Photo Courtesy of WallyG

Hello Listeners… Look at your bookcase, now back to our site, now back at your bookcase, now back to our site. Sadly that bookcase isn’t on our site. But if you stopped for a moment and told us which books you want to hear perhaps they could be on our site. Look down, back up.. where are you? Your on a boat with the audio book your books could sound like… Whats in your hand? back at me.. I have it. It’s an oyster with 2 copies of that audio book you love. Look again… the audio books are now diamonds! Anything is possible when your books are on HearTheWritings.com. I’m on a horse.

We couldn’t help ourselves!.. but all silly commercials aside… We want you to help us decide what titles to do next so please take a moment and share your choices and you might just see them on HearTheWritings.com in the near future:

In 4 Days We Had:

• Over 560 Visits to HearTheWritings.com (485 of them were new visitors)
• Visitors came from over 48 countries!
• 519 people listen to the intro to The Advent of Divine Justice
• Started with 1 follower on twitter and now have 52 followers.
• Went from 0 fans to over 130 on our facebook fan page.

These statistics are in addition to the heart warming messages of encouragement and excitement which we received from around the globe. People wrote expressing their appreciation as well as forwarding our site to all of their friends via email. This outpouring of support has been amazing and we appreciate all efforts to spread the word both large and small. With your help we can let the community know we exist and that there is a resource for quality Baha’i Audio Books. Please help the word continue to spread and share the results of the contest on your twitter and blogs. Well… In our first ever Twitter contest for The Advent of Divine Justice by Shoghi Effendi here are the results!:

WINNERS OF 4 AUDIO CD SET: (PHYSICAL COPY)

1. @wheathwave
2. @Borna761
3. @jaromematthew

WINNERS OF MP3 CD: (PHYSICAL COPY)

4. @designfacet
5. @LstInTheSeeThru
5. @caitan
6. @Super_Guy
7. @danger_gurl
8. @devongundry
9. @KellySnook
10. @kangaruhe
11. @lizkauai
12. @liquess

WINNERS OF MP3 INSTANT DOWNLOAD:

13. @reyhani
14. @malariafighter
15. @glenlittle
16. @Juliet9
17. @MandyChandler
18. @SorryGnat
19. @sandynunn
20. @ezraf
21. @Mauxito
22. @AlfredoPotatoe
23. @halfbluesky
24. @gangstagangsta
25. @mrbinary
26. @bkurzius
27. @nina_eghani
28. @felishamatthew
29. @martinrosskerr
30. @thephotobin
31. @steveader
32. @MichaelHeister
33. @friendofbrave

Please make sure you have followed @hearthewritings so that we can DM you to get your contact details. Congratulations! and thanks again!

“Know thou, of a truth, these great oppressions that have befallen the world are preparing it for the advent of the Most Great Justice” ~ Baha’u'llah

LIMITED TIME:
***Pay What You Want for the MP3 downloadable
version until Naw Ruz (March 21st, 2010).***

The Advent of Divine Justice is Shoghi Effendi’s gift to the North American believers. In it, Shoghi Effendi outlines our destiny and mission while focusing our attention on the challenges, opportunities, and requisites for success in our endeavors to serve the Cause of Baha’u'llah. He pays particular attention to the specific ills afflicting our community which must be conquered through “moral rectitude”, “complete freedom from prejudice”, and observance of “absolute chastity.” What is of unique significance is how Shoghi Effendi devotes more than half of the entire address to the subject of teaching. He outlines the “spiritual obligation” placed before every believer “to make of the mandate of teaching” “the all pervading concern” of their lives. Serving both as a warning signal and a call to action, The Advent of Divine Justice is the guide book for any believer treading the path of service.

Produced by: Jon Rezin for HearTheWritings.com
Read by: Adam Mondschein
Directed by: Jon Rezin
Recorded, Mixed, and Mastered by: Jon Rezin @ Small Room Productions, LA
Music By: Jon Rezin
Album Design by: Andrew Johnson
©2009 HearTheWritings.com
Please visit us @ www.hearthewritings.com for more information
By permission of the copyright owner, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States © 1939-1984.

***UPDATE*** The contest has come to a close… please feel free to share the site with your friends still… and check out all the winners HERE!

So in order to spread the word about HearTheWritings.com we need your help to spread the word. We want to reward those “early adopters” who see the value in the creation of quality Baha’i Audio Books as they are the ones who will get the word out. So… we want to give those who share the following tweet an opportunity to get The Advent of Divine Justice for Free! All you have to do is log into twitter and Tweet this message (or click the link to do it automatically):

@hearthewritings" target="_blank">Just found a new site for Quality Bahai Audio Books. RT this to win The Advent of Divine Justice! http://su.pr/AnHfsH @hearthewritings

Because this could be a huge success we want to limit it to those who extend their effort early on… so:

The first 3 tweets will receive: 4 Audio CD Set (Physical copy.. mailed to your doorstep)

The next 10 tweets will receive: MP3 CD (Physical copy.. mailed to your doorstep)

The following 20 tweets will receive: Instant MP3 (Download… emailed within 72 hours)

We will be tracking the posts so if you tweet it we should see it… We will be posting the winners as they come in below. If you don’t see your name listed below within 48 hours of tweeting and you know you are among those who tweeted it… please leave a comment and we will check the time of your tweet posting to see if it qualifies and update accordingly. Make sure to follow @hearthewritings so we can DM the winners of the contest. Good luck and Happy Tweeting!

I grew up in a Baha’i family in Westerville, Ohio and spent many of my formative years in the Baha’i youth workshop and attending youth conferences. It was during these teaching trips, conferences, and workshop events that I began to deepen on the writings and through service develop an understanding of my Baha’i identity. After completing high school I spent my year of service in Ohio serving the national Teaching Comittee. It gave me loads of opportunities to create deepening materials and share them with the other youth around the region. The power of the writings is something which became tangible to me. After completing my term of service I moved to New York City to pursue my passion for music production and jazz studies. During my ten years in the City of the Covenant, with its long commutes and bustling energy, I developed a love for audio books. Long subway rides gave me ample time to listen to books I would otherwise have had trouble reading in hard copy. My appetite for “reading” was voracious. I read dozens of books this way… but none of them were the sacred texts. I knew that reading the texts everyday was a mandate in the writings… but it was difficult for me to find the time to sit down and read… but the time to pop in a CD or listen to something while in transit was always there.

I was already working in the audio industry as a mildly successful recording engineer and knew that if this resource were going to come into existence that I was going to have to create it. This would be my service to the community.  With the intention of learning how to create powerful audio versions of the sacred and historical texts of the faith I began work at three of the top audio book production houses in NYC. During the year that I worked at these production houses I learned the ins and outs of the audio book industry and what it takes to create great audio books. I was fortunate to work with some of the top directors and voice over talent in the industry. I worked on projects for Random House, Harper-Collins, Penguin Audio, Highbridge, Houghton Mifflin, Renaissance Audio, and on and on. Here are a few of the titles I was privileged to work on:

I used each project as an opportunity to pick the brains of the world class talent that was in the room and build my skills. With my foundation firmly rooted in the audio book industry I began to formulate my plan to execute my vision… business plan, investor, the whole nine yards… but I couldn’t find anyone to invest… so the project sat waiting for me to find the time. With all things, change is inevitable, and I was blessed by meeting and marrying my beautiful and loving wife Auntieclare. We settled in LA and she became my greatest source of encouragement. Together we revived this project and began to pursue translating this vision into reality. Through sheer dedication we set aside the time and resources necessary to create our first audio book. The book (The Advent of Divine Justice – By Shoghi Effendi) is our first offering to the community. Many more are in the works.. it is our intention to translate all the sacred and historical texts of the Baha’i faith into audio format. With your encouragement, support and assistance we will be able to create this resource and help encourage Baha’i scholarship in our community.

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to HearTheWritings.com – Your Daily Dose of the Sacred Word. If you want to share a thought, offer a suggestion or just lend your support (financially or otherwise) please drop me a note through the form on the contact page. I look forward to hearing from each of you and how, in some small way, these audio books have aided you to draw closer to Baha’u'llah.

~ Jon Rezin

You can view my other sites here:

http://www.jonrezin.com

http://www.smallroomproductions.com

http://www.nextmovementrecords.com

Photo Courtesy of: NotSoGoodPhotography

“Immerse yourselves in the ocean of My words, that ye may unravel its secrets, and discover all the pearls of wisdom that lie hid in its depths.” ~ Baha’u'llah

Welcome to Hear The Writings.com.  This site is the beginning of the realization of a long term mission… to convert the Sacred writings of the Faith into a high quality audio format. Until now those wishing to study the Sacred writings as well as historical accounts had to find periods of time where they could sit and read from the Holy writings. In our modern society this time, unfortunately, is often sacrificed to other seemingly important pressures and time commitments such as long commutes to and from work. Now the time to immerse ourselves in the Sacred Word can be found anywhere… driving, riding the bus, taking a subway ride, on a flight. Becoming a scholar of the Sacred texts and history of the Faith begins with a first step. Hopefully the efforts we make at HearTheWritings.com to offer these materials in a common and accessable format will assist those loooking for such a step. Enjoy… please share this site with a friend… and happy listening!

~ Jon Rezin