God Grows the Bible Ministry

“For the body is not one member, but many” (1 Corinthians 12:14 NASB).

You’ve heard it said, “We are better together!” And yes, we are!

Has God put on your heart to do something that could affect more people than you are personally capable of reaching? Maybe it’s time to partner with others to grow your calling into something global!

Think of the impact you might have as you join with others, who use their God-given gifts to compliment yours, in order to expand the reach you have for God’s kingdom.

The Bible says, “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor” (Ecclesiastes 4:9 NASB).

We can learn from Jesus’ example, in Luke 10:1. Jesus sent the disciples out two-by-two.

“Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come” (Luke 10:1 NASB).

God impresses upon us not to be a “Lone Ranger” Christian. He has designed us to be in fellowship with others and to use the gifts He has given us as part of the body of Christ.

“God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another” (1 Peter 4:10 NLT).

God demonstrated this in the way He grew the Bible ministry. It went from a “one person” ministry to one that came under the “umbrella” of a local church. This tied in with the Best Western clues from the Louisville, Kentucky trip, in 2000, that revealed, “Under someone’s “umbrella”, you will give away children’s Bibles.”

After the June 2006 yard sale, at our home, I began searching for a new location to have the sales. I wondered if our church would allow an occasional yard sale, in their parking lot. They were known, in the community, for their yearly mission yard sale. I made a couple of brief contacts and left it in God’s hands. However, God had a bigger idea!

My husband invited me to join him for a ministry meeting at the church, on February 4, 2007. As a result, something amazing happened! Following the meeting, the church’s mission team was meeting in the same room and my husband suggested we stay to observe. To my surprise, I was on the agenda for that meeting! Only God could have orchestrated what happened next.

The team leader asked me to share details of the Bible ministry with the group and to my surprise, the person in charge of the upcoming church-wide yard sale was sitting next to me. The leader asked him if he would share some of the proceeds from the yard sale with me for the Bible ministry if I helped with the sale. He readily agreed. I was stunned!

God had arranged for me to be at a meeting I didn’t know I was going to be attending, to be under the “umbrella” of the church, to get the support I needed for Bible distributions. I received $750 from the yard sale and was led to give it to a Gideon, to purchase 508 New Testaments to be distributed in Peru.

I watched God work in amazing ways through the next few years to get the Bibles where He wanted them to go. Various individuals in the church would unexpectedly come up to me and announce that a missionary they knew was going to an orphanage or to minister to children, somewhere in the world. As a new member of the Mission Team, I presented the request, received a check which I passed on to the missionary- who purchased Bibles in the country they were serving and gave them to the children. So simple!

The check went from the church to my hands to the missionaries. Then, the Bibles went from their hands to the children’s hands. Such a beautiful picture of how God uses His children to “carry” His work throughout a community and the world, as He establishes the work of our hands.

“Let the favor[a] of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” (Psalm 90:17 ESV).

What God had planned, and shown me through the “clues”, He was now fulfilling, with very little effort from me. It was incredible to watch it all unfold.

God expanded the Bible ministry through food pantry giveaways, church hosted service events, and an out-of-state ministry.

At food pantry giveaways, I gave Bibles to children and a Gideon gave adult Bibles. I mentioned to him that I would love for every child in the world to have a Bible, in their language. He said, “Maybe you should start in your own city, first.” Great advice!

That led to donating children’s Bibles at a local mission yard sale by The Mabopane Foundation, which benefits children in S. Africa. You can find more information on The Mabopane Foundation, at the link on the home page.

God continues to simplify the distribution process to get the Bibles where He wants them to go. I give them to children, parents, grandparents, and also to those connected with missions, at the Mabopane yard sale. Bibles recently have gone to Kenya via customers at the mission sale. All going from one hand to another’s hand to the missionary to the children.

God is fulfilling his promise to put Bibles in the hands of missionaries and children. And, He is using “many hands” to do it. What started as a small yard sale at our home, that led to giving Bibles to 40 children in Ukraine, grew to be under the “umbrella” of a church that provided more Bibles for children than I could have through occasional yard sales. We are better together!

I am no longer under that church’s “umbrella” because God has moved us to another church. However, I am grateful for all they did to get the ministry started. I continue to give Bibles at the Mabopane yard sales and God puts people in my path with young children or those who know of someone they can pass the Bibles along to. God has a delivery system I could never have accomplished on my own.

What will God do next with the Bible ministry? I’m not sure, but it has to be an adventure!

Is there an area of your life or ministry where you are trying to do everything yourself? Ask God to help you partner with others and the impact and blessing can be global.

Are you fretting over getting something done that God has told you to do because you don’t feel qualified? Move forward one step at a time. If God said it, it’s as good as DONE!

It’s all about Jesus! To God be the glory!
Blessings and love, Gayle

© 2018 Gayle Holcomb