Provide Bibles for inmates this Christmas

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 Fund today.

USA (MNN) ― Christmas is a lonely time for a lot of people, especially prison inmates. At a time when many people are thinking about family and friends, inmates try to forget. Where do they turn?

Biblica has something that can help them find the peace they need at Christmas.

Biblica CEO Doug Lockhart says they have a special Bible just for them, called "Free On the Inside."

"It's a full Bible with stories of redemption from other people who have spent time in prison for whatever reason. 

Everything we do is designed to connect with someone, wherever we are, and hopefully take them into God's Word."

Lockhart says these Bibles are great for people who have prison ministry. "If they're interfacing with inmates, they're able to highlight one of the stories, and maybe it becomes a conversation piece that very naturally takes them into God's Word."

What's the end goal? "That they end up in God's Word, they're lives are transformed and changed, and they accept Christ. That is certainly the end goal."

This Christmas you could have a profound impact not only on prison inmates, but jail and prison chaplains, too. "It's amazing: the number of county jail and state prisons where there are chaplains and they walk into a prison situation, and there just might not be any Bibles."

In the U.S., nearly 2 million adults and youth crowd prisons and jails. Every year, about 30% of them are released after serving an average of three to five years. About two-thirds of ex-convicts re-offend and return to jail within three years. But inmates who make decisions for Christ and then are released, research shows, are 50% less likely to end up in jail again.

This fiscal year, Biblica will help reach 123,000 men, women and young people incarcerated in American prisons and detention centers with the life-giving message of Christ's love and forgiveness.

A great gift this Christmas may be to donate a case of Bibles. For $84 you can purchase a case of 24 Bibles. Click here to order your case. 

If you'd like to donate to the Prison Scripture Fund, click here. 

Lonely truckers at Christmas, Biblica can help

The Road Home points
 truckers to Christ.

USA (MNN) ― Christmas is a happy time for many people. However, the holiday season can be difficult for many, especially those who are separated from family and friends. Long-haul truckers are affected by loneliness this time of year. Biblica wants to provide them with hope and encouragement.

Biblica CEO Doug Lockhart says they have a resource that can help. It's called "The Road Home." "'The Road Home' is a Bible. It's a New Testament Bible with a cover on it that's a truck. There are stories and testimonies within that New Testament that really are designed to connect with a trucker."

Lockhart says "The Road Home" helps Christian truckers. "That Christian truck driver who's out on the road and lonely can certainly identify with some of the testimonies that are in the New Testament, as well as the Bible is right there so they can engage in the Bible."

"The Road Home" can also be used to make a difference with friends and colleagues. "The hope is that Christian truck drivers would say, 'Boy, you know, when I'm at a stop or interacting with another driver, this is a Bible like they've never seen before because of the cover. And it might connect with them in a new way. They might just be more open to God's Word because of it."

Lockhart says at $2.50 a copy, "People can buy them and have a case in their truck. It's just a wonderful evangelism tool. The hope is that during that loneliness, the design of the cover or the stories inside [will] grab hold of their heart, and they begin to engage in God's Word and find Christ."

If you'd like to get copies of "The Road Home" click here.

New booklet on the true meaning of Christmas could generate more Bible reading

International (MNN) ― Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?

Charlie Brown's famous line is echoed during the Christmas season by many who searching for something more.

In the West amid toys, sales, lists, and food, it's easy to forget the real reason to celebrate. A lot of people may know that Christmas is supposed to be about Jesus, but they might not make all the connections in Scripture.

And yet Biblica's CEO Doug Lockhart agrees that Christmas is a season where people may be more inclined to make spiritual connections.

"We think about people who might be far from the church or have a long background in the church that may or may not be close to God," explains Lockhart. "But sometimes a time like this during the holidays is a time when they'll re-evaluate."

And Biblica wants to be there for it.

To make the most of this season for searching hearts, Biblica has created a new resource. "The Coming" is a short booklet that is an excerpt of key Scripture passages, as well as some really engaging explanation of what it all means."

Illustrated in color and told through the narrative of Luke, the prophesy of Isaiah, and the imagery of Revelation, The Comingwalks the reader through what it meant for Jesus to be expected king and how he defied those expectations.

The Coming is presented in a story form without chapters and verses, making it easy to read and understand.

Biblica hopes that as people read the booklets and distribute them, it'll be more than just a new Christmas tradition. "This is a tool that we're hopeful will be placed in someone's hands which might reengage them in God's Word."

As people around you seek out the true meaning of Christmas and life as a whole this season, be ready to share with them the entirety of the Good News of the newborn King. It could be the start of a new life in Christ.

The Coming is only $0.60 when bought in bulk, and only $0.75 bought individually. Get your copies here. 

Ministry takes light of Christ into the dark prisons of Zimbabwe

Mission Network News: "Zimbabwe (MNN) ― Three years ago, the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender (ZACRO) released a report noting that there are 55 prisons in Zimbabwe."

Read more...

Biblica making progress on mega languages

Mission Network News: "USA (MNN) ― Translating Scripture into the heart language of people around the world is essential for people coming to Christ. Biblica is dedicated not only to translating Scripture, but to giving end users an entire Bible -- one they can easily understand."

Read more...

Underground bookstore supplies thousands with Scriptures in hostile Middle East nation

Middle East (MNN) ― In the West, everyone has the freedom to walk to the bookstore and buy a Bible. It might not be popular, and it might cause some friction in some parts of the West, but everyone has the right to do so.
But this, as you likely already know, is not the case in other areas of the world. In some Middle Eastern countries, it is illegal to possess a Bible. Being caught with one could mean prison--or death, depending on who finds it.
How do people even acquire Bibles in these nations then? It's not easy. It's a dangerous process that often looks something like this: The Bible-seeker must have a contact who can share information about a bookstore that sells Bibles. The contact must then introduce the Bible-seeker to the shop owner, so the shop owner knows that this is not an undercover government official. Then the shop owner takes the Bible-seeker to a back room, since the Bible cannot be on public display.
It is therefore extremely difficult and dangerous for a person even to get their hands on the Scriptures, much less hand them out. Many people aren't ready to take the risk of providing God's Word.
Biblica has a brave contact, however, who plans to put his life on the line for the sake of the Gospel.
The manager of one bookshop in a Middle Eastern nation requested that Biblica send as many Scriptures as possible to him, certain that there is a great window of opportunity in his country to share the Good News. In response, Biblica endeavored to send 11,000 Scripture pieces to the store owner.
Typically, Biblica can only get about 30 or 40 pieces into such a hostile nation at a time. In addition, the ministry certainly did not have the $70,000 it would cost to provide and distribute the materials in their budget. The Lord overcame both of these hurdles, however, when a ministry partner offered to pay half of the cost, and another organization offered up empty space in their containers to send the large shipment.
The materials are now all going to stock an underground bookstore that could reach tens of thousands with the Word of God in a nation that is seldom able even to see one copy of it.
Biblica establishes bookshops to make Christian materials available in Gospel-resistant countries. This year, Biblica will establish bookshops in four countries, with a potential to reach 150,000 people. Within three years, these shops will become self-sustaining wellsprings of hope in the form of God's Word.
To get involved with this exciting work, click here and scroll to "Streams in the Desert."

Don't Treat The Bible Like A McNuggets Happy Meal

"The Books of the Bible" is a version
 of the New Testament presented in
 historical context and raw formatting
 to get people engaged (Photo
 courtesy of Biblica)

USA (MNN) ― "We read the Bible in fragments. We read a chapter here, a verse there," says Paul Caminiti with Biblica. "We have somehow created a culture of Bible McNuggets."

But little verse McNuggets cannot sustain a Christian wanting to grow stronger spiritually. Statistics show that while the average American family has 11 Bibles, every day as many as 1,700 people give up reading the Bible.

According to Caminiti, there are three pitfalls that have kept people from fully embracing and understanding the Scriptures: We don't read the Bible completely, we read it out of context, and we don't read it as a community.

Biblica started their Community Bible Experience program to change all that. The Community Bible Experience program has groups of people in a church or Bible study reading the whole New Testament in 8 weeks. During that time, they meet together in the model of a book club to discuss what they've read.

Caminiti says, "Community Bible Experience is based on reading 12 pages a day, 5 days a week. And to our delight, in our 50 churches that we've tested, people are up to the challenge. They're ready to be slightly heroic."

Not only do they read through the New Testament, they read it in a special re-ordered version of the New Testament produced by Biblica called "The Books of the Bible."

"The Books of the Bible" features a re-ordering of Bible books and chapters based on first-century historical flow of events. Verse and chapter numbers have been stripped away, and text is presented across the page instead of in columns.

Also, Community Bible Experience really encourages whole churches to get involved in the project. Caminiti states, "We've discovered that when a whole church comes together and instead of engaging the Bible one group at a time, kind of like a little campfire here and there, we're encouraging them to build a bonfire and for the whole church to do this."

Additionally, Caminiti says the response they've seen is a swell in passion for God's Word. "People love doing this. They love the books of the Bible. They love reading together. They love it that their whole church is doing it. And I think that they love the fact that they're reading the whole New Testament."

If you are interested in getting your church involved in the Community Bible Experience, you can visit Biblica's Web site byclicking here. Copies of "The Books of the Bible" can be purchased either in bulk for $5 apiece, or in singles for just $6.99. The rest of the materials are free.

The next series of the Community Bible Experience will start on September 25 and end on November 20.

Don't be satisfied with the McNuggets Happy Meal. Get into some real meat.