According to John Pudaite of Bibles for the World, his team prepared 80,000 Gospels of John and 6,000 Bibles for new believers.
They ran out in two days.

“The hunger for God’s Word and the gracious way in which they accepted it, those who were immediately engaging with it, was just so encouraging to see,” says Pudaite. “Cambodia is one of those countries where a majority of the population is 18 and under now, and we’re seeing tremendous population growth, since the year 2000 and onward. So this whole generation doesn’t know the Khmer Rouge, doesn’t remember that, and so now this is a generation that is open to the Gospel. I don’t think we’ve seen that many young people at one of these international festivals than what we saw in Cambodia, and that’s just really exciting.”

Cambodia’s history under the Khmer Rouge of the 1900s included bloodshed and Christian persecution. Currently, only approximately two percent of the population is Christian. However, there is a movement of home churches growing at a grassroots level within the country. A goal of this event was to help connect new believers with some of these churches.

“Part of this festival was that those who profess faith in Christ were connected and assigned to some of the different churches, depending on what village or what locality they came from, for their early discipleship. Many of them may not have even known other Christians existed in their town or in their village,” says Pudaite. “It’s very exciting to spend time with some of those pastors and workers and just be able to equip them and encourage them in the work that they’re doing, and that’s the part that we try to play as Bible school. We know that we’ll be there a short time and, ultimately, it’s the local church, it’s the Nationals, it’s the indigenous people who have to carry on the work. And so we look at it from the from day one as what can we do to go in, equip, and encourage them in the time that we are there.”

The outpouring of support from local churches and the younger generations is happening amidst a backdrop of conflict, with Thailand invading and dropping bombs about 100 miles away from where the festival took place.

“And so in the midst of that crisis, or perhaps in part heightened by that crisis, people have been asking spiritual questions, as their lives and very livelihoods have been threatened. Their villages have been destroyed,” says Pudaite. “So that was, I think, a really fertile ground. In the midst of crisis, we’re bringing Jesus Christ, who brings true hope and peace.”

Ways to pray for Cambodia:

• That the Gospel seeds sown in the hearts of those who attended the event would take root.
• That the cooperating churches that put together this event will continue to be strong.
• That the violence and incursions by the by the Thai Army into Cambodia would cease.

Header photo is a representative stock image courtesy of vicky_t via Unsplash.

Kumbh Mela is the world’s largest religious pilgrimage, occurring every 6 and 12 years on a rotation between four different cities in India. However, this year’s Maha Kumbh Mela only happens once every 144 years.

Kumbh Mela 2019 (Photo courtesy of Ninara/Flickr: https://tinyurl.com/4zzh9ktv)

The monumental festival continues through the end of February. It’s estimated over 100 million attendees have come this year for the rare celebration to bathe in the Ganges River for salvation.

According to the festival’s special executive officer, a barrier near the river broke, causing a crowd rush.

Mission India’s Regan Miller says, “A lot of people are searching for hope in places that they’re not finding hope. So things like bathing in the Ganges River and hoping that will cleanse them of their sins, that’s already a disheartening thing to hear about. Then to see that a festival that emphasizes cleansing of sins would end in such a tragedy like this as well is just really sad to see.”

The Kumbh Mela pilgrimage and festival highlights the deep spiritual needs in a country like India with 1.4 billion people — 95% of whom have never heard the Gospel.

Earlier last year, a Mission India church planter met Madhuri, a woman from Uttar Pradesh who often went on pilgrimages.

Madhuri and her teenage daughter, Rahana. (Photo courtesy of Mission India)

“She kind of just felt like this void still as she used to go on all these pilgrimages,” Miller says, “but she thought that the wrath of her gods would fall on her family if she didn’t appease them.”

But Jesus changes everything. Madhuri’s teenage daughter was diagnosed with cancer, and the church planter shared the Gospel with Madhuri and her daughter and taught them to pray in Jesus’s name.

Miller says, “Her daughter ended up being completely healed of cancer! It was just a complete miracle!

“After [her daughter] being healed through prayers, Madhuri couldn’t help but receive Jesus as her Savior. Her daughter is now excited to share the Gospel with others too because she saw what it did in her own life.”

Just as Madhuri did, pray for the people of India to seek true salvation — not in pilgrimages and rituals — but in Jesus Christ.

Please especially be in prayer for those whose loved ones died in the festival stampede, and that God would grant healing to the injured.

You can give in support of Mission India’s Church Planter Training, and sign up for their daily email prayer prompts.

Header photo: Kumbh Mela 2019 (Photo courtesy of Ninara/Flickr: https://tinyurl.com/mtj3kr5n)

World Missionary Press, an interdenominational faith ministry, produces 48-page Scripture booklets, Bible study booklets, and New Testaments in 350 languages to send to people in countries all over the world. 

Typically, they share these free Scripture booklets through the mail. Each of the 48-page Scripture booklets costs about five cents to produce and mail out. 

Global events like this summer’s Paris Olympic Games, however, draw spectators and athletes from all over the world to one place, making it an opportunity to hand out these booklets and pamphlets in person to hundreds of people at once. 

“We have groups that focus on reaching the athletes particularly, as well as the attendees, because we have material in so many different languages, and there’s so many different nations involved, gathered, this is the opportunity to share that might not be available within their country, or in wherever they live,” Williams said. 

Wimbledon, the French Open, and the Tour De France draw similarly large crowds.

WMP’s in-person outreach plans don’t stop at the Summer Olympics or sporting events. The biggest rock music festival in Northern Europe, Roskilde, is estimated to gather 165,000 people in Denmark.  

A WMP January blog wrote that young people, especially young men are open to things of God and they are praying for 1,000 souls to be won in Denmark during the days of the festival. 

“It’s just being willing to go out and get into the crowds and do that,” Williams said. “So that’s a lot of what it is for the large events.”

Williams says that in events like these, where they don’t often get feedback through one-on-one conversations, it is hard to say for sure what the results of the outreach are specifically.  

“The results are that the Word went out and was well received,” Williams said. “And then you leave it to the Spirit.” 

Beyond these specific outreach events, WMP has contacts around the globe who use their booklets in their own outreach locally. Some of this type of outreach work happens behind the scenes and is unknown to WMP.

“It’s the free material, and it’s the word of God, and it’s in the heart language,” Williams says. “And that’s what keeps this generated and keeps this moving. And when people recognize that that is available, they’re willing to go use the literature.”

Williams encourages prayers for wisdom, strength, and divine appointment for those who are distributing these booklets, and that those receiving the Word would be directed by the Holy Spirit to follow up. 

“It’s intense for several days or weeks, sometimes, particularly the Olympics and they need to be just encouraged that they’re doing the father’s work,” Williams said.

“Historically, Vietnam has gone through waves of church growth and waning times,” A3’s Joe Handley says.

Typically, most Vietnamese believers keep to themselves for fear of persecution. More about that here.

However, fear turned to compassion during the pandemic. “The Church started reaching out, meeting people’s needs physically, and that gave [them an] opportunity to share the love and truth of Christ,” Handley says.

Believers received unexpected favor as a result. “The government started noticing how the Church was reaching out to the communities, and that created a positive vibe,” Handley says.

“Instead of seeing churches in an antagonistic light, they saw them as cooperative amid the COVID reality.”

Then, favor turned to Gospel opportunity. “The Vietnamese government endorsed and gave permission for the Billy Graham Association to hold a couple of festivals in the country,” Handley says.

“The most recent one had phenomenal success; they had 4,500 people accept Christ in a crowd of around 25,000 people.”

Pray for endurance as Vietnamese Christians disciple new believers. “Right now, they’re doing the follow-up with those 4,500 people across the country,” Handley says.

“It is an amazing season in Vietnam right now; the spiritual hunger is very high post-pandemic.”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Katherine McCormack/Unsplash.

And yet Bibles For The World has been working on a new initiative for some time now. They’re focusing on Vietnam, a country with high persecution rates and very few Christians. In fact, Vietnam lands 21st on Open Doors’ World Watch List, a ranking of countries with the highest persecution rates.

For years, Vietnam has been on the radar for Bibles For The World’s John Pudaite. Until now, they’ve simply been biding their time.

“We always look for opportunities to do things legally, to print and distribute God’s word, and that’s always been one of our principles,” Pudaite says. “My father always used to say that ‘This book, the Bible, is the book of the King of Kings. We’re going to take it in through the front door, we’re not going to take it in through the back door.’”

For the first time, pieces are coming together that could see Bibles For The World getting permission to distribute Bibles in Vietnam. According to Pudaite, “we have a number of international partners that are planning major projects or events over the next 12 to 18 months in Vietnam, and they have received government permission for these events. In addition, we have been introduced to a number of national indigenous partners, Christians inside Vietnam, who are willing to work with us.”

Photo courtesy of Bibles For The World

Admittedly, COVID-19 has made things more difficult. Distribution could be hindered by safety concerns, increased restrictions, or travel guidelines. “The whole shroud of COVID-19 hands over the entire world continuously,” Pudaite says, and that includes Vietnam. Recent spikes in cases don’t do much to dissuade concern.

Still, this project could mark a dramatic change for Vietnam. It could see locals finding hope during a crisis, peace in a country still wounded by war, and freedom for people unfamiliar with the concept. God’s Word could be exactly what Vietnam needs.

Pray for continued preparations as Bibles For The World plans this effort. “Trying to manage a project from a distance, a lot of things can go off that can set us back and so we really pray that God will give His guidance and direction and smooth the path for us as we move ahead.”

You can support Bibles For The World and their efforts directly right here. 

Read more about their plans in Vietnam and Southeast Asia here.

Header photo courtesy of Unsplash.

Weekend Plans

Photo courtesy of Bibles For The World

Bibles For The World’s President and CEO John Pudaite tells us the ministry is a part of an outreach festival taking place this year on December 7-8.

“We’ll be providing scripture as a partner to Franklin Graham’s Love Phnom Penh Festival in the capital city of Cambodia. And we’re very excited about this opportunity,” Pudaite says.

“We’re very excited as we’ve seen the body of Christ come together. That is one of the things that is always so exciting and encouraging is to see the different churches, different denominations, and independent churches and other ministries come together and work together with a common goal of bringing the message, bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to the people of their town, of their city.”

Cambodia is a majority Buddhist country (Photo courtesy of Bibles For The World)

While Pudaite and the Bibles For The World team are excited to see this festival come together, getting to this point has proved challenging. Pudaite says the government never granted permission for the original venue the festival intended to use. Instead, the festival is taking place in a less ideal, but still doable venue. Already, a team from Bibles For The World is on the ground preparing for the scripture distribution.

Some groups who are planning special outreach to children during this event have requested scripture materials to hand out from Bibles For The World. Pudaite’s response, “This is exciting, yes, of course [we’ll provide materials]. How much do you need?”

Pray for Cambodia

Traditionally Cambodia is a Buddhist nation. Pudaite says the Cambodian government is relatively tolerant of the Gospel, though it has its eye on the Christian community. Pudaite asks believers everywhere to join in praying for the outreach happening in Cambodia this weekend.

“[Pray] not only for the even that’s coming up, but even as God’s word goes out through the scriptures that we’ll be distributing in and around the festival,” Pudaite says.

Pray for the churches carrying the excitement and message of the Gospel back to their communities. Ask for the Holy Spirit to move through these churches and to bring sustained revival to Cambodia. Pray for the success of this outreach and the safety of those participating.

To learn more about Bibles For The World’s work, click here.

Give to Bibles For The World here.

Header photo courtesy of Bibles For The World.

Bibles For The World is teaming up with the Luis Palau Association and Africa Enterprise for the upcoming November festival. Each organization has a different part to play in the success of this festival.

This isn’t the first time Bibles For The World has worked with the Luis Palau Association. Their partnership kicked off in 2014 with a festival in Burkina Faso. Since then, they’ve provided Scripture for several of their “various outreaches and festivals that they’ve been having, not only for large public events but coming alongside them as they work in the communities where they’re doing these festivals,” Pudaite says. “[That] includes outreaches to businesses and governments, civic leaders, women’s leaders of the community, as well as prison outreaches, schools, orphanages, things like that, and medical camps and clinics.”

For this event, they’re also partnering with Africa Enterprise, who already has established outreach efforts in Cape Town, South Africa. The Luis Palau Association is sending Andrew Palau, Luis Palau’s son, to speak at the events. Bibles For The World, meanwhile, wants to provide copies of the Gospel of John for every event intender.

Photo courtesy of Unsplash

That’s a tall order given Pudaite’s estimate that 30-50,000 people will attend each of the three Cape Town Events. Bibles For The World is aiming to provide between 100-150,000 copies of the Gospel of John, not to mention “New Testaments for the new believers and decision-makers at all of these events.”

It’s not just about providing Scripture; Bibles For The World wants to make sure festival-goers can read the Gospel message in their own languages. “We’ll be providing scriptures in Xhosa, as well as Afrikaans and also in English,” Pudaite says.

The project is not going to be easy. “Especially due to the extent and scope of this event that we’re partnering with these two great organizations on, we really need prayer support, and we really could use some financial support for this,” Pudaite says.

“This is going to be pretty spread out with a lot of logistics involved, in addition to the Scriptures being provided in three different languages, and so this is one we really are asking for God’s people to come alongside and provide his word to the people of Cape Town, South Africa in this month of November.”

Get involved with Bibles For The World right here.

Header photo courtesy of Unsplash.

Earlier this year, BFTW provided the Gospel of John to every person who attended the Luis Palau festival in Cote d’Ivoire. This festival, called Love Cote d’Ivoire, took place in Abidjan, the capital city of Cote d’Ivoire. It encompassed several days of events, including: eyeglass clinics, medical clinics, sports clinics, and events at local schools.

The festival had over 100,000 people attend in-person and was broadcast in 59 different nations.  Messages centered on the Gospel of John.

The Love Cote d’Ivoire Festival (Photo courtesy of Luis Palau via Palau.org)

Vice President of BFTW Jeff McLinden says, “In Abidjan just last month, there were 19,000 people who registered a decision for Christ… For 20 percent of the crowd to make a first-time decision for Jesus Christ is pretty remarkable.”

For BFTW, this is a very strategic partnership and a good way to spread the Gospel.

“Yes, there are churches in their areas, but every church has a limited outreach. This provides the opportunity for us to really touch a significant number of people, many of whom will be hearing the Gospel for the very first time.”

New believers and church growth

The Love Cote d’Ivoire festival came after almost a year of training and mobilizing local churches.

The Luis Palau Association works with local churches to help build their network and prepare them for the event. It also teaches them how to continue ministering to new believers after the event has taken place.

For this event, there were 2,200 partnering churches and 5,000 people trained in personal evangelism.

With 19,000 new believers in Cote d’Ivoire, it’s likely that churches will grow and expand. There will be many people stepping in to help spread God’s Word and make sure new believers are growing in their faith.

(Photo courtesy of Luis Palau via Palau.org)

“Part of the Palau impact is that they are encouraging a Great Commission focus among the churches that they work with there. They are able to show demonstrable impact through the other kinds of events like this that they have done… they have done hundreds of these events all over the world,” McLinden says.

As a partner with the Luis Palau Association, BFTW is committed to making sure festival attendees receive a copy of Scripture they can read for themselves.

McLinden says, “Our role as a Scripture provider… [is] to make sure the people have the Gospel in their hands. For those people who come to faith, we provide New Testaments in order for them to be able to go deeper into scripture and be discipled through the New Testament and the local churches.”

Next steps

Pray for both new believers and for the churches supporting them. Pray new believers will become deeply rooted in their faith.

“It does put pressure on those churches to be able to accommodate so many new believers. We anticipate that there will be many new plants that will occur as a result of this amazing growth in such a short time. We need to be praying for those new church plants as well,” McLinden says.

Click here to give to Bibles For The World.

Header photo courtesy of Luis Palau Association.

For the past four years, Bibles For The World has partnered with the Luis Palau Association, providing Scripture for their festivals all over the world.

“We’ve been to Burkina Faso and Malawi and Côte d’Ivoire in these last four years, along with Haiti and Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, and we’ve been so blessed by this partnership, working with the Palau organization and being able to provide Scriptures,” says John Pudaite of Bibles For The World.

“We are always looking for places where we can be strategic with the distribution of God’s Word, as strategic and effective as possible,” Pudaite says.

The Luis Palau Association had the roots, and Bibles For The World had the Bibles. Together, they’ve been able to enhance each other’s work through festivals.

These festivals focus not just on open-air sermons and Bible distribution, though those are also major draws for the festivals. “They’re also involved in medical clinics, visits to schools and orphanages, visits to prisons, and other kinds of outreach like that,” Pudaite says. “They’re reaching a much broader community.”

(Photo courtesy of Bibles For The World)

The upcoming trip to Colombia is special. Colombia is the same country where Luis Palau had his first festival more than 50 years ago in 1966. The indigenous Church is excited about the upcoming trip and optimistic about the festival.

“You’ll find that the people of Colombia will turn out for this — those who need to hear the Word and need to hear the message of salvation — so we’re just looking forward to a very wonderful time,” Pudaite says.

But the trip isn’t without its challenges. Luis Palau was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer several months ago, but he is still keeping the trip on his schedule.

“We’ve stood firm with him, even in this time when it’s been a little bit unsure whether the festival will come together, and we want to be there and provide God’s Word, to support their work and the ministry and outreach that’s happening in and around the festival.”

Pray for Luis and his health, the organizers as they figure out the logistics of the trip, the team and workers involved in making the practical pieces come together, Andrew Palau as he prepares to speak, and Bibles For The World as they pull together resources to send. Most of all, pray that the Holy Spirit works in Colombia before, during, and after the festival.

You can help Bibles For The World support this festival by clicking here.

(Header map courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs Canada)

“I think we look like that on the outside, but I think we’re over-churched and under-saved, if you want to be honest about it. You know, West Michigan has a lot of wealth here, but there’s a spiritual poverty.”

A number of Christians from the area are joining forces with the Luis Palau Association to address the spiritual poverty as well as other needs within the nearby communities.

(Image courtesy of CityFest West Michigan)

Next September, the Luis Palau Association will be holding a two-day festival in West Michigan with Luis and his son, Andrew. Over those two days known as CityFest, the message of Jesus Christ will be shared. But leading up to the festival, the churches and organizations involved will spend time connecting with the community. This part is called CityServe.

Stowell says the partnership will help to drive “the Body of Christ in bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ into the hearts and lives of so many who are yet waiting to hear Him, and also to bring the love of Christ into the neighborhoods that are broken and in desperate need of help.”

A unified Church is an effective one

Right now, they’re working on gathering the local Christians together. So far, over 150 churches and organizations have joined the movement. Yesterday morning, a group met to pray for the region, and for unity among the churches as this project goes forward. Unity is a key ingredient to effective community outreach.

(Photo courtesy of Beth Stolicker)

“We’re all so busy in our little corners of the Kingdom, we forget that maybe if we got together and did something as one, it could be amazing,” Stowell says.

A united network of churches not only allows for collaboration, but it helps the Church maintain awareness as to what is going on in the communities around them. The festival is set for September 8 and 9. Up to that point, they will be establishing relationships, aiding existing mission work, and building towards sustainable Gospel growth.

“We’ll actually be working with inner city ministries and empowering them and working with them to accelerate their work with the homeless, with the poor, with neighborhood needs, with tutoring, with children at risk,” Stowell says.

A unified Church gone global

But this story isn’t just about one city or even one nation. This is about seeing the Gospel transform the globe, city by city. The Luis Palau Association holds several festivals like this with the goal to equip the Church to continue sustainable outreach that meets community needs, both spiritual and physical. The organization describes it as a Gospel-centered, Church-driven, disciple-led, city-focused movement.

But what is the advantage of this approach when it comes to systematic issues that cause poverty and at-risk situations?

“I think we have to remember that the social theory and tax dollars and politics can’t do what Jesus can do,” Stowell says. When the Church acts as the hands and feet of Jesus, doing His work, it opens up conversations about the Gospel.

“So, then we can move from the physical needs into the spiritual needs.”

To learn more about these festivals and the intentional outreach and unity that comes with them, click here. You can even check out this list of upcoming events to see if there’s one taking place in your area.

Praying for transformation in Michigan

(Photo courtesy of Beth Stolicker)

In the meantime, we can be praying for these festivals as they take place throughout the year.

For West Michigan, specifically, Stowell says, “I think we need to pray that the hosts of heaven hold back the power of the enemy so that we can have, not necessarily clear sailing (because there’s never clear sailing), but that we can have the momentum of God without interference in getting this done.”

Be praying for the Body of Christ to be unified as they work to reach local communities. Pray for many hearts to receive the Gospel as they experience the love of Jesus.

Are you in the West Michigan area? This is a Church-wide effort, and so if you’re a local Christian or church interested in getting involved, sign up here.