RECENT UPDATES
January 2023.
- We are getting ready for another mission trip to the Philippines in a month or so. We have an array of tasks awaiting us and many young people looking forward to seeing us. In addition to working with IFL, we have at least two additional places to visit and assist brothers and sisters in other provinces. It will be a busy trip.
- It is a new year for encouraging parents and children to watch the CreationStudyHelps YouTube channel that has summaries of key parts of the biblical creation book and cell phone application that we developed. Please encourage others to watch the channel. The newer series of chalk talks has received some nice comments and is oriented to get young people to think about a biblical world view in a fresh way.
March 2021 Publish Announcement. The paper and eBook versions of A Study of God’s Creation Filled With Purpose, Direction, and Consequence (high school and adult version) were published in 2020. eBook and hardcopies continue to be available. Now we have two Apps (both for cell phones with Android operating systems). The first was named the Creation Study and is available on Google Play. The second (just published in March 2021) is named Creation Study Helps. It has the resource, links to videos (and a couple complete videos), links to a Bible, special images that support the resource, and several other features. It is larger but a fuller resource. To take full advantage of all the features, one needs an internet connection. Both Apps are free on the Google Play Store, which is the mechanism we can use to spread to resource to people in developing or needy nations. Each App can be passed from cell phone to cell phone using Bluetooth. This site has the link (look for the hand emblem on several pages, including the DOWNLOADABLE COURSES page). More information on the new book and eBook versions is provided by links on this site.
2020-2021. The Beard’s arrived back in the US from the Philippines in late 2019. It took six months to finish the edit process for the biblical creation course, then publish the book, eBook, and free Android App. Trips in the US in the middle of 2020 occurred to discuss the resource with ministries that have contacts with indigenous missionaries in several nations, including India, Philippines, and Central America.
2019. Teacher training and orientation on the Philippine printed version of the biblical creation course occurred in several provinces from July through September. A one=week training session on the biblical creation curriculum course occurred at a Manila school for 30 attendees.
GENERAL WELCOME AND SITE CONTENT
Welcome. Thank you for visiting our site. It is here to encourage, exhort, and inspire visitors. We are Bible- and Christian-based in function, including testifying and showing that the earth and the universe did not happen by accident but by the design and command of God. We unashamedly declare the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are inspirational blogs and courses that have drawn people, so feel free to visit them. Our materials are generally free unless noted otherwise. Some of the courses are downloadable. We do not keep personal information or mailing lists for anything downloaded. A good deal of our work is in the mission field, where we provide various educational helps in the form of training and teaching. We invite you to look at reports and review more About Us.
Inspirational Blogs. We use a group of blogs about the heavens, the earth, and people to tell short stories with images. The things around us provide many parables and lessons. We invite you to read them. Usually we two to four new posts each month.
Courses. One of our primary purposes is to provide educational helps to those who are needy and need biblically-based materials. Some versions of the courses are downloadable without charge, unless otherwise specified, and passable to others as long as the copyright information is carried with the material. Material downloaded freely can be passed without charge unless restrictions are stated. Currently we have two courses available:
(1) The Biblical Creation Study (Bible study and a second edition that is a course for high school reading level and above).
(a) The bible study course addresses some key questions about fossils, the Ice Age, dinosaurs, and the origin of the universe. Comparisons to this world view are made with the current popular evolutionary or naturalistic conjecture for the origin of the universe, which depends on chance occurrences over deep time, self organization of energy, and life from non-life with no external influence. As near as we can tell, there have been over 3000 downloads of the free course from our site or passed to others (which is permitted).
(b) A second expanded and re-edited edition of the course was published in 2020 for UK, CA, US, AU/NZ for adult or high school and adult level. The eBook and hard copy is for sale by the author at Amazon, Target, and various other retailers. The cell phone APPs for Android cell phones are free and can be downloaded from Google Play. Put “Creation Study” or “Creation Study Helps” in the Google Play Store APPs search window to get either version. As mentioned above, the Creation Study is only the course and does not require internet. The second APP (Creation Study Helps) includes the same course as well as supporting videos (links or the actual video), downloadable images, a Bible, and other features. Full features on the Creation Study Helps version requires internet connection.
(c) An elementary version is being developed that will be available in the future. It will be the third edition of the resource.
(2) Astronomical Observing from a Biblical View. AOBV teaches, as we have done in several countries, how to observe the heavens with eyes and the assistance of small optical instruments. AOBV is a practical course but is underpinned with a biblical viewpoint of the heavens, which are often addressed in the Bible. The delight of observing the created heavens is practical and obtainable if the course skills are mastered.
Note: Training and presentations are available on all the courses described above. If interested, send us a request via the <Contact Us> form
Prayer and Purpose. As we tell our Christian friends, please keep us in prayer as we move forward. Go under the About Us menu if you are unfamiliar with us and want to know more about the ministry foundation and motivation. We are home-based and all volunteer but we aim to assist others when we can. Our real desire is to have hundreds of families and individuals, who are committed Christians, doing similar things. There is much work to do. If you are interested in training, supporting what we do, or learning how to do similar things yourself, please read the Support Us section.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY OF ACTIVITY
A quick summary of the last few years of activity to the present are listed below. For more detail, some reports from recent missionary trips are in the MINISTRY REPORTS section
2017-2018
Roland Beard married Faylene Lawson in late June 2017. Their first mission trip together to IFL in the Philippines began in August 2017. A second mission trip occurred from December 2017 through March 2018. A third mission trip occurred in August through October 2018. Recent reports from the 2018 mission trips are posted that give a good flavor for the work that is ongoing. The majority of the work involves the development and training for a biblical creation curriculum, training people to observe the heavens, and personally encouraging friends in the Philippines.
General 2012-2016 Activity:
Overseas work was dominated by the Philippine Project and the publishing of the creation study. There were multiple mission trips during these five years to the Institute of Foundational Learning (founding school/ministry is about an hour SE of Manila). Supplies were delivered, staff/teachers were trained, and children were encouraged at this ministry or its outreach stations. Training for Astronomical Observing from a Biblical View was provided. The last 2016 mission trip ended in March. Linda Beard, who had cancer during this whole period, died and went to be with the Lord in early August.
Another ministry (Kings Outreach in Hanford California) was assisted during two extended trips during 2013 and 2014.
General 2011-2010 Activity
Most activity during the year these two years was divided between the development of Astronomical Observing from a Biblical View (AOBV), site work to introduce stories/sketches, assistance to All Nations, work with the Chinese Church in Charlottesville, and new work with Institute for Foundational Learning (IFL) in the Philippines.
General 2009-2008 Activity:
1. Astronomical Observing with a Biblical View (AOBV) was developed into its first edition form. People were trained in both the US and Uganda during this period with the first edition.
2. The Uganda Project dominated both 2008 and 2009. The Uganda project included sending a container to a village and ministry operated by NEEPU. Trips involved the distribution of materials in the container but we also conducted various types of educational training.
