people will spend eternity with God through your overwhelming generosity. Thank you!

Another way your gifts are impacting lives is through our global media outreach. Our television show continues to reach people in 200 nations and territories in 10 languages to more than 4.5 billion potential viewers. Our radio programs, books, and online efforts also reach millions each year. With resources in more than 20 languages, we regularly hear from people like this viewer in Finland who wrote:

“Thank you for telling other people about God…It is easy to recommend your TV programs to others. To follow Jesus is the biggest gift one can have. In your programs, your warm attitude toward other people is remarkable. As many people do not attend church [in Finland], they can hear the gospel from television.”

Third, your generosity has also helped us purchase a neighboring building to expand our Global Communications Center. For the past 30 years, a local Christian businessman has operated a local art gallery in this location. His timing to sell was perfect, as we are out of space. With our ministry reaching people in nearly every nation and in multiple languages, this extra building is a powerful answer to prayer!
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By God’s grace and your support, we secured the facility debt free. However, we must remodel this former art gallery into working office spaces as quickly as possible. We need $250,000 to renovate our Global Communications Center. Please pray for this need and how God would have you help in this area. 

 Fourth, we are releasing a new Global Discipleship Series we have been developing for three years. It is called “Follow Me: The Joy of Following Jesus.” It will provide believers basic biblical teaching on how to follow Jesus in 40 half-hour sessions. 

Five years ago, I traveled to India and met with pastors who told me their greatest need was to have an easy to understand discipleship course for people could use. They wanted to know, “Now that I have accepted Jesus as my Savior, how does Jesus want me to follow Him? How does He lead me? Why should I read the Bible? Why should I pray? How do I tell my non-Christian parents I am a Christian? How do I overcome sin in my life? How can I find out what spiritual gift God has given me?” We answer these and many other questions.

So far, we have released nearly all 40 sessions online in English. In addition, we will soon have this series available in Telugu, Hindi, and Tamil to reach as many people as possible across India. This series is also currently being translated in Russian and Ukrainian. As programs are translated, we plan to broadcast them on television on our international networks.

We made this series not only for India, but for all 200 nations in the world, andespecially for Americans and Canadians. Our goal is to translate this 40-session series into 12 to 20 the world’s major languages. As we complete translation, we will make it available for free online for all devices.Please pray for us as we move forward with this project.

Coming Soon on The John Ankerberg Show

Starting February 24, we will begin a new series on television called “The Historical Evidence for Jesus’ Resurrection that Even Skeptics Believe.” It features Dr. Gary Habermas, the world’s leading expert on the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Since 1975, he has been tracking 4,000 of the top New Testament scholars in English, French, and German. Out of these, he has decided to only quote from the 2,000 most influential scholars about 12 historical facts concerning Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection appearances.

From what these scholars say, he has discovered that 90% of them believe in these 12 historical facts about Jesus’ death and resurrection. What I want you and many non-Christians to hear is that Dr. Habermas says that with only five or six of these facts, he can prove Jesus rose from the dead. 

They also believed Jesus appeared to the 12 apostles, to 500 people at one time, and to “all the apostles.” Many of these scholars are still atheists. If they believe these facts are true, how can they hold this view? The answer is that even though the facts are true, they do not want to follow Jesus personally. It is a fascinating series.

This month, I am making all five programs in this series available on Blu-ray and DVD as a thank you for your gift of $49 or more. And if you would like, I am also making available our five-program series with Dr. Habermas and Dr. Antony Flew called “Did Jesus Christ Rise from the Dead? You can request both series featuring 10 programs for your gift of $98. Please see the enclosed card for additional details.

A Final Challenge

Let me close with a very important update. I just received a phone call from Morgan Jackson at Faith Comes By Hearing. He told me that the church in China has specially requested 8,000 Audio Proclaimers of the Bible in the Chinese language.

The Chinese Government is legally permitting this as Faith Comes By Hearing has been working with them for years. But the national churches in China are the ones requesting these audio Bibles. 

Most of these churches do not have a pastor and many of the older people are illiterate and can’t read the Bible. Their children also love hearing these audio Bibles. I would like to ask for your help to supply the additional 4,000 Audio Proclaimers for these people who have never had a Bible. 
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Further, each audio Bible you give will be matched. If you give $500, your gift will be matched and you will be giving 2 Audio Proclaimers. If you give $1,000, you will be providing 4 Audio Proclaimers. If you give $5,000, you will be providing 20 Audio Proclaimers. 

This is a unique opportunity to provide audio Bibles for China. I hope you will help us.

Will you be the answer to bringing God’s Word to people in China this month? Thank you for all you have done to change lives for Christ. I pray God will lead you to partner with me again this month. I look forward to hearing from you soon. 

For those still waiting to hear,
Dr. John Ankerberg