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."
