RHM Newsletter 40: Looking Back on 2022
Posted by Dion Todd December 29th, 2022 1,968 Views 0 Comments
2022 Year-End Wrapup from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thank you for being a part of Refreshing Hope Ministries and taking time out of your day to read or watch this message. I hope this finds you blessed, warm, safe, and happy wherever you happen to be. This is our year-end newsletter, and I wanted to update you on what has been happening behind the scenes here at Refreshing Hope during 2022 and some plans for 2023.
(Habakkuk 2:2–3 NKJV) Then the LORD answered me and said: “Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.
The Vision: Never before has an opportunity like this been given to a generation. I have watched media go from 8-track tapes and vinyl albums to digital streaming over the Internet. We have moved from the physical realm of magnetic cartridges to the digital realm of bits and bytes.
What that technological change has done for us can hardly be overstated. Twenty years ago, one tape would be created and snail-mailed to one person. Now a live service can be digitally recorded and downloaded by the entire world moments later. At the same time, the production cost is that of a single copy.
A single generation has watched the Internet grow from laughingly slow dial-up connections to the speed of light with fiber optics. COVID-19 and work-from-home initiatives have made virtual meetings commonplace, and people use technology to talk face-to-face from their homes daily.
We are beginning to see worldwide satellite internet and single-board computers starting under $35. Instead of families buying an already-obsolete set of encyclopedias, you can now access the world’s latest information with a few clicks. Times have changed.
This is no accident, for we are here for such a time as this. Before the birth of Jesus, Rome had developed a 50,000-mile network of long-distance stone-paved roads that spanned from Britain to Spain and North Africa. This was vital to the diffusion of Christianity. A pagan-built network was used to spread the word of God. Sound familiar?
The Lord told me years ago that He had given me the ability to see beyond the horizon, which often caused me to be misunderstood. For example, when people were excited about being able to record their church services on cassette tapes, I was busy building a digital MP3 recorder and a website to put the live services on for download. They thought I was nuts because not many people had computers then. Yet, that experience became useful at a later date. He was preparing me for today.
We have an opportunity that has never been given to a generation before. To spread the word of God to every corner of the Earth. I am excited about what is coming. If we build it, they will come, for the Lord will draw them just as He did the animals to Noah’s ark when it was ready.
We have been working on the infrastructure here at Refreshing Hope behind the scenes and have upgraded the firewalls, load balancers, and network switches. We have the fastest Internet they offer, which is currently 1GB cable. I wish we could have fiber, but that isn’t available here yet. I trust the Lord that it will be if it is needed.
I have built two identical web servers from scratch. One for development and one for the live site. They are both AMD EPYC systems, 32 core, 64GB of RAM, with NVMe solid-state drives in a RAID 1 mirror. They are extremely fast. Systems like this normally cost you $10,000 each, but the Lord allowed us to build both for around $3,500 by getting the parts second-hand off eBay and leaving out the components irrelevant to our work, like DVD drives, audio, and cases. Our load-balancing mail server farm runs on smartphone components. They are small, fast, and very energy efficient.
In 2023, I plan to go into build mode and complete the development of the next website for Refreshing Hope. The new site will be a living, growing, constantly evolving place where I develop on one server and push live updates to the other when they are ready. It will be an integrated ecosystem where users have one account for the website, subscriptions, and our upcoming phone and tablet apps. We are working to make it more user-friendly and much faster than we currently have. It will grow with us, and we can expand it as needed to build our community.
Our vision is to connect the body of Christ to each other using the power of the Internet. To bring a word of hope to the dark corners of the Earth. To encourage His people not to give up but to hold on one more day. There is strength in numbers. So let us put aside our differences and band together as one body: the body of Christ.
We have created hundreds of devotionals, teachings, Bible studies, songs, and videos which are all available for free on our website at refreshinghope.org. We have a prayer network where Christians pray for one another’s needs, and we host live interactive church services twice a week. It is beautiful to see what the Lord is doing. People are making friends and encouraging each other.
We have chosen to make it all available as an ad-free experience, and we are supported solely by the donations of His people. Each time a need arises, He encourages someone to give that amount. Thank you so much for being obedient to His promptings. We couldn’t do this without you, and we look forward to what is coming in 2023!
We put together a video slideshow for you to see a glimpse of our lives behind the scenes over the last year. After all the writing, programming, and computer work is done, there are many other things to work on here, like pulling wires, plumbing, electrical, air conditioning, painting, and carpentry. We also try and enjoy our life along the way. We like cooking good food, smoking meat and cheese, crafting, reading, and playing with our puppies and gadgets. God has been so good to us, and it has been a busy but happy year! I hope you enjoy the video! We love you. God loves you. Thank you for being a part of Refreshing Hope!
Year-End Giving:
The Lord has faithfully taken care of us here, and each time we have had a need, He has provided for it somehow. We have to do the actual work, which I am ok with, but He gives us what we need to accomplish it and the strength and skills to do it. I am happy to say that we aren't driven by financial needs, but I do want to mention this:
As a supporter of RHM, you may have plans to contribute at the year's end. If that's the case, then we welcome your support. We would be glad to receive your year-end donation, which may allow you to "render a little less to Caesar and a little more to the Lord." RHM is a non-profit organization, and your donations here are tax-deductible. So if you wish to send a year-end contribution, please be sure that your gift is made by December 31 to be credited in 2022. You can donate securely online here: https://www.refreshinghope.org/pages/giving
Prayer:
If you need prayer, just click on the Prayer link on the website menu (you will need to be logged in). Here also is the direct link: http://www.refreshinghope.org/pages/prayer. For our prayer warriors, if you are interested in joining our prayer team, please do contact us.
Thank you:
I just want to say thank you so much to those who take a moment out of their day to encourage us, send us a card or a gift, and support us. We couldn't make it without you. I know that God has great things in store for Refreshing Hope, and we so appreciate each of you who has stood by us through the hard times. Our prayer wall is covered with your cards and letters.
Many thanks to each of you for being part of Refreshing Hope Ministries. We pray for each of you daily and are very grateful for the group of people God has put here.
Pastor Dion