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Old News Pages from Faith Assembly — 2003

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[October 31, 2003, Archived February 4, 2004]

Upcoming Guatemala Trip
    Take time to read Kelly Watson's report of her experiences working at Casa Para Niños Aleluya! (Hallelujah! Children's Home) in Guatemala in August of 2002. Kelly returned to Guatemala for six weeks this past summer. In January, four of the Watson family (Kelly, her brother David, and her parents, Mark and Joanne) and two of the Brenneman children (Seth and Vreneli) will be spending two weeks at Casa, January 5-19, 2004. We will publish the report of that trip when it is ready.

Kelly at Casa Para Niños Aleluya! in Guatemala, August 2002
Click on picture to view report

Faith Ministries Going Digital
    For some time I have been aware of the trend in recordings moving towards digital media, such as CDs and DVDs. As you doubtless are aware, cassette tapes do wear out. In fact, they will deteriorate sitting on the shelf without being used at all! Digital media, on the other hand, are virtually indestructible, with reasonable care. A CD just does not deteriorate sitting on the shelf!
    It has been a desire of my heart to have Brother Freeman's messages available in digital form, to make them available in whatever specific format customers want them. I have been waiting on the Lord for direction for nearly two years, and just recently the Lord provided wisdom on how to accomplish the daunting task of converting over 1300 tapes to digital form. As it turned out, I did not need to make a major investment at all! I had the equipment I needed already on my desktop! Although the task of digitizing will take some time, I have found a way to cut the time down from several hours of processing per tape to about an hour, including all the steps, which are:

    1. Digitizing at double speed
    2. Removing the turnover message (no turnover is needed for a digitized message!)
    3. Removing the ending message (this will be revised and placed at the beginning of each CD)
    4. Maximizing volume to full dynamic range without adding distortion
    5. Saving the message in WAV format
    6. Batch processing to:
        A. Expand the message to normal length and speed, and simultaneously
        B. Convert the digitized message to MP3 format and save it as an MP3 file.

In MP3 format, all of Brother Freeman's messages can be stored on a single 40 Gigabyte hard drive. For now, that is all I am doing. However, once the tapes are all digitized, I may yet go through them to do any other processing that may digitally enhance the quality of the recordings.
    Just to show you how the Lord has given wisdom in this project: I originally was expanding the message right away to normal length and speed. This step took about one minute of processing time per ten minutes of length of the message, or about 6 minutes for a 60 minute message. And, once the tape was expanded, the file was now twice as big, so it took twice as long to perform any other processing, most importantly, step 4. Also, I was converting each message individually to MP3 format, which took about the same length of time as the expansion, 6 minutes for a 60 minute message. Then I found that I could perform the steps of expanding the message to normal length and speed, and converting the file to MP3 format, as a "batch" process, and when I did it that way, both processes occurred simultaneously, meaning it cut the total time in half! Furthermore, I found that by maximizing the volume before expanding the message, it took only half as long, because the file was only half as big! While step 5 seemed extra, I found that it worked much more quickly to save the file in WAV format than to convert it to MP3 format (more like one minute for a 60 minute message, instead of six minutes—a very favorable trade indeed! Since the initial saving is something I basically have to sit and wait to happen, that was a real bottleneck, while batch processing allows me to do other things while the processing happens in the background. Plus, saving in WAV format gives me a full backup of the file until I am sure the batch processing has succeeded.
    Once digitized, these messages can be "burned" onto CDs either as a simple audio CD, one message on each CD, or in MP3 format. MP3 requires an MP3 player, but makes it possible to put entire collections, such as a whole series of up to 25 or more messages (depending on length of message) on a single CD. Another idea I have is to make all of Brother Freeman's messages available on a standalone hard drive that can be plugged into the USB port of any computer. Imagine having a full library of all of Brother Freeman's messages without having to figure out where to store all those tapes!

Biblical Theology series complete in digital form!
    I have completed digitizing the entire Biblical Theology series. A total of 124 messages, 1000-1A through 1015-112 are finished. I also have finished the first six Faith tapes, Series F-107, individual messages F-101 through F-106.
    Having completed these series, I will no longer update this page, but, as I continue digitizing, I will continue to indicate digitized messages with an asterisk in the online listings, plus you can go to the Digitized Messages page for a complete listing and pricing information.

Digitizing on Demand
    Other than the Biblical Theology and Basic Faith series, I am just starting at the beginning of our list and going down through in order. But it doesn't matter to me which messages I digitize when. So, if you want one that is not on the list, go ahead and order it anyway. As long as the backlog is under about 25 messages, I think I can pretty well hope to ship within about two weeks. I won't make that an absolute guarantee, but I'll do my best. Tapes that are on the list will be shipped according to our regular schedule, which is the next Tuesday or Friday after receiving the order. Orders received before noon on Tuesday or Friday will be shipped the same day, if at all possible.

PalTalk Schedule
    Here is the updated schedule of teachings being played on PalTalk. I can no longer just say "teaching tapes," because in the near future, some of these will be CDs. Please note, the times given are Indiana time, which never changes throughout the year. In the summer months, Indiana time is the same as Central Daylight Savings Time; in the winter months, Indiana time is the same as Eastern Standard Time.

PalTalk room name: Deeper Life and Discipleship

Hobart E. Freeman, Th.D., founding pastor of Faith Assembly, recorded messages
    Monday, 7:00 p.m. Eastern (Indiana) time, "End-Time Admonitions" series
    Tuesday, 7:00 p.m. Eastern (Indiana) time, "Biblical Theology"
    Thursday, 7:00 p.m. Eastern (Indiana) time, miscellaneous teachings by Brother Freeman.
    Saturday, 7:00 p.m. Eastern (Indiana) time, "Gleanings from Galatians"

Note: as of September 1, 2003, the time for the Deeper Life and Discipleship room changed to 7:00 p.m. Eastern (Indiana) time, which is the same as 8:00 Eastern Daylight Time.

[July 13, 2003, Archived October 31, 2003]

I want to continue to encourage you to take time to read Kelly Watson's report of her experiences working at Casa Para Niños Aleluya! (Hallelujah! Children's Home) in Guatemala last August. Kelly well be leaving July 17, 2003, for another six weeks' ministry this summer. Click on the picture below to go to her report from last summer. We will look forward to an updated report when it is available later this year.

Kelly at Casa Para Niños Aleluya in Guatemala

On March 17, we had a special meeting in which Mike Clark, founder of the children's home, shared with us how he was led to Guatemala, not knowing a word of Spanish, and was allowed to begin the work. It was clearly miraculous how God made a way, and opened doors, while supernaturally protecting the work as it grew in size from just a handful to now over 500 children. Mike is also involved in raising up churches in mountain valleys of Guatemala, with native Guatemalans as evangelists and pastors.
    Then, on June 8, we had the privilege of hosting the Carlos Nevarez family, also from Casa Para Niños. Carlos has just now taken over the directorship of the children's home, while Mike Clark is stepping back, so he can relax and fulfill the role of a "Grandpa" to the children.

Ministering to the Spanish community
    We are continuing to work toward being a bilingual church, so we can minister to the Mexicans living in our area. Singing Christian songs in Spanish, learning one Bible verse each week in Spanish, and often reading the main Scripture text for the sermon in Spanish as well as English, are all part of this. As the Lord leads, I will begin preparing and preaching an occasional short message in Spanish. Eventually, I am believing to preach one full sermon in Spanish each month.
    I am looking to the Lord for what will be the next step. Although I know that God will lead me as fast as I am willing to move, I also know that God will not lead me beyond how far He has enabled me. I will keep you posted as things proceed. Please pray that God will bless and multiply what we give to Him.
    One more thing I want to do in the future is to translate the entire website into Spanish, also. I have the resources available in Faith Assembly who can help me do this, and I'm believing there are more coming!

New Department
    Occasionally I receive emails asking questions about various Bible subjects. My responses to these questions may sometimes be of general interest and value. I will use this department as a place to post these responses as they seem appropriate. Eventually I will include a form for feedback or asking your own questions on this page. I have titled the department simply, "Bible Answers." Click the title to go to the page for the current "Bible Answer."

PalTalk Schedule
    Here is the updated schedule of teaching tapes being played on PalTalk. Please note, the times given are Indiana time, which never changes throughout the year. In the summer months, Indiana time is the same as Central Daylight Savings Time; in the winter months, Indiana time is the same as Eastern Standard Time.

PalTalk room name: Deeper Life and Discipleship

Hobart E. Freeman, Th.D., founding pastor of Faith Assembly, taped messages
    Monday, 8:30 p.m. Eastern (Indiana) time, "Studies in Self-Examination" series
    Tuesday, 8:30 p.m. Eastern (Indiana) time, "Exploring Biblical Theology"
        (currently playing tapes from the series "New Testament Survey").
    Thursday, 8:30 p.m. Eastern (Indiana) time, miscellaneous teachings by Brother Freeman.
    Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Eastern (Indiana) time, "Christian Ethics"

Note: beginning September 1, 2003, all times for the Deeper Life and Discipleship room will change to 7:00 p.m. Eastern (Indiana) time, which is the same as 8:00 Eastern Daylight Time.

[April 15, 2003, Archived July 13, 2003]

I want to continue to encourage you to take time to read Kelly Watson's report of her experiences working at Casa Para Niños Aleluya! (Hallelujah! Children's Home) in Guatemala last August. Click on the picture below to go to her report.

Kelly at Casa Para Niños Aleluya in Guatemala

On March 17, we had a special meeting in which Mike Clark, founder of the children's home, shared with us how he was led to Guatemala, not knowing a word of Spanish, and was allowed to begin the work. It was clearly miraculous how God made a way, and opened doors, while supernaturally protecting the work as it grew in size from just a handful to now over 500 children. Mike is also involved in raising up churches in mountain valleys of Guatemala, with native Guatemalans as evangelists and pastors.

Ministering to the Spanish community
    We are continuing to work toward being a bilingual church, so we can minister to the Mexicans living in our area. Singing Christian songs in Spanish, and reading on Bible verse each week in Spanish are part of this. As the Lord leads, I will begin preparing and preaching an occasional short message in Spanish. Eventually, I am believing to preach one full sermon in Spanish each month.
    I am looking to the Lord for what will be the next step, but, I must admit that God is more aggressive about this than I am, and He continues to encourage me to be more aggressive in the sense of stepping out by faith. I will keep you posted as things proceed. Please pray for us that God will bless and multiply what we give to Him.
    One more thing I want to do in the future is to translate the entire website into Spanish, also. I have the resources available in Faith Assembly who can help me do this, and I'm believing there are more coming!

New Department
    Occasionally I receive emails asking questions about various Bible subjects. My responses to these questions may sometimes be of general interest and value. I will use this department as a place to post these responses as they seem appropriate. Eventually I will include a form for feedback or asking your own questions on this page. I have titled the department simply, "Bible Answers." Click the title to go to the page for the current "Bible Answer."

PalTalk Schedule
    Here is the updated schedule of teaching tapes being played on PalTalk.

PalTalk room name: Deeper Life and Discipleship

Hobart E. Freeman, Th.D., founding pastor of Faith Assembly, taped messages
    Monday, 8:30 p.m. Eastern (Indiana) time, "The Tests for Overcomers" series
    Tuesday, 8:30 p.m. Eastern (Indiana) time, "Exploring Biblical Theology"
        (currently playing tapes from the series "Old Testament Survey").
    Thursday, 8:30 p.m. Eastern (Indiana) time, miscellaneous teachings by Brother Freeman.
    Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Eastern (Indiana) time (room closed through June)

[February 8, 2003, Archived April 15, 2003]

I want to continue to encourage you to take time to read Kelly Watson's report of her experiences working at Casa Para Niños Aleluya! in Guatemala last August, because it ties in with the news I want to share with you about Faith Assembly. Click on the picture below to go to her report.

Kelly at Casa Para Niños Aleluya in Guatemala

Ministering to the Spanish community
    Faith Assembly is located in Warsaw, Indiana, in a small shopping center along East Winona Avenue. There are perhaps a dozen businesses in this little "strip mall." Of these, three are operated by Mexicans and serve primarily Mexicans, as our area has a steadily increasing population of Mexicans. Consequently, dozens of Mexicans pass in front of my office every day, in full view out my window, as they walk back and forth between these Mexican oriented establishments.
    Partly due to the work the Lord has been doing in our hearts at Faith Assembly, and partly due to being challenged by Kelly's testimony of using her faith to serve the Lord by ministering to the children in Casa Para Niños, God has challenged me to do something to reach out to the Mexican population in our area. When I was in high school, I took several years of Spanish, and added another year in college. I've never put my Spanish education to any useful purpose. Although my wife, a missionaries' daughter, was raised in Peru, South America, in the midst of Spanish culture, she, too, never used Spanish very much. Every one of my children who is old enough has also taken Spanish in school. But no one has really made any practical application of their education in that area. Faith Assembly has for years had two members whose mother tongue is Spanish. We have simply expected them to assimilate and adjust to us, and have made no attempt at all either to utilize them as a resource, nor to communicate with them in their mother tongue.
    All that is changing now. I have sensed a clear direction from the Lord to lead Faith Assembly toward becoming a truly bilingual church, so that we can open our doors to these Mexican souls who walk back and forth in front of our door every day. There are several things we are doing for this purpose:

    1. In our family, we're working to increase our ability to communicate in Spanish by using it whenever we can at home. We are in the beginning stages of this, but the direction is clear.
    2. As a church, we are learning and singing Christian songs in Spanish  in our times of praise and worship in every meeting, alongside our usual English songs.
    3. As a body, we are memorizing God's Word, one verse every week. Each week, when we are ready to move on to the next verse, I make copies of the past week's verse in Spanish, give them to everyone, and we go through it in Spanish and read it aloud together.

The next step is for me to begin to share God's Word in Spanish. At this point, I am not fluent enough to preach a full sermon in Spanish, but I believe I can begin by preparing and reading perhaps a ten minute speech in Spanish. I was thinking of a goal of six months or so to get to that point, and then perhaps in a year or so, be able to prepare and preach one full sermon in Spanish each month.
    That was my idea of the time schedule! However, God seems to have other ideas; He seems to want me to proceed far more quickly than that. See, I had misgivings at first. I have wondered, "Is this really God's direction, or just my hairbrained idea?" Last Tuesday, my doubts were erased.
    First, an old friend of mine stopped in the office, and we went out to lunch together. He likes Mexican food, so he suggested a certain Spanish buffet nearby, where I'd never eaten, although I knew it was there. As we were checking out, I made the effort to communicate in Spanish to the girl who took my money. She was perfectly fluent in English, of course, which made me feel all the more awkward, but I did it. Her response was extremely positive and encouraging. I told her I am a pastor, and I want to learn to speak in Spanish so I can minister to the Mexicans in the area. She said, "It isn't that hard. You're doing fine."
    Now, if that had been the end of it, I would have been encouraged, of course, but it was not the end. After returning from lunch, I was sitting in the office when another old friend walked in. He had been in one of the Spanish establishments, two doors down from our church, doing business, and when he left, he forgot to pick up his briefcase. Unfortunately, at the same time, the lady who ran the store had to run an errand, so she came out and locked the door and left. As a result, my friend could not get back in to retrieve his briefcase, so he came into my office and we chatted. We talked about this and that, but the conversation finally came around to the Spanish. To make a long story short, when the lady came back, my friend urged me to come down and meet this lady. She could hardly speak any English at all (though she could understand it fairly well), so I attempted to talk to her in Spanish (again, very broken Spanish!). She, too, showed such a positive and grateful response! Then, she told me she had asked her husband if she could come to our church! This means the idea had already been in her mind! But her husband told her, "No, those white people don't want Mexicans coming to their church." But now I could say (and it was obvious to her, because I was actually telling her in Spanish) that, no, we really want the Mexicans to feel welcome at Faith Assembly. Then, she said the words that clinched it for me:

"Quiero aprender las cosas de Dios."

That is Spanish for, "I want to learn the things of God." She asked me the times of our meetings. I don't know when we will actually see her, but I have to believe that God allowed these two experiences to show me that we really are moving in the right direction in preparing to minister to the Mexican people. Really, it is so little that we have done so far, but clearly, God has given us a nudge, and said, "Yes! This is My will for you. Keep on going. Step out by faith."
    I am looking to the Lord for what will be the next step, but, needless to say, I am getting the idea that God is far more aggressive about this than I am! Obviously, He is urging me to be more aggressive in the sense of stepping out by faith. I will keep you posted as things proceed in the days to come. Please pray for us that God will bless and multiply what we give to Him.
    One more thing I want to do in the future is to translate the entire website into Spanish, also. I have the resources available in Faith Assembly who can help me do this, and I'm believing there are more coming!

PalTalk Schedule
    Here is the updated schedule of teaching tapes being played on PalTalk.

PalTalk room name: Deeper Life and Discipleship

Hobart E. Freeman, Th.D., founding pastor of Faith Assembly, taped messages
    Monday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern (Indiana) time, "Ten Commandments - Inner Principles."
    Tuesday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern (Indiana) time, "Exploring Biblical Theology"
        (currently playing tapes from the series "Old Testament Survey").
    Thursday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern (Indiana) time, miscellaneous teachings by Brother Freeman.
    Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Eastern (Indiana) time, "Christian Ethics."