What does "Shake the dust off your feet" look like?

In Matt 10:11 and Luke 10:11 (and several other places) Jesus tells the disciples:

”If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.” Matt 10:11 NIV

Clearly the expression is an idiom like “you should wash your hands of the situation”. But as I am drawing this feet shaking, what does it look like?

Ask an expert

I asked my historical/cultural consultants Dr. Mark Woolmer and Arkan Amin Zaki Al-Amin “Do you know how it's done? Do you take your sandal off and wave it, do you shake your foot, do you wipe your foot on a stone?”

Arkan advised that “Jesus says, "Shake the dust off your feet." This is an ancient way still used today to "discard" a relationship or task. Shaking your feet or the lower part of your robes to shake off the dust stirred up by your feet. It means "I am finished with you and am leaving. Furthermore, as I leave, I take nothing from this house, not even its dust!" (like Acts 13:51). I remember it from a lecture almost 17 years ago by Ken Bailey. What I remember him saying was that you would shake the lower part of the robe/tunic or take off the cloak and shake it”

Dr. Mark Woolmer advised “Luke uses the Greek word πόδας which means foot*, however, it is possible that the meaning could also include shaking the hem of an ankle length garment (an obscure meaning of πόδας is "the hem of ship's sail") which would fit with the shaking of the lower part of the garment suggested by Bailey”.

*- Arkan also points out that the word used for foot can be used any part of the leg and is not as limited as the English definition.

The Drawing

These helpful comments helped me draw the image in a way where the disciple is shaking his foot and the hem meaning that it is right either way. Here is the inked drawing where you can even still see the purple “pencils”

The image was created for The Gospel of Luke: Word for Word Bible Comic which is currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter! Check it out at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/word4wordbiblecomic/the-gospel-of-luke-word-for-word-bible-comic-niv-and-nvi?ref=3m9qro

FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER: Kickstarter for the Gospel of Luke Starts today!

It's on! The Kickstarter campaign starts now for The Gospel of Luke: NIV and El Evangelio de Lucas: NVI! Please spread the word!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/word4wordbiblecomic/the-gospel-of-luke-word-for-word-bible-comic-niv-and-nvi?ref=bu8mxl

Three reasons to back now

➊ Firstly, please relieve my stress by helping the campaign to fund asap. Last year you all did a great job of this and Jonah funded in 48 hours meaning I could relax and get back to drawing pages.

➋ Secondly, the faster a project funds the more publicity it gets on the Kickstarter platform for being "popular" and awarded "Project's we Love", this helps more people see it and start a positive cycle!

➌ Thirdly, some rewards are limited. There are only 5 full sets of Collectors editions left. 5 Early Bird Collector's Edition copies of Luke. There is only 1 cover art piece and only a few slots to have "You in the Bible"

...and remember the payments isn't required until next month. When you back it is only a pledge until the campaign ends.

The Gospel of Luke's New Cover

Thank you so much to everyone who gave their opinions and voted on the various cover designs and iterations. I'm really pleased with the end result and think it will fit well with its Brothers (as Leslie called Mark and Matthew). As you can see we have Jesus in the crown of thorns standing in a posture reminiscent of Caesar reminding us that he is the King of Kings. Also, we have Luke's face, Mary and baby Jesus, the Roman Centurion and in the background a Greek inscription from the Temple in Jerusalem from Jesus' day, warning Gentiles not to cross into the Temple proper on pain of death. A good juxtaposition from the message of Luke's gospel I felt.

Launch Live on Facebook

If you are reading this email as soon as it arrives you can come and join us on the Live Video stream on Facebook inside the group.

Prayer

Kickstarter: As ever, Kickstarter is all-or-nothing so please join me in praying that it will hit and exceed its goal to help us keep going for the coming year! Kickstarters are also a great time for people to discover the project, so please pray lots of new people to get on board and support the work as well as getting general publicity in Blogs and news articles so more people can begin to read God's word in a new way!

DECEMBER NEWSLETTER: BLACK FRIDAY, CHRISTMAS PLAYLIST AND MORE

We are posting the December's newsletter a few days early so you don't miss those Black Friday deals!

Nativity Christmas Playlist

Get your advent season off to a good start with a new Christmas playlist. A mix of traditional Christmas hymns, carols and new songs with no Noddy Holder, Wham or a Santa in sight! From ye olde renditions to rock covers you'll find a range of tunes that focus on the meaning of the incarnation and get you fired up for a Joyeux Nöel.

Black Friday Deals! 

We've created two amazing Christmas bundles for Black Friday, available to order direct from us in the UK. We are also giving 30% off on all books* and cards ordered from our online store.

For 30% off books and cards until Dec 3rd, use code: BF30OFF

( 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 : If you're in the USA and Canada this code also works when ordering on our site through our distributor.)

* : Bundles are not included in the discount offer.

Gift Bundle: £27.97 Just £15.99
Includes the ideal "Reason for the Season" gifts the Gospel of Matthew and a Gospel Coloring Factbook as well as a dozen biblical Christmas cards!

Big Family Bundle: £58.91 Just £34.99
A selection of our younger rated (12+) books, 24 biblical Christmas cards and an exclusive bookmark that has not been available outside of the Kickstarter before! (Includes Matthew's Gospel, the Gospel Coloring Factbook, Jonah, Ruth and Esther).

View fullsize

Christmas Angels

Recently there seems to have been a lot of renditions of "biblically accurate angels" popping up on social media, one of my favourites was this angelic Ophanim Christmas tree topper (from Etsy artist "teensiebug") though I'm not sure about the creepy human skin. Ophanim are the "wheels within wheels" angelic beings of Ezekiel 1:15-21, though the name is derived from the Book of Enoch.

A while back, in September 2014, I did a lot of research into the appearance of angels and created a detailed blog with the information and my thoughts on how to draw them, since then the blog has had over 55,000 views!

If you haven't read it you can find it here

If you'd like to send your own Christmas cards with biblically accurate angels on, why not grab some of our fine "Set 2" cards which includes Gabriel speaking to Joseph. (Pictured below). Don't forget you can get a 30% off until next Friday making them just £2.79 for a pack of six.

New Amazon Store and Jonah on Kindle.

The Book of Jonah is now available to buy on Kindle. It features high-resolution images and a "guided view" to show you the story panel-by-panel.

Also, I've recently set up a "Storefront" on Amazon (.com). It's like a mini website within Amazon with images and videos and subpages, in our case with the Spanish versions listed out and the Kindles all together. If you have a US Amazon account check it out, and why not drop a few book reviews while you're there ;)

Prayer

Christmas time: We are praying that Christmas will be a great time for people to gift The Gospel of Matthew comics to people who would otherwise not read the Bible for themselves. Let's pray that many people see the story of Christmas in a new light this year with the help of these comics.

Levelling up: We've been growing a lot as a company over the last year, but now we need our marketing to level up too. Soon I'm having an initial meeting with a consultant about this. Please pray that God will guide this effort and make a clear path for us to be able to get the word out to thousands more people.

NOVEMBER: The International Launch of The Book of Jonah

International Launch of The Book of Jonah! 🎉

While the trend-setting Kickstarter backers among you may have received your copies months ago, today is the official global launch of The Book of Jonah: Word for Word Bible Comic and El Libro de Jonás: Verso a Verso Bíblica-Cómic!

Head to the website now to order your copy!

As ever we'd really love you to add a review to Jonah on Amazon, and other outlets. This is an easy and free way to support the project and makes a huge difference, so please take a moment to add a short review. Thank you



The Book of Jonah Research Videos

To celebrate the release of the Book of Jonah, I have made available the first two in-depth videos created for Patreons about 1 year ago available on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube! Here is the first:

Biblical Christmas Cards!

No Santa's or penguins here! We've printed and received all the brand new cards they are all packed up and looking great! There are 2 sets to choose from, each with 6 cards and 3 designs! Each set is festively wrapped and includes bright red envelopes for just £3.99. These cards feature:

• a Bible verse with a relevant image

• a second colour image on the inside

• an opportunity to introduce people to the Word for Word Bible Comic and the possibility of getting them reading the Bible this Christmas ;)

Gifts for Groups this Christmas

If you are a Church pastor, youth worker or other minister leader you might be looking for little Gospel-centred Christmas gifts this year! Our Gospel Colouring Factbooks are available to buy in bulk, with bundles of ten making the books just £1.99 each!

The books give an activity, biblical references to explore as well as historical and biblical facts around the life of Jesus, including the nativity.

Prayer

The USA and Canada Launch: This is our second English and Spanish title released in the USA and Canada in 2 months. We hope this quick release will build the wave with the last book on the run out to Christmas. Please pray with us that the books get more of a foothold in Amazon and Christian Books etc, and we can reach more people there with the Gospel.

Prisons: We're still trickling a few dozen bible comics into prisons, but we are praying this trickle will turn into a torrent. Please help us as we pray the God will open this door and get his word into more prisons across the world.

OCTOBER: Videos and Christmas Cards

Last month we launched the Gospel of Matthew in the USA and Canada, and next month will see the global official release of The Book of Jonah in English and Spanish too! Sales are rolling in but we need to continue to get the word out so please recommend the comics to a friend, write a review or a blog and help people hear about it.

You can preorder your copy of Jonah on the website now.

Matthew's Gospel Research Videos

To celebrate the release of the Gospel of Matthew into the USA and Canada I have made available several of the first in-depth videos created for Patreons about 2 years ago available on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube! There is actually about 3+ hours of content on there already if you'd like to check it out:

New Christmas Cards

Last year our Christmas cards were a great success and sold out! This year we will have created 3 new designs and we are reprinting last years set for those who missed it! Our cards include:

• a Bible verse with a relevant image

• a second colour image on the inside

• an opportunity to introduce people to the Word for Word Bible Comic and the possibility of getting them reading the Bible this Christmas ;)

Note: We are telling you about them now so our US and international readers can order from us in the UK in time, as the economy postage option can take 6 weeks.

Please add a review

I really appreciate all those of you who have added a review to the Gospel of Matthew on Amazon etc. but we need lots more, please.

Good reviews online help:

• retailers to decide whether to stock the future books in the series

• encourages people to go ahead and buy a copy

• affects the book's ranking in searches within the seller site

Interview with Christian Comics Art Society

I recently did a livestream interview with the guys at the Christian Comics Art Society. You can view it on Facebook in our group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/wordforwordbiblecomiccommunity

Prayer

The USA and Canada Launch: Now is the time! This is God's project and the good it could potentially do reaching new people with the gospel is also for His glory. So, please help us as we pray he'll take hold of the project and get it in front of all the people in the USA and Canada who will benefit from it and that might be keen to publicise it!

Prisons: We've started to see cracks in the wall keeping the comics out of prisons. We've gotten over 100 into prisons in the UK and USA in the last month thanks to the OPTIM charity. We are now praying that this will be a foot in the door and open opportunities to reach these inmates most in need of the gospel. Please help us as we pray the God will open this door and get his word into more prisons across the world.

September: The Big Launch into USA and Canada in English and Spanish

SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER

The time has come for the Word for Word Bible Comic Series to conquer America and Canada. Today the books launch directly into the market with Matthew's Gospel and El Evangelio de Mateo! Now you'll be able to find it in high street shops, church bookstalls, libraries and even Walmart. If they aren't there just ask them to order it in for you.

We want to thank everyone who has supported the project up until now with Kickstarters and Patreon and in prayer. Getting the deal with the NIV and the US distributor, printing all the copies, fixing the misprints and shipping them 5000+ copies has taken a lot of work and now it is launch time to see how it the results.

Can you do this favour to give us a leg up?

This launch is a huge moment for us and if you are a fan of the project we'd really appreciate your help making it a big success. This is important because the success or failings of the first book in the series will positively or negatively affect all those that follow.

Like you, I get frustrated that every time I buy anything or use a service online the provider wants me to leave a review. That's not exactly what I'm asking you for. I'm not just asking you to just "rate your experience". I'm asking that if you've enjoyed the books that you take several minutes to do me a favour and add a positive review to the Word for Word Bible Comic books on Amazon and other platforms in order to give them a significant leg up in the US and Canadian market.

Good reviews online help:

• retailers to decide whether to stock the future books in the series

• encourages people to go ahead and buy a copy

• affects the book's ranking in searches within the seller site

On some of the retail sites, like Christianbooks and Books-a-Million, it's possible to be the only "Bible Comic" with 5-stars and this will put it head-and-shoulders above the rest.

Let's not leave it looking like this...

Click this button to go to my blog where there is a list of places to cut and paste your review into.



Lanzamiento del libro en español

This is also the official launch of the Spanish copies of the books worldwide with El Evangelio de Mateo worldwide. The name in Spanish means "verse-by-verse", which not only has its straightforward meaning but is a movement within the preaching of the Word in Spanish to be more expositional and leave nothing out.

Below you can download a 20-page preview PDF. If you have friends whose first language is Spanish why not forward them this email so they can check it out!

Download preview PDF

You can buy your copy in the new Spanish online store:
https://www.wordforwordbiblecomic.com/tienda-espaola

Share the news

Please help us get the word out by heading to our main announcement video post and giving it a like, a share and some comments. Aside from your friends seeing it, all these "engagements" help Facebook bots realise it's an important post and serve it to more people. There are similar on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and more.

Click the image to go to the FB post.

Prayer

The USA and Canada Launch: Now is the time! This is God's project and the good it could potentially do reaching new people with the gospel is also for His glory. So, please help us as we pray he'll take hold of the project and get it in front of all the people in the USA and Canada who will benefit from it and that might be keen to publicise it!

Other Languages: Recently we've begun negotiations with a reputable Portuguese publisher in Brazil, so please pray that works out well for everyone. Please also pray for opportunities in French, Romanian, Dutch and in Ukraine where we've had some interest already to make the Bible Comic available to even more people around the world!

Reviews really HELP!

To help us make the best impression and rise in the online rating and rankings we’d dearly love you to write a quick review of the books, please.

You can use the links below to easily navigate to a list of all the books. On some sites (not Amazon), you can even cut and paste your honest review of the series making it even easier.

Amazon

The number one is, of course, Amazon. From my author profile, you can see all the titles in the series.

★ My Amazon Author Profile USA

★ My Amazon Author Profile UK

Other Big Chains

There are many other online stores carrying the titles each with its own review function. While these are smaller it seems few books have reviews so being the only one with a 5-star review puts it head-and-shoulders above the rest!

★ Barnes and Noble

★ Christianbooks

★ BAM - Books-a-Million

★ Koorong (Austalia)

Lastly, Goodreads is a book review social media platform. Some shopper (and even some online shops) take their reviews direct from there.

★ Good Reads Author Page

The difference of even a few reviews…

Want to buy a copy?

If you’d like to buy a copy the best way is to do so while supporting the project is to buy directly through our website. Doing so means we’d receive 50%+ of the RRP whilst buying on Amazon etc only gives creators less than 20%.

AUGUST: New Shop, New Products, New Team Member!

Hi everyone. This month we are launching The Gospel Coloring Factbook (see below), opening new online shops and more

NEW TEAM MEMBER

Please welcome our new colourist Maaike Ross to the team! Though Maaike lives in the Netherlands I met her in the UK, face-to-face at the Big Church Day Out event! In her free time, she loves hiking, working out & cooking, and is currently writing and drawing her own comic which is soon going to be released on Webtoon.

EXCLUSIVE GOSPEL COLOURING FACTBOOK

For anyone who missed this in the Jonah Kickstarter, we are now releasing the Gospel Colouring Factbook to buy on our website! This item will only be available directly through us. This first edition has no ISBN or barcode and will not appear on Amazon or in shops.

This gospel-based colouring book features illustrations from the nativity and ministry of Jesus, including his death and resurrection. Alongside the colouring pages are details and examples of the historical period, as well as facts and biblical points of interest relevant to the events pictured. Finally, each event has all the bible verses so you can compare the accounts and meditate on them as you colour!

You can buy a single copy for just £3.99p

We believe these will be great for youth work, small groups and church gifts so we've also created an extra special price for those looking to buy multiple copies! You can buy 5 for just £14.99 (£3 each), or 10 for just £19.99 (£2 each).

The age category is labelled as PG. Parental guidance is advised as there are images from the crucifixion that may or may not be too much for under 10s.

The book has 32 interior pages plus two colourable inside covers. The pages are sturdy 150gsm paper.

USA & SPANISH SHOPS OPEN

I've just opened two new shops on my website! One specific to shoppers in America & Canada, and one "en español". This feels like a big step forward and also means you can now preorder your books in the USA and Canada and both Spanish books too! The USA release of Matthew's Gospel as well and the worldwide release of El Evangelio de Mateo is September 1st!
https://wordforwordbiblecomic.squarespace.com/buy



⚠ YOUR JONAH KICKSTARTER REWARDS!

There are still 17 people who are set to receive physical rewards that have not completed the survey to give us their address. If that's you, head over to...

• https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/word4wordbiblecomic/the-book-of-jonah-word-for-word-bible-comic-niv-and-nvi

T-SHIRTS: If you are awaiting a t-shirt, these are getting ordered this week and should be within a week or two.

PRAYER 

Prisons: Thank you to everyone who has prayed so far. We have got books into two prisons as a trial and we hope to get good testimonies from these in order to open it up to the other prisons. Please continue to pray for the Comics to be allowed into UK jails and that they will transform lives with the gospels.

The USA and Canada Launch: Please pray the shipping containers to arrive safe and sound and in time to get the books into the shops. Also, please continue to pray that we make the most of the opportunity to launch into the USA and utilising the Spanish versions reaching a whole new section of people with the Gospel in comic form!

Other Languages: Thank you to everyone who has prayed for this, we have a new option with a Portuese publisher which we are exploring and we hope to obtain many other languages with Riggins Rights working hard to licence the publishers around the world. so it's still all to pray for ;)