This January the Ranch community joined with the congregation of Covenant Community Church for our first every Read-Through-The-Bible relay. The week began on Friday evening with an inspired time of worship led by Andrew Wood and Isaiah Haas. Then, beginning with Genesis 1:1 on Saturday morning, one reader after another read aloud for twenty minutes at a time, stopping every evening and starting again in the morning. At 4 PM the following Friday, we gathered in the chapel to finish reading Revelation 22 together in unison! In all 76 readers combined to read the entire Bible in 76 hours.
One of our goals was to challenge each other and inspire others to read through the Bible in 2019. We were thrilled that family members and friends joined us live via the Internet. At least one viewer was inspired to take the idea to her church. Here are some of the comments:
All my life I have wanted to be part of something like this. It was awesome! – Beth Brown
It felt incredible to be united with other believers, and the time of worship before the relay started was precious. I would love to do it more often! – Danielle Bramhill
I found reading scripture together with brothers and sisters in Christ unifying. I felt God’s leading my personal walk to join the body of believers at CCC. – Barry Weaver
I came away with an extra reverence for God’s word and the sacredness of the text. Everyone reading from the same Bible in the chapel made me think of Jesus’ time in Jerusalem when scripture was read aloud in the temple. For some reason, this experience was another reminder to not take for granted the gift and blessing of reading and hearing scripture that God himself breathed. – Rebecca Williamson
I loved it! I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did, but I loved the reminder of how easy it is to read Scripture for 20 minutes a day, and I found I really like reading it out loud. I found that I pay attention to what I’m reading better that way. – Klara Burger
As I read aloud, God reminded me of His great story of redemption and how specifically He carries out his plan in our lives. God became greater, His Word more precious, and I felt smaller and safer because of that. – Grace Ruegsegger
It was a blessing to see your broadcast. You and Rebecca were thrilling to watch. Cannot tell you how joyful we were to hear you… — Dan McDonnell
Watching the children was the best. They were great! As they grow up hiding the word in their hearts, it’s just such a blessing to see. – Susan LeBon
I loved the time I spent reading! I really looked forward to getting to read and I arranged my life around it, not the other way around as so often happens with my regular study of God’s Word. It was fun seeing how far we had gotten in our reading each day. Most importantly, I think God was honored. – Rena Weaver
The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever. – Isaiah 40:8 CSB
If you would like to organize a relay for your church, we’d love to help. Contact Brian McDonnell at bmcdonnell@wvr.orgfor a list of helpful resources.
