Good day to you all out the in cyberspace. For those on the other side of the globe, you all are finishing yet another glorious day in Him while we are just beginning a new day that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has made for us to rejoice and be glad in it. For it is written:

“This is the day which the Lord has made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
Psalms 118:24 (NASU)

I am especially excited with today as it is the first Sunday after the relaunch for the DAT Ministries website. While it is the second Sunday in July and not the first (I was on holiday for the first Sunday), it is fitting that this is the new beginning of the second half of 2018. This Sunday also marks a new beginning for DAT Ministries. With the revamped website comes a host of new features and content which I will be covering as time progresses here in this blog section. For today and fitting for the relaunch of the DAT Ministries website, I am launching a new teaching series that will be called Sunday’s Knowledge Nugget.

So for today, let us dive into the lesson for this day. If you have your Bible and I hope that you do, open it to Jeremiah chapter 4, verse 3. If you do not have a Bible, there is a great website that has over 150 versions of the Bible called Bible Gateway.

I am reading from the NET Bible.

“Yes, the Lord has this to say
to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:
‘Like a farmer breaking up hard unplowed ground,
you must break your rebellious will and make a new beginning…‘”
Jeremiah 4:3a (The NET Bible)

While we understand that this passage is where the prophet Jeremiah is predicting punishment (circa 620 B.C.), the first half of this verse applies directly to DAT Ministries up to the relaunch of the website this month. You see, several years ago around mid-2015, I had installed liveSite as the Content Management System (CMS) for the website. It is a great CMS but quite proprietary with limited external resources. I kept telling myself that I would eventually master it, although in my heart I felt the uneasy tug that I wouldn’t and that a change was needed after about six months of using liveSite. I fought that change for over two years and in a way, since the tug was most likely from God Himself and not my own thoughts, I was in-fact harboring the rebellious will that Jeremiah prophesied about where I needed to break ground for a new beginning.

Well, I finally surrendered to God Almighty and relaunched DAT Ministries under a proven CMS called WordPress. Despite my hesitancy and concern of “starting over” with yet another CMS, the fourth to-date, within hours my fears were squelched and I knew immediately that God had been right all along. Imagine that…

[chuckling is heard from the congregation]

Let me be perfectly clear, starting out on a new venture, in this case a new CMS for the ministry’s website that has been around for nineteen (19) years, is neither easy nor a comforting thought. And even though I had felt the tug of God for many, many months, I was still hesitant to make the switch. Now for those that are not familiar with building a website and what it means to change the CMS platform, look at it this way. You have a perfectly good split-level home home of 1,500 square feet but you know that you need more rooms and storage space for your expanding family. Changing the CMS platform, especially when the new CMS cannot “read” the old CMS’s structure and files, is like having to tear down the existing split-level home in order to build a new two-story home of 3500 square feet. You see, expansion of the old home was not practical so the road forward would lead through a lot of unknowns. And who likes unknowns? This is where trusting in God takes your faith to the next level.

Well the home was torn down and I am now in the process of rebuilding a home that will be much larger with the capability for more expansion(s) in the future. Things may be a mess around here for some time to come as I rebuild the various sections and add back in the content. While I could have saved some time in the rebuilding process by hiring an outside “builder” to help with the transition, I was able to save a sizable sum of money by not hiring outside help. A savings that will allow those funds to be spent on greater needs in the Christian community like outreach. Keep in mind that DAT Ministries neither accepts donations nor is the ministry an IRS Section 501(c)(3) organization. I chose this approach nineteen years ago when the ministry was launched so that DAT Ministries would never be accused of mishandling donations. Instead, community outreach of worldwide scope (after all this is the Internet), solid Full Gospel Biblical teachings and most importantly, answering questions and praying for our website visitors have been the sole focus of DAT Ministries.

One last item that I wanted to mention in this early blog after our relaunch is that planning will begin soon for our celebration next year (2019 A.D.) as that will be our 20th year in eMinistry. I will be putting together a collection of historical items from the past and I want to invite all of you to feel free to submit items for possible inclusion. You may have a testimony to tell of how DAT Ministries affected your life, have a story to share about an interaction with Pastor Dave, etc. Of course, nothing confidential will be published without the express written permission of all parties involved. So as soon as I have the “Contact Us” form fully functioning, and I will be sure to announce that on that webpage, please feel free to make one or more submissions.

That will be a wrap for today. You all have been great. I especially appreciate the eMails from folks that either let me know how this ministry has helped them or sent me ideas on content that I could publish. With that, I leave you by speaking this blessing over you:

“I pray that the Lord
will bless and protect you,
and that he will show you mercy
and kindness.
May the Lord be good to you
and give you peace.”
Numbers 6:24-26 (CEV)

Pastor Dave