THE NEWSLETTER OF IBTM
with Douglas Jacoby

.
17 December 2025

Good evening from England! I’m back from Africa—the final teaching tour of the year. It’s good to be home, and yet…. Our temporary sojourn in the UK (5 years, as planned) is nearly over. 10 more days in the UK—then it’s back to America.

The combination of the holidays with an international move makes for a truly busy season. For that reason, thanks so much for your prayers! Special thanks to all our donors, as well as the IBTM Board members. If you’d like to make a year-end donation, please scroll down for specific needs.

In today’s bulletin: IBTM at a glance and a holiday competition. We’ll mail your prize to you, if you are one of the winners. Details further down…

IBTM 2025 AT A GLANCE
HOW YOUR DONATIONS MAKE A DIFFERENCE

What does IBTM do, besides encouraging and connecting like-minded brothers and sisters globally and helping them to thrive? The ministry has multiple integrated components.

  • Correspondence (email, phone calls, online classes): Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Middle East, Latin America, US & Canada. Correspondence centers mainly on Bible questions and matters of theology. Often church leaders are seeking input. Several times a year I have consults with church leadership groups, especially when there are significant or complex issues under discussion.
  • Bible teachers: IBTM also provides assistance by sending Bible teachers where they are needed, funding travel globally.
  • Two tours of the biblical world. The ministry regularly invites men and women in the developing world to join for free. This is an investment in their education, so that they will shine in their own teaching ministries. Scores of teachers—whether rising or already recognized—have benefited from such sponsorship.
  • Mountain Theological Seminary: Theology & World Religions, Aug-Dec 2025. I have been honored to teach students from 25 nations in our MA course.
  • Biblical training programs: MTP/AIM. I spearheaded this initiative 1995-2024, although there are plenty of competent teachers now and I have increasingly taken a back seat. Currently there are approximately 20 global programs.
  • The team: in addition to our IBTM Board members, our international team (teaching, tech) consists of a dozen brothers and sisters. (I couldn't do it without you!)
  • New material: 500 new website pages. Most of the material (11,000 pages) is freely accessible. New lessons created: 60. Books: 3 (1 new, 2 second editions).
  • Collaborating with other teaching ministries, for example in Latin America, Africa, and Europe. This networking started some 25 years ago, and is really bearing fruit now, with dozens of persons now recognized as teachers and doing great work for the Lord.
  • Global Smyrna Meeting sponsorship: 10 persons (Ivory Coast, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, D. R. Congo, Zimbabwe)
  • Tuition funded: currently, 4 persons (Nigeria, UK, US)—mainly graduate level theological study.
  • Free teaching materials: 18 nations (Botswana, Burundi, D. R. Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Sri Lanka, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Mongolia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe). For example, I was in Burundi last week—where the typical salary is about $50/month and books and other media are unaffordable. Many of our donors have also underwritten unlimited website access to brothers and sisters in the developing world.
  • Engagements: 49 (complete list available here).
  • Radio interviews: 10.
  • Travel cities: 20 (Scotland, Edinburgh; England: York, Durham, Watford, London; Geneva, Switzerland; Turkey: Istanbul, Izmir, Iznik, Izmit; Greece: Kos, Rhodes, Symi; Ulaanbaatar and Dalandzadgad, Mongolia; iFaith Asia; Mexico: Mexico City; Kenya: Nairobi; Burundi: Bujumbura; United States: Abilene TX, St. Augustine FL, Boston MA, Atlanta GA, Los Angeles CA)

SOME 2025 BULLETIN HIGHLIGHTS

Combing through the past 50 issues, I’ve gathered a few highlights. Perhaps you will want to spend some time exploring the 100s of back bulletins.

Jacoby Items

Guest Items

Miscellaneous

HAVE SOME FUN—HOLIDAY QUIZ

How much do you know? Take the quiz without going online or consulting friends or books—on your honor. Write down your answers and email them to dj@douglasjacoby.com. (You can also reply to this newsletter, perhaps without including the newsletter itself.)

The first three persons to get all the right answers (or the highest score) will receive two books of their choice from Illumination Publishing.

  1. Are reindeer real animals, or make-believe?
  2. What is the location of the true North Pole?   Canada   Greenland   Russia   Arctic Ocean
  3. What does the X in the term Xmas stand for?   Christ   Satan   Atheism   Nothing
  4. Name the OT celebration that involves the exchanging of gifts?   Passover   Purim   Pentecost
  5. A boiled or steamed delight made from eggs, milk, flour, dried fruits, spices, and alcohol, this traditional English holiday fare is called Christmas ______.   Cake   Pudding   Surprise  Pie
  6. Meaning literally "old long since," the title of the customary New Year's song “Auld Lang Syne” is     Irish   Scottish   Welsh   English
  7. Which Christmas epiphyte may lead to a kiss?   Holly   Mistletoe   Spruce   Fir
  8. Hanukkah is found in the    Old Testament     New Testament     Both testaments     Neither
  9. The English celebrated New Year's Day, until 1752, in which month?    January    February    March    April
  10. Approximately which year did reindeer become part of Christmas tradition?    820    1220    1520    1820
  11. Kwaanza, an annual celebration of African-American culture, was first celebrated in    1666   1866   1966   2006
  12. Which Christmas song was the first to be roadcast from space?     Silent Night    Jingle Bells    The First Noel    Deck the Halls

Want to enter the competition? Email dj@douglasjacoby.com with your answers as soon as you can.

ANSWERS (AND ANNOUNCEMENT OF WINNERS) NEXT WEEK

OUTSTANDING MINISTRY NEEDS

Sorry: last week I had the wrong year in mind when I stated we were 60% of the way to our 2026 financial goals. I was also fighting the flu—not mentally sharp. I assure you I meant to write 2025, not 2026!

We are making great progress on reaching our financial goals for 2025. Please consider donating so that we may finish strong and continue the ministry of good news in 2026.

Biblical teaching targets:
$73—Mexico—$73 to go
$365—Soweto, South Africa—$265 to go
$590—Burundi—$90 to go
$834—iFaith Asia—$101 to go
$1241—Vietnam—$211 to go
$2810—Indonesia—$780 to go
$6953—Kenya—$3854 to go

Nepal:
$8736—Kathmandu Asha School—$3781 to go (incl. Jan 2026 winter clothes drive)

Major cost center targets:
$120,000 Training cost center—$68,285 to go
$120,000 Teaching cost center (general fund)—$51,922 to go

To allocate your gift to a certain city or cost center, you can write a note in the memo line. Thank you for support. We couldn’t do it without you.

UNTIL CHRISTMAS EVE...

Thank you for reading our bulletin. I’ll write again on Christmas Eve. Have a great week.
—Douglas

For all bulletins 2004-2025 (100s of pages of biblical material), click here. Access the website here. New material every week—typically, every day! Become a website member ($0.10/day, paid annually) here. Your membership is a tremendous boost to this ministry. To donate, click here.