About a quarter of all our Web traffic comes from outside the U.S., from Manchester to Antarctica, and just about everywhere else, including, these two letters from listeners in Central Asia:

Hi, my name is June. I live in Asia with my husband and three children. I just wanted to say that I have really appreciated Pastor Mark's sermons on Ecclesiastes. A local friend of mine asked for my help with preparing a weekly Bible study she has to teach to her small group. They as a church in their small groups have been working systematically through the Old Testament and are currently at Ecclesiastes, but they have no training and hardly any resources. I was really excited when my friend asked me to help her as it is our passion and long-term goal to train local church leaders in how to use the Bible. Being here, our resources were limited to the few books we had brought with us from home. Then I found your website and I was so excited! Mark's sermons on Ecclesiates are really brilliant, and when I listen to them I feel so excited to share it with my friend. She in turn teaches it to her small group who she says are loving it and finding it so interesting. We both feel each week that we are unearthing so many treasures. I have also been personally challenged and encouraged in my relationship with the Lord. So thank you so much for making these resources available, it has been an incredible help to us in our ministry here.

June

[Kyrgyzstan, photo via]

We just wanted to express our deep thanks for placing good and challenging sermons on your website. We appreciate that your church leadership seems to hold unswervingly to the truth of the Bible, teaching things that help us grow in our journeys with the Lord. We found out about Mars Hill after relative gave us a not-so-positive brochure on the emergent church, which mentioned Mars Hill. Around that time, my husband started listening to one of Mark Driscoll's books that was on Christian Audio for the free book of the month. Then he did some research on the background, and felt that the teaching was Biblically solid and we checked out the website. We are M-workers in Central Asia, and do not have a good handle on the local language. While we gather with local believers here every Sunday, it is often difficult to understand everything, since we are still pretty green. My husband and I have especially enjoyed The Peasant Princess together, and it is really helping us discuss important issues together. Thank you!

Raymond and Lisa T. Central Asia