Gideons from the British Isles, USA, Australia, Norway, South Africa and Finland joined with members in Mexico to take part in the 2016 Mexico International Scripture Blitz in Mexico City and San Louis Potosi.
In 1978, the very first International Scripture Blitz started in Mexico City during which 45,650 Scriptures were distributed in seven days. Nearly forty years later, the target is 350,000 Scriptures in two weeks.
The teams got started early on Monday at the National University of Mexico. Students poured out of the subway and on to the campus. At first a policeman told the Gideons they couldn’t stay there but one Gideon, Fernando, started talking with him and the conversation soon was about who we are and what we do. The police officer, Benito Hernandez, started sharing about how he fears for his life almost every day in his job. So there under there a bridge, Benito walked through the plan of salvation and gave his life to Christ. He also allowed us to stay so that others could receive the Good News and by noon, almost 10,000 students had received a Scripture.
One policeman became very friendly with The Gideons and he would tell students they couldn’t come in without showing their school ID and a New Testament. The kids look stunned and went back outside to get one until he started laughing.
The relationships are so good with the community that when the police were called by one school, the officers told them, “They’re okay, they’re just Gideons.”
After a distribution at a large high school, a team was standing at a street vendor eating a snack. A taxi driver also stopped and started a conversation. The driver, Sergio, told the Gideons that he had a lot of life issues including a drug habit. He said he knows the Word of God but often feels he is being viciously attacked by a demon he can’t control. He wakes up and realises that he has taken drugs again. He uses his money on his bad habits and his family doesn’t eat. Sergio said he needs help as tears began running down his face.
The Gideons shared with him from a New Testament and after about five minutes Sergio abruptly dropped to the sidewalk and began to pray as the rest of the team gathered around him. After a few minutes Sergio got up smiling.
Teams of ladies were out in force with Grace Rivera of the Pueblo Camp leading them. “I love what we get to do every day,” she said. Grace and her team handed out over 7,000 Scriptures to the medical staff at La Raza Hospital and almost 30,000 hospital staff received a Scripture from the Mexican ladies taking part in the Blitz. The hospitals in Mexico City are huge but the ladies were bold in taking the opportunities to witness.
There were 2,200 Scriptures shared at the Santa Marta Prison. Clancy Trent, a Gideon from Kentucky said, “These are young kids, mostly under 30, and in this prison with no hope. The conditions are so bad you wouldn’t want to go back if you ever served time there. Everyone treated us kindly and that says a lot for the Gideon camps in this area who visit the prison often.”
Only six members of the team were allowed to go into the prison and they were able to witness from pod to pod in small groups. Doug Hamilton from Indiana said that one of the guards helped him translate as he preached the Gospel. The guard kept following him around all morning repeating God’s Word. Doug found out later that the guard had actually accepted Jesus Christ as his Saviour that afternoon.
One of the last testimonies from Mexico City came from a high school student who tried to burn a New Testament. During an afternoon distribution a student accepted a New Testament but then tried to burn it but had a hard time keeping it lit. That’s when the student literally felt a change in his heart and brought the Testament back to the Gideons and said, “I shouldn’t have done that.”
His name was Omar and the Gideons walked him through many Scriptures. They opened up God’s Word and this time it burned in his heart. He accepted Jesus Christ as his Saviour.
His four friends watched from afar and went over to the Gideons after Omar left and asked, “What just happened?” The Gideons told this same story and his four friends then accepted Christ.
The Blitz started with the team leader, Cal Lucas, reading from John 21 about fishing on the other side. There were three points he made about what the apostles saw. One, following God’s command is absolute. Two, God’s timing is perfect. And three, God’s grace knows no bounds. Cal reminded us the best fishing is in a moving current…so fish with endurance.
The total number of Scriptures distributed during the Mexico International Scripture Blitz was 405,000, but these testimonies of people giving their life to Christ are far more exciting.
Testaments at Freshers’ Week
As students make their return to college or university for another year, we have been encouraged by Gideon Branches around the country with news of what they have been doing to reach the lost for Christ in colleges and universities.
Below is one of those encouragements, an email from Kim, but check out our Facebook and Twitter pages for more encouragements.
Dear Gideons,
Amongst all the other stalls, I was so pleased to see a stall of Bibles at the Fresher’s Fair on Thursday 29th September at the University of Brighton. It’s so important the work you do and I really do think how commendable it is to be the light and salt of the earth in such a practical way. The green student Bible is not only very beautiful, it is also compact enough to carry with me wherever I go and easy enough to read on my commute to university or during my free periods in-between lectures.
I am so grateful for the Bible and how it has enhanced my walk with the Lord by acting as a constant reminder, a form of support as well as a companion of wisdom. I will treasure the gift as a memory of my first week at University. Long may your ministry continue until the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This email serves to say how grateful I am and may God richly bless you for all your wonderful work!
Many thanks
In Christ, Kim
Please pray that more Gideon Branches will gain access to colleges and universities and many students will come to faith in Christ.
Pray that colleges and universities presently closed to The Gideons will open.
Pray for Christian students, that they will be bold in their witness for the Lord Jesus
A Pastor Calls Churches to Unite in Prayer
Pastor
Pastor Kenny Martin and his wife, Estelle
Shortly after Pastor Kenny Martin began serving at John Wesley Free Methodist Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, there was a knock at his office door. His administrative assistant poked her head inside and said, “There’s a student here who would like to see you.” She added that the youth, whom the folks in the congregation called “K-J,” had a speech impediment.
Pastor Kenny welcomed K-J into his office. The young boy was hesitant to talk, so the pastor handed him a note pad and pen and said, “Just write down what you’d like to say.” The boy took the pen, wrote his message on the pad, and handed it back to Pastor Kenny. On the pad was one simple sentence: “I want God to fix my voice.”
A Heart for Youth and Cross-Cultural Ministry
Edward Kenneth Martin (“Kenny”) was born into a middle-class family in Brooklyn. His parents were a godly couple and served as leaders in their church. Kenny went through a rebellious stage in his teens and got caught up in crime and drugs. In his mid-twenties, after serving in the Navy, the young man accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior. Soon after, he felt called to enter ministry and moved to Oklahoma to attend Mid-America Bible College. It was there he met his wife, Estelle.
Pastor Kenny began serving in Oklahoma at a church with a predominantly Caucasian congregation. Today, he laughs as he looks back on those days and serving with the church’s pastor. “I taught him to sing soul, and he taught me to sing country,” he remembers. That was just one of many experiences throughout the pastor’s ministry where he felt the Lord move him out of his comfort zone. “I believe God is always preparing us for the next place He wants to take us in ministry,” Kenny explained. For him, it was preparation for serving people of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
From Oklahoma, the Martins moved to pastor at a church in St. Louis, where they served throughout the 1990s. Next, they re-located to Maryland, where they pastored a church for 15 years. In 2015, the Lord called Pastors Kenny and Estelle to serve in Indianapolis at the John Wesley Free Methodist Church. The congregation has an average weekly attendance of 150-180 people and just celebrated its 50th anniversary.
“Our mission is to reach all people with the love of Christ”
The Martins spent their first several months in Indianapolis focused on simply getting to know the folks in the congregation. As those relationships began to flourish, the Martins turned their attention to building the ministry team. Pastor Kenny has also been spending much of his time building relationships with the young people in their church, and with people in the multi-ethnic community surrounding the church. “Our mission is to reach all people with the love of Christ,” he says.
Lord, Please Heal Our Land
In the middle of a worship service during the summer of 2016, Pastor Kenny received the breaking news of the shooting of five police officers in Dallas. Shocked and heartbroken, the pastor immediately shared the tragic news with the congregation and called upon the church to pray. “This killing has got to stop,” he told them.
In the hours to follow, Pastor Kenny felt led to call pastors throughout the city to come together and pray for the nation. The following Tuesday night, several pastors representing a variety of denominations gathered with Pastor Kenny, and they prayed for healing and revival across the United States. The event was a clarion call according to Joel 2:15-17, “Blow the trumpet in Zion… call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders…Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, ‘Spare your people, O Lord.’”
“We have to keep seeking, and keep believing God will heal our land from hatred, because all lives matter.”
“We do need a healing,” Pastor Kenny says of the nation. “The main culprit in all this is Satan. What we have to do is put on the whole armor of God. We read in 2 Chronicles 7:14, ‘…if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.’ My mandate is to call all Christian churches to work together in unity and to pray for our nation. That’s what God has placed on my heart,” says Pastor Kenny. “We have to keep seeking, and keep believing God will heal our land from hatred, because all lives matter.”
The Importance of God’s Word
“It’s so important to have a copy of God’s Word in my hands when I’m sharing the Gospel with someone,” says Pastor Kenny. For this reason, he always carries a pocket-sized New Testament he received from The Gideons.
Pastor Kenny has experienced first-hand the power of God’s Word and wants to see others experience it. “When I read the Bible, the words just seem to jump into my spirit. I want to see believers reading their Bibles daily,” he says. “I can’t stress how important it is. It’s the living Word of God. It’s active. It will get into your spirit and change your life. When Gideons place God’s Word into peoples’ hands, the Word shall not return void.”
Partnering with The Gideons
K-J
The Sunday following the 2016 International Convention, Pastor Kenny and the congregation welcomed the International Chaplain for The Gideons International, Jimmy Duren, who delivered a presentation. “He did a wonderful job presenting the ministry of The Gideons,” says Pastor Kenny. Within days of the presentation, the pastor began meeting with church leadership to review different opportunities for partnering with Gideons in reaching the lost with God’s Word.
As for young K-J, in the months since his timid entrance into Pastor Kenny’s office, the pastor and others in the congregation have continued to encourage him. The pastor has welcomed K-J at his home for cookouts and has also taken time to teach him valuable life skills. “We can see his confidence growing. There’s a glow on his face.” During altar calls, K-J will even come down front to lay hands on others.
After Jimmy Duren’s presentation that Sunday, Pastor Kenny drove K-J back to his house. K-J noticed one of the New Testaments from The Gideons in the console. He asked, “Can I have that?” Pastor Kenny gladly let him take it, knowing K-J would put the Scripture to good use.
October is Pastor Appreciation Month – a wonderful opportunity for us to express gratitude to pastors for their dedicated service. By sending a GideonCard, you can send warm messages of thanks and encouragement to your pastor and, in turn, donate Bibles worldwide in their name. Visit www.sendtheword.org for details.
The Power of a New Testament
Last week, Gideons conducted the 2016 Botswana International Scripture Blitz. Early counts place the total number of Scriptures distributed at around 70,000. The Blitz team members witnessed as more than 700 people prayed to receive Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
One of the people to receive a New Testament from Gideons last week was a teacher named Keletso. The head teacher and deputy head teachers at the school received a full Bible but due to the greater investment required of The Gideons to provide Bibles, the rest of the faculty and students were given New Testaments. Keletso expressed disappointment about not receiving one of the Bibles. “I need a full Bible too because I need to be saved,” she told Dave Lacy, a Gideon from Tennessee.
Keletso’s comment revealed what she really needed was someone to share the Gospel with her. “The Holy Spirit let me know this was my opportunity,” says Dave. “So I told Keletso, ‘You don’t need a full Bible to get saved. You can be saved today and this New Testament you hold in your hand can show you how.’”
With one of the deputy head teachers and another teacher standing by, Dave led Keletso through the plan of salvation. After reading through those Scripture passages, Dave said, “Today, Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart. Only you can open the door of your life to Jesus. Would you like to do that today?” Keletso and the two other faculty members standing nearby acknowledged they were ready to receive Jesus. “We prayed together as they confessed their sins and received the eternal gift of salvation by confessing Jesus as their Lord and Saviour,” says Dave.
After praying, Keletso read this verse,
“For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13
After she read the verse, Dave reminded Keletso she could now be certain of her salvation. “The Scripture says you ‘will be saved,’ not ‘might be saved.’”
Keletso was overjoyed. “When you gave me this book I was not happy because I did not think it was that powerful,” she said. “Now I am happy because I can see that it is really a powerful book.”
Light for Darkened Alleys
Testimony
For many, the presence of sin in their lives is an idea that is staunchly resisted. After all, no one wishes to feel evil or desperate. But for others, the course of their life brings undeniable awareness of the severity of the human condition. Such is the framework for JC’s story.
JC’s discovery of her need for a Savior began at an early age. Without the luxury of a godly or stable home, JC was exposed to human depravity in her youth. Abuse was a normality, and thus became a foundation for a life of self-abuse.
“When she was in her late teens, she put down the Bible, not to pick it up again for over 20 years.”
As a kid, JC’s parents dropped her off at Sunday School, but Christ remained a stranger. She had little assistance in cultivating the Spirit of Christ, and without any guidance, she soon lost her way. Trying to read Scripture on her own only brought frustration and anger. When she was in her late teens, she put down the Bible, not to pick it up again for over 20 years. By her own admission, JC was guilty of many things, and none of the labels she accumulated throughout the years – thief, adulterer, murderer, alcoholic, drug abuser – brought her any sense of happiness or significance. They only brought despair.
In 2013, she began living in a motel room to avoid homelessness and provide shelter for her then four-and-a-half-year-old daughter. When authorities discovered methamphetamines in her room, JC was arrested, and her little girl was turned over to Child Protective Services. This motel room proved fateful in many ways, as it was from this room that JC stole for the last time; not contraband or something commercially valuable, but a Gideon-placed Bible. In the days following her release, JC neither sought out the same old vices that had previously controlled her life, nor any new vices to distract her from her desolation. She simply began to read.
Soon, JC found herself living in an alley between an Alcoholics Anonymous office and a vacuum cleaner repair shop. Both were owned by Gideons. These men began to form relationships with JC, and she was welcomed into the repair shop each morning for coffee and fellowship. The men taught and encouraged JC, and under their care, she flourished. Through the revelation provided by Scripture and the influence of the men on whose doorsteps she lived, JC began to be transformed. She stopped using substances of any sort, began attending AA meetings, and endeavored to fill the void in her life with Christ rather than chemicals. Though JC had very few worldly comforts, she was at last receiving shelter from the destruction that defined her entire life.
“In her destitution, JC saw clearly, and where every earthly treasure was removed, there she found the greatest treasure of all.”
In 2015, JC lost her father and any access to her daughter. Nevertheless, she would describe 2015 as the best year of her life. This counterintuitive claim comes only from the power of Christ to bring joy even in the most abysmal situations. As JC said herself, quoting Nehemiah: “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” In her destitution, JC saw clearly, and where every earthly treasure was removed, there she found the greatest treasure of all.
Though JC’s story may not have a happy ending as many may define it, she would say otherwise. JC has spent much of her life addicted and enslaved to sin, but no longer. She is no more a felon according to the law, but far more significantly, she is no longer an enemy of her Maker. She is grateful to the God who never counted her a criminal though her crimes were many, and today her life is marked by obedience instead of rebellion. JC lost many things in her life, some never to be regained, but she has gained the only thing that can never be lost – the salvation of Jesus Christ.
Finding an encouraging testament in a hotel
Dear Gideons,
Prompted by the front page of the Bible you kindly placed in my hotel room, I would like to write in thanks for the work you carry out continuously and which has become an institution.
Before I set out on my journey to Glasgow from Inverness yesterday I looked in vain around the local charity shops for a detective novel or similar with which to while away the hours on the train and to keep me company in the hotel restaurant or in my room. Having spent the evening instead watching a football match on TV, followed by the inevitable series of human horror stories that constitute the News, I awoke this morning, my mind filled with the sense of our enslavement to the corporate world.
At 6.30 am I was wide awake with the thought that there may be an answer for my headache in the drawer of the dressing table. And there it was, reliably, offering me a myriad of other, much more encouraging thoughts. In particular 2 Corinthians 9. I find myself less than 3 weeks away from retirement, as everyone is asking what my plans are. It concerns me that I have none so far, and I also found a couple of your suggested verses helpful, but I think I am going to start with Proverbs 16:3, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.”
Thank you for reading this and please continue your work. My son, who is now 17 and considering his future, reads the Bible in the modern way – by daily reading on an App I think! He was impressed, as I was as a school child, with the gift he received of a New Testament. I rediscovered my own copy when on holiday last year in Sardinia. We have a house there as it is my husband’s home country. I was alone and I had an accident, falling from a ladder and breaking my knee cap. Finding help proved tricky but to cut a very long story short, I ended up reading that little Bible constantly, finding strength and comfort and a renewed faith in God. This has continued.
Thanks again!
Mrs L Carloss
A Case of Miracles
TESTIMONY
The hallways of James Buchanan High School are filled with students representing small-town life in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. Like most high school students, some strive for excellence in the classroom, while others push their limits on the field. Then there are those like Violet Clark—enthusiastic, a dreamer—those who exude joy and a heart for the Lord in everything they do.
An Impactful Presentation
On March 6, 2016, David Kipp from the Franklin Southwest Camp, Pennsylvania, gave a presentation at Ebenezer United Brethren Church. During his presentation, David briefly shared about The Life Book and how God is using it to impact students across the country. Listening from the congregation was Youth Pastor Chip Stottlemyer. Chip was intrigued by the opportunity he heard about The Life Book, which features the entire Gospel of John (ESV), and ordered 600 free copies online following the presentation.
Six cases arrived in his office, and he presented the opportunity to students at the next youth group meeting. The students were excited and began making plans to share the books with their peers at James Buchanan High School. Violet Clark, one of the most popular students at the high school, was also a member of this youth group.
Violet asked Chip if she could have a whole case—100 copies of The Life Book. Over the next few weeks, she literally skipped through the hallways giving copies to friends and strangers. She wanted to share the message of Christ with her peers. Violet shared nearly the whole case within six weeks, and she shared the last three books just before April 21, her eighteenth birthday.
Primed for Prayer
Violet Clark, a student whose Christian testimony touched many.
On Friday, April 22, Violet was involved in a serious automobile accident as she left school. In a school where prayer is not promoted, many students and teachers began a prayer vigil asking for God to touch and heal Violet. They gathered in groups from the band room to the library, joined hands, and prayed for a miracle. However, on April 25, God called Violet home.
It is not by accident these individuals had been primed with God’s Word. Luke Spurgeon works with the drama club at the high school. Shortly after the accident, he wrote, “There are flyers around the school proclaiming the Word of God. There has been more prayer in the past five days than there has been in many years. Students are turning to Christ, looking for answers and yearning for some of that joy that radiated from Violet.”
The finale of young Violet’s work on Earth was just the beginning of the work for those in her youth group. Since the accident, many have come to Christ as a result of Violet’s life. One of her friends asked Pastor Chip if she could also have a case of The Life Book copies to share.
Through a strong relationship with a church, a Gideon was able to share about The Life Book. Through one presentation, a youth pastor was touched. Through one youth pastor, a young girl was equipped and empowered. And through that girl’s testimony, many were exposed to the Gospel and received the miracle of eternal life.
Find out how you can equip your church’s youth group with free copies of The Life Book to share with their classmates. Click here for details.
Finding hope on a work residential course
Dear Sir/Madam
I have been considering extending my giving for the work of the Lord and have been nudged by the Holy Spirit in the direction of The Gideons, for whom I have a long standing affection.
Ray, a former colleague who happened to be a Gideon, brought me back to faith in the early 80s. It is still with deep shame I recall how rude I was to Ray when he first witnessed to me in the staff canteen during our lunch break. However, Ray saw my need and ploughed through my anger and rebellion. Then by chance, I was sent on a residential course by my boss and feeling unsure and lonely I found a Gideon Bible in the bedside cabinet of my room. The rest is history.
When I got back to work and spoke to Ray, he knew instantly that God had won me back and that I was saved – it was truly remarkable. Ray gave me a Gideons pocket New Testament in which I wrote my commitment to God.
Yours faithfully
Mrs Reeves
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“Keep Doing What You Do”
Hello,
I was sharing my testimony with a bunch of Christians earlier this week, and the starting point to it all was a Gideons New Testament I received from your organisation many years ago. The people I shared with encouraged me to tell you my story in the hope of encouragement to you to keep doing what you do, and as a thank you, because I don’t know what my faith journey would have looked like otherwise…
When I was in Year 7 in high school, in 2007, two people came from Gideons into a school assembly. I can’t really remember what they said to us if I’m honest, but I remember receiving a little, red book, containing the New Testament and Psalms. I didn’t have very many friends in high school, and I spent many break times and lunch times alone. I always had the little, red book in my blazer pocket and I decided to start reading it just to help me feel a little less lonely. I read through Matthew and Mark, not really thinking too much about the fact I was reading about God, but I was just intrigued by the story.
There’s prayers in the front of the book, and I committed some of them to memory, and at the end of each day I would say the Lord’s prayer, and a prayer of forgiveness of sins, not really to anyone in particular, I just said them for myself.
In 2009, in my geography lessons, I ended up sat on a table with four Christians, and they mentioned they’d seen me reading this Bible and asked if I believed in God. I wasn’t really sure so I started asking them questions about Him, and from there they invited me to their church youth group, where I continued to question things for the next two years.
A teacher joined our high school and set up a Christian Union and at this point I was so used to hanging round with the Christians I just went. I kept asking questions there, always wanting to find out more and weigh up if I believed in God or not. Then the teacher that ran the CU invited us all to hear him preach at his church the next Sunday. We went as a group, and it was great, I enjoyed the service. But it wasn’t until the end, whilst we were worshiping that I felt God’s presence; and in that moment I realised all the things I’d learnt about God were true. I knew in my head that He loved me, but it wasn’t until that moment that I realised in my heart…
That was May 2012, and many things have changed since then. I now study at a theological college and feel God may be calling me into ministry, so I’m in the process of discerning that with others.
Sorry to have written so much. My hope is that this will in some way encourage you to keep sharing the Gospel, and to keep giving out Bibles to all sorts of people. I am thankful for the work that you do, and the way that has changed my life. Even before I came to know God, the difference it made to be able to read something and take away the fact I felt lonely was massive.
May God bless you and the work that you do,
Yours in Christ,
LJ
Drugs to pastorship
“I have vivid memories of being about eleven years old and standing in line with the rest of my school year to receive a Gideons New Testament and Psalms. We shuffled along under the watchful eye of our teach and politely received that little red book. I was unaware of the power of the Scriptures that I held in my hand! When I got home, out of curiosity, I flicked through its pages and put it away on my book shelf; and there is stayed for the next six to seven years.
As I entered my teenage years, I became more and more dissatisfied with my life; I transformed from a quiet, thoughtful child into an arrogant and rebellious adolescent. Frequently drunk, I began to experiment with illegal drugs like LSD, amphetamines and even abused household products; anything that would change my reality. I had become involved in the Occult and started to practice the Wiccan form of withcraft. My curiosity in spiritual things also drew me into Eastern Mysticisim, Transcendental Meditation and ISKCON (Hare Krishna movement.)
One day I phoned an old college friend of mine, to see if she would like to go out for a drink. Her reply both surprised me and intrigued me. She said that she didn’t go to pubs anymore, but if I liked, I could come to her church that Sunday. Out of the depths of my confusion, misery and desperation, I heard myself say, “yes!”
As I sat in the hard pew and considered the words that were prayed, preached and sung – I became aware of the presence of God. It was as if everybody in the whole building disappeared and there was just me and the Lord! I gave my heart to the Lord Jesus Christ that night and wept like a baby as “the burden of my heart was rolled away.”
When I returned home, I lay on my bed and allowed the enormity of what had just happened to sink in.
It was then that I remembered; wait a minute! I’ve got a Bible! After some routing around my book shelf I found the Gideon New Testament that I had been given at school. How I devoured that book! I read the whole of the New Testament in just over a day! It formed the framework of my Christian life and I have no doubt that God used it, even in those early days, to give me a hunger for the pure milk of the Word. The grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit have enabled me to teach and preach that Word to others and have set the course of my life and my subsequent call into the ministry. Thank you God, and thank you Gideons!”
Pastor Paul Jennings, Stockport Evangelical Church