Our podcasts, what’s been happening

Hi guys and gals,

Well I thought I’d just give you a quick update/ testimony about what’s been happening in the world of the podcast. (I’m going to start this stereotypically) Firstly, for those of you who don’t know me- my name is Anthony. I’m the PA coordinator for Ablaze service. But for the purpose of this infomercial/ teaching- you can call me Joyce Meyer. For a long time, we’ve been doing the odd recording- often inconsistently and of extremely poor quality. Just being frank (my parents should’ve named me Frank- I’m a very frank person). I recently saw the need to do some more consistent recording, for the sake of those who were serving. It was a humble moment for myself, coming to terms with the fact that on a Friday- I could not possibly pay my utmost attention to the sermon whilst serving/ arriving straight from work.

This is how it really started. I began the recordings as a tool for my personal spiritual growth. Because I already had them, there was little effort in posting them online. I then began doing so, and would sometimes put a sermon recording on a webpage. That week’s team was then notified, via email, of the post. However, this was inconvenient as it required a little bit of effort on the consumer’s end. And let’s face it- in a modern world, we expect technology to do things for us.

I then pondered the thought of putting the recordings on iTunes. However, in order to do so- there were many more steps involved, and strict regulations applicable to quality and content. One weekend I remember spending 12 hours doing research and making necessary ammendments so we could get onto iTunes. After weighing the pros and cons (time required vs spiritual growth of others) I surely gave in. Instead of it taking me 10 minutes to put online, it now takes 30-45 depending on the quality & length of the recording. Instead of 1 step, there’s now about 5.

Is it worth it? Well this ironically fits into our current series- Mission in Our Own Backyard. Without any publicity within our church whatsoever, since it’s formation on June 18, we’ve had over 4500 views and 700 downloads. Our global influence now consists of 14 countries [revised] (descending) Australia, New Caledonia, USA, Malaysia, Zambia, Singapore, France, India, Tunisia, Turkey, Kuwait, Algeria, Jamaica and Canada

Seeing Malaysia and Turkey on the list was so encouraging. After traveling to Malaysia last year, I could tell that there was a lot of silent tension between Christians and the (majority of) Muslims. I really hope we can provide tools for churches and individuals to develop further in depth with Jesus Christ- where it may be hard to do so.

Simply, yes. It’s worth every minute of my time & more. In the last few weeks, we have been a featured podcast on iTunes’ “religion & spirituality” page, and have remained #1 for about 2 weeks.

For those of you who haven’t subscribed, I strongly encourage you to do so. ALL sessions from Ablaze Camp 2011: Radical are online- and have proven very popular (please not file size is 40mb or less for these episodes). It’s so easy to listen to on the bus, in your quiet time, or instead of listening to music while studying. It’s thought provoking and God invoking. All you need to do is go to iTunes on your PC, Mac, or iOS device and search “Ablaze”. Our podcast is named “Ablaze Sermon Recordings” by “Ablaze Ministries International”. I try to compress as much as I can, and most files are under 15mb. You don’t have to think about it, it does everything for you, and will sync with your devices upon plugin. It will appear inside the podcast section of your iPod app on your device, and Bob’s your uncle. The coming of iOS5 wont even require you to plug into your computer to sync.

This link should take you straight there: http://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/ablaze-sermon-recordings/id445205246?ls=1

If downloading from a device, note you can only download individual episodes at once, not subscribe. If you have a non-Apple device, please contact me and I’ll help you out.

Please keep this endeavor of ours in prayer, that we would continue to influence countries where it’s unsafe for people to express their faith, and for spiritual growth where it is.
Think global, act local.

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