Year-end wrap up: The Podcast

By Elizabeth Prata

I wrote yesterday about the blog for my year end wrap up. Today it’s the podcast.

Why “The End Time?”

It’s called “The End Time” because we are IN the end time. It’s the time between Jesus’ incarnation (or ascension), and the time of His return. It’s to remind us that time is short. Death could come for us any day, or the Age of Grace could end suddenly and there would be no more opportunity to be about our Father’s business. We must be busy, joyfully ministering in all we do, all the time.

Ministry Goals

My goal with this ministry comprised of my blog and other social media, are three fold. To 1) encourage women, 2) to discern and teach others how to discern, and 3) to offer links and material from credible ministries from today and the past. There is so much false and fluff out there, I try to do my part in warning women about the bad and passing along the good.

Why a podcast?

That said, when podcasts became so available and so ubiquitous, I decided it would be a good thing to add it to my cadre of social media that I use to reach my ministry goals. I aim for female readers of all ages. However, today’s world is busy, especially for moms. So if women don’t have the time to sit and read but can listen while folding laundry, driving the kids, or putting on makeup, it’s a good thing for them, and adheres to my goal of offering quality content to women.

So I started The End Time Blog podcast.

It doesn’t have interviews. It doesn’t have a co-host. It doesn’t have guests. It’s just me, reading what I wrote on the blog. The sessions are usually between 7-10 minutes. A few are 20-25 minutes, a very few. Spotify has a 30-minute limit, anyway.

There’s no brash intro music. No hype or ringmaster announcer-y voice. No giggling. No ads or sponsors. Many people over the years have remarked on my voice, that it’s soothing, quiet, calming, etc. I try to read the blog into the microphone like I’m reading a story to my younger students.

I’m not good at “curating my content”. I don’t relentlessly re-post and tout and advertise. Maybe I should, it’s part of the goal of getting good content in front of women. I often don’t know the dividing line between healthy promotion and self-promotion, so I err on the side of caution.

That can get me a remark such as I received recently, “There’s a podcast?!” lol. Yes, there is. It is on Spotify as mentioned but also iTunes, Amazon music, and several other podcast subscription outlets.

Year end round up

Here is the year-end round up for how the podcast did. Spotify does it for its podcasters automatically. It’s still very small potatoes, but I know the Holy Spirit is getting it to all the ears He decides should be hearing it. Here you go:

Top episode:

When people say that this false teacher or that maybe false teacher should be left alone, why are you doing this, it’s because of the statistic below. Because people care deeply about doctrine, about whether the person they are following is false or not, or whether the person they had to quit following is repenting and can now be re-followed. People care about their own souls and the souls of even the false teachers.

It makes sense the US was top country from which my listeners came. It’s an English speaking podcast and it’s comparatively small in reach. Why should people in Laos or Ghana know about it?

Philippines? Um, OK. Like I said, the Holy Spirit sends the ministry where He wants it to go!

Word of mouth is gold. When I ran my newspaper I learned that what you are asking people to do is alter their routine. Buy from THIS store, not that one. Read MY newspaper not the other one anymore. It’s hard. People are ingrained. Word of mouth from friends counts for a lot in getting people to try something new or to adopt a new routine into their lives.

One women on my The End Time blog Facebook Page was passing my stuff to a friend with this comment-

“Do you listen to Elizabeth? Probably the only woman I have consistently read or followed. She’s low key, studious, consistent, BIBLICAL.”

It was one of the best compliments I ever received. I cherish those qualities she said I possess. All four of them. It’s comments like that I use as a benchmark for staying within the center line of doctrine and to detect if I’m straying or not. How terrible it would be to read something like “I used to listen to her but she is getting liberal…” Or, “I listened for a while but she is getting too strident and brash…” or something like that. I’d be crushed and go to my elders and ask them to help me rectify this. (And yes, I have 4 elders who encourage me and keep abreast of what I do here).

I’m glad for the growth. Toward the second half of the year I was not as consistent in recording my podcast. I’ll try to do better in 2024. Consistent publishing helps with reach and growth.

I wrote about my stance on women speakers and podcasters, here, in “Dudette, where’s your gravitas?” I had said,

Something one notices immediately upon listening to Elisabeth Elliot is her demeanor. She speaks slowly, carefully, soberly. (Titus 2:3,5). I think of someone like Beth Moore, where her speech patterns are so frenetic that when Chris Rosebrough introduces a segment about her he plays “Flight of the Bumblebee”. Or Christine Caine, who, at Passion 2019, yelled a lot and never stopped striding around the stage (in a track suit). A Bible teacher’s demeanor like Elisabeth’s will cause one to stop, listen, and take what is said more seriously because of the gravitas inherent in the woman. She spoke of heavenly things with respect for heaven.

I would encourage you to read or listen to the above link and apply the biblical terms that outline behavior for women to the podcasters you listen to. Behavior counts just as much as doctrine.

So that is the roundup! Thank you for listening, I appreciate all my readers and listeners.