Interview: Christian Resources Head on Bible Donation Success
Fred Palmerton, executive director of Christian Resources International, spoke to The Christian Post last week about the success of the recently launched CRI project “Operation Bare Your Bookshelf” and the need for Christian resources in third world countries.
The following are excerpts from the interview:
CP: How long has it been since “Operation Bare Your Bookshelf” launched?
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Palmerton: It has been less than a month. It has been incredible. Nearly the whole staff worked all day yesterday (Dec. 11) to catch up just on the backload of shipping these packages to the respondents. We sent out in excess of 250 mailing packages to American Christians wanting to participate.
I can tell you that we are getting responses from approximately 25 U.S. Christians a day who want to respond to “Operation Bare Your Bookshelf.”
CP: How is it possible for a pastor living in a third world country to preach without a Bible?
Palmerton: That’s a good question. A short story might give you some indication of the hunger and the creativity of people that want to share God’s word. Six to seven years ago, we received a letter from a man in an African country. Through one of our shipments, he had received a devotional quarterly called “Our Daily Bread.” He found a used one in one of the shipments that had our contact information and in his letter he stated that he had been saved through reading that publication. He had been preaching and converting people for a year with only that device and couldn’t find anymore to preach on. He wrote a letter to us because he was wondering if he could have another booklet.
So of course we sent him a Bible and other materials. But when you think about it, even if our average pastor here was to give up his Bible, he probably has enough background and education that he could do a sermon and preach without that Bible. But think what it is like for a new Christian not to have one.
CP: Which country or continent would you say is the most deprived of Bibles or Christian literatures?
Palmerton: Most deprived I got to believe is Asia in general when you figure in China and some of the closed countries. In terms of countries open to the Word of God, I would be hard pressed to draw a line between Africa, India, and South America.
South America is mostly Spanish speaking so we don’t get much response through our “Operation Bare Your Bookshelf” project. We get a few requests for English Bibles from South America but not too many, so that is kind of a different world.
We do have a Spanish mission, but it is not part of “Operation Bare Your Bookshelf.” We have a Spanish inventory but we have to buy it.
Christian Resources International (CRI) was founded under the name of Christian Salvage Mission over 50 years ago by a born-again Christian man name Logan Papworth of Howell, Mich. Papworth had promised to serve God for the rest of his life during a near death experience. After experimenting with several jobs, Papworth found that sending Christian materials to Christians in third world countries was the best way to serve God. The ministry grew over the years moving from a bedroom in a small house on a junkyard property to a building in Fowlerville, Mich. Currently, CRI ships Bibles and Christian materials to over 160 countries.
