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May Focus: The calendar pages have turned and May is before us and we note that on May 9th many will stop to honor the women in their lives who have the distinction of being a Mother.To celebrate women across the globe who carry this title,  the Women's Ministry of bible.org is encouraging you to stop, reflect and honor those who have gone before us as well as the women who are now influencing present day history.  To qualify for the May Gift Offer, courtesy of the bible.org women’s ministry, answer this question:
“One thing special women in my life have taught me that I want to pass on is…” 
The women will select one letter for the June newsletter and also send you a personal gift of a NET Bible for your own personal use or to give as a gift to another. Send all letters to: SonShine

Bible.org is privileged to have a group of women who are authors that have written articles, books and/or Bible Studies. They are also speakers who travel sharing the good news of Christ. This month we are taking a peek in on these precious women who serve sacrificially to present God’s Word and their materials FREE to all who come to bible.org. You can read about each of these women by clicking on the Articles tab and then scroll down to By Author.

Come get acquainted with some of our women authors, from left to right:Sue Bohlin, Kay Daigle, Mary DeMuth, Sue Edwards, Susie Hawkins, Sandra Glahn, Vickie Kraft, Sue Sewell, Gwynne Johnson, Dianne Miller, Micki Maris, Tracie Wallace.

One of our authors was Kathie Keathley, now deceased, but her legacy remains. Her article will reveal to you some more of the history of bible.org as well as give you a focus on how to have an eternal perspective. How fitting as we ponder those who are no longer with us but are loving reminders of God’s eternal grace. See: Calm Amidst the Storm.

April 25^th was Internet Evangelism Day (IEday) What did your church do or what did you do personally? Post a note on the  users evangelism group 

April User email from Near and Far: Once again we stop and praise God for those who take time to jot us a note of encouragement. Thank you and may we rejoice together as we span the globe reaching others for Christ:  To send us a note how the site has blessed you click here [Please note these are published here as received without alteration; links added by staff]

Financial Update¹ Praise, Praise,Praise: As we have shared the needs of the ministry, God has graciously sent us new donors and one who gave a very large gift this month reducing our 2009 through Mar 30 shortfall from $132.5k to $111.7k. Also, while not reflected in this report, he gave us another generous gift in early April. We praise God for each of you who sacrificially donated to His Work which allows us to maintain our "Ministry First" approach and offer our material free to all 1.7 billion users on the Internet. . You can help us eliminate our shortfall and Donate now by clicking HERE
Note1- All income (Donations and Bible sales/revenues) are accounted for. The original plan was for the store sales to be greater than store expenses and the store would donate all its profits to the ministry but to date the sales have not been sufficient to accomplish that goal. As sales increase and are greater than store expenses we will show those profits on the donation line above

Social Networking Initiatives

1. Facebook Fans Praise: If you have been watching the front page of bible.org you noted we had a winner in the Facebook contest! Gabrielle Fratantoni was the 10,000th fan to have registered. In just two months we have grown from 7400 to 10,000. That means more and more and more people are connecting with bible.org. As you share on Facebook, more of your connections hear about bible.org and learn about its vital link to trustworthy Bible Studies.
2. Bible Readers: If you haven’t signed up yet go to Daily reading plans
3. Users Groups Updates: Just as Facebook has grown so has the users site. We now have readers from many walks of life, blogs about freedom of speech, articles and podcasts on parenting and the emergent church. Check out users.bible.org and join a group or write a blog or comment on a group post or a blog entry.
4. Forum: Join us at the forum where our discussions are thought provoking. Check out the most active posts as we impact the world for Christ one post at a time. 
5. Blogs:  Wikipedia defines Blog as: something that provides commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. A blog is entitled or tagged to capture you into the author's mindset or musings on a particular topic. For example how does Dr. Bock's "gotcha title" grab your attention? "What are we afraid of"? 
6. NEW bible.org Feature: (User Contributed Links) Users can now add links on bible.org topic pages that point to other great resources that they have found. For example, check out the new section at the bottom of the Parenting topic page. If you want to add your own recommended resources, you can add them by creating content on users.bible.org....Are you a parent in need of some help? go to topics and select parenting Read the articles or listen to the audio on this link: Loving on Purpose: Parenting and So Much More #1  Also in addition, check out: Laura Singleton's  Tapestry Blog entry .
7. Read along with our NET Bible scholars Dr's Harris and Burer, on their “NET Bible Revolution”.   If you recall they posted a challenge  and a "sweetener". "To sweeten the deal, for every 50 people that send us their story (either by adding a comment below or by clicking on the Tell us How Bible.org has Blessed You link) we'll select one random winner to receive a free genuine leather NET Bible to keep or give away. And the winner is: Pastor David Buckham, Sr. Pastor of Long Hollow Christian Church in Pennington, VA. CONGRATULATIONS Pastor David and Happy Birthday. [David wrote in his letter: My birthday is coming up the end of April and I am thinking about buying a First Edition so I can have the notes physically in front of me...maybe I can win one from you guys instead!!!]
8. Children’s Ministry: Soon the new Blog page will be up. Watch for a news item on it: HEARTPRINTS: A Faith Journey with God's Children. 
9. We continue to add new material to the site In addition to many new text articles, we've added over 400 audio sermons by Bill McRae, John Walvoord and Ken Boa  check them out.

                      1. We are so grateful to the donors who have so graciously showered bible.org with two months of generosity. We are humbled that you share from your “treasures” that we may continue to spread the gospel to the far corners of the earth.
2. Praise and Prayer for those who continue to study material on the site and tell others about bible.org's ministry and the NET Bible. This is very humbling to the bible.org staff and to have over 10,000 fans on Facebook is a good testimony.
3. We are grateful for Dr. Tony Evans’ opening letter for the Children’s Ministry landing page. The Children’s Ministry team continues to forge ahead in reading, selecting and developing ideas. Please pray for the team as they launch next month a blog which will be called “Heartprints”; a Faith Journey with God’s Children.
4. Prayer Needs: For continued finances, for wisdom to be wise stewards of your monetary gifts, for faithfulness to the work on a daily basis; for good health and stamina for the many projects before us.
5. Prayer Needs for Missionaries: We hear very little first hand from missionaries who are using bible.org or know about bible.org. We know and understand your tasks are daunting and we want to be praying for you. We would like to offer tailored help to missionaries on the field. If you are on your church's missions committee or you have time to help us develop a program to create a "care package of material" for missionaries that we can send for you to the missionary, please send a note to SonShine. Let's all pray for open doors for continued opportunities to share the gospel message; protection. If you are on the field, send us a note regarding a need that we can be praying about for you and/or your family and/or your mission endeavors that we might put packages of material for you to download.
6.Prayer Needs for Pastors and Ministry Personnel: Pastors live a busy life and are in need of prayer warriors. Please join with us as we spend time lifting these ministry workers up before the throne. We now have some senior pastors who are willing to mentor younger men in the ministry. If you are a younger man in the ministry please send SonShine a note so that connections can be made.
7. For bible.org: That we may continue to be wise as we seek more material to be offered to our readers that are trustworthy and reliable; efficient time management and discipline; quiet times before the Lord. Pray especially for our China NET Bible project as we recently posted pdf drafts on the site. We now need some additional volunteers to come forward and put together a plan for distribution. Much prayer for guidance is needed on what we should do next.