1. The Lives of the Prophets:
An Audio Panoramic Bible For the 10/40 Window
Rick Brown
11 Feb 2004

2. Current views of our audience
The choice of appropriate portions and media depends on the community’s worldview and situation. Among one community in the 10/40:
Many people believe God created the earth with evil and death and that these are not the result of sin.

3. Current views of our audience
They believe God is distant, unknowable, and capricious, and that this is unrelated to man’s sin.
They doubt God’s love, justice, consistency, and purposeful management of history;
The believe that God can do anything, good or bad, whether consistent with his laws or not, so he can also save whomever he wants.
They disbelieve man’s sinfulness and need for a sacrifice or savior.

4. Current views of our audience
They do not believe in the deity, lordship, or atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ;
They believe that Christians have corrupted the Bible and that it should be avoided;
They mistakenly think Christians believe that Jesus is the physical son of God and Mary and
They mistakenly think that Christians worship three gods: God, Jesus, and Mary.
They reject Christianity without really knowing the Gospel or the Bible.

5. Characteristics of our audience
On the other hand, they respect Scripture, even if they think it has been corrupted;
They relate well to Old Testament culture;
They admire the prophets and desire to know more about them and their messages.

6. Characteristics of our audience
They are also oral communicators:
They prefer and learn best from narratives, proverbs, poetry, song, and drama;
They store information in relation to its historical setting and historical sequence and in relation to the personalities involved or in proverbs and songs;
Most of the “literates” view reading as tiresome and unsociable, but everyone enjoys listening to cassettes and radio, especially as a group.

7. Bridges
There are some bridges between the people’s current worldview and teachings of the Bible, in that they already know something about …
God, Satan, angels, demons, prophets, scriptures, laws, trespasses, resurrection, judgment, paradise, and hell.

8. Important Barriers
There are also a number of vital Biblical themes which our audience resist because they are incompatible with their own worldview:
The hopeless sinfulness of mankind,
The eternal consequences of sin,
Mankind’s need for a perfect substitutionary sacrifice for sin,
Mankind’s need for regeneration through the Holy Spirit,
Jesus’ role as the eternal Savior-King, who saves his people and brings them into God’s kingdom;

9. Thematic door-openers
But there are also some vital Biblical themes which conflict with their worldview in ways that are nevertheless attractive to the audience. These themes are good news to many of them and create interest in hearing the Message:
1 God’s goodness, love, reliability, and care for his servants.
These qualities are demonstrated in the stories of Abraham, Joseph, the Exodus, Daniel, Jesus, and the Apostles, among others.
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:27, NIV)

10. Thematic door-openers
2 God’s benevolent management of history as he works through events to oppose evil, to train his servants in righteousness and truth, and to fulfill his good purposes for his people.
This is clearly seen in the stories of Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Ruth, David, Jonah, Daniel, Job, and in Revelation.
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:27, NIV)

11. Thematic door-openers
3 The portrait of Jesus himself—his kindness, devotion, wisdom, power, and ongoing reign as savior and king.
4 The love and forgiveness exhibited by true followers of Jesus.
This can be seen in stories from the Acts of the Apostles and in the lives of saints today. A similar theme is present in the life of Joseph.
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:27, NIV)

12. Thematic door-openers
5 The offer of personal forgiveness and acceptance by God,
which is presented in stories in the Gospel and Acts.
6 The offer of assured and complete salvation from hell and acceptance into God’s kingdom.
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:27, NIV)

13. Thematic door-openers
7 The offer of a personal relationship with God, fully realized in the next life.
8 The offer of inner cleansing and renewal through God’s Holy Spirit.
These are presented in segments of the Gospels, Acts, and Epistles.
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:27, NIV)

14. Thematic door-openers
9 The offer and example of grace to live through the strengthening and guidance of the Spirit, as seen in the Acts of the Apostles and in some of the Epistles.
10 Power to resist and repel Satan and evil spirits in Jesus’ name, as seen in the Gospels and Acts.
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:27, NIV)

15. Characteristics of the situation
Our audience’s situation has factors which restrict opportunities for oral story-telling as well as for distribution:
There are few missionaries and few local believers;
Few missionaries speak the language well;
Evangelism is forbidden, and it is difficult to acquire a copy of the Bible in any language.
There are restrictions on publishing and importation.

16. Characteristics of the situation
On the other hand, there are opportunities for spreading the Word with audiocassettes:
People can duplicate cassettes themselves;
People can give quality tapes as gifts;
People can loan tapes to those who overhear them and ask to borrow them.
People can record the tapes from Christian radio broadcasters.
Expatriate and local believers can listen to tapes with seekers and discuss what they hear.
So how can God’s Word be made widely accessible within this community?

17. Strategic Response
One strategic response to need has been the development of a set of dramatized audio Scripture portions called The Lives of the Prophets and The Lives of the Apostles.

18. Characteristics of the Selections
The portions selected draw on people’s interest in OT characters;
The series includes stories useful for evangelism, discipleship, leadership training, and church planting.
The passages selected build on bridges, take advantage of door-openers, and hammer away at barriers. The hammering comes from presenting multiple stories that demonstrate the truth of the themes which the audience finds hard to accept.
It is not enough to hear that “God is love”; they need to hear stories in which the love of God is manifest. It is not enough for them to hear that they need a sacrificial substitute for our sins; they need to see biblical examples of the role of faith and sacrifice. They are like scientists who will not believe a discovery until they have repeated the experiment several times. In oral cultures this inductive approach—that is, inferring a principle from several examples—is much more persuasive than a simple declaration of the principle, even if the declaration is from the Bible.

19. Characteristics of the Scripts
Current versions of the series use modules of 13.5 minutes, suitable for broadcasting and for discussion in small groups.
Each module is introduced with in a dramatic modern-day setting, in which issues arise which are addressed in the story. A wise elder then narrates the story, beginning with some background info.
The story itself is usually dramatized, using actors, sound effects, and appropriate local music composed for the script.

20. Part 1: The Lives of the Prophets
Adam, Noah
Job*
Abraham
Joseph
Moses in Egypt
Moses in Sinai*
Ruth, Jonah
(Hannah, Samuel)
David*
(Psalms of David in song or poetry)*
Solomon with Proverbs*
(Isaiah)*
Daniel
Jesus [e.g., Luke, Jesus]
* abridgement

21. Part 2: The Lives of the Apostles
Pentecost, Peter, Stephen (Ac 1–7)
Inclusion of Gentiles (Ac 8–12; James)
Paul in Asia Minor (Ac 13–15; Galatians)
Paul in Europe (Ac 15:36–18:22;Phi;1&2Th)
Paul in Ephesus (Ac 18:23–20:3;1Cor; Rom)
Paul in Judea (Ac 20:3–25:12; epistles)
Final words of Paul & Peter (Ac 25:13–end; 1&2 Peter; 1Tim; Titus; 2Tim)
Memoirs of John (Jn 13–20; 1Jn; Rev 1–3; 19–22)

22. Characteristics of the Selections
The selected portions of Scripture…
consist of narrative and dialogue, poetry and proverbs,
present a panorama of the Biblical metanarrative,
build trust in the Scriptures,
present all the major themes of the Bible,
clearly demonstrate God’s goodness & love,
demonstrate God’s faithfulness & justice,
demonstrate man’s hopeless sinfulness,
demonstrate the role of sacrifices,
affirm women and appeal to them,
present the work of the Holy Spirit,
present prophecies of the Messiah,
present Jesus as Savior and Lord of all.

23. Plot of audience response to the Lives of the Prophets, from distrust and ignorance (bottom left) towards acceptance (to the right) and then understanding (upwards). 
selections fm
Revelation
John
Epistles
Acts
Luke
Daniel
Isaiah
Jonah
Proverbs
“Solomon”
Psalms
“David”
“Moses”
Genesis
(selections)                

24. Results of Lives of the Prophets/Apostles
Many people have purchased the series, especially on cassette tapes;
People who listen to the OT prophets go on to listen to the Gospel and the Apostles;
As people go through the series again and again, their understanding improves and their worldview changes. (This is a result of the “hermeneutical spiral,” which in this case is a “pedagogical spiral”).

25. Results of Lives of the Prophets/Apostles
People commonly memorize several tapes;
Because these tapes are entertaining, people give them to others as gifts or even copy them to resell on the market.
Believers let friends overhear them playing the tapes and then let them borrow the tapes;
Believers also invite their friends to listen to the tapes together and discuss them. This enables them to present the Word of salvation and model openness to it.

26. Results of Lives of the Prophets/Apostles
Radio ministries broadcast the tapes;
Many radio listeners record the broadcasts;
Many fellowships of believers have started;
Some readers have transitioned from the audio tapes to the printed Bible in the literary language;
All by the grace of God, to Whom be glory.