God’s Word is a light to many people’s paths.
For a number of years The Gideons International in the British Isles has enjoyed a strong relationship with hotel managers and guest house and B&B proprietors, which has resulted in a Gideon Bible being placed at the side of virtually every guest bed in the country. Over the years many of these Bibles have been used by the Lord to bring people staying in those rooms to saving faith, including some at the edge of despair or on the verge of suicide.
However, during the last decade we have become increasingly aware that the light has been dimmed by a growing reluctance of some establishments and hotel groups to allow a Gideon Bible to be where it is needed.
The reason behind this can vary but it often centres around the hotel’s desire not to offend people of other faiths. Another reason mentioned is simply that managers never see any evidence of people having read the Gideon Bible.
Well how about this young man’s story for evidence?
In my experience, the maxim that ‘You get what you pay for’ is by and large true. At £25 a night, our hotel at Manchester Airport is definitely not an exception to this. But I was happy enough in a room there, sitting with my girlfriend on Easter Sunday morning.
Officially, I became a Christian when I was 10 years old. Truth be told, though, I’ve spent more of my life running away from God than following Him. That Easter Sunday morning, I had breakfast on my mind. God, it seems, had other ideas.
“So, is today the day Jesus died?”, came an unexpected enquiry from my girlfriend.
What?! How could a perfectly intelligent girl, brought up in this at least nominally Christian country, not know her Good Friday from her Easter Sunday? I was flabbergasted.
“No, that’s Good Friday,” I said. “Today is when He rose from the dead.
Irked that people didn’t seem to know even basic truths, I suddenly found myself asking her if she’d ever read of what happened on the first Good Friday and Easter Sunday. “Er, not really.” Came her somewhat cautious reply. “There’ll be a Bible in this room somewhere,” I said, with an unusual amount of enthusiasm. And sure enough there was – a Gideon Bible faithfully resting in the drawer of the bedside cabinet.
I managed to find Luke 23 without betraying the fact that my Bible skills were seriously rusty, and I read Luke’s account of the crucifixion out loud to her. When I got to verse 45, where Luke tells us that the Temple curtain is torn in two, I stopped and said that this had always been one of my favourite verses in the Bible. “Why?” She asked. And so I explained the significance of the tearing of the curtain, how it showed that Jesus, by his death, had opened the way for sinful man to be in a relationship with God.
I’d like to say that she was instantly convicted of her sin, and repented and believed on the spot. But instead, I finished reading and we went about our day without any further mention of that first Easter. Looking back, though, this was one of the moments when God gave me something of a ‘kick up the backside’ because it made me realise that I, who at the time was a somewhat half-hearted Christian at best, knew these things to be true. I knew that I’d been bought with the precious blood of Christ and belonged to Him. How could I be annoyed at other people’s lack of knowledge, while at the same time I was failing to live out what I knew to be true? I therefore resolved to start trying harder to live like one of God’s people.
My girlfriend and I are not together any more but we’re still close friends. I hope and pray that she will come to put her trust in the Lord Jesus and I try to speak to her about the Gospel when I can. As for me, well I’m following Jesus more wholeheartedly than probably I’ve ever done. In part, this is because God inspired some people to make sure that His Word was to be found in a hotel room at Manchester Airport.
In my view, that makes a £25 hotel room priceless.
Will you help us to keep a Bible in every bedroom?
When you stay in a hotel, guest house or B&B, you have a unique opportunity to support this ministry. As a customer your views are important to the establishment that you plan to stay in. By asking for a Gideon Bible to be in your room, not only will you know that the Word is there for you, you will also be sending a message to managers and proprietors that says that the presence of a Gideon Bible is appreciated and valued by you.
Please help to keep a Bible in every room. It could change someone’s life!
Ride For Christ
Brent Young is a 54-year-old Gideon from Warsaw, Missouri. Like many of his fellow Gideons, he enjoys watching people come to Christ, handing out the Word of God, and hearing testimonies of how God is changing lives around the world. However, Brent’s ministry is unique in one way – he operates from the saddle of a red bicycle.
In 2012, Brent Young decided it was time to start over. He had been an alcoholic, a drug addict and bound by the desires of the world. God pursued him and he knew he had to stop running. In fact, he knew God was calling him to start riding.
Before the found the Lord, Brent had toyed with the idea of riding a bike on long expeditions just to see if he could. However, after he became a Christian he knew God was calling him to take his dream a little further, “I just prayed and asked God, ‘What can I do? You’ve done so much for me, what can I do for you?’ and He told me, ‘You love to ride your bike. Ride for me.” Since then, Brent has been biking across America under the motto “Ride for Christ.”
“This is not my first ride. The first ride I did was a thousand miles, and my second ride was over 2,500 miles,” says Brent. he is now on his third tour across the USA currently pedaling through mile 1,240 in Winslow, Arizona.
The Gideons in his home camp back in Missouri have not seen him in quite some time. However, Brent is still meeting with Gideons for prayer and encouragement in the towns he rides through. “I feel like part of a big family when I meet with Gideons across different states,” he says, “They hug me and recharge my spirit to continue spreading the Gospel.” Gideons along his journey often pray over him and replenish his saddle bag with New Testaments to share with those he meets on the road. So far, Brent has biked through 17 states and placed copies of God’s Word into around 300 hands.
Dan is one of the many people Brent had an opportunity to share the Gospel with. While resting at a traffic corner in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Dan asked Brent why he was riding. Brent replied simply that he was spreading the Word of Jesus and handing out Scriptures. Without missing a beat, Dan asked for a copy and Brent was able to give him a New Testament and witness to him. “It was the best past of my day,” said Brent.
The road is not always easy. If fact, riding with the buzzing sound of trucks speeding by, going against the wind, through heat and exhaustion – these are common struggles Brent faces on a typical day’s ride. However, the heaviest burden he experiences is seeing the spiritual drought most people live in.
“This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, ” he says, “I have been where people steal my clothes, I’ve been assaulted, I’ve been rejected. But I’ve also felt the Holy Spirit protect me every day. I’ve seen the beauty of God’s creation across many lands and I’ve seen the beauty of His people. When you’re actually out here in the world, among the people, you’re attuned to people’s needs in a different way. I am just trying to be the light in whatever way God leads me to be.”
In a recent post on his Facebook page, Brent sports a yellow poncho and talks about the beauty of riding in the rain, “This is Sunday. I got to worship, I got a wide road, and it’s all good. It’s good to hear the birds singing after the rain. The’re happy…and so am I. It’s good to be out here serving God.”
Lord willing, Brent plans to continue his ride to California before heading home. You can pray with us for his safety on the road, as well as his strength spiritually as he witnesses to those he meets.
Help Shine the Light in London
London Scripture Distribution
14-19 September 2016
“A light shining in a dark place” 2 Peter 1:19
We invite you to participate in the 2nd Annual London Scripture Distribution and help to shine the light in the London Boroughs shown above.
The outline of the programme is as follows:
- Church Leaders’ Lunch: Thursday 16 June
- Scripture Distribution: Wednesday 14 September to Friday 16 September
- Personal Witnessing/Follow Up: Saturday 17 September
- Church Presentations: Sunday 18 September
You are welcome to join whether you are able to participate in the whole week or just part of it.
Large scale distributions of Scriptures throughout the British Isles are proving to be times of excitement, fellowship, training of new members and blessing as we seek to distribute God’s Word and engage in personal witnessing.
If you are interested in joining this year’s London Scripture Distribution and would like more information or to request a registration form contact londonbibles@gmail.com
Gideon members can also download the registration form from the website under Resources > London Scripture Distribution 2016. It is important that all participants register using the form before the closing date of 31 July.
Will you help shine the light in London this year?
A Child of God Whose Life Touched Many
On April 17th, Mary Kay Beard passed into the presence of the Lord. As a frequent speaker at events of The Gideons International, she shared the powerful testimony of how Jesus changed her life. And there’s no doubt her story will continue to inspire those who hear it.
As a notorious safecracker and bank robber, Mary was on the FBI’s Most Wanted List by the age of 27.
On September 22, 1972, the law caught up with Mary and she was arrested. While awaiting trial from her Alabama jail cell, she noticed one of the Bibles placed there by The Gideons.
When Mary opened that Bible, she read the following passage:
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” Ezekiel 36:26-27
Lying restless in her bunk in the middle of the night, Mary began reviewing her life. The memories were painful.
She had left home at the age of 15 after suffering a nervous breakdown brought about by her intense hatred of her alcoholic father. A few years later, she married a man she had only known for nine days. She later discovered he was a criminal and eventually she became one, too.
Reflecting on her poor choices while behind those prison bars, the passage from Ezekiel echoed in her mind.
Desperate and broken, Mary slid down from the metal bunk and onto the cold, cement floor. Kneeling she prayed, “Lord help me. I’ve made such a mess of everything. If your promise is true, and if You love me as John 3:16 says, then take my life and make it whatever You want it to be.”
Mary later recalled what happened after that prayer. “As tears streamed unchecked down my face, a flood of joy filled my whole being. I felt light, as though I’d been loosed from a mighty anchor.”
“Since becoming a child of God, I have learned that many people out there in the free world are prisoners in a way that is worse than my confinement,” Mary wrote from her prison cell in 1978. “They’re prisoners of lust and greed, of drink and drugs, of hatred and selfishness, and of a thousand other things. They are slaves of their own passions, neither happy nor free. I know because I have been one.”
Mary’s experience behind bars also helped her to understand the loneliness of those in confinement. After she was released from prison, she founded the Angel Tree ministry to help prisoners and their families draw closer together by drawing them to Jesus. For more than 25 years, she served in ministry, reaching the lost by showing God’s love.
As we praise God for Mary Kay Beard’s testimony, our thoughts and prayers are with her friends and family.
God loves me
Paul and Julia Nicholson from Herts Mid Branch recently met with Helen Nicolas, this is her story.
“I grew up in a Greek Cypriot family, my parents having emigrated to this country in the 50s. I was the oldest of 5 children and when I was 18 months old I was sent to live with my grandmother in Cyprus for around 2 years. When I returned I had a younger sister and brother. I didn’t know my mum and due to my father being very abusive and violent my mum had a lot to deal with and the last thing she could cope with was another child who she did not know or love. By the age of 9 there were another 2 children.
As I grew up I wasn’t treated as a member of the family, I was a burden and I knew it. I had to cook, clean, and look after my siblings. I only spoke when I was spoken to and I was blamed for everything bad my siblings did and was punished in their place. It was an awful childhood. I was alone, insecure and lost.
When I went to secondary school at the age of 11 I was so scared. I had no self-confidence, I couldn’t look anyone in the eye, I wouldn’t speak. One day we went to assembly and were given the Gideon New Testament. I stood there clutching the New Testament to my chest saying, “God loves me, God the Father loves me and no one can take it away.” From that day on I read one chapter of my New Testament every night in secret. I was scared that if my parents found out they would throw my New Testament away. I prayed and talked with my Father in Heaven and He helped me get through the next 5 years.
At 16 two things happened. I left school as my father didn’t believe in further education for us girls. We were to be married and have children. He believed in arranged marriages so started the process. My father always had his own business and it was assumed that I would go and work with him until a husband was found, but a few months before I finished school he lost his business so the school helped find me a job.
On the first day of work I saw my manageress reading her Bible during her lunch break. She was the first person I had ever seen who read the Bible. I plucked up the courage and went in and told her I had been reading my Gideon New Testament every day since I was 11 and had so many questions. Each lunch time we sat and read the Bible together and she led me to the Lord.
Although the years have passed with all its ups and downs, the words, “God loves me, God the Father loves me” have remained in my heart and mind. First and foremost God is my Father and I have lived my life with that assurance from that very first day. I am eternally grateful to The Gideons for taking the time and for having the heart to come and share the love of God to us 11 year olds.”
Presentation to the Mayor of Reading
Kevin and Susan Judge of the Reading Branch recently had the pleasure of presenting the Mayor of Reading, Cllr Sarah Hacker, with a Presentation Bible to mark her time in office.
Kevin and Susan shared, “We spent a very pleasant 40 mins with her and she shared the challenges and highlights of her time in office with us.
We gave her Psalm 119 v 105 “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path” as a personal text for her life and she was interested to hear about the help pages within the Gideon Bible we presented her with and she remembered receiving a Gideon New Testament at school.
We were able to pray with her for continued peace in Reading and for the remainder of her time in office.”
The 2016 Venezuela International Scripture Blitz
Venezuela is a country of diverse natural beauty. The South American nation has recently experienced a series of economic setbacks and natural disasters. There is currently a food, water and medicine shortage of critical proportions, as well as a national electricity crisis. Countless men and women now have no choice but to wait in long lines to gain access to basic products such as milk, flour and sugar.
Recently, Gideons in Venezuela welcomed an international team of Gideons from the United States and Australia to conduct a Scripture Blitz in the city of Puerto la Cruz.
The Lord was faithful to provide Gideons access to distribute His Word in schools across the neigbouring cities of Puerto la Cruz and Barcelona. They were encouraged by the joyful receptivity of the students and administrators. Team member David Long recalled, “At one middle school, a group of young people crowded around me. They wanted to hear more about the Bible, and they asked me to teach them how to lead Christian lives. They listened intently as the translator communicated my words to them, and at the end, they thanked me repeatedly for spending time with them.”
This testimony was typical for the majority of schools visited by the blitz teams. “Almost every time we asked school administrators to assemble the students, they did, despite the fact that they only had a limited amount of electricity to use for their school lesson,” said Wayne Kirkley, a Gideon from Georgia. “We then had the opportunity to encourage students to read the Bible every day, and explained that when they got to the back, they would know how to have eternal life in Heaven with Jesus.” By the end of the blitz, thousands of students, teachers and faculty members had heard the presentation of the Gospel.
At one Puerto la Cruz police station, the Chief of Police had all his detectives and administrators assemble for the blitz team. “It was a group of about 45 men and women. We told them we appreciated their service and understood the dangers they encountered on a daily basis. Then, we walked them through the Plan of Salvation,” said Wayne. Many of the officers prayed to receive Christ and thanked the Gideons for the work they were doing in their community.
As teams moved through the city, the Lord continued to open doors – often in unconventional ways. One day, a gentleman approached a team of Gideons outside of their hotel. He explained he heard about the “big work” they were doing from a close friend and, as a chaplain in the military, he deeply desired that The Gideons would distribute New Testaments to soldiers stationed in Puerto la Cruz. Just like that, God had provided a way for Gideons to take His Word to the Venezuelan National Guard.
Over 400 New Testaments were distributed to military personnel that afternoon. The soldier assigned to lead the Gideons around the facility heard the Gospel message many times, and before they left, a team member asked him if he believed God’s Word to be real or fiction. After a moment of silence, the soldier replied, “I believe it is real. In fact, my wife is Christian.” He then prayed to accept the Lord as his Saviour and signed his name in the back of the New Testament. Imagine the joy as he returned to his home and reunited with his wife as a new believer in Christ.
Gideons were also able to deliver Scriptures to inmates in a juvenile detention centre, where the maximum age is 19 years old. International team leader Trevor Johns from Nashville, Tennessee, remembered, “We were unsure how we would be received, but when we walked through the door, we were greeted with smiling faces.” Inside, a group of inmates were gathered in a small circle. As the team moved closer, they realised the teenagers were taking advantage of their brief time outside of their darkened cells to have a Bible study.
The were using two tattered Gideon New Testaments. “Many of them had visible scars on their faces and cigarette burns on their skin, giving us a small glimpse of what they had endured in life” Trevor continued. “I was privileged to spend time with that young group of believers, praying with them and encouraging them.” At the end of the distribution, the team had handed out 119 Scriptures, and two men had prayed to receive Christ.
The hard work and organisational planning of local members, as well as the prayer support of faithful men and women around the world, resulted in the distribution of over 189,000 Scriptures in Puerto la Cruz over the course of this one-week blitz. The teams witnessed God move in mighty ways, leaving each participant confident their efforts would indeed ignite a spiritual revival. “There was a tremendous bond that developed between the local and international team members,” said Wendell Terry, a Gideon from Virginia. “Overall, it was an incredible blessing and a truly humbling experience for God to use us in this ministry in Venezuela.”
There are still around 4,000,000 Scripture orders pending in countries around the world because of a lack of funds. Click here to give what you can and help us make a difference in more people’s lives.
In the Aftermath of Ecuador’s Earthquake, Gideons Share the Hope of Jesus with Survivors
As faithful Christians, Gideon members are dedicated to telling people about Jesus, no matter what the circumstances.
So when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Ecuador in April, The Gideons International implemented the Disaster Scripture Distribution Program. Members of The Gideons in Ecuador responded by placing copies of God’s Word into the hands of those impacted by the disaster. Since the earthquake, Gideons and Auxiliaries have distributed over 19,000 Scriptures in Portoviejo, Manta, Bahia and Chone.
Vanessa was one of the earthquake survivors to receive a New Testament from The Gideons. She and her husband escaped piling rubble from their building’s collapse through the doors of a meat packing shop on the ground floor. Those doors are always padlocked but at the time of the quake, the locks were not in place. Vanessa acknowledges only God could have known the people living in her building needed those doors unlocked to escape. With God’s Word now in her possession, she has decided to follow Him in her everyday life, and thanks God for His protection. Please keep Vanessa and her husband in your prayers as they are among the many who lost their homes to the quake.
We thank the Lord for our members in Ecuador and for their faithful service in reaching out to share the love of Jesus in the midst of these devastating events. We thank all our supporters whose donations provide for Scriptures to help the lost and hurting find the everlasting hope that comes only from a saving faith in Jesus Christ.
Please keep praying for the families of those who died in the earthquake, as well as for all who have lost homes and other personal property.
“A Gideon New Testament and a Golf Shot Were Good Enough For Me”
On Thursday last week Paul Nicholson (Herts Mid Branch) and Stuart Walker (National Office Team and Dover Branch Member) met with a church leader, Rev Christ Short from Park Street Baptist Church, St Albans. This is Chris’s story.
“I grew up in a non-Christian home. I went to Hereford Comprehensive School in Grimsby and was given a red New Testament in 1981. I read it occasionally and read, “Where to find help” and “Guidance in Life”.
Significantly, my grandmother died and I started thinking about death. I was about 20 years old and I had a disturbing dream, I felt I was going to die. I decided to read the New Testament and I read the whole of Mark’s Gospel, then I started to read John. I didn’t understand the “Word was God” until I got to verse 14, “the Word became flesh” and I understood that was Jesus.
That same night I had another dream of hands coming through my curtains in my bedroom. This was a spiritual dream and I remember wanting to see if the hands had holes in them, but I didn’t get that confirmation. I did however have a great peace. I didn’t tell anyone, but I started praying and reading the New Testament regularly. My journey to Christ had started.
When I was 21, I was a keen golfer and in a competition with my golf partner. Things were not going well and it was nearly all over, so I spoke to God as I had become accustomed to and said, “I’m not sure about You and I want you to reveal yourself.” About 5 minutes later, I had to make a hole of about 50 metres in one shot to stay in the match. I said to God, “this is your chance to prove it.” I completely duffed the shot, the club hit the ground and pulled to the left. I was angry and I swore. I watched the ball as it shot off to the left, it hit a bump and went to the right and you guessed it, it went all the way to the hole and in. My golf partner was jubilant, but I was dumbstruck because of my conversation with God. “That was good enough for me.”
My faith just grew from that moment and I reflect that of the tens of thousands of shots in my golfing experience, that was the only bad shot I have ever made that has gone into the hole.
I am now the Pastor of Park Street Baptist Church and have been a Baptist minister since 1999. I am so grateful to The Gideons who gave me that New Testament, which was the start of my journey to finding Jesus Christ.”