BBtJ.Org  February/March 2005 News Letter

Dear Friends and Family,

It's been a great year! We allowed some burnout to creep in during Fall 2004 and are reclaiming God's Joy by in-depth praying, studying, worshiping while availing ourselves of the many resources God has in the Tulsa area. God has been preparing us to wade back into darkness bearing Jesus' light, in addition to serving all of you via email and phone but primarily through preparing new content on our website.

Our ministry is to the Americas, showing people how to receive the Joy of the Lord and then begin to share it themselves with others by displaying changed lives. How are we doing this? By personal contact, and our website. In December of 2004 and again in January of 2005 there were over 4500 people that visited the http://www.BBtJ.Org/, and an average of over 145 per day. This is the equivalent of a pretty good sized church, a decent start after just under a year of actual ministry time! Our mailing list is much smaller, well under 1000.

Have we failed you? Is the online content (for both mature believers, or non-believers who find BBtJ.Org via search engines) of insufficient value to support? Are Virginia's regular journal, the reviews and insight pieces not of value? We read many books, publishing reviews of only those we think will greatly benefit you. We tackle thorny issues from a positive perspective so we can all learn together. Part of our ministry is prayer and encouragement. In January alone we responded to hundreds of messages via email, telephone and postal letter. Each communication takes time and thought as there is responsibility when ministering to others. However, we also know this gift of encouragement is God given. How can we better serve you?

How many of you, if we came to your area, would be willing to buy us a meal once a month? Partnership with BBtJ.Org can be less expensive and accomplish so much more! If everyone on our mailing list supported us with 25 cents per day ($7.50 per month), we would have abundant cash flow to keep doing what God has told us to do. However, with only 200 people giving a quarter a day, or 100 people at 15/mo, or 50 at 30/mo we would break even with our regular monthly expenses; plus additional amounts would allow us to go above and beyond. The most important part is not the amount of money, but rather consistency that can be counted upon.

Has God spoken to you about supporting BBtJ.Org financially as a monthly partner? Many precious people have sent us financial gifts and occasionally strangers have walked up and said “God told me to give you 'this',” not even knowing what our ministry is. Unfortunately, it is not enough. No one has committed to partnering consistently with us. We are having to consider taking secular jobs even though we know that would reduce time available to do what God has called us to do and impede travel. Prayer is great, but it may need to be backed up by action. If you cannot “go”, then please at least consider “sending” by partnering with us.

By using the links on our partnership page, one time or automatic recurring donations can be set up to happen from a checking account or credit card. Checks should be made out to BBtJ.Org c/o GCS, Inc. As a partner you'll get a tax deductible receipt from BBtJ.Org, the color version of our postal newsletter, email notification of online newsletter, notification when we are in your area, and other benefits yet to be determined. See our partnership info at http://www.BBtJ.Org/about/partnering.html.

We need support if we are to continue traveling as Jesus and Paul did. Of course, we will continue to send out a newsletter every other month to our subscriber list to let everyone know what we are doing and to point you to resources we have discovered. Also to inform you how you can help address the needs and opportunities we have while working for God. If we can do a better job of inspiring or encouraging you, please let us know.

Our prayers are with you,

Mark and Virginia Lane Bolzern