EDMOND—The Philadelphia Church of God special member services department is in the midst of a new project with a huge potential audience. The department, which serves visually impaired Church members and others with unique needs, has produced and uploaded nearly 50 audiobooks for theTrumpet.com since December 2013. Besides working on Church books and booklets found in theTrumpet.com literature library, the department’s three readers record audio files for the Philadelphia Trumpet, Royal Vision, the Philadelphian, co-worker letters and the Herbert W. Armstrong College Bible Correspondence Course.

For readers Bob Harmon, Darold Oakleaf and Thomas Smith, it’s recording as usual, except now their work is made available online for the benefit of far more listeners instead of only being sent to Church members who require the service. They receive assignments from mail department supervisor Mark Saranga, pre-read the booklet or article, insert all referenced scriptures, check proper pronunciations, and note points needing vocal emphasis before accessing programs like Audacity and Goldwave to record Church literature and publications.

“After the recording is complete, I go back and listen while following along with the text word for word, especially the direct quotes from the scriptures,” Harmon, an Edmond member, said. “I listen for any added or left-out words, mispronunciations, slurred words, or sentences that just don’t sound right to my ears. Cutting out what needs to be corrected, I re-record the offending text, then insert the corrected text, taking care that the sound and tone fits with the vocal flow.”

“I get to read each issue of the Philadelphian,” Smith, a New York member, said. “Occasionally a train will go by while I’m recording. We don’t want background noises. … I’ve figured out how to edit, so I can make a separate recording of just the part I need and insert it where needed.”

“When it’s as good as I can get it, I pray, asking God to bless the recording so that it will produce the fruit He desires and be profitable for the listeners,” Harmon added.

The special member services department narrators have been recording tapes, cds and now audio files since the early 1990s. Their availability online traces back to two years ago, when Hebrew-language translator David Blondeau came up with the idea to upload audiobooks to theTrumpet.com.

After some staff changes, new cd duplication department staff member Joshua Sloan picked the project up in December 2013 right where it had left off approximately a year earlier. Sloan receives multiple audio files for each publication from Harmon, Oakleaf and Smith, then combines them into one large file to facilitate convenient use for listeners.

“Since my freshman year of college, I was blessed to be a part of the sound crew,” Sloan said. “Since that day, I have been learning audio and video.” He said the most rewarding part of this project is “knowing that we are doing everything humanly possible to get the message out to absolutely everyone, and I love sound and technology—so, best of both worlds.”

Sloan then saves the audio files to foreign language translation department coordinator Edwin Trebels’s network folder. “Every Monday, I check my folder,” Trebels said. “He’s put a handful of books in there, and I upload them to theTrumpet.com immediately.” In the past month, Sloan and Trebels have drastically increased the number of literature uploads, Trebels said.

Toward the end of 1990s, the pcg reading service assimilated into the pcg blind program and became more organized under the direction of the late Marvin Campbell and his wife, who maintained tape recipient lists, catalogued the available audio literature, and duplicated and mailed tapes.

Former reader Tom Symons, a local church elder, produced a cassette tape version of Malachi’s Message plus various other books and booklets during his 15 years on the job. After the advent of time-saving digital recording software in the early 2000s, he also trained volunteers and staff members, developing one reader each for the Trumpet, Royal Vision and the Philadelphia News (now the Philadelphian), plus others available to record various books and booklets. Numerous other men have served in the blind program—now part of Special Member Services—over the years.

The three current pcg readers say they feel honored to serve in the department. “What a blessing it is to be able to help with this work in any way we can,” Smith said.

“God is educating me to become a teacher!” Harmon said.

“There is a wonderful sense of accomplishment when I finish a recording project and contribute to completing God’s Work in such a direct way,” Oakleaf, an Arizona member, said. “I do occasionally get very positive feedback from people who benefit from my recordings.”