1998 OCTOBER BIBLE DRIVE REPORT
The Bible Foundation 7th Annual October Bible Drive in the Pacific Northwest was in joint co-operation with K-LOVE Radio, KPDQ, KKPZ & KKSL, KHPE, KPAM, Christian News Northwest, Mission Portland, Promise Keepers, Christian Supply, Christian Marketplace, Emmanuel Gospel Supply, and Higher Ground Christian Resource Center, plus many others. New developments saw the number of collection points increase to 20, from Ashland, OR to Seattle, WA. This resulted in more than 12,000 Bibles, New Testaments, etc. coming in for the year. This included approximately 5,000 from the "Bible mystery man." He told the owner of one of the collecting bookstores that because the ministry was there collecting Bibles and sending them to needy people around the world, he took it on as his personal ministry to scrounge as many as he could. He said he even climbed into dumpsters to retrieve Bibles he heard had been tossed out.
October also saw the launch of the first annual USA nationwide Bible drive. The advent of the Internet and email and the establishing of nine master collection centers made this possible. The centers, located in AZ, CA, GA, MI, OR, PA, SC, WA, and WI, accept large quantities of used Bibles, even damaged and pieces of old Bibles. Bibles are collected year 'round and the annual publicity for the drive helps spread the word. Publicity goes to about 200 Christian publications and 1200 Christian radio stations. Many people around the United States are starting to get involved.
Bibles continue to go to needy people and many lives are transformed. English is widely used around the world and Bibles are sent to over 30 countries. They go to evangelistic ministries, hospitals, nursing homes, inner city churches & ministries, rescue missions, ship ministries, prisons & jails, homeless shelters, street ministries, ethnic neighborhoods, migrant camps, individual ministries, remote villages around the world, and refugee camps.
The transforming power of Scripture is seen in the story of a man that wrote from Nigeria. He was in a gang and did a lot of drinking and smoking, and they would beat up people in the streets. On the really dark side, they would offer human as well as animal sacrifices in their temple. One day some Christians came to the village. The man wrote, "I began to study the Bible with them. After one year I came to know Jesus was the saviour. I was the first person in my village to become a Christian, people ridiculed me. With time my friends became a Christian. We went from house to house, village to villages telling people about Jesus. They were happy to hear he was the sacrifice, they did not have to take human being, goat and chickens to the temple. Many time the police threatened me but I was not afraid. I know one day truth would win. Now 550 people in my village are Christians, including our Chiefs, but only the problem we are facing is how to get a Bible for them to enhance them in their study."
Everyone that helps with the collection of Bibles, including the many volunteers that work behind the scenes, is greatly appreciated. Special thanks to all that had a part.
Bible drive materials are available on web site http://www.bf.org/bibledrive or by sending an email with no message in it to bibledrive@bf.org.
Jerry Kingery
BIBLE FOUNDATION PO Box 908 Newberg, Oregon 97132 (503) 538-4897 http://www.bf.org, email: bf@bf.org
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