"Be the connection!"
With a band of young criminals, Barto began robbing churches! During one robbery he saw a backpack and took it along. In it, he found a Bible with some literature. As he read and reread The Way to God, a Scripture booklet that had been tucked in the Bible, confusing emotions filled his heart. He felt hope, but also a deep sense of guilt pressed on his heart for things he had done. With a sense of urgency, he called the phone number inside the Bible and found someone who tenderly led him to faith in Christ.
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 By her own testimony, 36-year-old Claudette lived a drug-controlled life of debauchery and delinquency. Unmarried, and with two children to care for, she felt friendless and needy. One day visitors came to her African village. They told her about Jesus and gave her a Scripture booklet. As Claudette realized that only Jesus could forgive her sins and give her His salvation, she received Him as her Savior, deciding to let Him guide her life. Now she says, “I am glad that The Way to God booklet is helping me in my relationship with Christ.”  This is from Street Level Ministry in the Twin Cities, Minnesota (Minneapolis and Saint Paul). WMP provides Scripture booklets and the Bible Study of John for this group. They work with street people, university students, etc. Scott C., our contact, was saved out of the drug culture of the 60’s and has a burden for young people. A local ministry outreach called Love Twin Cities along with City View Church, just blocks away from some destruction that occurred in Minneapolis, along with several other groups have been participating almost non-stop in ministering and baptizing people amongst the ruins. Many of those who volunteer or have partnered with Street Level were fortunate to be part of a great movement of God! And it continues as we see from daily Facebook videos showing people professing faith in Christ along with mass prayer and racial reconciliation events led by the Spirit of God in the Name of Jesus. There is much to hope for with God calling the broken and wounded to Himself! Forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation are MAJOR themes of the Gospel! The world has desperately been in need of those things ever since the beginning; and now is no different.  Who would have thought that giving a pair of shoes and a small booklet of scripture verses would bring so much joy to people in the African nation of Lesotho!
A mission team went from village to village sharing Christ’s love in word and deed. In response, lives were changed and church members energized to share the gospel. A community leader stated, “The word of God is alive! I believed God’s word when a team visited our remote and mountainous area. They were passionate and friendly, going door to door, freely giving out World Missionary Press Scripture booklets and pairs of shoes. I was touched by the love of God and was convinced to accept Jesus and follow Him. My life has changed.” God’s word in their own language carried the truth of the gospel deep into the hearts of those receiving the scripture booklets.  While dealing with new routines, many have discovered new opportunities to share the Word of God. In West Virginia, Jennifer R. serves the homeless through a local rescue mission. She requested a variety of Bible study booklets for small groups of ten or less (“these people do not have access to the internet”) as well as the small coloring books for children. “Our community is hurting for Christ.… Due to COVID-19, our initial outreach plans have changed, but we are still diligently sending out the Word of the Lord through every avenue possible at this turbulent time. Thank you so much for all that you do in seeing that the gospel reaches the nations!”  Increased isolation in correctional facilities can have a painfully demoralizing effect. WMP regularly receives requests from chaplains and prisoners, but the COVID-19 pandemic has brought a new urgency. WMP staff member Sylvia C., who handles these requests, shared her observations: “Since about the middle of March, prisons across the country suspended all visitors, including all volunteers. Since many of the religious services were conducted by volunteers, that is no longer available.” Letters from inmates revealed how much they missed the services which they could no longer have. “All that the chaplains have to help the inmates is literature. Chaplains have told me they can use all the literature we can donate.”
 In early April Ben B. requested 10,000 copies of The Way to God Scripture booklet in Spanish and as many Spanish New Testaments as we could provide. He and The Way of the Cross Ministries, long-time partners of World Missionary Press, were setting up a drive-through food give-away in their Texas hometown and were completely out of WMP literature! After receiving the Scripture booklets and 1,000 New Testaments, and opening up the drive-through food bank, Ben sent an update: “We have seen 2,520 salvations in the past three weeks! This is one of the good things that has come out of this desperate time in America’s life. People are turning to Jesus. Praise the Lord!”  Gopi was a broken and discouraged man. He had lost his job, and all efforts to find a new job had failed. He received a WMP Scripture booklet through Pastor M., who regularly reaches new villages, distributing the free literature and praying for those who receive it. Gopi’s heart was touched by the words, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” God gave him hope for the future. After reading the entire booklet, he gave his life to the Lord and prayed that the Lord would give him a job. The next week he found a good job. He shared the news with Pastor M., who thanked the Lord for this miracle and shared the Gospel with Gopi’s family. They are all now attending church.  Hundreds of boxes of WMP literature in Portuguese have been sent to Brazil’s northeast states. Here, in areas often dominated by witchcraft, the Word of God has taken hold. In one city, the leader of a witchcraft center came to Christ and then led all those involved with the center to the Savior! In another city in that region, six new churches were opened, full of new believers who had come to Christ after reading the Scripture booklets.  WMP Partners Interview Don and Ellen F. East Coast USA and Beyond Volunteers are at the very heart of World Missionary Press, helping keep costs low at our production facility in Indiana. Volunteer national coordinators and major distributors in more than 80 countries receive and process large shipments of Scripture booklets for churches and ministries in their nations. Volunteers all over the world take the booklets into villages, cities, mountains, and deserts. WMP is blessed to have these shoulders to help carry the load of fulfilling the vision to give God’s Word to the world. WMP: Don, please describe your background and current ministry. Don: Ellen and I are retired business owners, celebrating 53 years of marriage. We dedicated our lives to serving the Lord in 1974. After retiring, and in full-time ministry since 2009, we share the good news on the streets and highways along the US East Coast from Florida to Maine, where there are more than 100 million people of all nations. We are also large-volume distributors of gospel materials to businesses, churches, and organizations. WMP: How did your association with WMP begin? Don: Our introduction to World Missionary Press was through a direct intervention from God. Early in the ministry, we purchased a case of Spanish New Testaments from another source. With all the other expenses at the time, a decision was made one night to no longer provide Spanish. The very next morning, a man drove up to our ministry vehicle and asked if we could use 1,000 Spanish New Testaments! These originally came from WMP, and a new connection was made. Our purpose is to educate, encourage, and energize the body of Christ and those now seeking God, to help make disciples of all nations. World Missionary Press prints the exact type of products we need for this type of ministry. Our first motive in ministry is to reach out with the compassion and love of Christ. The topical Scripture booklets accomplish exactly that without condemnation. WMP: How has WMP literature helped churches and ministries reach their communities and beyond? Don: The Bible study books and Scripture booklets can be used by churches and ministries for outreach. Making connections with missionaries is a priority, as many cannot get material in the languages they need for their countries. In every church we visit, we put out a table at service times with all of the products for the members there. This gives them the opportunity to have good free materials for their own use and personal outreach. The US East Coast is our launching point from which to reach the world. The I-95 corridor connects with hundreds of exits, with crowds of people traveling the interstate. The time to spread the gospel is now, and only through Christ is real life found. We have materials in stock in many languages, and more readily available thanks to WMP. This has also enabled us to reach into some 30 countries. The adventure begins all over again every day, as Florida is one of the greatest mission fields in the world. WMP: How do you reach into other nations? Don: As an example, in the Florida Keys early this year, we discovered a need through the church that had sent us out in ministry eleven years ago. Two boats were being loaded with needed equipment and supplies for the northern Bahama Islands devastated by the hurricane last year. Cases of WMP material (25 boxes in four languages) were put on board. After spending three weeks restocking locations throughout the Upper Keys, we traveled on to Key West. Outreach from our church partner there and throughout the city continues to grow. New connections with pastors and businesses were made. Boxes of booklets go out from here to the Bahamas, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Cuba. WMP: How do the Scripture booklets work in conjunction with other material to reach hearts? Don: The new booklet Who Do You Say That I Am? has been perfect to put with the Jesus film DVDs. Watch the film and then read in depth who Jesus is to establish a solid foundation. Ellen and I firmly believe in establishing converts in the Word of God to become lasting disciples of Christ. The materials do exactly that. We would like to thank WMP for supplying quality products in many languages since the beginning of this ministry. The connection with WMP was made by the Holy Spirit and is an amazing story in itself. We have found many new locations, and the volume of booklets going out is ever increasing. We see limitless potential for further distribution of the gospel. |
Various AuthorsInspiring & Insightful articles from WMP Staff, Ambassador Network Members, & Friends Archives
July 2020
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