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Volume II, Issue 1

www.midwestapologetics.org

Welcome to the monthly Midwest Apologetics newsletter.  Each issue is designed to keep you informed on the latest news concerning the ministry.

A New Year

This newsletter marks our first issue of our second year of ministry.  As we anticipate all that God has in store for us in the new year we wanted to take a minute to look back on our first year of ministry.

We began in April 2005 with a goal of training believers how to defend their faith and attempting to lead unbelievers to place their faith in Christ.  To accomplish these goals we started a website that is continuing to grow on a regular basis.  In just its first eight months the website received over 115,000 hits from more than 5,000 visits representing people from 22 nations and five continents.  We have received several kind comments concerning the contents and design the site.  Also, we have just added a new search engine to the site utilizing the Picosearch engine.  This will make it a little easier to find information on our site.

Tim had opportunities to speak on a variety of issues in churches and schools.  These venues represented Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois.  These four states happen to be our target area for ministry, although we would be more than willing to go elsewhere.   

Perhaps the biggest personal news for us was that Josh was married in August to his high school sweetheart.  He began attending Emmaus Bible College (Dubuque, IA) in the fall and has been spending his Christmas break writing philosophical material for the website.

We do not know what 2006 will bring.  We do know that as long as we remain faithful to the Lord that He will honor that commitment in one way or another.  We are currently working on a couple of major projects to be announced in the near future.  We hope that the Lord will continue to use us to edify the Church and reach the lost. 

Latest News

I spent a great deal of time in December writing a research paper critiquing old earth arguments against a young earth.  I focused only on theological and biblical arguments rather than delving into scientific arguments.  This paper (rough draft) is currently available on the website (see The Futility of Old Earth Arguments).  After revising it a bit, I am planning to submit it to a few conservative theological journals for publication, as I believe it provides important information on this highly controversial subject.  I’m not sure what will come of it but if you have the time, please read it and let me know what you think.   

Recently, I finished reading all of the science textbooks for school.  This should allow me to focus a little more on aspects of the ministry.

Reviews

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (movie review)

The Word Faith Controversy by Robert M. Bowman, Jr.

Be prepared to answer questions concerning the upcoming movie, The Da Vinci Code, starring Tom Hanks.  Here is our list of articles on that subject.

The Paradoxical Nature of The Da Vinci Code

Breaking Da Vinci's Code

The Truth Behind The Da Vinci Code

Cracking Da Vinci's Code

Prayer Requests

Please pray for the following items this month:

-         The sale of Tim’s old house

-         Tim’s upcoming trip with 15 – 20 students to spend a week working at the Creation Museum (please pray that the students will be blessed as they strive to be a blessing to others).  This will be from March 17^th through the 24^th.

As always, if you have any questions, comment, concerns, corrections, ideas, etc., please email us and let us know.  Also, thank you for your prayers.  Please keep us in your prayers throughout this month.