INTRODUCTION [to DB 5]

Dear Family,

         GBY! In this thrilling "Daily Bread" edition you will find 399 pages of greatly-condensed Letters from ML Volume 2, for quick easy reading of many Oldie Goldies you may not have tackled lately!--The original "Letters for Leaders" upon which our Family was founded! PTL!

         These basic Letters were written in the early days of the Family when almost everyone was a raw recruit or a new babe. Those were pioneer days & therefore Dad had to not only write about the spiritual principles of faith, prayer & following Jesus, but he also had to cover all the aspects of day-to-day Family life, including lessons on how to become a concerned & loving Shepherd. These first Letters are important leadership lessons which are just as applicable today as they were then. In fact, we don't see how you can be an effective leader unless you have thoroughly studied them. Therefore, in order to make it easier for you, we have included most of these essential leadership instructions in this easy-to-read condensed version of ML Volume 2, entitled "Daily Bread 5".

         The Family has, of course, changed in many ways, since those pioneer days, & therefore some of the specific counsel in these early Letters may be somewhat out-dated, but the principles that Dad laid down in these Letters are as fresh & useful as they were the day they were written!--And these basic principles & lessons of how to love & care for the sheep, whether they be outsiders, Family members or your own children, need to be ingrained in the hearts of every Shepherd & parent in our Family. If you want to learn to shepherd like Dad does, then please read & thoroughly study the pages of this book!


                  The paragraph numbers on each Letter do not correspond to the original paragraph numbers of the Letter, but were added both for your reference & for inclusion in the KWIC, D.V. We hope this will help you in your study of these basic Letters. Of course, these are all the condensed Letters, and we trust you'll remember that the entire Letters contain Dad's full counsel on the various subjects!

         We pray that you'll find these older Letters a blessing, & we know if you'll read & study them, they will be! Dad has talked about the importance of these basic Letters many times: "Some Homes either don't have any of the older Letters or aren't reading them, or using them in a regular course of classes for both babes & LTs as they should, so it's no wonder the kids are making so many mistakes!--How can they do the job without the instruction & training they need?--And the main source of this specific instruction on nearly every subject is in the Letters!--Especially for leaders!

         "If you are reading them, studying them, sharing them, praying over them & following the light of their Truth, you will be melted together in His Love, blended together in His Truth, joined together as one body, fitly joined together according to His Word." PTL!
         GBAKY & make you a blessing! WLY!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family