International (MNN) — At the end of the quarter, there are
hundreds of churches who throw away used Sunday School curriculum and clear out
back closets filled with old Christian books.
Love Packages founder Steve Schmidt says they want those
materials because they know people who are in desperate need of them. "We try to set up distribution points
in various places of the world with people who are already on the
ground and already doing it. We'll break
a record this year. We'll ship over a
thousand tons of literature this year. To kind of give you an idea of what
that's like, that's enough literature for about 50 million people to read first
time."
How does it get to where it's going? Most of it is sent in banded boxes or mail
sacks via the U.S. Mail. Some is shipped to port cities in ocean-going containers that weigh approximately 20 tons. In
addition, Love Packages also partners with others using ships or planes who can
fill part of their cargo hold with the resources.
That's one way to ship it, but funds are a major part of
resourcing the global church. Schmidt says they're supported by free-will
offerings from churches and individuals who are concerned about wasting
materials that teach the Word of God. It's really an issue of sharing the vision and letting others see how
they can make a difference.
So that begs the question that if Love Packages is
collecting used Christian resources from North America,
aren't they primarily in English? Will
those English-only materials be helpful in a global situation?
The answer is "yes." Love Packages services nations like Nigeria
and Ghana
which have taught English in their schools for the past 35 years. In India, roughly
a quarter of their one billion population speaks and reads English.
Schmidt says the materials also help train new leaders for
ministry. "We take any and all Christian paperbacks. We take Bibles, in
any kind of condition. There are people
all over the world that have none. We take your daily devotionals,
concordances, commentaries, Bible dictionaries, regular dictionaries, all those
items, you'd be surprised. There are Bible colleges all over the world that
have none of those books."
Dear Beloved in Christ,
I pray this letter finds you in the power and anointing of the almighty father Jesus Christ and the God of all nations, grace, peace who inspects all blessing and favor, who called you to his own external life in glory of our lord Jesus Christ.
My beloved, it takes us years to come together as a Christian in the community of Ugbor, we manage to have a fellowship center in the community, some years back, my members and I went to near by village for evangelism, {which isAgona village} As we got there, they drove us away at first but we do not relent to preach to them and some of them were ready to listen, those who listen repented and become a Christian, meanwhile the community is a Muslim community, by the time the head of the Muslim realized that there were no much people in his mosque again, them he sent some of his member to our community to destroy our church building, steal the church instrument and two of our members were killed, may their soul rest in perfect peace and I believe that they are resting with our lord Jesus Christ, after they have come to destroy, the young convert ran out of the community to our community because the Muslim promise to killed them but I believe that the almighty Jesus Christ is in control of their lives and the Muslim cannot come closer to them, please my beloved, help us to pray for them.
Beloved in Christ, I beg you in the name of our beloved father in heaven Jesus Christ for you to render support to the church in need of study materials, such as study bibles, cd”s, tapes and others available study books in your ministry, please beloved these materials are for the new Muslim converts so they can grow stronger in faith, please beloved, if there is any other way you can still be of help and also, God is going to protect us from those so call Muslim, I believe that by the power of the almighty God, all members of the Muslim is going to repent and become a Christian. Please beloved; the church will be very happy for your support in any way you wish to render help to us. Please do not forget to pray for those Muslim for repentance and we are also praying for them too.
Thanks and God bless you, may you continue to rest faithfully in lord, darkness is falling, and let us works together while we may press on with Jesus Christ. We hope to hear from you in Jesus name! Amen.
Yours Beloved in Christ,
Evang.Alfred T akyie Edwin
p o box kn 5519
kaneshie-Accra Ghana