Dear friends,

Earlier this summer I had the privilege of speaking at the Minnesota Conference Camp Meeting on the campus of Maplewood Academy. I met two sisters there, Christie and Jennifer, who told me how the Lord had led them into the truth, and how AudioVerse played a part in it. They have given permission to share their story with you.

A Question at a Funeral

In 2013, just before Christmas, Christie and Jennifer lost their father, Lawrence. A routine hip surgery gave way to complications he never recovered from. The family was close and the loss was crushing.

They had been raised with strong Christian roots: a grandmother who gave them deep spiritual foundations, and a lifetime in the Lutheran church. But after their father died, one question would not let Christie rest: “Where was her dad now? Was he happy? Was he in pain?” At the funeral she listened as their pastor described him already in heaven, looking down on them. Something about it unsettled her. “I was so lost and so beside myself,” Christie recalls.

The man God would use had been in the family's life for years. Jimmy Hansen, an Adventist police officer in Akeley, Minnesota, first met Lawrence in his garden; a shared love of old John Deere tractors grew into close friendship. Long before, Jimmy had quietly promised the Lord that everyone in Akeley would have a chance to hear Bible truth. He had tried to share once with Christie, years earlier, but she was not ready. “You probably retained one percent,” he admits.

One Sermon, Then Twenty-Three More

After Lawrence passed, the timing changed. Knowing Christie was struggling, Jimmy made a simple suggestion: “Try AudioVerse.”

She had never heard of it. She worked a data-entry job with no phone at her desk, so she slipped on some headphones, opened the app, and searched. One title stopped her: “What Happens When I Die?” by Pastor Kameron DeVasher.

“I've never heard this before,” she remembers thinking. “He was taking me everywhere, from Genesis to Revelation and everything in between.” He answered the question that had haunted her since the funeral. “It's got to be true, because he's giving it to me straight from Scripture!” She listened again. And again. “If he's telling me the truth on this topic about death, what else don't I know?”

That message turned out to be one in a 23-part series called Keys of Revelation. Christie started at the beginning and went through the whole thing over and over. “I almost had it memorized!” She burned copies onto CDs and gave the full series to each of her four sisters that Christmas. The one most impacted was Jennifer, who found in it the comfort that their father was at rest, not suffering, not watching his grieving daughters in sorrow, and that the wait for the resurrection will not be long.

Conviction carried a price. Both sisters endured broken relationships and great personal cost in following the truth. Despite the enemy's best efforts, they went forward anyway. In 2016, about three years after that first sermon, they were baptized. Jimmy and his family were all there to bear witness to the fruit of his influence.

Each of Us Plays a Part

Neither sister calls their father's death a blessing. They still miss him dearly, but they believe God allowed it at the moment their hearts were finally open. Jimmy sees it the same way. “There's nothing I could have shared with them that they would have heard from me,” he says, “if they hadn't been searching already.”

Look at the chain: A grandmother's faith. A neighbor's patient persistence. A preacher's careful study and preaching of Scripture. A ministry that carried his voice to a pair of headphones at a data-entry desk in Minnesota. And your gifts, which kept that message online and free, years before anyone knew Christie would need it. Who could have orchestrated that except the Holy Spirit?

We are one link in a chain we did not design. And may we always be faithful to do our part, for there's no telling how it may lead a soul to truth and salvation someday!

Speaking of doing our part, here are a few updates of what we did this summer.

Ministry Update

Four Days in Phoenix

From July 29 through August 1, our team exhibited at the ASI International Convention in Phoenix, Arizona. We had a wonderful time at our booth, meeting many listeners face-to-face and hearing stories like Christie's in person.

We also recorded the entire convention. Every plenary and seminar is now free on AudioVerse! If you haven't heard the powerful sermons and testimonies, you can catch them right here:

Hear the Recordings →

We were also glad to serve as an early content partner in ASI's Adventist Intelligence project that was announced at the convention. This is an innovative research tool that answers questions about our faith with every claim footnoted to a vetted source. The AudioVerse library is among the first sources available in that dataset, so sincere questions can lead back to a sermon that answers it from the Word.

Finding the Answer Faster

Christie found what she needed by typing a question and pressing play. This summer we've begun rebuilding our search engine, so the next Christie finds it faster.

Search results now arrive as one ranked list. Previously they came back split into separate sections by content type, leaving you to sift through each. Now the strongest matches from across our library arrive together.

More than that, results no longer stop at the title of a message. When the words you searched for are spoken partway into a recording, we show you that portion and label it by the theme it covers. Instead of pressing play and listening to a full sermon hoping to hear the answer to your question, you can see where exactly in the message your answer appears and go straight to it.

Search results now show the exact timestamp and theme where your answer appears.

This follows the release of Dark Mode and the Related Sermons tool we introduced in June.

And we're not done yet, this is just the beginning of many other improvements still to come.

Still Ahead

Our recording team heads next to the AMEN Conference in Rancho Mirage, California, October 29 through November 1, with the theme “WholeHearted.” Then on to GYC in Salt Lake City, December 30 through January 3, where this year's theme is “Alone.” Recordings from both will be available for free on AudioVerse after each conference.

Support the Ministry

Your Part in the Chain

Every one of these messages stays online and freely available for people like Christie and Jennifer because of friends like you. Your support is what enables this ministry to continue reaching souls with precious Bible truth every single day. If you would like to stand with us as a link in this great chain of spiritual blessings, here's how:

• Give online
• Give through PayPal Giving Fund, which passes on your full gift without credit card fees
• Or mail a check to AudioVerse, PO Box 2288, Collegedale, TN 37315-2288

If you are able, please consider a recurring monthly gift. Steady support is what lets us plan ahead and commit to larger opportunities without wondering if we can finish them.

Give Today →

Thank you for standing with us in prayer, in sharing, and in your financial partnership.

Yours in the Blessed Hope,

Alistair Huong

P.S. Christie was sitting at a data-entry desk with a pair of headphones and a question nobody had answered. Somewhere today another person is doing the same thing, perhaps in a language I do not speak, or in a country I will never visit. We're told to preach the everlasting gospel “...to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (Revelation 14:6). We cannot go to all of them in person. But the message can, and your giving is what sends it. Thank you for playing your part in this great chain of God's divine plan.