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| 1 About This Ministry | |
THE GOSPEL BROADCASTING ASSOCIATION is a Christian evangelical and Bible-teaching ministry which has as its missions the proclamation of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and the edification of the Church, the Body of Christ. Accordingly, this ministry has undertaken the creation, publication, and distribution of a comprehensive body of in-depth Scriptural teaching. The publications of this ministry range from brief, informal Bible notes to in-depth, scholarly, topical Bible studies and verse-by-verse analyses of the Scripture.
The evangelist and teacher is Russell L. Harris. The ministry is supported by the tithes of those who are taught by this ministry and by the offerings of those who understand the responsibility of the Christian to send forth and support men as evangelists, to proclaim and teach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God; consider Isaiah 32:20, Isaiah 52:7, Romans 10:13-15, Galatians 6:6, and I Corinthians 9:7-14. All teaching is made available without charge; this ministry has nothing to sell. Fellow Christians who desire to join in the support of this ministry, whether financially or through prayer, are invited and encouraged to do so.
The Internet is the primary means by which this ministry distributes teaching material. Accordingly, all documents published by this ministry are posted on the ministry's Internet web site, in the universal, printer-friendly PDF format, which also is suitable for on-line viewing. Likewise, audio material is posted in the universal MP3 format, which may be downloaded and played on a computer or on a personal MP3 player.
Fellow Christians are encouraged to download and print out copies of these publications and to distribute them to friends and associates. Publications can be sent via US mail to individuals who do not have access to the Internet, or to individuals who do not have a printer.
This ministry reserves the right to restrict distribution of teaching, in accordance with the command of Christ Jesus, Matthew 7:6.
We have adopted the name, "The Gospel Broadcasting Association", because the mission to which we have been called is that of sowing the seed of the Gospel. Long before the advent of radio, the term "broadcasting" was an agricultural term used to describe the sowing or scattering of seed by the farmer, as seen in the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:3-8, Mark 3:3-8, & Luke 8:5-8). The term "association" in our name reflects the fact that evangelism, which is the proclamation of the Gospel, is a communal effort. Indeed, in the days of the apostles, an evangelist typically received support from one or more local congregations as well as from a multiplicity of individuals.
The Gospel which we broadcast or proclaim is the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Contrary to the notion of some, there is but one Gospel, Galatians 1:6-9. This one, true Gospel is none other than the Gospel which was proclaimed and taught by Christ Jesus and the apostles; it is the "good news" (for that is the meaning of the word "gospel") of the inauguration of the Kingdom of God, over which Christ Jesus today reigns.
Within the documents and the audio files which are posted on this web site, there is a wealth of scholarly, verse-by-verse Bible study, in-depth analyses of problematic passages of Scripture, and Biblically-sound teaching on a wide range of Scriptural topics. We have endeavoured to make this web site a reference library, rather than an amusement park. Moreover, it is our intent for the site to be user-friendly and to be accessible by the widest possible audience. Thus, we purposely have avoided frivolous and troublesome "bells and whistles", and we have taken care to ensure that the entire site is printer-friendly. On this site you will find neither "cookies" nor other tracking mechanisms which intrude upon your privacy. Should you encounter technical difficulties, kindly email a report to the webmaster, describing the nature of the problem and details of system you are running, so that we may investigate and correct the problem. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Enjoy!
In recent years, the popular focus upon the Internet has shifted from traditional Internet web pages, in which the content which is static in nature, toward "blogs" and "podcasts", in which the content changes from day to day, if not from hour to hour. The term "blog" is a contraction of the term "web log". The term "podcast" is a derivative of the name of the popular personal music player combined with the word "broadcast". The blog and the podcast are variations of a single concept.
A blog or web log is journal consisting of an ongoing series of
informal articles or "posts". The blog is published in a format
which facilitates daily updates on the part of the writer. It is
uploaded or "posted" to the Internet incrementally (typically, one
post at a time), and is indexed in such a way as to permit effortless,
automated retrieval of individual posts by any interested party. Some
blogs are updated many times a day with posts of news items, and thus
function much as the news wire of the pre-Internet era. Most blogs
contain brief and informal commentary on current events, with posts
which range from a few sentences to a few paragraphs. Our ministry
blog is called "Bible Expositor's Notes"; it is located at:
http://www.gospelbroadcasting.org/blog/ .
A podcast is an ongoing series of audio presentations or episodes. The podcast is uploaded or "posted" to the Internet incrementally (typically, one episode at a time), and is indexed in such a way as to permit effortless, automated retrieval of individual episodes by any interested party. Each episode is an audio file, typically in mp3 format. Some podcasts consist of commentary; others consist of a series of classes or a series of sermons. It is important to understand that the concept of podcasting is applicable to almost any audio delivery system and medium, ranging from the desktop computer with its hard drive or CD-ROM to the tiny flash-memory-based personal mp3 player.
Central to both blogging and podcasting is the mechanism which allows an unattended computer automatically to make inquiry regarding the availability of new blog posts or new podcast episodes and automatically to download those posts or episodes and store them in designated directories. Indeed, some podcasting packages automate the process to the extent that the user need do nothing more than to plug his mp3 player into the USB port of the desktop computer before he retires at night; the user awakens the next morning to find the player loaded with a fresh set of podcasts, ready to unplug and pack along on the day's commute.
The innovative mechanism which underlies blogging and podcasting is called the "RSS feed" (also called "XML feed"). A feed is a machine-readable index of the files which comprise a blog or a podcast. The acronym "RSS" stands for "Resource Description Framework Site Summary"; the acronym "XML" stands for "Extensible Markup Language".
Feeds are read and blog posts or podcast episodes are downloaded by a software package which is called a "feed reader" or an "aggregator". There are a dozen or more feed readers and aggregators which may be downloaded over the Internet free of charge. Also, there are free web-based feed readers and aggregators which can be accessed through a web browser and do not require installation of a software package.
Blogging and podcasting involves a concept called "subscription"; however, a subscription to a blog or podcast is quite different from a subscription to a newspaper or a magazine, and there is no need to be wary. In particular, a subscription to a blog or podcast is anonymous and incurs no charge. To subscribe to a blog or a podcast is nothing more than to instruct the feed reader or aggregator to monitor and download a particular blog or podcast; this is done by typing in the URL of the web page which contains the feed of the blog or podcast.
Inasmuch as a subscription resides entirely on the computer of the user, a subscription incurs no cost or obligation whatsoever on the part of the user. The blogger or the podcaster has no way of knowing the identities of individuals who are monitoring and downloading his blog or podcast. The exchange of information between a feed reader or aggregator and a web site hosting a blog or podcast is no different from the exchange of information between a web browser and a web site.
It is not uncommon for a computer user to subscribe to a dozen or more blogs and podcasts, the only practical limitation being the time which the user wishes to devote to reading posts and listening to episodes.
With a view toward several goals, we have begun a ministry blog with
an RSS feed; the name of the blog is "Bible Expositor's
Notes". The blog is located at:
http://www.gospelbroadcasting.org/blog/ .
While the blog initially was intended to provide supporters with an update regarding specific ministry goals and particular needs facing the ministry, it quickly became apparent that the blog could be utilized to bring to the rapidly expanding blogging community an awareness of ministry resources. Perhaps most importantly, the ministry blog has become a means for immediate publication of discoveries made in the course of daily study of the Scripture and of commentary from the perspective of the Scripture regarding current events.
We have taken care to make the blog printer-friendly. To display a single post for printing, simply click on the title of the post, or click on a post title in the chronological list of titles.
If you are using an RSS Feed Reader or News Aggregator to monitor
blogs for new posts, you may monitor our blog. Simply subscribe to
the RSS feed for the blog, which is published at:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/BibleExpositorsNotes .
(Note that, in a URL, capitalization is unimportant and is used only to enhance readability; URLs are case-insensitive.)
Our first audio Bible study course now is in production. Lessons are
being posted as they are completed. Much work remains yet to be done,
and we have no estimate regarding the completion date. Each lesson in
the course is being made available as a downloadable audio file in the
popular MP3 format, together with a printed lesson outline in the
printer-friendly PDF format. All material may be accessed freely and
without charge. To access the lessons which are available and to see
a preview of upcoming lessons in the course, click on the link
"Audio Bible Studies" on the welcome page, or go
there now by clicking on this link:
http://www.gospelbroadcasting.org/course.html .
The same mechanism--the RSS feed--which enables automated monitoring
of blogs for new posts and automated monitoring of podcasts for new
episodes also enables automated monitoring of websites for
notifications of additions and updates. If you are using an RSS Feed
Reader or News Aggregator to monitor blogs, you may use the same feed
reader or aggregator to monitor this web site. Simply subscribe to
the RSS feed for the web site, which is published at:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/GospelBroadcasting .
Russell L. Harris, Evangelist <rlharris@gospelbroadcasting.org>
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| 1 About This Ministry | |