The story of how Take a Minute came to be, - and how it has grown to the worldwide ministry that it has become - is a wonderful example of how God begins and develops ministries through His children.  It's also a great illustration of why we should never view any job God gives us as "too small."  You never know what His plan is or how big His vision is of the ministry He begins in you!

Our Take a Minute daily devotional ministry began in September, 1987 when Bonnie was asked to write a "study guide" for the Sunday School teachers at her church to help them prepare their Sunday School lessons.  She began writing a short piece for the teachers to read and study that would take them about 10 minutes per day.  If they did their daily study guide section, by Sunday, their lesson was ready to be taught.  A few months later, she discovered that the teachers were photocopying the study guides and passing them out to their classes.  A few months after that, she received a call from the pastor of a church in west Texas, asking if his church could "subscribe" to her "daily devotionals." 

No one had ever called what she was writing "daily devotionals" before, but after looking them over, she realized that was exactly what they were!  She agreed to the new subscription, asking that they reimburse her for her costs for paper, envelopes and postage.  Once a month, she sent them four weeks' worth of devotionals, set up in four booklets, which contained seven devotionals each.  The church could then make as many photocopies of the devotionals as they needed. 

By 1996, the "hard copy" ministry had grown to over 100 churches and even more individuals, and - since Bonnie was working full time at a "virtual" job at home for an international corporation,  putting in 50 to 60 hours per week - the devotional ministry was taking up two to three weeks out of each month of her "free" time.  When she got access to the internet for the first time, it didn't take her long to realize that the internet was a much more efficient way to distribute the devotionals, and she could do so for no charge!  So, she began phasing out the hard copy ministry, and within a year, had converted the ministry solely to the internet.  Since then, the ministry has grown beyond our imagining, even though we have not promoted or advertised it in any way. 

Today, the devotionals are translated into 17 languages and dialects and redistributed in the respective countries.  They are used in countless church and other ministry newsletters, bulletins and other types of mail-outs, and in local, small town newspapers.  They are broadcast on several radio networks around the world, and many of our subscribers forward the devotionals to their own list of friends and family.  In all, our best guess is that approximately 900,000 people per day are reading Take a Minute or hearing the devotionals on radio!

A recent addition to "Take a Minute," which is written by Bonnie and mailed seven days per week, is an occasional commentary written by J.R. called "The Way I See It."  With our world in turmoil, J.R. felt compelled to share some of the many thoughts the Lord has laid on his heart about current events and their relationship to God’s Word.  Our hope is that his commentary will help you see God’s hand moving through world events, and challenge you to pray or to act as the Lord leads you in light of His Word. 

If you'd like to subscribe to "Take a Minute" daily devotionals, simply send an e-mail to j-r-and-bonnie@dogwoodministries.org with "Subscribe Take a Minute" in the Subject Line.  You can say anything you want in the body copy, but just remember to give us the e-mail address you want to use for your subscription.  Take a Minute is free of charge.  We never share our mailing list with anyone!