“This book is amazing!”
A couple weeks ago I was in Ontario at the Word of Life Bible Institute, team teaching with John Cross using the book By This Name. We have been teaching this book to Bible school students there since 2002, helping give them a framework to understand the rest of their studies during their school year.

This year was a bit different for us as teachers as we were using two new evangelism tools. First, the students were reading from the new interactive edition of By This Name, which I have been working on for a few years. The video component is finally complete and the book is getting out into the hands of people who are seeking to reach others with the Gospel message. This was the first time we have taught using this book, and it was fitting that it was at WOLBI, as this is also the very first place that we tested a manuscript of the original By This Name book years ago.

The other new thing for us was that this was the very first time using our new leader’s guide for By This Name and all the accompanying videos. We will share more about these new resources in the near future. Stay tuned!

Here is some of the feedback we heard from the students:

“This book is amazing! I previously had no idea that all of these Old Testament stories were all part of a much larger story, all pointing to Jesus and what he did for me. It has greatly increased my confidence in the Lord and His promises. Thank you.”

“This study took the information I knew about the Bible (and some things I did not know as well) and put it in a way that was clear and logical. It made it easier to sort it out in my mind.”

“Everything I was confused about suddenly clicked into place and I now understand why Jesus died for us.I learned that God truly loves us though we are helpless sinners and he just wants us to believe and trust him.”

“I found it very comforting to go over this material.”

“I am now more aware of others world views and appropriate ways I can reach out to them.”

“I have learned many object lessons and outlines that I will use in the future to better explain the gospel.”

While in Ontario, I got to meet with family and friends, and visited two supporting churches. John and I gave an update to a small group who came out to hear what is happening in GoodSeed and with us. It was really nice to reconnect with these people and meet some new friends.

Ethan turns 7 in a couple weeks. Now in grade 2, he is 36 kg (89 lbs) – the biggest in his class and a few classes above him, too, I think.

Adelaine is 8.5 years old. She is in grade 4 and the smallest in her class, and a few grades below her too.

Ellie is turning into a little lady right before our eyes. Ten years old and in a hurry to be a teenager, she is in grade 5 this year.

Video Project Almost Complete

The By this Name video project that I have been doing on and off for the last couple years is coming to completion. I am in the process of finishing the subtitles for the video and getting them on the DVD. Subtitles are a very tedious job, and thankfully, I’ve had quite a bit of help with them. Some of my co-workers drafted their three teenage boys to come in and over three days they pushed through most of the text entry. This usually involves watching a video clip over and over and over and over and… you get the picture. The video is watched repeatedly in four second increments as you type in the words said, then move on to the next four seconds. Then the text must be cleaned up, with better breaks in text so it can be comfortably read on screen and correctly timed to match what is being said. The screen shot above shows the DVD authoring software with a menu, as well as the subtitle program.

One day as we were working through this task (did I mention it was tedious?), a gentleman from Africa came through our office on a tour. When we showed him what we were doing he pleaded that we do it accurately because it really helps him when he watches videos. We know this to be the case with many others as well, so keep pushing on with the job. Not only can these subtitles be helpful in English, but they can be the basis for future translations and subtitling.

There have been quite a few technical challenges to overcome recently. For example, during this stage of putting the DVD together, we realized that my video monitors were not showing me some problems with the video. A few people were testing the DVD on their HD TVs at home, so I had to go back in and fix quite a few videos.

As I write this, my main video editing computer is once again giving fits. It is an older machine, and always seems to have problems right when I am at a critical stage in production. Please pray that I can complete this job without any further delays or distractions. I am already past the deadline we had set for getting these matched up with the books which are being printed.

Here is a sample from the upcoming book (Complete with subtitles!):

“By this Name” – Chapter 8-A Self-Righteous from GoodSeed on Vimeo.

It’s Summer

This summer seems to be busier than usual, but we are trying to get out and enjoy it too. We have had many bike rides, a camping trip with family in Banff National Park, a trip to Fernie, BC, a new splash park in town, hiking, and a lots of food growing in the greenhouse. Here are a few pics of the fun.

Some feedback:

“I felt it was well done. Explaining the Bible and the Salvation message very clearly. God’s love is in the forefront!”

“The story got my attention right from the start and kept it. The music was uplifting… The lyrics helped to get the message across.”

Ellie enjoying the performance

GoodSeed UK and Europe Trip

As I write this I am finishing up a two-week trip to the United Kingdom and Germany. Sitting in our GoodSeed Europe office in Detmold, Germany, we have had many opportunities to fellowship with believers and introduce people to the evangelism resources that GoodSeed produces.

The trip for me began May 15 with a flight from Calgary to London, then starting the harrowing adventure of driving on the left/wrong side of the road for three hours by hiring a car to get to Cardiff, Wales. There, I joined John and Janice Cross, as well as our UK and Ireland representative, Merv, who joined GoodSeed several months before. In Cardiff, we were doing the last of six TERM seminars that had been going on for weeks across Ireland and Northern Ireland.

TERM Seminar in Cardiff

Cardiff, Wales

TERM Seminar in Cardiff

TERM Seminar in Cardiff

Real fish-n-chips at The Captain’s Wife

Janice, John, Merv, Troy

This is a two lane road.

And so is this.

The view from the right side of car on left side of road

Driving on the left

We left Cardiff and I drove my rental car back to Heathrow airport, hopped on the London tube, and met the others at the very large and modern ExCel exhibition centre in southeast London. This is such a large venue that the tube has two stops, one at each end of the building. We had four days there as exhibitors at the Christian Resource Exposition, representing GoodSeed. Most people that we talked to had never heard of GoodSeed before, and I found it exciting talking to so many people, introducing them to our evangelism resources, and seeing their growing interest and excitement about the opportunities. We gave away many copies of the little booklet, The Story that Matters, one to anyone who would take a moment to talk to us. We were able to connect up with a number of other organizations that work in evangelism and share our tools with them. Usually there were at least two or three of us at the booth at all times and we were almost constantly speaking to someone. Each day, our voices were almost hoarse from all the talking! We hope and pray that many new opportunities will arise from those four busy days.

ExCel Centre

ExCel Centre

The exhibit hall

Explaining GoodSeed

Explaining GoodSeed

Explaining GoodSeed

A Christian hostel in London, the Highbury Centre

with a lovely rose garden

Some days I took the train to ExCel

Merv navigating London traffic.

Dangerously sharing the road

A big engine stop button on a double decker must be very tempting…

Comic Con was also happening at ExCel on our last day

our van picked up a screw leaving the convention

After London, I again hired a car and we went to Colchester for a few days, filming some teaching material (coming soon!) and for some meetings to discuss the future plans for GoodSeed UK and Ireland with Merv. We spent one evening seeing the sights in the beautiful Constable Country (named after a famous British painter, John Constable, 1776-1837). We even had lunch in a restaurant whose building dates back to 1465.

London to Colchester

Not my car, but one of the common dangers

Video shoot

St. Mary at the Walls

Colchester

Colchester Castle

Colchester Castle

This is actually a street

Colchester

Great name

Old Roman wall

Old Roman wall

Constable Country

Constable Country

Constable Country

Constable Country

Dedham

Plenty of thatched roofs still around

Old Roman wall

Green Tunnel

Dedham

The Marlborough Head Inn

The Marlborough Head Inn

1446 = old wood

The Marlborough Head Inn

Pizza

Pizza

Pizza

Poor Mervyn. Stuck with the tourist and his camera, taking photos of pizza

From Colechester, I drove to the Stansted airport, where I was very relieved to drop off my second rental car of the trip. Don’t get me wrong, it was fun driving these little cars on the windy British roads, but I never knew if I was going to lose a mirror. We flew the infamous Ryanair to Germany for meetings with our GoodSeed Europe coworkers, which I also sit on the board for. This office has been running for two years and we are excited about the opportunities that we see here. There is such a huge need for translators and translation coordinators for our books for the many languages that can be represented in just one church, yet alone across all these borders. As we sat discussing and making plans for the future, I was excited by the opportunities and answered prayers we see here.

We also took a 3.5 hour road trip on the autobahn to visit with some representatives of a church here in Germany who are considering doing a translation of our upcoming musical, No Ordinary Story. It was a good meeting, and I hope we can proceed with this and see this evangelistic performance done in many churches here in Germany.

GS Europe planning meetings

GS Europe office

GS Europe office

GS Europe office

Cruising the Autobahn

Meeting for musical

Breakfast

Breakfast

Breakfast cheese…. mmmmmmmm

Detmold gets lots of rain, but things grow so well

not quite square…

Bible verses on the house?

Detmold

Thank you for your prayers for Naomi and myself in our ministry with GoodSeed. It is a privilege to travel and see old friends and meet new ones as we fellowship together and rejoice in our shared relationship with God.

On May 29th we fly home to be with my family again after being away for two weeks. John and Janice have been away since late April.

It will be good to be home.

Troy

A few days ago we were informed that the first shipment of 400,000 French  translations of a booklet titled The Story that Matters, are on their way to France and French Africa, with the majority of the materials heading into the troubled region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. We’ve already heard reports of the impact our materials are having in other parts of Africa, so we are excited to hear how this recent shipment helps the church in the DRC. What a blessing to know that our efforts here in Canada are impacting dear ones all over the world. You too share in the blessing by your partnership with us! Thank you for helping make all this possible!

Here at home, I have added audiobook narration to my list of undertakings. I would appreciate prayer as I will be narrating one of our main evangelism books, By This Name as an audiobook. This is a large book and will involve probably 30+ hours in the studio over a couple weeks. Please pray for good health during the the start of winter here so that I will not get one of my infamous sinus infections as that will make for some strange listening. Also, poor Allan who has to edit the audio and listen to me over and over and over…

Today, Naomi is home looking after sick children. She is thankful she can be available to them as needs be, but also has the flexibility to help out in the office, proofreading, writing for the GoodSeed website and pitching in wherever needed. We are thankful we can serve the Lord in these ways.

Facebook :: www.facebook.com/gstroynaomi

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FOR CANADIANS ONLY — PS: It is not very often that a we can give something back to our supporters as a “thank you” for praying and supporting us, however if you were to go out and hire someone to do what we are about to mention, it would cost between $1,500 and $2,000 to gain this level of advice. Here is what it is.

A short time ago GoodSeed partnered with ADVISORS with Purpose, a service that helps donors integrate biblical stewardship into their Wills and Estates.
As part of our partnership, ADVISORS with Purpose is offering Canadian supporters of GoodSeed a confidential Estate plan. Here is the good news:
This service can be personalized for each supporter; this plan will help supporters align their Will with their faith, values and desires.
This service is entirely free.
ADVISORS with Purpose does not sell anything.
None of your personal financial information is shared with us or anyone else.
Why is this needful? Well, if you are like me, you have probably thought that:
I’m not wealthy; only the wealthy need to have an Estate plan
I won’t pay taxes after death
My Will is up-to-date, so I don’t need a plan
If I give to charity, I won’t have anything to leave to my family.
Rather awkwardly, I’ve learned all of these are misconceptions. Perhaps you share my thinking.

Tax laws are complicated, and to clear any confusion, you are invited to a 45-minute phone seminar. In this “conference” call, you will receive Estate and Will planning information. This phone seminar will help you understand how to provide for your family in your Will, how to reduce or remove the taxes you will pay on an Estate, and how you can continue supporting ministries of your choice.  This is not a fundraising call and no appeal will be made. Should you like further help after the call, an Estate-planning specialist will be available to talk with you privately. Once again, ADVISORS with Purpose does not sell products; they only provide information so you can make wise choices regarding your Will and Estate.

Phone Seminar
Date:   November 27, 2014
Time:  12:00 pm Pacific Time
1:00 pm Mountain Time
3:00 pm Eastern Time
Duration: 45 minutes

If you would like to participate in this call, please RSVP to ADVISORS with Purpose: email: register@advisorswithpurpose.ca or phone: 1-866-336-3315.

To know more about ADVISORS with Purpose here is a 3-minute video clip http://www.goodseed.com/planned-giving-canada.html.  Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.