Gideons remain true to their history and mission

Last Tuesday I was privileged to attend "An Evening of Praise," this year's Pastors Appreciation Banquet sponsored by the Kinston Camp of Gideons International.

Each year, local Gideons across this nation host such banquets to report on their progress during the past year - and to continue to encourage support from local churches.

This group has to be one of the most unusual organizations anywhere. They are a group of professionals and businessmen from local evangelical churches. The Gideons support their organization from the dues they pay. The group uses 100 percent of donations to print Bibles and New Testaments, which members place or give away.

Anyone who has stayed at a hotel or motel is familiar with the Gideon Bible. Most of us remember being offered a New Testament when we were in school.

If you have ever visited someone in jail or prison, then you know that the Gideons also do good work behind bars. The Gideons provide New Testaments for nurses and for service personnel in our nation's military.

In the 100 years since the organization's first Bible was placed in a hotel room in Montana, the Gideons have distributed more than 1.5 billion copies of Bibles and New Testaments, what the Gideons generically call "Scriptures."

The Gideons began with three Christian businessmen who met in 1899 to form an association. Since then, the organization has grown to have members in 185 countries around the world. They distribute copies of scripture in 80 languages.

In the past 10 years, the Gideons distributed 500 million copies of "Scriptures." Just last year, the Gideons placed or gave away nearly 76 million copies.

Gideons express a simple confidence and faith: God has promised that His word will not return to Him void. The job of the Gideons is to sow the seed of God's word. That faith has underpinned the Gideons from the group's beginning. Gideons believe the Bible is powerful and life-changing.

At Tuesday's meeting, Leroy Cannady, a Gideon from the Winston-Salem camp, gave his personal testimony of how the influence of a Gideon and New Testament changed him from an anti-religious drug user and dealer. He detailed the road to ruin he had traveled and shared how God intervened through the work of the Gideons.

Donald Peele from the Goldsboro North Camp spoke about life after life touched and changed through a Bible or Testament shared by the Gideons.

But, Peele said, for every two copies of scripture the Gideons distribute, a third hand is reaching out and must leave empty-handed. On average, every second a Gideon somewhere distributes two copies of "Scriptures."

I remembered those statistics when Peele explained the need to do more. A powerful image entered my mind: Every second someone must leave empty-handed.

The Gideons are working to change that sad fact.

I left Tuesday's meeting grateful for the more than 280,000 Gideons worldwide who are faithful to their mission - to sow the seed of God's word in as many places as possible and to as many people as possible.

Their efforts are certainly worthy of support.

Mike Parker is a columnist for The Free Press. He can be reached at mparker16@suddenlink.net or in care of this newspaper.