God is faithful to His Word, but to know that, one must read Scripture. That’s why Susan Bates, founder of Your Working Copy audio Bibles has dedicated her life to recording and distributing unique audio Bibles.
“How can we know He’s faithful to His Word if we don’t know His Word? It has to wound His heart that we — myself included — are so oblivious to the power of His Word and our need to know and understand it,” Bates said. “It is in knowing and understanding it that we are able to know and understand and walk with and enjoy our God.”
Your Working Copy is a passion project that began out of a “direct line from heaven.” During the Easter season more than 40 years ago, Bates was on her knees praying when her prayers were interrupted with, “I want you to use your voice for your life’s work.”
Bates dismissed it and went back to praying, only to hear it again. After happening a third time, she asked the Lord if it was Him speaking.
After realizing it was, she responded that whatever He wanted her to, she would do.
Distribution
The work came in the form of audio Bibles. In the beginning, the focus was to record and release the Bible one book at a time using the newest technology — CDs. However, before they finished the entire Bible, CDs were replaced by streaming. At that point, the audio Bible was offered as a download from a website as its only means of distribution.
Later, Bates found solar-powered audio/MP3 players. Knowing that many countries have no or little electricity or web connections, she knew this was the direction she should take.
She gets asked a lot, “What sets it apart? Why this and why now?”
“God impressed upon me that the group in our country that was most lacking access to the Bible would be the least of these — the downtrodden, the forgotten, the abused, the victims of our society,” Bates said. “Those people needed the inspiration and the fellowship of the Word of God and that ours was to take it as far and wide as we could.”
One group without easy access to Bibles that YWC is trying to reach is prisoners. Due to higher rates of illiteracy, audio Bibles can be invaluable to a new believer or as an introduction to Christ.
However, there is a current roadblock. Even though the only way the solar audio player can be used is to hear the internal recording, YWC has found that giving the prisoners any electronics can be difficult.
YWC is currently praying for ways to overcome this barrier.
Homeless individuals, those in women’s shelters and those with mental health issues are other populations the YWC solar audio Bibles are given to.
Accessible for children
A recent area of concentration was bringing the Bible to the little ones.
“The Lord seemed to be saying, ‘Give children the Word of God,’” Bates said.
My Little Lamb is a small plush for infants, children and even older adults who enjoy the comfort of a stuffed animal. There’s an integrated audio player loaded with Genesis, the four Gospels, Psalms, Proverbs and lullabies.
“We know they are getting wonderful teaching and training in God’s Word. The unadulterated Word of God is a true game changer,” Bates said about My Little Lamb.
It’s very user-friendly with buttons in the nose and all four hooves that turn it off and on, adjust the volume and allow skipping and pausing. The audio player is rechargeable, and the plush can be washed if the player is removed.
Even before the lamb was developed, Bates knew how valuable it could be.
“Near our beginnings, while providing the Bible on CDs, a young woman I met had a daughter who was traumatized by childhood rape. They were having an extremely difficult time with that child.
“She was able to use the Bible recordings at night for her to sleep. Her life became better. The nightmares she was having, the screaming fits, all went away.
“I think we can attribute those kinds of occurrences to the power of God’s Word and the comfort that can be found in His Word,” Bates said.
‘God at work’
Since its release, there has been a great response to My Little Lamb. Children who were afraid of the dark, had bad dreams or had behavioral issues have been comforted by it.
“Probably the most precious thing about this work, given all of the difficulties and the mountains we had to climb, is that it’s just amazing to see God at work and see how He makes it possible for us to remain alive and thriving when we should have fainted dead away.
“We want to see the lamb and its influence spread throughout our country. We believe we can raise a generation of young people who can lead our country and who will not fall away from faith if they are given the opportunity to know who God is in a more meaningful way at a younger age.
“I feel like I’m in a special position of having that front row seat where I can just see God at work all the time.”
For more information about Your Working Copy and their audio Bibles go to yourworkingcopy.org.
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