(Photo courtesy Biblica)

Nigeria (Biblia) — 4,200,000 Nigerians are infected with HIV.

220,000 of them died last year.

The Reach 4 Life Scripture project is run throughout Africa through a partnership Biblica maintains with Scripture Union. Through their network of staff and volunteers, the Bibles are distributed in public schools as well as private schools. Many times, the schools are predominantly Muslim.

Each Scripture contains a full NIV New Testament with:

• Practical applications that teach teens how to live free from sexual sin
• A section that teaches young people about HIV/Aids and how to live according to God’s standard of purity
• 40 Bible studies contained within the text
• Instructions on how to accept Christ as Savior
• Testimonies from African athletes
• Instructions on how to lead a small group Bible Study

Before each distribution takes place, Scripture Union staff and volunteers are trained. After the distribution, the local workers develop small group Bible studies that lead students through 40 Bible studies and hold them accountable to their behavior.

Please help Biblica get these Scriptures throughout Nigeria. Would your church consider taking an offering for this project? For every $3 raised, one New Testament will be placed in the hands of a Nigerian student.

"Students say, 'This is one of my first exposures to the Bible,'" said Biblica CEO Doug Lockhart. "'I accepted Christ, and my life is changed because of that.'"

Reach 4 Life combines a 40-step program with the New Testament. It's designed with the understanding that genuine life changes toward abstinence will only hold if the Holy Spirit is involved. Lockhart listed the program's three main goals.

"One is evangelism of the student, number two is avoidance of AIDS and other diseases, and third the evangelism of the rest of the family."

When students take the NIV Reach 4 Life Bible home, other family members might show a curiosity in its contents and come to know Christ through these materials.

On his last visit to Thailand, Lockhart visited one of the schools using this program, and the school happens to be attached to a Buddhist temple. Buddhism is the national religion of Thailand; it surrounds and infiltrates every aspect of a Thai teenager's life. This can sometimes pose a challenge when introducing young people to Jesus.

"Their culture is a Buddhist culture, so Christianity is very new to many of them," explained Lockhart.

Pray for students in Thailand as they face spiritual questions. Pray also for local believers involved in the program. These believers meet with students weekly for discussion and can help students get connected with a nearby church when the program is finished.

In the early 1990s, Thailand began taking dramatic action to reduce infection rates for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. The Thai government provides partial funding for Biblica to teach students about abstinence and disease prevention. About a dozen schools are currently using the Reach 4 Life program, but additional funding could help more Thai students learn about salvation through Jesus Christ. Can you help?

Not sure how to talk with your own teens about premarital sex? Get the Reach 4 Life New Testament and 40-step lessons at biblicadirect.com.

A director at
Biblica Inc., Fitch also has an obvious passion for getting the Gospel
out. Combining the two seemed a logical
step. On July 7, 2012, Michael Fitch and his brother-in-law Jim Bewick are
embarking on a bike ride.

As with most
everything else in his life, he doesn't go halfway. "We hope to
cycle the 900 miles from Lands End to John
O'Groats in about nine days—so that's about 100 miles a day," he says,
adding: "We're also hoping that as we take on this big physical challenge, we might be able to raise awareness of something that's close to our
hearts, as well."

The
pair plans to ride the length of Great Britain to help people grow in familiarity
with Biblica and raise some money for key projects.   

Called
the "Big Bike Hike," Fitch says the idea came to him as he studied obstacles to
the Gospel. First, there are the access
problems. Illiteracy prevents a majority of the world's population from being
able to read the Scriptures, so Biblica is working on making Bibles available
in digital and audio formats for the largest 30 languages.

They're
also making the Bible accessible to over 50% of the world's population in their
heart language, in a format which can be widely accessed with ease including
the more than 70% who can't read and write.

Then, there are
language barriers. God's Word in the vernacular helps open doors, particularly
in places like China. One Million Bibles
for China aims to provide Bibles in contemporary Chinese for communities all
over the world.

And finally,
there's the practical application.  The Reach4Life
HIV prevention program run by Biblica and its partners has brought hope  to tens of thousands of young people in
Africa, Asia and Europe.  

The price tags of
projects like these seem daunting.  Fitch
explains, "One Million Bibles for China, ultimately, that is  a three-million dollar project; the digital campaign
and the oral campaign…that is  part of
a four-and-a-half-million dollar project. The amount of money that we're hoping
to raise, from cycling the length of Great Britain, is just a small part. Hopefully,
as people make small steps, they might make bigger steps in due course."

How much money is he hoping to see by the end of the ride?  "The amount of money that we're trying
to raise is very modest. We're looking to raise £25,000, which is about
$40,000."   It's not so much the
numbers as it is converting inaction to action.    He clarifies, "We're hoping that
people will come on and give us a little bit of support and a little bit if money.
Hopefully, that will start other people on a journey to think about maybe
investing in Scripture."  

Pray safety for both Michael and Jim. There are long stretches of
the road that are very isolated.  The
project itself will tax both men to the limits of their training
endurance.  However, "We hope that
people will pray for doors to be open for us, and we hope that people will
consider giving something, no matter how small."

We have links for you to voice your support and help at our
Featured Links Section.

The question is: how can this staggering number be combated in that region and around the world?

Colin Bishop of Biblica said for those seeking to address the HIV/AIDS issue, "There are two categories of the
fight: the one is taking care of people who are infected already. That means anti-retrovirals;
that means what some people regard as protection, which is condoms. And then
there's care: hospices, orphan care centers, and so on. But we are strictly into
prevention. We are targeting the uninfected, and we are trying to prevent them
from getting infected in the first place."

Biblica is reaching out to uninfected kids through their
Reach 4 Life program. They distribute New Testaments, hold Bibles studies and disciple students in
secondary schools across Africa, Latin America and Thailand.

The aim of Reach 4 Life? To prevent kids from becoming another
statistic, and to help them discover Christ.

"The inclusion of God in the equation of transforming
behavior in a profound and sustained way is critical to our program. We try
to get these kids to say 'yes' to God: in other words to become Christians, and
then to say 'no' to the virus after that because they now have the power to
live a moral life. The Gospel and our prevention program go very much together,"
Bishop said.

To help with the program, American teens and college
students have traveled to South Africa. In fact, just recently a team of
students from Oauchita Baptist University traveled there, not only encouraging
abstinence but also sharing Christ with the South African students.

When kids make decisions for Christ, Biblica helps them remain strong in their faith through a year-long discipleship program which
connects them with a local church and gets them into the Word of God. Biblica also distributes
New Testaments which include material about HIV/AIDS and 40
Bible studies students can use if they choose to become involved in Biblica's
discipleship program.

As American students reach out to South African youth, Bishop
said both parties benefit: "They sponsor a year's program that's added on
to the cost of their trip over there, and it's quite symbiotic because we get
the funding for those three or four schools that they participate in, and they
get the third world mission exposure."

In addition, the experience of American students during their short-term
trip can help them decide if they want to come back on a long-term basis.

Funding numerous projects is possible because of how affordable
the program is. Bishop said it costs just $3 per New Testament, and then an
additional $6 covers the cost of a student to go through the year-long program.
Therefore, $9 sponsors a South African student in the program for an entire year.

Pray that students will open their hearts to Christ and will commit to live moral lives for Him.

Click here to learn more about Reach 4 Life in South Africa and other countries.

Suriname has become sort of a hub for sex trafficking across South America. Since many believe they are less likely to contract HIV from a child than from an adult, child prostitution is also on the rise. Within this poor country, many youth transition easily from vending on the streets to prostitution.

As a result, statistics on HIV are high in Suriname. "At this moment, we heard about 3.5 percent of youngsters (being 6,000 people in a population of 490,000)," says Jan Otter speaking of HIV rates in Suriname. Unofficial figures increase the statistic to at least five percent.

Otter, the Biblica Netherlands Director, says Biblica is doing what they can to see that these numbers do not explode any further. Biblica has just launched its Reach 4 Life program in Suriname, in which they delivered 20,000 books to educate youth on the risks of HIV/AIDS.

The books are distributed through local churches and schools. Otter says the Minister of Health in Suriname is considering making Reach 4 Life a permanent in-school program.

What makes the program unique is its biblical focus. Reach 4 Life books are more accurately deemed Reach 4 Life New Testaments and include 40 Bible studies designed to disciple youth. The main priority of the books is really to share the Gospel with students, while accurately informing them about the reality of HIV/AIDS.

As the Reach 4 Life program reaches youth in Suriname, the number of HIV/AIDS contractions may go down, along with the number of youth involved in prostitution. As they become more educated about risks and, more importantly, Jesus Christ, their lives and choices will undoubtedly begin to change.

Biblica has already implemented this program in several other countries and has observed its effectiveness. The program in Suriname hopefully will have a similar effect.

Otter asks first and foremost for prayer. "Pray that the youngsters may be touched by the Word of God and that they discover that the God of the Bible is the real and living God."

It only costs $3 to print and distribute a Reach 4 Life New Testament. If you would like to participate in bringing God's Word and freedom to young teens, click here.

"This percentage is like a time bomb," said Biblica Netherlands
Director Jan Otter. "Experience in other countries has shown that the
percentage can quickly rise to 15 percent or higher. For Suriname, with a total
population of 490,000, this would be a disaster."

In response, Biblica Netherlands
launched its Reach 4 Life HIV/AIDS prevention program. The government is
implementing the program throughout Suriname's school system.  

Biblica is partnering with Feed My Lambs Foundation and the Suriname Bible
Society to provide Suriname with 20,000 copies of the R4L New Testament
that serves as the program's textbook.

Nearly 200 church workers are trained to lead Reach 4 Life groups. The
program helps youth learn healthy, biblically-based ways to make wise life
choices and avoid HIV infection.

Teens meet weekly in groups to discuss information in Biblica's brightly-colored, teen-oriented Reach 4 Life New Testament on relationships,
sexually transmitted diseases, and more. The New Testament includes
first-person stories of lives affected by HIV, 40 Bible studies, and frank
discussions of sex, relationships, and life choices.

Currently the New Testament is available in five languages, including
Dutch–Suriname's official language.

Learn more about Reach 4 Life at www.Biblica.com/R4L-HIV.