Dear Partner,

"Mission Accomplished!" It came right down to the final day of 2005 but we were able to finish editing, converting, and uploading all of our Teaching Series in audio format to the website. Our primary "instruction from heaven" this past year was to make all of the teachings available on the Internet "free like water." It is obvious that the Lord is taking Gary Carpenter Ministries (GCM) from being primarily a "cassette tape" ministry to a "media" ministry. This completes phase one of that transition.

For many people, having the audio files at the website means … NO MORE WAITING! Instead of it taking weeks or months before their cassette tapes arrive in the mail, they can listen to any teaching series they want … any time they want … either by simply clicking and listening online, or by downloading the files to their own computer. They can then listen at their computer or copy the files to a variety of portable listening devices such as the new IPod audio players. Let me share with you a couple of testimonies we have already received from people who are utilizing the new technology. From a lady who lives in the Northeastern USA:

"I have been diligently listening to your Finance series teachings. I hope to have listened to all of them before I arrive in Houston [for the Kingdom Finance Conference beginning Jan 29th] … thank God for the power of the Internet and those handy little iPod Nano's with FM transmitters attached! I'm able to listen while I drive every day. I can sense the growth that is happening in my spirit. I am getting more bold and strong every day. I also am being shone how much more I need to be doing. Please pray for me that I mortify the flesh and I spend more time with my Teacher [the Holy Spirit]."

Here is another one from a painting subcontractor:

"Hello everyone! I just want to say how fantastically wonderful it has been to have been directed to your website and teachings by a contractor that brought me in on a job. The job was a blessing, but literally insignificant in comparison to the value that I have experienced by beginning to listen to your teachings, and subsequently, by your suggestion, to Pastor Dave's teachings. The direction that you guys have pointed me in is a direct, ignoramus answer to specific prayer on my part to really, actually begin to walk in the fullness that the Lord wants and has for me. THANK AND GOD BLESS YOU!! I wanted to express that to your entire team and also let you know that I have a small suggestion. I just received in the mail your list of teaching tapes, etc. I had gotten on your tape ministry list when I first checked out your site, but before I found the MP3 teachings. When I found them, I used my Christmas money to buy an inexpensive little MP3 player so I could listen while I paint (I am a faux finisher). I then called and left a message to be taken off of the list to save resources. I think the fact that you make the teachings available on MP3 is just the cat's pajamas! My suggestion is that you make known the MP3 availability every place that we have contact with the tape/mail ministry - namely, the letter I just got (it didn't mention anywhere that they were all available immediately in MP3), the phone recording, the website, etc. I know that many people still don't have a computer, but for those of us that do, we should be encouraged to get them that way. I can devour up to five or six teachings a day when I am working with this format. I can also spread them quickly to others when I burn them to cd. (I downloaded them all onto my hard drive). I hope this helps. Thank you again for your invaluable teaching and coaching. God Bless!"

We were under such time-pressure to finish getting all of the files uploaded to the website by the first of the year, there was no time left to re-write the letters, edit the Tape Catalogue, and so forth at the same time. But we are in the process of doing all of his suggestions now; this letter being one of the first ways we are letting everybody know that if you have access to the Internet … anywhere in the world … you no longer have to wait to receive the teachings. They are available "free like water" at the website. Just go to http://www.garycarpenter.org and click on the MEDIA link.

Of course, not everybody has a computer and even for some that do, there will still be special cases where they will need to receive the teachings in cassette tape form. For example:

"Dear Gary and Sue, I would like to order the Finance Series cassette tapes. I've listened to them online but would like my husband, who is a truck driver also, to hear them as well as he travels along. As I listened to your teachings I realized that although yours is a ministry that deals with financial matters, primarily it is a ministry to point people toward the heart of God, and really, the financial part seemed very secondary compared with your obvious love of the Lord. Your teaching resonated in my spirit. It was exactly what I was feeling in my heart, but was lacking understanding of what was truly going on there. I ate the teachings, and absorbed them, and prayed and sought God in a way I hadn't for years."

She discovered our secret. Good fishermen use good bait. The financial teachings are true and very worthwhile, but those teachings are actually the "bait" we use to draw people into a closer, one-on-one, intimate fellowship with God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This was the wisdom of Christ from the beginning when He said,

Mat 4:18-19   And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Just because we have made the lessons available on the Internet "free like water" does not mean it is free to keep them there. The audio streaming portion of this operation is quite expensive and we thank God for each and every one of you who have heard the voice of the Holy Spirit urging you to co-labor with us in this worldwide "fishing trip" for the Master.

Sue and I love you and appreciate you. We thank God for your generous and giving heart. God bless you!

Your friend and co-laborer,

Gary Carpenter

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