The service is updated automatically by pulling in RSS feeds from 34 different news sources. More will be added as we find appropriate sites.

The source of the infogram did not say where the data came from. I found it strange that the Quran was not included, or other books of the world’s major religions. Be that as it may, the list makes for an interesting insight into our times.

We’re not surprised by the first most read book, the Bible. It is by far the most translated, most printed, most distributed of all. A tragedy that it is not the most heeded and lived.

Our mission at Forthright Press is to call people to that book as God’s revelation of what he has done in Christ to bring us to himself.

If you go to the Freed-Hardeman University Lectureship, be sure to stop by and visit Barbara Anne at the Forthright Press stand in the exhibit area.

Forthright.net has some of the best writers in the church today! I keep coming back to read what’s new for encouragement and challenge and insight, and I am never disappointed.

We’re grateful for the good and faithful writers on the magazine site, as well as our other sites.

We’re also thankful the Lord is using our joint efforts to encourage others and strengthen them in their faith.

Such use that the Lord makes of this ministry is also humbling. How gracious is God who first wins us to him in order to fold us into his eternal project to save the lost and whisk as many as possible up to his side!

We hope you’ll encourage our writers with your comments.

Here are some of our major offerings:

Forthright Magazine — Where it all started, and now with daily articles on Biblical and Christian topics by an amazing group of columnists.

BrotherhoodNews.com — Reports from around the world about Christians and congregations engaged in the Lord’s work and facing the challenges of a lost world.

The Fellowship Room — Internet gurus call it a group blog; we call it the place to hang out, where grace abounds.

Believing Prayer — The site for prayers, sometimes in verse form, prayer requests, and teaching on prayer.

The Christian Hub — Links galore, updated constantly, give you access to a huge collection of Christian content written by faithful brothers and sisters.

Quick Bible Truths — The gospel in short bursts of 140-character tweets, great for sharing with friends or church bulletin fillers.

Christian Poets — In this wide space poets share their work on themes wonderful and mundane (along with Cloudburst Poetry).

UPLift/Your Day to Shine — Positive Christian attitudes put into words provide real motivation for real people.

WiseBible — A site that starts with the Biblical text determines meaning and makes application to today’s Christian living.

A Few Minutes — This one-off Bible study presents what one must do to be saved. How could we not speak a good word to those outside of Christ?

There you have them. All for free. And, as we said, we offer books in print as well. Check ‘em all out!

What direction we’ll take with the site is uncertain, but we’ll work to make sure it’s a good option for you.

We take this opportunity also to pray that this year will be a blessed one in every way, and especially for doing the will of God.

For historical interest, in part, and still valid is the Thanksgiving prayer we offered four years ago, shortly after the presidential elections of 2008.

Also, let’s remember to pray for those for whom Thanksgiving brings painful memories and what must be a mixture of feelings.

Finally, a couple of poems for the mood: True Thanksgiving and this from 2008:

All This

The oil of blessing, root of praise,
The seasoning salt, the honeyed sweet,
The secret of full and joyous days,
The sums that make our life complete,
The light and beauty of every phrase,
Transformer of the darkest mood –
All this, and more, is gratitude.

Here at Forthright Press, we have a good selection for just the right person, whether it be biblical studies, starter books in faith, books for some point of the journey, like marriage or retirement, or motivation for your spiritual journey.

So avoid the rush and the crush of Black Friday and send an email or make a phone call, and we’ll get you your present in the mail. Meanwhile, you can enjoy the holidays.

Why do so many get excluded? Here’s why:

1. Many church websites have no RSS feed. The number of sites that do is growing but still small. Is there some unspoken law among us that you can’t do a church site that others can pick up and share across the web? Many sites are cobbled together. Thought seems to be given to getting it set up, little or none about how to share it.
2. Many church sites aren’t updated regularly, so they’re stale. Many are maintained by busy preachers whose schedules understandably keep them in more urgent tasks. (One wonders if the pile of abandoned sites is due to frequent preacher moves.) If a site isn’t updated, minimally, once a week, you can forget it.
3. Many church sites have restricted content, i.e., content, such as announcements and prayer lists, most concerns the local congregation. This is good and well, depending on what the website’s objectives are, but doesn’t really help those who are looking for edifying material.

Churches should pay attention to their websites. They’re as important, if not more so, than the sign out front. Make it shareable, by using RSS feed, and keep it updated frequently with content of interest to all.

Help this despairing man.

The tendency, in the lack of information, is to speculate. Obviously, something was wrong in some way, but to imagine causes leads one into fruitless directions.

In response to a judicious comment on Facebook by a sister in Christ, I said, “Prayer is the best [option] for those of us far away and out of the loop.”

And it is as a call to prayer that we publish such stories about saints who become subjects of police investigations, like the case above. There is much that we will never know and that we have no business knowing.

Such reports ought to generate in every disciple a feeling of compassion and an urge, quickly actioned, to pray.