A little over a year ago I did a Google search for "free Bible" and found several things.
- All (and I do mean all) the free Bibles out there were King James version. This version is written in archaic language that I often have trouble reading and I grew up on the Bible. For some one who has never read the Bible or who speaks English as a second language, the King James is an unnecessary barrier, especially when there are so many other great translations out there. The primary reason for using the King James is that it is not under copyright in the US and is therefore cheap but, do we want people to own Bibles or understand the Bible?
- These Bibles are the absolute cheapest you can find. They are often printed on brownish stuff that feels like newspaper. They look as if they were bound by the same factory as the dollar romance novels and are in extremely fine three column type. In short, I would be embarrassed to give one of these to someone. If an unbeliever asks you for a Bible, give them something nice so that they see that you really do value them and are not just trying to rack up heavenly points!
- Many of the free Bible sites direct you to an online Bible. Online Bibles cost nothing and so do not demonstrate Christian hospitality very well.
- Most of these Bibles are given out by Mormons and come with the Book of Mormon. I don't think I need to elaborate on the problems with this.
- Most if not all of these sites cater only to people living in the United States. Not to take anything away from these ministries but most American homes have a Bible and most Americans can acquire one with out much trouble; most other people in the world cannot.
- There are many sites out there giving out free Qur'ans and some of these are very nice.
It appeared that the Mormons and Muslims were showing more hospitality and by extension more love than the Christians! I was some what shocked and appalled.
At that point in my life, I was a philosophy major drop-out and flailing about with out much purpose in my life (I have subsequently become a philosophy major un-drop-out and now flail about with some what more purpose). I don't know what got into me but I decided to put up a website. It was very basic and probably took less than half an hour. I decided that I would not advertise or post any links to the site and that if God wanted to use it, then He would otherwise, it would simply be forgotten. On the site I offered free of charge nice* copy of the New King James** translation of the Bible to anyone on Earth***. All they had to do was email their address to me. I don't think I had ever done anything this unplanned before. I had no idea if anyone would respond and did not know how I would pay for the Bibles if they did. I was very afraid that I would have to turn people away because I was completely broke. I didn't have any idea how to ship a Bible to India or Kenya or how much it would cost. It turns out that it is much more expensive than I expected!
I still do not know how people find my site, I still have never advertised it at all, but find it they do. It would be misleading to say that the response has been overwhelming but it has been at my capacity to distribute. I have never had to turn people away because of a lack of funds. A few times I thought I would have to and then the money would come in (albeit about a week later than I would have preferred). It is no exaggeration at all to say that God has taken care of this little ministry.
Through this process I have developed a passion for getting the Word to the nations and I feel that it is time to expand this ministry. I would love to be able to start advertising my site to compete with the non-Christian sites out there. I would love to be able to help the Gideons International fill hospitals around the world with the message of Jesus Christ. I would love to help Wycliffe Bible Translators make sure that there is a Bible in every tongue. I know from experience that if God wants this to succeed He will provide a way, so I started looking for ways.
I was initially inspired by TOMS shoes to sell Bibles and give one away for every one I sold but it seemed to me that there were too many people out there selling generic Bibles for me to be able to stand out. I felt that I needed something unique about these Bibles that would connect the people buying the Bibles with the people receiving the free Bibles. That is when I hit upon the idea to use coffee bags to make the covers of the Bibles!
Not only is there the symbolism associated with sackcloth (I.e. mourning, humility, supplication) but coffee is a global commodity that comes primarily from the poorest regions on Earth. There is a lot of variance in coffee bags, making each Burlap Bible unique and the bags are recycled into something beautiful, artistic, and useful instead of being thrown out! So I jumped on the TOMS revolution and set out to design the perfect Burlap Bible!
I have spent the last two months perfecting the design of the Burlap Bible. I found a winning design about four days ago and completed the first prototypes today! Please join me in working to see to it that every man, woman, and child has access to the Bible in a format they can read.
*not a super expensive leather study Bible but a nice basic Bible.
**I have sense switched to the English Standard Version
***It turns out that I cannot ship to Nigeria or Indonesia but pretty much everywhere else on Earth.
