Celebrating and Anticipating with Outloud Bible

We celebrate a huge milestone: the entire Bible has been read out loud, and we pause to honor what God has done over the last three and a half years. We share how this ministry started, why public Scripture reading still matters, and where we believe God is leading Outloud Bible next.
• finishing the full Bible read aloud and why we choose celebration
• Psalm 119:13 as the long-term goal verse
• our 2019 financial gap and learning to trust Matthew 6:33
• the pandemic shutdown and the call to 1 Timothy 4:13
• why the public reading of Scripture often gets minimized
• how delivery, preparation, and clarity help Scripture “speak for itself”
• the human voice and emotional texture inside the biblical authors
• growth milestones including downloads, countries reached, and new translations
• Outloud Bible Experiences for churches and echo discipleship guides
• next goals including more live events, video, and reading plans
• how to pray for our team, open doors, integrity, and provision

Please visit outloudbible.com/support to contribute to the work of Outloud Bible in this new phase.

At outloudbible.com, you can find free resources to help you study the Bible. And while you’re there, send us a message to say hi, or start a conversation about having us at your church or event. 

If Outloud Bible has been a valuable part of your understanding of the Bible, please consider supporting the ministry by visiting outloudbible.com.

Transcript

Celebrating A Finished Bible Read

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey, this is the Outloud Bible Project Podcast, and I'm Mike, and here's Kelsey.

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hey, so I am so excited, Michael. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

The entire Bible has been read out loud on the Outloud Bible Project Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Yeah, that's exciting. And uh and before we move on to the next phase and the next season, I just wanted to take an episode here to kind of look back at where we came from and celebrate because we so easily just want to move on to the next thing. I think it's important to celebrate, just to stop and and celebrate what God has done and where we've been.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

And so, regardless of how many of these 400 some odd episodes you have personally listened to, you're listening now, and we're so grateful. So thank you for uh listening, for being part of this, for letting God speak to you through his spoken word. It is a blessing and honestly the the best part of our life to be able to present the word in this way. And uh and I'm just grateful for those who have been listening for any length of time to along the last three and a half years.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Yeah. So through this process, I've had a verse on at the top of the spreadsheet that I keep, you know, I keep track of the episode titles and the numbers and everything. And I have a verse at the top of that spreadsheet, it's Psalm 119.13, and it says this I have recited aloud all the regulations you've given us. I thought, oh, that's cool for that psalmist. That would be that would be a cool goal to have here for Out Loud Bible. So that's been at the top as a goal verse this whole time. So now it's finally uh a time to celebrate that yes, I have recited aloud all the regulations you've given us. Um and and that first episode was October 11th, 2022. And so here we are three and a half years later, and we've covered all 1,189 chapters of the Bible. We've covered over 600,000 words of the Bible. And uh, and so I think that's I think it's worth celebrating. I'm so thankful for you listening, however many of those chapters

The Goal Verse And The Numbers

SPEAKER_01 2:05

or words you've heard. I'm so thankful that you've been part of it.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

So today, as a celebration of completing the the work that it was to read aloud all of the regulations of the Word of God, uh, we are kind of looking back at where we've come from and looking ahead of where we're headed. Because Mike, you've said it before, we're saying it again today. Just because you finished the Bible this one time doesn't mean that this ministry is done, doesn't mean that we're finished here at Outloud Bible. So we have some plans for moving forward and what things are gonna look like, but we also want to just take some time as part of this celebration to look back at where we've been, where we started, how God kind of initiated this entire thing. So, Mike, to start off, how did Outloud Bible Project get started?

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Yeah, I think to answer that, we I should probably go back to January 2019, which is again before this podcast started, uh, where there was a time where I was at that time full-time doing improv comedy as a ministry, and it had always provided for our family, not extravagantly, but you know, we had our needs met, and that was good. And until January 2019, when we're looking at the calendar, and there was a gap of three months where we didn't have any shows. We maybe had one show, but it was not like anything like it it we were used to seeing, and there was just this big gap in our finances. We could see there would be some money kind of regularly after that, but during this gap of three months, we're like, I don't I don't see how we're gonna pay rent, I don't see how we're gonna pay our bills. There's nothing we could do, nothing I could personally do, you or I, Kelsey, that we could like go get more shows that was out of our control. And so we're just left like, what do we do about this? And through praying and and reading the Bible, God directed me to Matthew 6.33, part of the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus is talking about worry, which is like, well, that's where we're at. And Jesus says in Matthew, Matthew 6.33, to seek first the kingdom of God and live righteously,

A Money Gap And Real Faith

SPEAKER_01 4:10

and he will give all of these things to you, all of these things referring to your daily needs. What do we eat, what do we drink, what do we wear, those sort of things. And and it was that moment that the Holy Spirit just kind of pressed on my heart. It's like, do you believe this? Like, why don't you just take Jesus at his word? And we're like, okay, well, and and so we're like, well, what does seeking the kingdom look like then? What what do we do about that? Like, I can read it, and I wanted to.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

For the record, we had no idea. We just didn't know what we were doing, but we did our best. We prayed and then we followed and obeyed as best as we could, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:46

And so and so that ended up looking like for us in that season. Uh, I I went to my pastor and I was like, hey, uh, I've got three months here that I'm not out for work at all. I'll like I'll just be your guy, you know, I'll be your right-hand dude. Well, what do you what can we get done? And and we were leading a Bible study in our home. We poured more into those people. Kelsey, you you discipled some um other young women at that that time, even, and we saw some young women get led to Christ and and and be saved even in that season, which is amazing. And it was uh it wasn't at the end, but it wasn't at the beginning, somewhere in the middle there of that gap of of time just trying to do these kingdom things, which by the way, we're not raising income. I'm I mentioned what leading a Bible study, volunteering at my church, and like discipling some girls, like that's that that there was no income there. That was not like we're gonna do this to make money and to make ends meet. There was no ends being met in these things. Um but in the middle of that time, we get a call from some friends. They didn't know our situation. Uh, we hadn't told them where we're at and what we're doing, but they just said, hey, uh our work had has some, now I don't understand how businesses uh and jobs work. Never had one of those kinds of jobs, but they're like, our job is giving us money, like a bonus for, I don't know, stock 401 JK, I don't know, whatever things. And and we prayed, God, what do you want us to do with this extra money we weren't expecting? And we believe God told us to give it to the Dominees. So we're sending you a check. And they sent us a check, and it was for the exact amount of money that we had kind of measured as the deficit for that that time. It was uh it was close to $9,000. That was our expenses for those three months. And we're like, wow, look at that. If you seek the kingdom first, you prioritize seeking God's kingdom and you you live righteously, Jesus really does take care of everything you need. And that kind of changed our life. Like, not the $9,000 part that was spent and and gone, but the whole idea of like, wait, we can read what the Bible says and actually do it. Take Jesus at his word, and the promises that he makes are for us too. So, and that changed how we saw the Bible. We had always been Christians, we had always been reading the Bible and studying the Bible, but to actually take it literally like this and just trust him, take him at his word was new territory for us. Apparently, though, that was just practice for the next year. Remember, that was January through March of 2019, and as we know, March of 2020, the pandemic shut everything down. We all went into quarantine. I don't know what's happening in your neck of the woods, but here in New Hampshire, we had something called COVID.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Uh and so a pandemic that maybe you heard of.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Maybe you heard of it. At least we had it. Uh and and then improv comedy actor was not one of those uh, what do you call them, jobs essential workers that they were they were letting work. Uh I I was not an essential worker, so uh so our ministry just shut down, as did many other entertainment and and other style industries. And so I would like to say that in that time we remembered, oh, remember Matthew 633, let's seek the kingdom first and God will provide for us, just like he did. I would like to say that we had that faith to jump right back into that, but we we did not. We we freaked out, you know, we we were worried, not worried, frankly, and uh and floundered for a bit, wondering what to do now, and tried various things, and those just weren't working. And again, God was like, You remember Matthew 6,

Pandemic Shutdown And A New Calling

SPEAKER_01 8:25

33? I'm like, oh right, yeah. But that was like a temporary thing. That was when we could see three months into the future and see that there would be some income again. This is now indefinite, God. You so this is different. I I don't know, I tried to convince him. Um, but we're like, okay, so again, we had to ask ourselves the question: what does seeking the kingdom look like? What does it seem to be?

SPEAKER_00 8:45

More importantly, we had to pray and ask God, what does it look like right now?

SPEAKER_01 8:48

Yeah, and so at that then at that point, God led me to to 1 Timothy 413, and Paul's telling Timothy to devote himself to three things encouraging the believers, sometimes that's called preaching in some translations, but uh encouraging the believers, teaching, and to the public reading of scripture. And I felt like that was oh, that I think that's for me. Like that's that's gonna be what seeking the kingdom looks like now. Not that I am a pastor or became a pastor, but those activities of encouraging the believers, teaching, public reading of scripture, I just felt very passionate about doing that. So that's what I did. I I read the Bible, I felt God said, yeah, read the Bible and do it with a microphone in front of your face and teach and encourage the believers, just like Timothy did, maybe without the microphone. And so then the podcast launched October 2022. And uh the more I read out loud through the podcast, the more I recognized a problem that I believe needed to be addressed and still needs to be addressed, which is why we're still doing this and still continuing. Uh, because we see a few times in the Bible when the Bible was read out loud in public, like the public reading of scripture, we see Moses reading it before they entered the Promised Land. Uh King Josiah read it after a long period of just drifting spiritually, the nation was just drifting away from God. And again, Ezra read the Bible, and by the Bible we mean, you know, like the Torah, the book of the law that they had, after the Jews returned from uh exile and they they rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem in the book of Nehemiah. And every time we see the Bible being read out loud in the Bible, the people were moved. Like it was this big move of God in people's hearts, and it wasn't just emotional, but it was it was moving to action, action to actually do what the Bible says and what God had commanded them to do, and hearts were drawn back to God.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

So, Mike, why is this not happening today? This is what we keep coming back to, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:49

It's like isolated incidents in the Bible. What about now? I don't know, we've thought about this a lot. Here's the problem I see. I I think the Bible is not given a fair chance to speak for itself.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

Hmm. You're gonna have to explain what you mean by that.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Okay. The Bible isn't given a fair chance to speak for itself. Here's what I'm thinking preaching, we have, right? If we're going preaching, teaching, and the public reading of scripture, preaching we have, teaching we have, we see that, encouraging the believers. That's all great. That's important. And and there are many great men and women who are doing that very well. But the public reading of scripture is usually the one of those three things that that Timothy was called to do, and I believe we're also called to do. Uh it's one of those things that gets left behind. Uh public reading of scripture. And not that there aren't wonderful people doing it very well, it's just it's just very few and far between, especially compared to encouragement and and and teaching and preaching. If it is given time, the public reading of scripture, where do we see it? We see it in church, right? But when we see the scripture reading done in church, it may be like the pastor, he might quote a passage as part of a sermon, or he he might even read the passage before the sermon, saying, here's what we're gonna be talking about today. But I this has been my experience in what I've seen, and I'm not pointing out any particular church or pastor in in particular. Um, you might be able to relate to this as well, but the pastor doesn't seem to be as prepared or passionate as he about the scripture reading as he is about the sermon part, right? The scripture reading part, he might stamp stumble over it a little bit like I just did, uh, might be kind of monotone, and and then when it and then he comes to life when it's like, all right, well, now let's talk about what Jesus is saying. What Jesus is saying is this. And then he goes and he just gets very animated about the preaching part.

Why Scripture Is Not Heard Well

SPEAKER_01 12:35

And again, this isn't like a dig against pastors. They have a very difficult job to teach the word, but this tends to be a trend we've noticed that the the time spent preparing and delivering the Bible reading, it's significantly less than preparing and delivering a message. And we also see it in church that it might not be the pastor reading the Bible, it might be a scripture reading time done by, I don't know, Deacon Jim or whatever, you know, fill in the blank, whatever deacon or elder may be doing this. But and it always seems like he was assigned that passage that morning, like it was a surprise. Like he and the the pastor bump in the hallway and the pastor says, Hey, hey, Deacon Jim, can you read uh Psalm 150 today as part of our call to worship or part of our scripture reading time? Oh, sure. And then and then Deacon Jim, he has like, I don't know, maybe 10 minutes to prepare if he prepares it all, and then he just kind of stumbles through it and and reads it in the way that we so often unfortunately hear the Bible being read. So we hear it, we hear it in church, but I I again I'm trying to make the point that it it's not given a fair chance to speak for itself.

SPEAKER_00 13:35

Yeah. Or we'll hear it in the midst of a worship session, a worship uh time with praise and music, and there's an instrumental bridge, so the worship leader or uh vocalist will read a verse that may connect with the song, and that's nice, and that's yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

I'm all about reading the Bible.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Because they're artistic performers, it may even be done well, but how much are we engaging with scripture when it's used to punctuate the point of a song? It's like the scripture is there to support the lyrics as opposed to the other way around.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Right. We do know the song was inspired by this scripture, right? And again, nothing against music or against or against reading the Bible in a worship set, but uh we we also see if we're going down this track, let's just bear with me just a little bit more here. We also see the Bible being read in audio Bible apps or in the audio Bible features of apps. Um, again, it it's a great way to get people to get the Bible into people's hands and ears as they go about their day. So nothing wrong with that in and of itself. But I I've listened to a lot of what's out there as audio Bibles, and I I hear the Bible being read, it's kind of hard to explain. I it's being read in a way that I think people just expect the Bible to be read. You know what I mean? Like with this kind of monotony or a cadence, and it's often I think it's often touted as as trying to be reverent, which I know, like by all means, let's be reverent, let's let's revere the word of God, or like solemn, but just like solemn for solemn's sake, or like that's what that's what the Bible is supposed to sound like. But that doesn't really help people understand the Bible or connect with what's being communicated by the Bible, and it's easy just to, I don't know, disconnect yourself from what's being said when it's like, yep, that's the Bible. And I don't necessarily understand what is being said, but I but I I have done my Bible listening today, you know, and and it's easy to just kind of check it off the list and not actually do something about it.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

And you know this is what you're listening to when you can put it in the background while you're doing something else and it doesn't make you think, or when you get through it and you're like, Yep, I listened to the Bible today, but you couldn't go back and say anything that you heard or anything that you learned. You couldn't rem you couldn't share with someone else what the Bible says based on what you heard being read at that moment. And so you know that this is happening where the Bible is being read, but it's being read in a way that loses its human connection, loses the reality of it being a living, active word of God. And it's it's just in this cadence of what's expected to maybe feel like we're being respectful of this ancient text, but then it just feels like an ancient text that is disconnected from our lives.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

It's interesting we're having this conversation right now because at the time of this recording, just last week, there was a big nationwide event here in the United States of America Reads the Bible. And uh it involved probably like 500 different readers. Uh, you had I don't know, pastors and some actors and some just common people, some ministry leaders, all sorts of people reading the Bible. They they took a chunk of it, read the Bible, and uh from Genesis to Revelation, it took all week. And uh again, I'm glad that happened. I I am glad to celebrate the fact that our nation put the Bible on full display and and put it on stage and read it from cover to cover. I think that's only valuable. And I and I'm glad we're in a nation that that that prioritized that. So I don't want to take away from that, but I I was disappointed by how much of the reading was is frankly rather flat and and uninteresting and maybe just not memorable. You know, like a you hear a section and like you were saying, well, what did I read? Or what did that mean? I don't honestly I don't know. It kind of kind of came in one ear and out the other, and and I'm not particularly uh not knocking any particular readers, um, but I I believe that a reader, a Bible reader, should work to help the listener understand and lean into what's being read. Some might disagree and say, well, it's the Holy Spirit's job to help you understand the Bible. And yes, that's true. But again, if I'm trying to make the point that the Bible isn't given a fair chance to speak for itself, then I have to point out that if if they're not careful, a reader's delivery can add distractions or by lack of preparation or stumbles or or or just weird choices about it, or or they could remove emotion and remove the urgency and therefore kind of remove the understanding from reading the Bible. So I I'm really an advocate here for letting the Bible speak for itself, but aided by a reader who has put in the effort to understand the Bible, that passage, him or herself. Like you're not gonna help anyone else understand it if you don't understand it. And then to to really study, well, what did what was the intention of this? Who was who was speaking and who were they speaking to, and what was going on in in the meantime when this was being written and and therefore read to the listener. So um I I think that this is uh an area I'm trying to address.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

And keeping in mind, too, Mike, that the word of God is, yes, the inspired word of God.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

But he had it written through people, people who had their own perspective, people who had their own experiences, people who infused their humanity in the writing as God inspired them. Yeah. Right. And so these were not robots, these were not just blank-faced, unemotive people writing with their hand wiggling across a sheet of paper as they don't even understand what's coming out of them. They're just kind of some puppet for the Holy Spirit to write. No, they were human beings that were writing out of their humanity, writing to connect with humanity, to connect humanity to their creator. God was using human beings to write his word. And and my contention is with often the way we hear scripture read is it's so disconnected from humanity because we want it to be some ethereal word of God thing. And in doing so, we we disconnect it from the here's the thing: the only reason we even have the Bible is because God wants you to understand who he is. God wants you to know him. And so when we are reading it in this way that disconnects the humanity from it, it's it's doing a disservice to God's intention behind giving it to us in the first place.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

And God could have zapped a stone tablet or a piece of papyrus or a book with his words, and it's in his voice, I guess, and it's all the same, but he didn't choose to do it that way. He he used individuals, humans, over the course of thousands of years, over multiple regions and continents, and that brings him more glory, frankly, and it just more credibility to the to the text, I think. And and those people, like you said, there there is a humanity about the Bible. Not in that it's fallible because humans are fallible, uh, but we can trust that the Holy Spirit guided the scripture to be exactly what God wanted to say. But because God delights in involving humans in his plans and communicating his word to his world, he also allowed the individual writers' humanity to flavor, to to kind of give the the human emotion and urgency behind it. You can see it when you read David's Psalms. David, just the Psalms in and of themselves. We see David wrote some, and and he's a pretty emotional guy, you know, and and he's a warrior, and you can see this warrior fighting spirit, and you can see this emotional, like, oh God, what are you doing to me? Sort of humanity behind the psalms. Moses even wrote a psalm, but his is frankly looks like someone from um like law school writing a psalm. And ASAF was a psalmist, and he was he was kind of more heavy metal than David ever was. And so, and so he's like a lot more like, hey, God, attack my enemies and uh, you know, drag them to the ground. And Peter, Peter writes letters, but he's the same Peter that we read about in the gospels. He's pretty in your face and he's gonna say stuff and doesn't really care what you think about it, you know. Paul, Paul is he puts together a highly rational argument that that uh you can follow in this logical progression, but also leaning in a little bit to make you understand. comfortable when it's necessary.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

And so and even among Paul's letters, those those churches with whom he had a deep relationship, the tone and the the is different. The intensity is different than the relation than the churches he wrote to with whom he didn't have a relationship. They didn't know him. So he was a little bit nicer. Right. Yeah. Like the there's just there's humanity in it. Every epistle of Paul doesn't sound the same because it's the same writer or because it's from the Holy Spirit, much less every book of the Bible written by different authors.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

Yeah. And so I this is something that I care very much about to to put a lot of effort into just give the Bible the space to let it speak for itself with as much as we can understand it, the intent and the urgency and the emotions of the original authors. And it's not bringing the Bible to life. The Bible's already alive. It's just let's just let it out of its cage and let it do what it's intended to do.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

Okay. So that's where Outloud Bible started and kind of our why behind why we're so passionate about this ministry, Mike, but how has Outloud Bible grown since it started?

SPEAKER_01 22:59

Yeah, so we started with two episodes per week. That was I I was like that's as much as I can do right now. I was it was I was very depressed very very unmotivated but I trying to be obedient. All right I'll do two episodes a week. But since then it's interesting growth and there's a lot of growth to talk about but growth also means pruning uh you you prune away things that may even be good and and that's what God does for us. And then I think we have to prune our own things. So actually in that time we also um pruned away and we stopped our coaching program The Grove I mentioned because we've in some of the earlier episodes we talked about that and um and we've since stopped that coaching program to be able to give more time and effort to this podcast an Outlaw Bible project. We also stopped our other podcast that we had started Next Best Yes and we've stopped that again to don't to kind of put all of our podcast energy into one thing. Since we started we also got permission to use the new English translation as the official translation for our podcasts. We started with the World English Bible back in the day uh just because it was free.

SPEAKER_00 24:01

Just because it was it was public domain and it wasn't KJVs.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

It was easier to read than the King James version and still didn't need anyone's permission to use it. So that's what we did for a while but then we got permission to use the new English translation which which I think has been easier. I'm always up for getting new permissions uh in the future maybe we'll find another thing to read um we also added the Living Out Loud episode on Fridays with you, Kelsey.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

Well yeah and you shared our testimony at the beginning of this conversation Mike and and that really is what drove the Living Out Loud episodes of we're not just going to listen to the word of God and not do anything with it in the same way that that the Holy Spirit

The Humanity Inside God’s Word

SPEAKER_00 24:40

pricked you of do you believe that Jesus said what he said in Matthew 633? Then are you going to live like it's true? And that has guided our personal lives and and you wanted to infuse this ministry with that kind of um energy as well. So that's where the Living Out Loud episodes came from.

SPEAKER_01 24:56

Yeah. And then we went from those two Bible reading episodes per week to four episodes of reading the Bible per week to fit the the studies that have shown that four times a week in the Bible is when you start to see a difference in your life that the Bible really starts to make a difference in your attitudes and your emotions and your behaviors really positive Christ-like differences being made with four engagements with the Bible per week. And so we thought well we can certainly help with that. And so that uh with a Living Out Loud makes five episodes a week of the podcast which is where we're at now. We've also added daily segments on Word Radio. We've got five episodes a week on Word Radio which is across the Seacoast region of New England and frankly looking to add more radio airtime and other stations uh as we continue to grow but we've really enjoyed our partnership with Word Radio. So if you're in the Seacoast region, check out Word Radio, find the station that that comes across where you where you live and work and uh you can catch some Outloud Bible through there. We also, this was really exciting, we got permission for the New Living Translation to be the official translation of our Out Loud Bible experiences, which is another thing that we started since we uh since the podcast has has launched. We were not going to start Out Loud Bible experiences without the permission of specifically I wanted the New Living Translation because it was made to be read out loud. And while we don't have their permission on the podcast yet they did grant us permission to go live with their translation and do anything in the Bible that we wanted to do with the New Living Translation. And so we started Out Loud Bible Experiences which are live performances of scripture for churches and events, conferences and and it was very important for us to make them free for churches. And so we were able to personalize these public readings of scripture for the church to kind of fit the the church's sermon series or or whatever they've been studying to maybe kick off a new series and give ever get everyone the same page about what the Bible says and where they're going to be going or to celebrate that's been fun too after uh uh doing a series uh of some book of the Bible or or section then we were able to come celebrate that with one evening or a Sunday of reading that scripture all at once hear it in its full context hear it with the the emotion and the passion and the urgency that's embedded in it and really help people understand and uh and reconnect with the Bible in that way. So uh in Outloud Bible experiences we covered Ecclesiastes we covered the second half of the book of John uh we call it John Part two that's uh Passion Week and Easter uh we covered much of the book of Matthew through Jesus's sermons and his teachings and his parables uh we covered the story of Joseph which is a fun narrative story the Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5 through 7 makes a really great 20 minutes it's just it's a quick read but really impactful. We covered 1 Timothy 2 Timothy and Titus in this way and we were also able to offer echo discipleship guides. I've mentioned that on the podcast multiple times uh where we can take what was read and go and actually do what it says through these discipleship guides which kind of help kind of apply these sections of scripture throughout the every day for a week and really start to see the Bible make a difference in that way. So well that so that I I'm really excited about the Outlawed Bible experiences. I I believe that that uh we we certainly intend to do more of those and we've been able to do them locally where where we are and uh look forward to traveling uh out to to reach more churches and more regions with the public reading of scripture in this way. We also published three books. We were talking that fairly recently uh published three books in this time uh a series of three books that take a look at those hard times that we go through uh and recognizing how God works on our heart in the difficult places and we we share our our testimony like we shared earlier we go into more in depth about that and and how we can draw comfort from scripture and through what God has done in the lives of Moses and Joshua and Nehemiah and how we can see God work in our hearts. So uh wow that was that was how we've seen growth in just the past three and a half years with Outloud Bible project.

SPEAKER_00 29:08

Yeah and where are things now?

SPEAKER_01 29:11

Now the podcast uh has seen over 40,000 downloads we've seen downloads in 128 countries I didn't even know there were that many countries so that was kind of surprising to me. I don't know if we invented some since then I'm not sure um also Outloud Bible project frankly isn't a project anymore it was it was kind of called the Outloud Bible project podcast because like well how about we do this project we'll we'll read the Bible and we might as well set the goal for reading it all the way through and that's how the podcast started but now that quote project is over and now uh I'm uh in by way of of an announcement we're no longer Outloud Bible project podcast we're just the Outloud Bible podcast in in association with our ministry Outloud Bible and so uh we're releasing a a new logo to reflect this Outloud Bible podcast and and it's a slightly new name so uh I'm gonna have to retrain my brain here to to call it the Outloud Bible podcast every time we introduce it. Um but yeah we're now Out Loud Bible. The project part I believe is done and we're

How Outloud Bible Has Grown

SPEAKER_01 30:15

moving on as Outloud Bible.

SPEAKER_00 30:17

And where are we moving to Mike?

SPEAKER_01 30:19

So yeah the the uh by way of the podcast we're gonna continue reading the Bible. Like I said we're not done we're gonna continue reading the Bible out loud in our easy to understand way. And this upcoming season we're gonna focus on reading the New Testament. We'll talk more about that in the next episode that comes up um next week but we're gonna start by reading through the New Testament which I know if you know me you know I love the Old Testament and it was it was hard to not just go like all right let's just go to the Old Testament but I think there's a lot to learn and apply from the New Testament.

SPEAKER_00 30:47

Yeah like to the extent that when Mike told me yeah I think I'm gonna focus on the New Testament I was like are you feeling okay?

SPEAKER_01 30:52

Are you sure?

SPEAKER_00 30:53

Have you read that before I didn't know you knew that was part of the Bible.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

It's it's pretty great. We should read it um yeah and and looking forward we're we're setting some more goals and I since we're you know kind of a community here talking about Outloud Bible uh I want to share some of these goals with you. I we're looking to add at this point in 2026 add 12 more live events out loud bible experiences um for churches and other events and so if you're listening now and you're like ah man I I really think that my church or my group would love hearing the Bible this way or yeah we go through the Bible we're going through this certain book of the Bible would you would you reach out through outloudbible.com reach out and let me know um and even even if you're not local to where we are in New England we would love to make it work to be able to come to your church or your event and share the Bible in this way. And so we're looking to add 12 more events and if you want to be one of those 12 would you reach out we'd love to work with you that way we're also going to be adding video content um and recording the Bible being read as a podcast uh as a video as well so we can just reach more people uh video is just such a powerful channel that I I think would be we would be wise to tap into that and reach more people that way. So we're gonna be we're we're kind of working on renovating our room here as a studio to be able to record more video. I'm excited to share that with you. With that we can also add uh U version reading plans and be able to reach that market. That that frankly there's a lot of people who engage with the Bible that way and I think we can have something to share that way in reading the Bible out loud again with the use of video to be able to help people plot a plan that helps them really engage with the Bible in that way. And there's some more ways that we're working on uh helping people hear the Bible out loud in this way. I would say it's a little too early to name them now so I'll let them be fun announcements uh a little further down the road. Uh we haven't uh have had enough to discuss so far today. Uh so but some really exciting things that we're looking forward to in the future and and all with a loose enough grip that you know is like we can make our plans but the Lord determines our steps. So we're gonna do both of those things the best we can. We're gonna make our plans the best we can uh best we understand but not lean on our on our understanding and let God determine exactly where those steps go.

SPEAKER_00 33:06

I love that and I'm totally on board for the ride. Mike how can people pray for this ministry?

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Yes that would be the biggest thing right now if if you're you're still with us here and and and wanting to know okay how can how can we be part of this would you pray here's the things that are on our mind first of all we're we're in a preliminary prayer phase of of asking God to bring us the right people to form and grow a team. Right now it's not anything that Kelsey and I can't handle on our own but I feel like there's more growth here and uh and more opportunities that are we don't want to burn ourselves out uh if we get to those phases. So um so we're just asking God to start bringing the right people to partner with us and and help kind of shoulder the load of of Out Loud Bible and and some of the projects that we're taking on. So praying for the right kind of people. Also praying for open doors with churches and other ministry partners um and reaching more people that way. Also pray for continued integrity for us as as we do ministry and whenever you do ministry you have a target on your back Satan looks to try to dismantle things and kill things in their young phases and work behind the scenes and I I with humility can can say that we have conducted so far with with integrity and living righteously as we seek the kingdom like it says um but as we move on we we we do pray for continued integrity uh and accountability as we as we do this ministry because I I I don't ever want to think that well we've got this because then I think that's when we're at our weakest. And uh and and praying for God's continued provision as we seek the kingdom work first. Frankly um when some people will ask us sometimes oh do you do this full time and I can say yep we do this full time and we give our full time to this of course it's it's not always with the uh the full time pay that people I think are asking with that. And so we do always just uh pray for God to provide we're gonna seek the kingdom first we're gonna live righteously and trust that he provides and he provides so generously through his people. I think that's that's how God provides it's through the church and and through his people and gets to spread a blessing that way. So I I got a list here of our regular supporters these are these are the people who have donated uh on a monthly basis to support Out Loud Bible and so I just want to thank them by name I'm still keeping them confidential here but uh with initials I I want to I thank uh Tim C Doug D Christy B uh John V and John H Millie S Laura M Kim D Linda D Mike N Joanne J Stacy D Lori C Steve S Leah J Jen M and Kevin Kevin I I don't have a Kevin uh David David H. Uh if your name is Kevin and you want to you want to support maybe that was prophetic maybe maybe there's a Kevin right now oh no that was me I need to start I don't know uh but thank you thank you to all those people and and there are many others who have given one time gifts to this project and and we've experienced God's generosity through you so thank you so much. Also thankful for uh the people who have reached out with encouragement uh

What’s Next Plus Prayer And Support

SPEAKER_01 36:20

we we got a a a piece of fan mail through our podcast and I want to share it with you. It's anonymous so I don't know who this is but they say Mike and Kelsey this has been a tremendous help for me to hear the good news of the Bible read out loud and I thank you. Your readings, explanations and comments have filled a void that I'm ashamed has taken nearly 76 years to fill but today I feel blessed to have been able to experience this. Well I'm I'm thankful that this has had such a great impact on you and your relationship with God. I will say on behalf of of of everyone like that there's no shame to to be falling in love with the Bible again or maybe for the first time even advanced in years is uh it's a perfect time to start um just filling in those gaps maybe then and so I'm thankful that this has been able to be a part of that and um I'm thankful for you reaching out. So before we wrap this up I I do want to say at the end of this I I have a a gift for you uh an opportunity to to receive a gift and so um I want to talk about that. Before we do though I I want to say if you're listening to this and you recognize the power of the spoken word of God to reach people's hearts in a way that's unlike reading it for yourself or listening to someone else talk about it. Or if you connected with the the the mission and the vision that that kind of the passion behind this this ministry and and what we're looking to accomplish in the world and elevate the word of God where it belongs and and giving it space to speak for itself or or maybe you want to just see be and be a part of more people like we heard from one fan who is experiencing the word of God in a fresh new way and you want more of that would you consider giving to Outloud Bible? The giving page on OutloudBible.com allows you to give monthly or one time. So if your budget allows a monthly donation uh that helps us plan out like a few months ahead so we can schedule live events and and live experiences and other events. Or of course if it if it's a one time gift then then that's that's such an encouragement to us as well. And we're super thankful. Here's our gift that we want to give in return uh for the month of May here the May 2026 uh we're gonna offer a free book trilogy our our our trilogy of three books that we just released this year we're gonna sign them and send them to you uh if if you give any one-time donation of $100 or more or or set up a monthly donation of $50 or more we're gonna send you a signed book trilogy. I hope that blesses you and and there's uh so many um great lessons and stories in those books that I I think are going to be an encouragement to you as well. So we'd love to make that our gift to you uh again any one time donation of $100 or more or a monthly donation of $50 or more if you set that up in the month of May here then we're gonna send those books out to you free of charge free shipping free everything and uh and as just our thank you to you. Thank you so much for for being a part of this ministry and and being a part of where we're headed. We got got great goals and we'll we'll give them to God and let him take the reins and just I don't know buckle up it's gonna it's gonna get crazy when when God is given the space to do what he wants to do in our lives. So in conclusion here I love to read since that's kind of what we do here read uh from the Bible Colossians one nine through twelve and this is our prayer for you this is this so we've not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you and we ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding and then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit and all the while you'll grow as you learn to know God better and better. And we also pray that you'll be strengthened with all his glorious power so that you'll have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy always thanking the Father and he's enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people who live in the light. That's our prayer for you. I pray that you are encouraged by that and by the continued reading of the Word of God. Thank you so much for joining me here. Kelsey thank you also for being my partner in this ministry and in this life and I love you I would not want to do this any other way with anyone else. So I love you and I'm so thankful that we get to do this together. Well thanks so much for joining us here and this has been Outloud Bible podcast out loud Bible podcast. I'm gonna go practice that we'll see you next time