Volume 24 Issue 6 (November/December 2011) – Missionaries to Cyberspace Newsletter

“When you see the DOG go to GOD in prayer for the Hoffman Family – missionaries to Cyberspace.”

The Latest News: The tent making job has slowed down. Over the last week I have been moving our core ministry websites off the Virtual Private Server, onto smaller managed server accounts. It should cut costs by about 20% on the VPS, allow better management and backups and do away with a single point of failure.

• Church Website Ministry:  I spent most of my last week “off” moving the core ministry websites (including this one) off the Virtual Private Server and onto a bunch of several smaller managed hosting accounts. The fact they are managed, and automatically backed up, and the diversity that comes from them being on multiple servers should help the workload and security factors. Additionally, I have been trying to cut back on unneeded extraneous features to help cut down the expenses.
• I received a call from Tim Holtsclaw, son in law of Pastor Jim Patterson (one of our supporting churches) asking for current login information to update the website of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Roanoke Virginia (cbcroanoke.com). After talking with Tim for while I found out he was a church planter in the US and had a website set up on Microsoft Officelive. I set up a domain name for his ministry (theholtsclawfamily.com) and pointed it to their Officelive website, it was working in about 10 minutes. The new domain is substantially easier for them to give out than the long URL at Officelive.
• I was contacted by a Deacon from Key West Baptist Temple. We rescued the domain (kwbt.net) back in 2006. The previous pastor had created content. The previous Pastor went home to be with the Lord a while back and the new Pastor asked a Deacon to see if he could update the content. Casey (the Deacon) was working with Radiant Webtools and created new content. We worked together to publish the website and repoint the domain to their new website being hosted at Radiant Webtools.
• I was contacted by a member of the Socorro Baptist Temple in Socorro New Mexico. I set up an unofficial website for them several years ago. They wanted to pursue a permanent website. I registered the domain socorrobt.com for them and set them up on the templates. I will provide training as time permits.

Bible Correspondence Courses:  We want to thank Katherine Feguer, John & Lydia Henrici, Jim and Carol Cahill, JL and Florence Smith for helping on the Bible Correspondence courses over the last several months.

• Here are some more comments we received from people that are taking the correspondence courses:
• Young man from Uganda (age 22) got saved through taking the Bible lessons & we sent him a Bible…
  Praise The Lord!!!
  So many times when am very excited and happy, I find myself shading tears ,I strongly believe that they’re tears of Joy anyway. I really thank you so much for the Free Bible Gift that I’ve just received from you to Me. Thank you so much and I pray that the Almighty God continues to bless you so much. Just as I opened the First page of the BIBLE and thought thats word is short form for; Best Instructions Before Leaving Earth. Am glad to have received God’s word.
  I am so much eagerly waiting for the Bible lesson as well. Thanks once again and God bless you so much.
• I’ve always heard Jesus is savior but never knew it’s a personal decision. I didn’t know I would be judged as one individual one day until today when I read this correspondence that I am a sinner and heading for hell. Therefore I decide to take the personal choice and decision of accepting Jesus an ‘MY OWN PERSONAL SAVIOR & LORD.” I’ve repented all my sins and I am very excited that they’re all forgiven. Thank you Jesus, thank you Lord! Amen.
• Another letter from a student in Uganda: Praise Jesus! I just completed the lessons and mailed them back as the month was starting. Hope you get them not later than 17th, and I can see what next you’ve got for me as far as that study is concerned. Thank you so much and may God bless you so much. Your student.

Tract Ministry: We are “giving out” 700+ Bible Tracts per month, We have “given out” over 50,000 Bible Tracts online.

Social Networking: Please continue praying for our Facebook outreach. My evangelism account has 1688 friends.

Support: We are currently at 67% of support for our ministry expenses. 100% of money donated to us goes to support the ministry – we use NO money for personal expenses.

Prayer Needs: The Lord’s will regarding secular work and health benefits. Help in raising support for the ministry. Jessica is still having problems with her broken ankle, and is still healing. Please continue to keep her in your prayers as she seeks God’s will in her life.

Specific Financial Needs:  We still have several needs

• Projector for the ministry presentation $500-$700
• Vonage phone service for a year – we can get two months of phone service free if we purchase a year at a cost of $360 (includes taxes and fees). If you are going to sign up for Vonage – give us your email address – if we “invite” you  we can get a free month. Vonage allows us to call FREE to 60 countries and discounted to others – invaluable for our ministry!
• All of our server needs for the year have been paid for. Praise the Lord!

Please consider a donation. FamilyNet is a 501 (C)(3) charity. Donations are tax deductible in the US – You can donate via PayPal (Donate button is on http://www.cyber-missions.com) or mail a check:

FamilyNet International
P.O. Box 451951
Garland, TX 75045
(214) 257-0229

Thanks to Harvester Baptist Church in Ellicott City Maryland, Lavon Drive Baptist Church in Garland Texas, Cornerstone Baptist Church in Roanoke Virginia and Marion Baptist Church in Marion Texas, Johnny (the Baptist) Campbell, Jim and Carol Cahill, Dr. Nancy Shields of Tool Kit Ministries, and Calvary Baptist Church in Mesquite,TX for ongoing regular support.  Additionally we received individual donations from Carol Maulding, Jane Quarles and James P.London. Special thanks go out Whitley Memorial Baptist Church in Nashville Tennessee for helping us with the cost of two servers for 2011! They are truly a small church with a big heart! Finally our home church (Harvester Baptist Church in Ellicott City Maryland) paid for our last server expense for the year. HBC has been supporting our ministry financially and in prayer for over 20 years now.

We thank you and pray you have a blessed CHRISTmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year in Jesus,