Update

Time has passed quickly! The 8 weeks for the healing of my foot is up. It is 95+% back to normal now. I do notice a slight discomfort in some positions and must reposition it. I even did some pushups in bare feet the other day. I am seriously thinking about writing about how to handle all the stressful things that pop up before and after I go on international trips!

Meanwhile, I have been able to post 30 Burmese audio/videos online. With Burma/Myanmar beginning to link up with the modern world, the church there definitely needs good biblical training. We are glad that the Lord, in His grace, gives us opportunities to assist the international church. I could never have imagined this possibility when BFF started. We see our kind Father’s leading as we faithfully serve Him step by step.

Finally

But now it is November. Several things are happening. I think the most important, for me, is to do some catch-up. For years (yes literally years–perhaps 6-7 years), I have wanted to rebuild the BFF website. The website functions well enough, but not for where the digital world is now or is heading. This year, over 3 1/4 million BFF web pages are being viewed. That is over 10,000 each day on average. This website was built 15-17 years ago, believe it or not! Yes, God began this ministry knowing where the internet would lead. But now, with the many computer/smartphone devices, the viewing screens are all different sizes. The present BFF website was built for desktop computers, but there are other advantages to moving the website as well.

I am the only one that can manage the BFF website. This is a huge problem. Besides, I’m getting older and this memory of mine keeps reminding me that its stellar years are past. I know where things are and how to add files, but it’s a beast for others to manage with tens of thousands of files hidden away. This is the reason our ‘hit’ rate is 6-7 times higher than our ‘page-view’ rate. We have tons of graphics (if one can weigh digital resources!).

Going to a Content Management System (CMS) means that others could add and update information without any special equipment. This would be a big plus especially if I asked someone from another country, such as Burma, to maintain the Burmese web pages that I can’t read. They can do it with internet access on the other side of the globe.

Second, the CMS search mechanism is said to be better and much easier. Right now, I have to personally enter the search information. BFF does offer a Google search, but it is very limited, especially with Google beginning to censor conservative YouTube videos. These private companies, though friendly today, might stand against us one day. Vimeo already has already cut off a Christian group’s account because of its conservative approach to sexuality. CMS enables me to step beyond Google, though we recognize Google will be identified with search for many years to come.

By using one of these advanced CMS systems, it allows me to easily, without cost, communicate with the many different social media apps with ease. Right now, it is all mechanical which means it takes me personal time to enter the data. I remember when I used to print my resources, but now they can be printed elsewhere with good quality and sent to me or elsewhere–saving me so much time, hassle, and money. Moving the website into CMS will be a huge timesaver, hopefully look nicer, and offer more services.

But moving, like all moves, is not easy. BFF’s web pages are encoded with lots of hidden codes. Most of this coding needs to be stripped out. And so, moving thousands of web pages means transforming them. But once it is done, we can then change the style or make changes in a flash, especially since the BFF website has from the start been focused on media-rich resources.

We can make most of our diagrams, graphics, and even audio/video files.
So, November is moving month–Yes, it has already started! Please pray for us. I praise God that on November 1 one good brother from India told me that he, having experience with WordPress, would help me. God healed him just the day before. This is such a wonderful blessing. So hopefully, with his help–and perhaps others–our final move-in date will come earlier rather than later.