Donated Bibles help
spead the Gospel
The Layman, October 16, 2009
The need couldn’t be more plainly stated: “Please have mercy on me and send me one Holy Bible.” 
This message from Ghana is among a long list of pleas, testimonies and thank-yous shared by the Bible Foundation, a Newberg, Ore.-based nonprofit that collects and distributes Bibles around the world. Joining its effort is as simple as donating an old Bible or organizing a local drive to supply one of several regional distribution centers.
Though the organization works year-round collecting and distributing Bibles, the month of October is when the effort reached its height through the annual Bible Drive. Relying on an all-volunteer staff and a national network of helpers, the organization’s president and CEO Jerry Kingery points to John 4:35 for inspiration.
“There’s a verse of Scripture that has really gripped me recently, and it’s where Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest,’” Kingery said. “To me, in essence, that means every Christian should at all times be looking around to see what God has to help with the harvest.”
Want to help?
The October Bible Drive is under way. For more information about the Bible Foundation’s ministry, visit its Web site at www.bf.org
According to the organization’s promotional materials, people around the world are begging for Bibles, and even damaged and parts of old Bibles have use and value. The organization has served more than 80 countries, where Bibles are sent to hospitals, nursing homes, inner-city ministries, rescue missions, ship ministries, prisons, homeless shelters, street ministries, ethnic neighborhoods, migrant camps, individual ministries, remote villages, homes, schools, bus stations, railway stations, small churches and refugee camps.
As an example of the need for Bibles around the world, the organization uses a plea from a prison ministry in Nigeria that serves 100,000 refugees and the inmates of 561 prisons. “There is no people in the world that is as hungry and desperate to have a Bible of their own as these brethren,” the statement says.
With approximately 30 independent collection centers across the United States, the organization encourages individuals and groups to transport collected Bibles to the various centers. Through a network of volunteers and supporters, the Bibles are redistributed across the country and around the world.
“It’s the family of God getting involved at a grassroots level,” Kingery said. “We freely receive Bibles and we freely distribute them.”
The Bible Foundation Web site offers a complete list of collection centers. There’s also information on starting a local drive or hosting a collection site.
According to its Web site, the Bible Foundation launched its first Bible drive in 1992 in the Pacific Northwest. Collection centers willing to accept Bibles were sought out across the United States. Thanks to word of mouth and a variety of publicity, willing participants were located and referred to nearby collection centers. Today the organization transports Bibles overseas on container ships, Kingery said.
For more information about the Bible Foundation’s October Bible Drive visit the organization’s Web site or call (503) 538-4897.