By: Mark Fitzgerald The International Bible Society-Send The Light (IBS-STL) was putting Bibles in hotel rooms decades before the Gideons, and it's sent Scripture to U.S. soldiers since the War of 1812. Now it's hit on a new way to get out the Word ? newspapers.
In a yearlong program that kicks off Dec. 30 with New Testaments inserted into the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the Colorado Springs-based ministry intends to distribute at least 2.6 million copies through newspapers.
"It's such a unique way of delivering to people ? they go out on Sunday morning and pick up their newspaper, and it's a little heavier," says Paul Tolleson, the society's director of special ministries.
"Our City, God's Word" is about the size of a thin quality paperback with a cover custom-designed for each newspaper, showing local landmarks. For newspapers, the unexpected inserts are a little like manna from heaven. To insert the 252,000 copies in the Star-Telegram, for instance, IBS-STL estimates it needs to raise about $520,000.
"Well, it's income for the newspapers," Tolleson says. "It's like inserting a sample of Tide or Quaker Oats ? not that I'm comparing God's Word to Tide."
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