Bags of Bibles

When I was eight years old, my grandfather, Pop, took me to the Baltimore airport to hand out Bibles to passengers coming off of the planes. Pop shared with me that there was a right way and a wrong way to hand out Bibles. He said to never ask, “Do you want a Bible?” Rather, he trained me to say, “I have a gift for you. I would like for you to have a Bible.” Not a question, but instead an invitation to receive God’s Word. A powerful lesson learned from a wise old sage!

Truth be told, I was petrified. I was just a small boy. Why should I be subjected to such rejection and humiliation? However, saying no to Pop wasn’t an option, so we dressed up to look our best and arrived at the airport with bags of Bibles. He had the perfect place at the airport to do our ministry work already scouted out. After hundreds of times, he knew exactly where to stand for the greatest impact. But this was my first trip, and I was overwhelmed and afraid. We prayed and asked God to use every copy of His Word to penetrate the hearts and minds of those who received it.

Prayed up and trained up, I was ready to go. After two hours of giving God’s Word to strangers as gifts, I was surprised I wasn’t mocked, ridiculed or humiliated. Instead, I learned first-hand the incredible power of God’s Word being given as a gift to bless others. I don’t think a single person said no. Maybe it was Pop’s training or that I was an 8-year old boy. Either way, it was used for God’s purposes.

Not only did my grandfather, Pop, model a passion for distributing God’s Word, but my father did the same. There was never a time I remember my father not having a box of Bibles in the back seat of his car, so he could strategically bless someone with a gift. Now as a 3rd generation Bible distributor, I have the same passion to see God’s Word getting into the hands of coaches and athletes. I have taken hundreds of bags of Bibles around the world, so our FCA international leaders can bless coaches and athletes in their countries with a gift. And it all started with Pop showing me as an 8-year old boy the incredible power of distributing God’s Word!

One of the things I love most about FCA is we have the same passion for God’s Word. Often, I share with people that FCA is a sports ministry and they understand that. But when I share we are a Bible ministry as well, they are surprised. Last year alone, FCA distributed 169,815 Bibles and 2.5 million in the last 15 years! We have a strong passion to print and distribute God’s Word, and more importantly, see coaches and athletes engage in God’s Word.

When I hear that coaches and athletes are equipping their teams with Bibles, I know that God is at work in a powerful way. The Word never returns void. There is always eternal benefit! God’s Word draws people to Him, breaks the bonds of oppression and supernaturally transforms lives.

Bags of Bibles are blessing coaches and athletes around the world. We pray God’s Word will always produce fruit. We desire to lead every coach and every athlete into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and His church. That’s our mission! And the best way to do this is to engage coaches and athletes with the Word, equip them with the Word and empower them with the Word.

Our dream is that every coach and every athlete in every country deserves to have a Bible, and we should be passionate, strategic and prayful until that dream comes true!