http://archive.aweber.com/thinkonitnewsNewsletterFri, 16 Dec 2011 23:51:47 -0500http://archive.aweber.com/thinkonitnews/EQ2ns/h/Merry_Christmas.htm Christmas already! It seems the year has flown by. As we enter the season of celebrating our Lord and Savior's birth, it's also time to reflect on all He has done for us. Many people consider all they went through, everything they accomplished, and the things they didn't quite get to. At ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries we are no different. Our organization is run by ordinary people just like you. For God uses ordinary people to do His work. I don't know why He does it that way. Except maybe it is because using broken people really shows off His power. In our case, God really does deserve all of the glory. Before I was founder of ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries, I was a wife, a mother of two boys, and one who worked full time in the corporate world. And I am still all those things. That means I have very few hours available to do much of the ministry work. But just like Jesus multiplied the boy's fish and loaves of bread to feed 5,000 people, God does the same with my time working on His goals. I have often told my coworkers and small group, God stretches time. I have certainly found this to be true! When I look back at all God has done with the limited time, it amazes me. I hope it amazes you too! So rejoice with me and praise God as you read all about what we have done this year. Below are some of the highlights of the ministry for 2011. Before we get started, we want to thank you for contacting us when you can. It is always exciting when a subscriber connects with us. It encourages us to hear how our Bible devotions and Study Puzzle are reaching people's hearts in other parts of the world. God works in mysterious and wonderful ways. Sometimes we get to see it through our readers when they contact us! Please keep the communications coming. It is a source of encouragement. It's About People Our ministry is about reaching people with the good news of Jesus Christ. We do this mainly over the internet because of its low cost and great reach. It is possible for us to reach people around the world. There are readers in Canada, United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya, Australia, Indonesia, Korea, Singapore, China and USA. Without God's leading and the internet these people might not be reached. Here what our readers have to say: GOD does speak through people in various ways. He is speaking through you by way of your ministry of His Word. I am extremely thankful that I have found your website. It is a source of hope and my calling has been realized - to fully explore the WORD of God thru ThinkOnIt Bible. May God richly bless you and your Team for your kindness and good work. I love you all. - Lily, America It's amazing, the more I follow the method of Inductive Bible Study in your sent video, and the more I learned and found the values of it. It helps me a lot in my personal Bible study and makes me closer to Christ. I have even translated into my language (Darlong). - Neilaia, India The studies are helping us to dig more understanding and knowledge of the Word of God. God bless you for the good work you are doing to us. The materials are clear and many people are requesting us to print more so they can have their own material, about the devotions we would like you to teach about the Holy Spirit and the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian, because many church goers believe they will go heaven without Holy Spirit. Please enlighten the topic about Holy Spirit. - Nathan, Kenya I am enjoying the Inductive Bible Study Puzzle. The experience is encouraging and exciting because now I am understanding the word of God much better. The study approach is increasing my hunger for the word. - Nicole , Canada Praise be to God the most high for allowing us to commune once again. I know it is possible for us to develop a more serious and practical Biblical solution based approach to alleviate the suffering of humanity as a result of ignorance of His Word. - Silvester, Kenya Some of these contacts have turned into friends we communicate with throughout the year. Our pastor friends in Kenya are a good example. While communicating with them, we learn of their struggles, pray for them, and offer assistance where possible and when led by the Spirit to do so. You might remember in a previous letter we mentioned the Chicken Project was an attempt to assist Good Hope Church in establishing a self-sustaining poverty elimination plan. We are still hoping to raise $1100 towards this project, which will benefit the 47 people in the community of Moi's Bridge, Kenya. This project has potential to reach even more people, as our pastor friends work with 5 other local churches and teach them what they learned through the Chicken Project. If you'd like to help the cause, please donate today atDonate Now What We Accomplished The year of 2011 was the year of publishing for us. We started writing ebooks on various topics to reach audiences interested in the workplace, personal discipleship, and small groups. The intent was to get them interested in God's Word by reaching them through new means. These ebooks are available on Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, and PDF formats at:Store About half way through the year we started writing inductive Bible studies. The first one to be finished and published in hard copy is the Ephesians called Discover the Riches of His Grace - Learning to Do Relationships God's Way. In the book, we not only provide 18 Bible study lessons, but we teach you about inductive Bible study method. You also learn how to prepare an observation worksheet, chapter summary, and how to use the truth tracker tool for implementing God's Word in your life. This book will be available in PDF and Kindle formats as well as hard copy. It will be available for sale in Q1 2012. This will be a great study for those of you who want to learn what God's Word has to teach about relationship. While the Ephesians study didn't make it to sellable status in 2011, it did go through the entire time consuming, painstaking process to become published. We are in final edit process now. One last review and it will be ready to go to print in January. We learned a lot about what goes into the making of a book, how to format it, how to design book covers, how to make an appealing layout, what to include in the front matter and so on. That practice will be put to good use. The lessons we learned will be directly applied to the next Bible studies we prepare. We also started experimenting with Facebook to help with awareness of our ministry and outreach. We started posting picture verses, which seem to be shared and liked more frequently than our text only messages. We started making 60sec in the Word videos which are spoken daily Bible verses. These, too, seem to be liked more than the regular written devotions. We also launched a Facebook group called Riches of His Grace online Bible study on Ephesians to encourage interaction among our readers. Within the Discover the Riches of His Grace Bible study we refer readers to the Facebook group to share what they are learning through the study so they can interact with others who are going through it too. We hope this will be a blessing to our readers. It certainly is for us as we get to interact with those who post. Where Are We Going Our focus in 2012 is Going Deeper in God's Word. So, 2012 will also be a year of publishing. We plan to release the several Bible studies to throughout the year, in hard copy, PDF, Kindle, and Nook formats to reach as many people as possible. To go along with the published Bible studies, we plan to make these studies available in Kindle, Nook, and PDF formats. This allows us to reach as many different people groups as possible. On Kindle, for example, new markets are continuously offered, which allow our books to become available through Amazon in countries like United Kingdom and France. In addition to the full length studies, we plan to launch individual chapter studies to make it even more affordable for our small group leaders. Each would downloadable, printable version so a small group leader could print as many as needed for one very affordable price. Of the several Bible studies in progress, Colossians, James, Obadiah, Haggai, and Philippians, do you have an opinion on which we should publish first? Of the various formats mentioned, which works best for you? What do you think about individual chapter studies? Contact us and share your thoughts at Contact Us We will continue to stay abreast of the changing social media trends and experiment more with Facebook and/or other social platforms like Google+. We will try out new ideas for customer engagements, such as contests, videos, and giveaways! How you can help Running a ministry is a lot of work. There are many aspects that can be more than we can handle on our own. In the spirit of giving and service to others, won't you consider donating your time to help? Below are several ways you can get involved with us. Social Networking - Are you always online? Do you like to keep up with the latest social media trends? Do you like reaching others for Christ over the internet? Help us share His Word with others. If you're on Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, Google+ or any other social network, find us, friend us, like us, share about us, post on our pages, and share our links. Every time you share our links you are helping to get God's Word out to the whole world using the internet. ThinkOnItBible ThinkOnItDevos Videos - Do you like sharing God's Word face to face with others? Why not make a video of you speaking God's Word? Be sure to include the following in your video: (1) Your name, (2) Bible Verse and Bible translation (3) Closing tagline This has been 60sec in the Word. Send us your videos. If approved we'll use the videos in our 60sec in the Word project. Contact us for more information at Contact Us Review Us - Find the ebooks we mentioned earlier on Amazon and write a review for us. Or use greatnonprofits.org to write a review about one of our products, how one of our Bible devotions has touched your heart, or what our ministry has meant to you. Help us let others know how you benefit from our work. Buy Our Products - Of course purchasing any of our products directly helps the ministry with our operating costs. If you haven't done so already, please consider buying an ebook, study puzzle, or bookmarks to help support your favorite Bible teaching ministry. Go to Store Buy / Renew Magazines with us - If you're a magazine reader or know someone who is, buy or renew your magazine subscriptions with. We'll receive 40% of sales. Go to Magazines Buy Recycled - Save a ton of money by purchasing recycled inkjet toner cartridges. In doing so, you help our ministry as we receive 40% of sales from PlanetGreenRecylce Donate - We are a publically recognized 501c3 non-profit, which means your donations are tax deductible. If you have been helped by this ministry would you prayerfully consider donating $10, $25, $50 or more to our organization? Donate Now Your financial support helps keep our ministry going. Without it we would not be able to reach people for Christ over the internet. Well this letter is longer than expected! Thank you for taking the time to read the whole thing! May you be blessed richly as you seek God first in everything you do. May you read His Word daily, live out His principles and become a person after His own heart! May you be filled with overflowing joy as you ponder all that He has done for you this Christmas! In His Grace, - Elizabeth Marks Founder ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries, Inc. Fri, 16 Dec 2011 23:51:47 -0500http://archive.aweber.com/thinkonitnews/Iq5J6/h/October_is_almost_over.htm ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries, Inc. Study Puzzle | Our Cause | Book Store | Testimonies | Ministry Spotlight - Good Hope Church, Moi's Bridge Kenya October 2011 As you may know, Kenya is stuck in the middle of drought, famine, Typhoid, Malaria, and severe poverty. It's been this way for many years. It has been devastating to watch the people suffer as they do. Parents agonize over how to save their children from starvation. The situation looks and feels hopeless. Good Hope Church sprang up to feed the need of hopelessness. The Spirit of God moved in the lives of two pastors to inspire them to do something about their community's situation. They began reaching out to anyone who would listen to the blight of their people. Over a year ago they began following ThinkOnIt Bible Devotions and small group leader tips. A relationship began to form between these pastors and our founder, Elizabeth Marks. Each conversation revealed more of the desperate need in their community. Elizabeth began to be stirred to find a solution. She began talking to other relief agencies, such as World Vision, Hiefer International, Life Water, Malaria No More and many others. She took classes at Saddleback Church to learn about Community PEACE. Everything she learned from these organizations and classes, she shared with Good Hope Church's pastors. They listened. The one thing we had discovered is handouts don't transform the people's situation. A handout might help someone with a meal but it never changes the environment they live in. However, with prayer and guidance enterprise can. The Chicken Project is evidence. The Chicken Project is a program Good Hope Church is implementing to lift their people out of poverty and to feed the children. Here's how it works: Start with 100 adult chickens costing $400. In 30 days those chickens lay eggs. Feed the children and the most destitute adults in their village. Sell the extra eggs to the market. Use the funds to buy supplies to care for chickens, buy other animals, such as a cow that provides 4 gallons of milk a day. Once established, train others to do the same. Good Hope Church provides the startup chickens and shares what they learned about raising chickens so the next person can do the same. The deal is that person must help another person get started once they are established themselves. Costs to start the Chicken Project $1200 $400 for 100 adult chickens $200 for supplies and feed $600 for materials to build henhouse $1200 Total funds required If you want to help, donate $25, $50, or $100 today. Donate online at our Facebook Cause Birthday Wish page or Mail in your donation to: ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries, Inc. 22365 El Toro Road #163 Lake Forest, CA 92630 Trabuco Hills High School Fall Boutique and Car Show Saturday October 22, 2011 Start your Christmas shopping now. THHS Fall Boutique has several vendors selling great gift ideas. THHS chair is conducting a raffle of prizes from all vendors. We are hosting a booth this year. Stop by ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries booth to enter a drawing, sign up for devotions, and buy something to help our cause. Products we are offering include custom made jewelry watches, several handmade quilted items such as baby quilts, table runners, placemat and matching napkin sets, potholders, travel bags, technology bags and more. Check out photos of all these items at our Facebook Events Page Make it a family day. Bring your car-loving spouse to check out the car show while you're shopping. October is Ministry Appreciation Month Here are some helpful ways to show your appreciation for what we do. Donate to our cause - We need a new computer. Our eight year old one is on its last leg. The network interface is intermittent, the backup hard drive died, and performance is so slow it is very difficult to use. Thanks to a generous donor we received funds specifically for a computer. Now we need only $380 more to make the purchase. Donate $25, $50, $100 for a new computer. Donate Now at http://www.ThinkOnIt.org/Donate.aspx. Volunteer - Do you love being on Facebook and Twitter? Post something positive about us. Have you clicked the like button on our Fan Page yet? Encourage people to like us too. Tell Others - Write a review of how we helped you on greatnonprofits.org/ThinkOnIt-Bible-Ministries. Invite your friends and family to THHS Fall Boutique and Car Show on 10/22/11. Share our devotions with your friends and family. Save Money - Do you like to save money? Buy recycled inkjet toner cartridges from us at http://www.PlanetGreenRecycle.com/ThinkOnIt. Save money and help our cause at the same time. In God's Grace, Elizabeth Marks Founder, ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries Inc. TESTIMONIES June 22, 2011 I am enjoying the Inductive Bible Study Puzzle. The is experience is encouraging and exciting because now I am understanding the word of God much better. The study approach is increasing my hunger for the word. - Nicole October 10, 2011 Great blog, thanks for your ministry. - drwrl4jesus September 2, 2011 I like this post very much, because it centers the mind on what Jesus said. What He said is more important that anything else, in my opinion. He also put His teachings into action, so we have a picture of His commands in motion. Reading the doctrine Paul wrote is good, but I also need to see how the Son of God actually lived while He was here on earth, so I know the specifics of how I am to live. - Ethan Carlson August 16, 2011 I did a search this morning on devotions for tough times, and your page was the first one I clicked on. I have been going through a time where I feel like God has abandoned me.....but after reading the devotion, I know I'm focusing way too much on the problem (and myself), and not enough on God. Thank you for your words of encouragement, and suggesting scripture to find 'nuggets'. I look forward to receiving your devotionals on a daily basis!- Shelley EBOOKS 8 Ways to Bring God into Your Workplace List Price: $4.95 Your Price: $0.99 Walk Through Colossians in Less than 30 Days List Price: $6.99 Your Price: $1.99 Study Puzzle | Our Cause | Book Store | Testimonies | Unsubscribe Copyright 2008. All Rights Reserved.Mon, 17 Oct 2011 22:40:01 -0400http://archive.aweber.com/thinkonitnews/AaO4E/h/Can_you_believe_it_Half_Way.htm ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries, Inc. Study Puzzle | Our Cause | Book Store | Testimonies | God's Word is making a difference around the world. July 5, 2011 By now you know about Good Hope Church at Moi's Bridge, Kenya. We began an encouraging relationship over a year ago. As we've gotten to know one another certain needs have been discovered. They struggle with extreme poverty, drought, Typhoid from unsafe drinking water and Malaria to name a few. In severe situations hope is hard to come by. This is why we began shipping bibles, concordances and other pastor resources to Pastor Nathan and Pastor George, equipping them to share the hope of Christ with their community. In addition, we have enrolled our pastor friends in a leadership program through Biblica in Kenya. We are also pursuing World Vision Kenya to see whether Good Hope Church's children may be enrolled in the child sponsorship program. We are still actively investigating organizations that may be able to help with the Malaria and Typhoid issues. If you are aware of a worthy reputable Christian organization that might be able to help, let us know. To further assist, Good Hope Church's children we started a Facebook Cause page to help raise funds to send the children to school. For more information, join our cause at http://apps.facebook.com/causes/cause_memberships/create?cause_id=615141 It's been a busy first half of 2011! Our Inductive Study Puzzle product continues to sell for only $4.95. Nicole in Canada recently told us our study puzzle approach is causing her to hunger for God's Word! That's what it's all about. Draw near to God and He will draw near you. If you haven't received yours yet or would like to share this study puzzle with others, go to: http://www.thinkonit.org/studypuzzle.aspx Many of our readers have said they want to know God and feel confident sharing God's Word with others. Well, we heard you! That's why we began writing a new line of in depth Inductive style bible studies. Each study focuses on one chapter of a particular book of the Bible at a time. Each chapter study contains at least 3 lessons. We are currently wrapping up Ephesians and working on James and Colossians next. We hope to release these studies soon. They will be available on Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, and PDF formats for a small fee. More details may be posted on our studies page at http://www.thinkonit.org/studies.aspx . We began publishing ebooks to Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook as a means of getting God's Word out to the technology embracing audience. To date we have several offerings at Amazon Kindle. 8 Ways to Bring God into Your Workplace http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00514GOCS was a surprising success. Lots of positive feedback on that one. A Walk through Ephesians is a collections of devotions at http://www.amazon.com/Walk-through-Ephesians-Devotions-ebook/dp/B004EHZRYO. A Walk Through Colossians in Less than 30 Days at http://www.amazon.com/Walk-Through-Colossians-Less-ebook/dp/B004EHZSEI is also available. How to Start a Quiet Time http://www.amazon.com/How-Start-Quiet-Time-ebook/dp/B004HO64F0 and How to Get Started Leading Small Groups at http://www.amazon.com/Started-Leading-Small-Groups-ebook/dp/B004HO64EG are quick guides to help you take the next step in your walk. All of these are also available in PDF format on our site at http://www.thinkonit.org/newbooks.aspx . Share With Others Keep in mind, the purpose of all sales of ebooks, devotions, studies is to cover the cost of sharing God's Word with in other countries, such as Kenya an India. Would you help us share God's love with others? Do you use Facebook? Stop by and "Like" us at http://www.facebook.com/pages/ThinkOnIt-Bible-Ministries/304256304091. Share this page with your friends. Thank you for supporting ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries! In God's Grace, Elizabeth Marks Founder, ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries Inc. TESTIMONIES June 22, 2011 "I am enjoying the Inductive Bible Study Puzzle. The is experience is encouraging and exciting because now I am understanding the word of God much better. The study approach is increasing my hunger for the word." - Nicole May 26, 2011 "God bless you ,I received the package and all the teaching material and pamplates God bless you richly. the small group is growing ,thank for the idea you are share-ring to help us spread well the word of God." - Pastor Nathan May 15, 2008 "Your bible study is touching my heart thank you." - Ravi Priya February 19, 2011 "Greetings and love in Jesus Holy Name, we are doing well, the church and the study group is also doing well. God bless you for the discover the Bible studies it is a blessing to me and to the saints with me. Keep on doing the will of God and God of heaven will add you with heavenly blessings in Jesus glory. The teachings are helpful to me and to church."- Pastor George EBOOKS 8 Ways to Bring God into Your Workplace List Price: $9.99 Your Price: $4.95 Walk Through Colossians in Less than 30 Days List Price: $6.99 Your Price: $4.95 Study Puzzle | Our Cause | Book Store | Testimonies | Unsubscribe Copyright 2008. All Rights Reserved.Tue, 05 Jul 2011 13:31:57 -0400http://archive.aweber.com/thinkonitnews/20egF/h/Looking_Back_at_all_He_Has.htm December Newsletter A Year in Review As we look back over the last year of accomplishments of this ministry, we are amazed at what God has done. Keep in mind as you read the following list we are four married women with children who work full time outside the home, so the hours spent on ministry efforts are very few. Yet God seems to stretch the time and make things happen according to His perfect plan. Accomplishments this year We launched Beginner's Guide to Inductive Bible Study Puzzle, which as been a great success. People from all over the world are signing up to receive theirs. We launched free version Discovery Studies subscription based on Philippians. This, too, has been very popular. We obtained our 501c3 non-profit classification, so donations are tax deductible. We sent 25 bibles and 25 study puzzles to Good Hope Ministries in Kenya. We conducted a small group leader survey to validate some product development ideas. We expanded the ministry through Bottles to Bibles outreach with the appointment of a new Director of Recycling and Outreach. We started fundraising. Our first fundraising effort was for Christmas in Kenya project. This effort raised $1,547.39. Ubabalo soccer ministry received $837.39 for soccer balls and bibles to reach boys and girls with God's Word. Good Hope Ministries, an outreach to Kenyans, received $350.00 for Swihali bibles and an outreach conference. ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries received $360.00 in our general fund to help cover operational costs. We launched an on-going fundraiser via magazine subscriptions and an inkjet cartridge _button_id=8661954 Is the Bible Hard to Understand? We can help. Try our Participation Puzzle. Guided questions help you discover God's Truth on your own. Got the gift of encouragement? Send a delightful, hand crafted greeting card. Looking for an inexpensive gift? Try our Accordian Photo Albums. See what others say about us. There's more than one way to donate. Do you have an extra bible? What about plastic bottles? Use Twitter? Follow us and use #ThinkOnItBible in your tweets. Do you have something to share with us? Contact us. Press Releases , , Wed, 29 Dec 2010 14:31:05 -0500http://archive.aweber.com/thinkonitnews/1Ej2V/h/Time_for_Thanks.htm November Newsletter A Time for Thanks. What Better Way to Give Thanks, Than to Help Others? Dear , Ten years ago I never thought I would find myself fund-raising for people in Kenya. But before I continue that story you need to know when I first came to Christ in 2000,I had shared with my small group how terrified I was that God would call me to go to some "foreign" country. My small group laughed and encouraged me God didn't work like that. Since then God gave me a heart to share His Word through writing Bible Devotions. Every so often I will receive an email from a subscriber. In June 2010, I received such an email from Pastor Nathan Sifuna Mulango of Moi's Bridge, Kenya. He shepherds a small church called Good Hope and shares ThinkOnIt Bible Devotions with his congregation. He wrote to tell me how the devotions had changed his life, his family's life and his whole church. Wow! As a writer, it is wonderful to get feedback like that! You always hope what you do is helping someone and here this message comes all the way from Kenya! Praise God! Pastor Nathan and I have been exchanging emails every since. Through these email exchanges I've learned much about Pastor Nathan and his family. My heart yearns to equip him as a pastor so he can better equip his flock to share the love of God with others. You know what? God has even given me a desire to go to Kenya to meet Pastor Nathan, his family and his church. There is absolutely no fear, only joy, when I think of going! Psalm 37:4 says "Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart." God sure did give me the desires of my heart! This is good news, because Pastor Nathan has invited me three different times to come to his church to teach the word of God to them. One day I will go. In the meantime, I have worked with Saddleback Church's Peace Trip Pastor Steve Ruttenbar to arrange for a meeting between Saddleback and Pastor Nathan. In mid-November Pastor Steve is going to Kenya to meet with Pastor Nathan and share the in country resources available to him. My heart rejoices as God used me to make this connection to equip Pastor Nathan. You know how God orchestrates everything for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28)? God was working on my friend Toni during the same time He was working on me. Toni had begun Bottles to Bibles recycling ministry after she had heard I was collecting bottles for that purpose. She had started talking with church youth groups and small businesses to join her in collecting recycling. About this time God was nudging her to talk with me about the ministry. Toni called, we talked, and now Bottles to Bibles is part of ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries and Toni is our Director of Recycling and Outreach! This is an answer to prayer, as I had been praying for God to bring others with His desires to our ministry! As I shared on the phone the story of Pastor Nathan with Toni I heard some chuckles at the mention of Kenya. Toni began to tell me her story of Pastor Timothy in ....Kenya! Timothy works with Ubabalo Soccer ministry to reach kids through life coaching, soccer and God's Word. Toni was working on a Christmas in Kenya campaign to help raise funds for 2010 Bibles and 2010 soccer balls for Ubabalo Soccer ministry. As we talked and prayed, it became apparent we needed to include Pastor Nathan's Good Hope Church in this Christmas-in-Kenya campaign. Good Hope Church needs Bibles in their native language - Swahili. It is our intent to send 100 Swahili Bibles as a Christmas present. We set a God-sized goal of $23,000 by December 15, 2010 and began fund-raising! In October, we participated in TAIS Craft Faire. This was our first event which yielded a few hundred dollars. I could not have pulled this one off without the help of three wonderful co-workers who helped setup, work the tables and pack up afterwards. On Sunday, November 14, 2010, we are planning a Thanksgiving Reunion Potluck Fundraiser. At this event, friends and family come with their favorite potluck dish. They also bring an amount of money, they would normally spend on a dinner out, as a donation. Throughout the event we will talk of how God has been moving in our lives and in the ministry. We will also have items available for purchase so everyone ca start their Christmas shopping early. Three Ways You Can Help in Our Cause (1) Donate $5, $10, $20 or more online at https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick_button_id=8661954 (2) Donate any amount by Mail. Make checks payable to: ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries 22365 El Toro Road #163 Lake Forest, CA 92630 We will mail you a tax deductible receipt within 7 to 10 days. (3) We are collecting and recycling plastic bottles and aluminum cans. The proceeds from the recycling are used for our fundraiser. Would you consider saving plastic bottles and aluminum cans for the next two months, to RECYCLE WITH PURPOSE? Collect and recycle on your own. Donate the proceeds to us by sending a check payable to: ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries 22365 El Toro Road #163 Lake Forest, CA 92630 Note: Your donation is tax deductible. We will send you a tax deductible receipt within 7 to 10 days. It is my hope you will join me by donating or recycling with purpose to support these two wonderful causes in Kenya. To find out more about Christmas in Kenya project go to our website at http://thinkonitbibledevotions.com/christmasinkenya.aspx. As always your prayers and financial donations are very much appreciated and needed to keep this ministry functioning. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick_button_id=8661954 Is the Bible Hard to Understand? We can help. Try our Study Puzzle. Guided questions help you discover God's Truth on your own. Got the gift of encouragement? Send a delightful, hand crafted greeting card. Looking for an inexpensive gift? Try our Accordian Photo Albums. See what others say about us. There's more than one way to donate. Do you have an extra bible? What about plastic bottles? Use Twitter? Follow us and use #ThinkOnItBible in your tweets. Do you have something to share with us? Contact us. Press Releases , , Sat, 06 Nov 2010 22:18:05 -0400http://archive.aweber.com/thinkonitnews/1wtUS/h/October_ThinkOnIt_Newsletter.htm October Newsletter Includes July through September Updates Dear , This summer flew by. Kids are back in school. We've been equally busy with the ministry. So busy, I haven't written a newsletter since June. I hope you will forgive me. July was all about new product development. We started researching small group leader needs. We also developed a small group leader survey to verify their needs and validate whether our proposed solution had value in their eyes. In August we launched the survey to gather data needed before production of small group leader resources. We also started planning for the annual October Craft Fair. We started making various products for the fair. Hand-crafted My Prayer for You cards, gold embossed Christmas cards featuring a nativity scene, three wise men, and an angel. There are also encouraging words cards featuring suggested Bible verses to encourage your soul. Besides the greeting cards, we also will feature cellphone zipper shoulder bags, children themed pillowcases, Christmas center pieces, gorgeous quilted table runners, cuddly baby quilts, crystal Christmas ornaments. There are reverse quilted placemats with coordinating napkins. A brand new item is offered this year. We are debuting a never before seen luxurious runner for your toilet tank to instantly makeover your bathroom. If you miss the fair, most items will be available via our website. We'll send more information in a future email.- We had fabulous news in September. First was the success of the Women of Faith event at Honda Center in Anahiem, CA. Sixteen lucky winners joined me in our own private suite to watch the event. The women said the best part was having our own private bathroom, so we didn't have to wait in line! Secondly, a dear friend of mine, Toni Garrish, joined our team as our Director of Recycling and Outreach. This allows our ministry to expand further by sending Bible and other aid to those who need it. Toni brings her Christmas in Kenya project which uses proceeds from recycling to support a couple pastors in Kenya. Join us in welcoming Toni! Thirdly, we setup a press release page on our website where you will find all the press releases about our growing ministry. As a reminder, when you shop at http://www.OCCreations.com you not only buy beautiful jewelery at very reasonable prices, but you help our ministry. Just use the coupon code: ThinkOnIt during the purchase process, you receive 10% off your purchase. ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries receives 30% of all sales made using the coupon code: ThinkOnIt. To stay up to date on our video productions, go to Follow Us page and select either YouTube or MetaCafe links: http://thinkonitbibledevotions.com/FollowUs.aspx As always your prayers and financial donations are very much appreciated and needed to keep this ministry functioning. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclickandhosted_button_id=8661954 Is the Bible Hard to Understand? We can help. Try our Participation Puzzle. Guided questions help you discover God's Truth on your own. Got the gift of encouragement? Send a delightful, hand crafted greeting card. Looking for an inexpensive gift? Try our Accordian Photo Albums. See what others say about us. There's more than one way to donate. Do you have an extra bible? What about plastic bottles? Use Twitter? Follow us and use #ThinkOnItBible in your tweets. Do you have something to share with us? Contact us. Press Releases , , Tue, 05 Oct 2010 10:30:40 -0400http://archive.aweber.com/thinkonitnews/1LtCK/h/Join_the_Virtual_Fund_Raiser.htm Virtual Fundraiser We, at ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries, are having a Virtual Fund Raising event at Orange County Creations Jewelry website www.occreations.com Orange County Creations Jewelry Website has been in business since 2004. They specialize in Bead Watches (including SWAP and Chunky SWAP Watches)and many other handcrafted Artisan designed jewelry. ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries Inc will receive 30% of the total sales. In addition, you will pay no taxes or shipping on your purchase. All items are shipped First Class Mail within a few days of placing your order. Our fund raiser will last only two weeks! The end date of our fund raiser is July 31, 2010. So, get shopping early and join the Party! Step 1: Log on to www.occreations.com, shop. Step 2: Use Coupon: ThinkOnIt, get free shipping and pay no taxes. Remember, you will be helping to raise fund for ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries Inc. Orange County Creations accepts all major credit cards, PayPal, personal checks and money orders. Thanks so much for your participation and we hope you have fun! In God's Grace, Elizabeth Founder, ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries, Inc. Check out our Bible Studies Are you a small group leader? Check out our small group resources to help you lead a healthy, balanced small group. Donate Today , , Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:23:06 -0400http://archive.aweber.com/thinkonitnews/27EAG/h/June_2010_ThinkOnIt.htm June Newsletter Includes May and June Updates Dear , May went by fast. Now, it seems June went by equally fast. So while I have a moment during a lunch time, I thought I would jot down a few things to share with you about the ministry. In May we accomplished several things. First we streamlined our content development strategy. What once took hours to format, upload and publish, now takes only a few minutes. This new strategy has increased our visibility in the blog-sphere. The benefit to you is increased frequency of Bible Devotions. I'm happy to report, we are now distributing Daily Bible Devotions again! Secondly, we spent many hours writing new content for our small group leaders tips and new web pages. We revamped the Small Group page to link to FIVE new pages. One new page for each purpose of a small group. This has helped increase traffic to our site by optimizing for additional keyword phrases small group leaders may be searching for. Thirdly, we reviewed our plan for fundraising to help us meet our financial goals this year. We will be trying many new things to encourage donations throughout the year. We redesigned our site to include a Donations page, with improved content around our mission, vision, and what the money is used for. We also added Donate Now buttons in various places on the site and in email communications. We are investigating a couple online fundraising tools, but as of yet have not launched any campaigns. June was equally busy. We reviewed our new Discovery Bible Study physical product, which compliments our free online offering for those who prefer hardcopy. We agreed on a format and a price and expect to launch this product line soon. While the online version is available for free, the hardcopy version will be available for a small fee and it will deliver additional value not contained in the online version. In June we entered into a partnership with http://www.OCCreations.com. They are a local company that makes beautiful jewelery at very reasonable prices. Most pieces can be customized to suit anyone's taste. By using the coupon code: ThinkOnIt during the purchase process, you receive 10% off your purchase. ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries receives 30% of all sales made using the coupon code: ThinkOnIt. To help promote this partnership, we have added a video on our Fellowship in Small Groups page and posted to YouTube, MetaCafe, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. To watch the video go to: http://thinkonitbibledevotions.com/Fellowship_in_Small_Groups.aspx We also created another video for Inductive Bible Study Puzzle. This one targeted at those who are discouraged. This is helping to reach more people through more keyword phrases. To stay up to date on our video productions, go to Follow Us page and select either YouTube or MetaCafe links: http://thinkonitbibledevotions.com/FollowUs.aspx Lastly, we started offering hand-crafted encouragement cards. Ours cards are not only unique from a design perspective, but also provide value in two ways. (1) Each card set offers you suggested Bible verses. As you look up the reference in your Bible, you become more familar with God's Word and your faith is strengthened. (2) Your handwritten Word of God blesses those you send it to. Two purposes in one. Encouraging every one with God's Word. The cards can be ordered from our Ministry in Small Groups page at: http://thinkonitbibledevotions.com/Ministry_in_Small_Groups.aspx We are busy building our inventory of Affirmation Cards, My Prayer for You cards, and Encouragement Cards. All designed to make it easier for you to share God's Word with others. You can expect to see more card offerings in the near future. As always your prayers and financial donations are very much appreciated and needed to keep this ministry functioning. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclickandhosted_button_id=8661954 Is the Bible Hard to Understand? We can help. Try our Participation Puzzle. Guided questions help you discover God's Truth on your own. Check out our Bible Studies Are you a small group leader? Check out our small group resources to help you lead a healthy, balanced small group. Need a bookmark? Try our free printable Christian bookmarks. Do you have something to share with us? Contact us. , , Thu, 01 Jul 2010 13:28:24 -0400http://archive.aweber.com/thinkonitnews/1ulNm/h/June_2010_ThinkOnIt.htm June Newsletter Includes May and June Updates Dear , May went by fast. Now, it seems June went by equally fast. So while I have a moment during a lunch time, I thought I would jot down a few things to share with you about the ministry. In May we accomplished several things. First we streamlined our content development strategy. What once took hours to format, upload and publish, now takes only a few minutes. This new strategy has increased our visibility in the blog-sphere. The benefit to you is increased frequency of Bible Devotions. I'm happy to report, we are now distributing Daily Bible Devotions again! Secondly, we spent many hours writing new content for our small group leaders tips and new web pages. We revamped the Small Group page to link to FIVE new pages. One new page for each purpose of a small group. This has helped increase traffic to our site by optimizing for additional keyword phrases small group leaders may be searching for. Thirdly, we reviewed our plan for fundraising to help us meet our financial goals this year. We will be trying many new things to encourage donations throughout the year. We redesigned our site to include a Donations page, with improved content around our mission, vision, and what the money is used for. We also added Donate Now buttons in various places on the site and in email communications. We are investigating a couple online fundraising tools, but as of yet have not launched any campaigns. June was equally busy. We reviewed our new Discovery Bible Study physical product, which compliments our free online offering for those who prefer hardcopy. We agreed on a format and a price and expect to launch this product line soon. While the online version is available for free, the hardcopy version will be available for a small fee and it will deliver additional value not contained in the online version. In June we entered into a partnership with http://www.OCCreations.com. They are a local company that makes beautiful jewelery at very reasonable prices. Most pieces can be customized to suit anyone's taste. By using the coupon code: ThinkOnIt during the purchase process, you receive 10% off your purchase. ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries receives 30% of all sales made using the coupon code: ThinkOnIt. To help promote this partnership, we have added a video on our Fellowship in Small Groups page and posted to YouTube, MetaCafe, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. To watch the video go to: http://thinkonitbibledevotions.com/Fellowship_in_Small_Groups.aspx We also created another video for Inductive Bible Study Puzzle. This one targeted at those who are discouraged. This is helping to reach more people through more keyword phrases. To stay up to date on our video productions, go to Follow Us page and select either YouTube or MetaCafe links: http://thinkonitbibledevotions.com/FollowUs.aspx Lastly, we started offering hand-crafted encouragement cards. Ours cards are not only unique from a design perspective, but also provide value in two ways. (1) Each card set offers you suggested Bible verses. As you look up the reference in your Bible, you become more familar with God's Word and your faith is strengthened. (2) Your handwritten Word of God blesses those you send it to. Two purposes in one. Encouraging every one with God's Word. The cards can be ordered from our Ministry in Small Groups page at: http://thinkonitbibledevotions.com/Ministry_in_Small_Groups.aspx We are busy building our inventory of Affirmation Cards, My Prayer for You cards, and Encouragement Cards. All designed to make it easier for you to share God's Word with others. You can expect to see more card offerings in the near future. As always your prayers and financial donations are very much appreciated and needed to keep this ministry functioning. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclickandhosted_button_id=8661954 Is the Bible Hard to Understand? We can help. Try our Participation Puzzle. Guided questions help you discover God's Truth on your own. Check out our Bible Studies Are you a small group leader? Check out our small group resources to help you lead a healthy, balanced small group. Need a bookmark? Try our free printable Christian bookmarks. Do you have something to share with us? Contact us. , , Wed, 30 Jun 2010 22:23:54 -0400http://archive.aweber.com/thinkonitnews/1uYyn/h/ThinkOnIt_News_April_Issue.htm Newsletter Dear ThinkOnIt Supporters, In February we changed our strategy regarding the Participation Puzzle. We decided to keep it free to anyone who wants to draw closer to God through the study of His Word. In addition, we will also send out a free Participation Puzzle as a gift for supporting the ministry with any amount. In March, we continued working on Discovery Bible Studies. We have not made them available via subscription yet. As a result, we will conduct a little more user research to ensure the product is providing enough value to the customer. In April, we did some website redesign to improve usability and increase traffic with optimization around "Bible Verses by Topic" keyword phrase. So far the results have been worth it. We are getting higher traffic now than before the change. To see the new page layout, visit Bible Devotions, scroll down to see the new "Bible Verses by Topic" section. Notice the summary devotions link to separate page for that topic. Also in April, we received our Federal approval of our 501(c )(3)application. This means we are now officially recognized as a public charity, retroactive to May 19, 2009. As a result, we are able to accept donations, which are tax deductible to our donors. We are also eligible for non-profit discounts for certain business services, such as our email marketing software and banking. In addition, our organization is now tax exempt from the Federal standpoint. Our next step is to complete the State of California process for tax exempt status. The cost of application is $900. Start praying for income and donations to help cover the cost! We must apply within 27 months of incorporation. By the way, if you know of anyone interested in volunteering to convert some documents to HTML template please let us know. We have about 40 hours worth of work. The work itself is copy/paste/proof read and edit as needed. It's pretty easy but tedious. Send me a note with any referrals by going to Contact Us page. Don't forget, you can follow us on Twitter. Until next month, may God richly bless you as you acknowledge Him in all your ways. In His Mighty Love, Elizabeth Marks Founder, ThinkOnIt Bible Ministries, Inc. Is the Bible Hard to Understand? We can help. Try our Participation Puzzle. Guided questions help you discover God's Truth on your own. Check out our Bible Studies Are you a small group leader? Check out our small group resources to help you lead a healthy, balanced small group. Need a bookmark? Try our free printable Christian bookmarks. Do you have something to share with us? Contact us. , , Mon, 12 Apr 2010 15:52:03 -0400