USA (MNN) — Millions of Christians around the world need
Bibles. They would do just about anything to have God's Word in their hands.
They cherish each word.
Love Packages' Founder and President Steven Schmidt is doing
something about it. But help is needed from the church. "We're asking churches all across America to do a Bible drive. They'd set a time
aside, maybe the whole month of August, and just tell everybody in the
congregation to find the Bibles that are lying around their home, bring it,
collect it and send it to us. We're hoping to collect somewhere between 400,000
and 500,000 Bibles."
This project may be Love Packages' first ever nationwide
Bible drive.
According to Schmidt, English Bibles can help a lot of
people around the world. "Zambia is 100 percent English, so is Liberia.
India is even 20-percent English. You've got a billion and a half people there,
so that's a lot of people — that's the population of the United States."
Schmidt tells about an experience an India pastor had with some Burmese
believers. "There were 10 men who came to my home, and they said, 'We've come
across the border from Burma. We heard we could get Christian literature and
books and Bibles from you. We've come so far. We've walked 15 days'."
The pastor called his church members to give up their Bibles
so these Burmese believers could take Bibles back with them.
According to Schmidt, Christians in the U.S. aren't giving up
their only Bible, as did many of these Indian believers. "Most Christians,
if they've been a Christian for any length of time, have 15 or 20 Bibles
lying around the house. Everybody knows you only need seven."
This year they have a goal of shipping 1,000 tons of
literature overseas. Schmidt says, "We're on target. We're sending 20 tons
of literature every week somewhere around the world. So we're going to go over
1,000 tons this year. That will be about 50-million people who will read our
stuff."
Each container they send overseas contains 1 million pieces
of literature. Schmidt says, "The people who do the statistics tell us
that every piece of literature that we put on the field is going to be read by
a minimum of 20 people, so it's a pretty good return."
Your church can join this Love Packages' Bible drive. Call them, or go to their website.
