USA (MNN) — Audio Scripture Ministries just marked
40 years of providing God's Word in audio around the world.
ASM's Tom Dudenhofer says their "future" vision comes
from a "today" commitment. "There are believers in many countries who can
continue to record God's Word in their heart language. They can minister in
other areas in Scripture media." That describes their national partnership
focus where ASM can encourage believers to take ownership of their own outreach.
ASM also works with Bible translators, missionaries,
and others who recognize the need for Scriptures in audio format. They
assist projects such as leadership training, evangelism, Bible literacy and
others. That has encouraged church
planting and church growth, which also brings new challenges.
"The second area of need," says Dudenhofer, "is the
development of a technical staff to train the nationals." They're partnering with people who are
willing to give up two months or more to visit the different ministry sites and
help the nationals learn the equipment and learn how to troubleshoot. "The idea is to reproduce our ministry
everywhere we can, and anywhere we can find people who are willing and able to
do the job."
The team encourages the distribution of the audio Scriptures by teaming with those on the field and providing the right equipment. This includes training on playback equipment and strategy for that particular area. It also means the team supplies various tools including the hand-crank, solar powered players designed especially for missions use.
Dudenhofer says now is the time to act and pray.
"We realize that, down the road, many governments probably will not allow
outside funds to come into a country to provide support for some of these
ministries. So we need to get into the
countries that are still open and at least give some of the ideas and some of
the tools to the national believers to get them up and running."
