Global BibleCast and Podcast "Quiet Time" Project
When the Bible was new, in
synagogue and early church it was heard, not read (except by scholars).
The invention of print changed the way we read the Bible, private
devotional reading became possible and eventually normal. In the 21st
century this trend is reversing. Many people today do not really read,
they scan newspapers, and webpages. Meanwhile many listen to radio
programs on MP3 players (little gizmos with earphones people use while
jogging or on the bus - iPod is the best known brand, so a "podcast" is
a broadcast downloaded from the Internet - the BBC give
a good description.).
Plans:
We plan to enable the podcast generation to "read the Bible"
their way. We will provide audio recordings of Bible "chunks" with 3
"things to think about, pray about and do". This added material will be
open-ended, so hearers work out the meaning of the Bible for
themselves. These recordings will be freely available to anyone on the
web. (Churches could also download and put them on tape for people with
bad eyesight too!)
We plan to start with a world-first world-wide BibleCast
broadcast live on the web (Labour Weekend 2005). This will achieve
several things:
- publicity for the project –interesting
mainstream as well as Christian Media
- a good time for participants – coffee, ice-cream etc.,
Bible related displays, etc.
- a permanent resource where
people can listen to the Bible 24/7 – we can recycle and stream the
recorded readings
- some chapters will have been
well read first time and the recordings can be used directly for the
podcast Bible project
- we will also have identified and recruited readers
for the podcast Bible project
Needs:
- Venue and Technical infrastructure –
Carey Baptist College have offered their premises and fast internet
connection for Labour Weekend, Tim Page and Tim Bulkeley will loan the
equipment needed.
- Permission to use a good translation
– the Bible Society
in New Zealand have given us permission to use the
Contemporary English Version.
- A webdesigner who can give
us a good look especially one that will appeal to 20somethings and/or
early adopters (and Information Architect?)
- A web broadcast service – a
commercial grade service advertises prices from US$4.13 per Gigabyte
downloaded this reduces for higher usage.
A website to host the Podcast
Bible – for up to 80 Gigabytes per month of downloads (the entire Bible
is less than 2 Gigabytes) costs US$100 per year.
This page was prepared by Tim Bulkeley,
2005.
- The planning team includes:
- Mark Barnard
- Jodie Kilpatrick
- Peter Olds
- Doug Vause
-