Tape and Printed Page Ministry
In 1959, Fred and Doris Jenkins began attending the Bible Center in search of good Bible teaching. When they heard Joe Temple, they were amazed at his insight into the Word of God and his ability to apply it to practical, everyday situations, and they began taking every opportunity to hear him teach.
In 1962, in the fall of the year, Fred noticed three individuals sitting on the front row with tape recorders, recording the messages as Joe preached them. He observed this for several weeks when the Lord began to prompt him to look into what they were doing. Fred realized that this was really great teaching, and if these people could record the messages, maybe they could also be put into print. Fred knew nothing of tapes, electronics or printing, but the Lord gave him an idea, and the Tape and Printed page ministry was about to be born.
Having been inspired by Habakkuk, chapter 2, verse 2, which reads, "And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.", Fred approached Joe with the idea of putting the sermons in print. Then, he went to the three people who had been recording to find out why they were doing it. What he found was that a young serviceman stationed at Dyess Air Force Base, Jim Foster, was recording the lessons for further study on his own. Jim later went into the ministry and was ordained at the Bible Center. Roberta Dixon was recording them for her maid to listen to at a later date, and Kay Priest was recording them for her personal use.
Since this was in the days before cassette recorders, reel-to-reel recorders were being used. These recorders were expensive, and not too many people had them, but Fred managed to purchase a recorder and began recording with the others. The first series recorded was the Genesis study, which is still available on tape and in print.
From this beginning, Fred sought out help for the realization of his dream, the reaching out with the printed page to all the country. Eudora Hawkins was both editor and printer, using the mimeograph machine with which she also ran the church bulletin. Minnie Hammer was the first transcriber, and the first message to be put into print was "Salvation by Faith" from Romans, chapter 4, verses 1-16. That message was dated March 31, 1963, and another door was opened for the ministry of the Bible Center and Joe Temple.
Also at that time, H. Don and Lucille Rodgers, who were the owners of Stenograph Institute, a court-reporting school, became interested in the work because of the study of the book of Revelation, which Joe began June 16, 1963. They offered the facilities of their school, printing 200 copies of each of the forty-two lessons on the book of Revelation. The work became more than they could handle and since H. Don needed a new Multilith printing machine, he offered the one he had to the church. Others at the church, under Fred's direction, took over the press and the printing responsibilities, and the work grew rapidly from those first printings of 200 to approximately 3,000 copies being mailed weekly at one time.
From those first tapes, word began to spread and requests came in for copies. Roberta, Kay, and Fred made the copies from recorder to recorder and spent many hours in this way, so Fred got more than he bargained for! Not only did he have the Printed Page Ministry that he had sought, but also a tape ministry that grew by leaps and bounds.
The number of people involved grew. The messages were taped, transcribed, edited, proofed, finish-typed, and printed. Then there was a need for workers to staple the lessons together and more workers to bundle the lessons for mailing, and someone to mail the bulk mailing. The work continues, and the Lord continues to expand the outreach of Abilene Bible Church.
Because of this ministry, which is now called Living Bible Studies, the missionary outreach became much greater than anyone had foreseen. Instead of one missionary on the field, God put several through the use of these tools. Jim and Joni Foster of the fellowship moved to New England, carrying the tapes and printed page, and began Bible classes there. Jim and Joanna Palacas went out from the church to Colorado and began using the tapes for Bible classes there. Bill Damewood took the tapes to rural areas of Missouri, and Boyce and Alice McQuay took the lessons to Siloam Springs, Arkansas, where they reached the faculty and students of John Brown University with the ministry of the Word of God.
At that time, 1,300 sermons were in circulation on tape and ll,000 printed sermons were distributed that first year of the ministry.
During that year, central heating was added in the building and seventy-five additional seats were added to the sanctuary. Three more Sunday School rooms were provided as well as a Sunday School assembly room.
In regard to the radio ministry, a new daily program was added in Aztec, New Mexico, on station KHAP, the "Station of the Four Corners" which reached into Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. This program has been a blessing to missionaries among the Navaho Indians in the area.
The emergence of the tape ministry has made possible the enlargement of the radio ministry by way of the duplication of tapes, making them readily available to as many stations as possible. There are always several stations carrying the "Lest We Forget" program, with eight being the usual number.
So God had enlarged the coasts and blessed the ministries in a remarkable way. Another door was opened, and the outreach of the Bible Center had grown in ways that even Joe Temple had not foreseen.
The prayer for expansion for a television ministry was not answered that year, but as we shall see, the answer was only delayed. God's timing is perfect, and He was not through with this verse yet in the life of Joe Temple and the Bible Center. | |
Abilene Bible Church
3125 Oldham Lane
Abilene, Texas 79602
325-677-8653
(at Loop 322 & Potosi Road Exit)
Sunday School 9:30 AM*
Worship Service 10:35 AM*
Children's Church 11:15 AM
Evening Study 6:00 p.m.
Church Office Hours 9 AM
to 5 PM
*Nursery is provided for
these times.
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