In 1987 my husband and I began a Bible Correspondence School. Our goal was to cover Oklahoma with the opportunity to study the Bible. Our flyer offered a FREE Bible to those who might not have one as well as free Bible Study Guides. We did not worry as to how many baptisms would result. We only thought of the benefits of getting the literature into the homes so the Holy Spirit could work and reveal truth to searching hearts. We remembered that the Lord does not work to bring many souls into the church right now because many of us are unconverted. But it is always time to sow seeds in preparation of the Loud Cry. That is when we plan to do most of the reaping of the work that is now being done.
Our program was designed for rural areas since they are the least worked. Everyone gets mail delivery. Reaching people through the mail seemed the most feasible method of designing our outreach. With 77 counties in Oklahoma we decided to cover one county at a time. We used all our spare funds to get things ready. By the fall of the year we sent our first flyers. Our response was one-half to two percent return. As people heard of the work, they wanted to help too. Some people helped get lessons and books ready to mail, others gave money, and many people prayed.
Other churches heard of our project and asked us to cover the rural routes of their cities or counties. This gave them names to visit and opportunity for invitations to Revelation Seminars and evangelistic meetings. Our flyers found backslidden SDAs and the lessons sent to new SDAs helped to ground them in truths they had already discovered.
Later, our church became involved in helping get cards offering a FREE Great Controversy and Bible Studies, ready for the mail. We were able to obtain a non-profit, bulk mailing permit which saved thousands of dollars in postage and enabled us to cover more area at one time.
Today we have expanded so that we have several people employed as well as a whole church full of volunteers. Our work covers other states as well. We send cards out for other church groups all over the United States as long as they pay the very minimal expenses involved. They can decide if they want us to send the Great Controversy and the lessons or they can choose to do it themselves.
God has also opened the way for us to mail the National Sunday Law book all over the United States for Amazing Truth in Illinois. Our non-profit status saves thousands of dollars in postage and our church volunteers love the work.
To date we have covered all but 18 counties in Oklahoma and have sent thousands of Bible studies, books, and literature throughout our state. We are making plans to do a second coverage with the National Sunday Law and in fact have already covered five counties. The responses are tremendous. Several people have been baptized and many others are giving serious consideration to the subject of the Sabbath. After doing a coverage of one county with the National Sunday Law book, one lady wrote in, regarding her convictions for the Sabbath, and said that the book had really created a stir in her town.
If a person or church group cannot afford to cover a whole county, start with one town or one route. But do something! The more seeds we sow now in times of peace the more souls we will reap in the harvest of the Loud Cry!
The End