So Many Gideon Bibles

Sunday at Port Sulphur Baptist Church, Pastor Lynn Rodrigue said, “Eighteen years ago, I was in a motel in Alabama more miserable than I had ever been. That night, I picked up the Gideon Bible and read it and gave my heart to Jesus Christ.”

He said, “I cannot tell you that everything changed for me immediately. The next morning, I got up and went on to work. But I found myself with a hunger to read that Bible and learn what it says. That hunger grew stronger and stronger and I got more and more into the Word.”

And that was how he knew Christ had heard his prayer and saved him: the new love he had for the Lord’s word.

Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word….He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.” (John 14:23-24)

One chapter later, He said, “Now you are clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” (15:3)

In His great prayer of John 17, Jesus prayed, “Father, the words you gave me I have given to them, and they have received them….” (v. 8)

Among the fifty or sixty wonderful cards I received from friends and family members after our Dad’s homegoing, at least six said a certain number of Gideon Bibles are being given in honor of Carl J. McKeever. Mom says she has received several with the same message. Together, it probably means a hundred or more Gideon Bibles in Dad’s memory will be out there serving the Lord.

A family member who read one of those cards asked, “What do they do with the Bibles?”


My 91-year-old mother has never heard a Gideon presentation in a church, the way most of us do at least once a year. But she said, “I think they put them in motel rooms.”

She was exactly right. And hospital rooms and jails and waiting rooms. They give them to school children when the schools will allow it. And a hundred other places where people will need the word from Heaven at some critical juncture in life. Gideons are always looking for creative ways of getting the Word out.

I’m not a Gideon and cannot be. It’s an organization of laymen, business people who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and think others ought to know Him and are willing to put their money where their beliefs are. Their wives are involved, too, in an auxiliary, doing the same work as their husbands right alongside them.

I’m going to invite active Gideons to leave comments at the end of this article. Specifically, I’d like you to tell us:

a) According to the statistics you have, how many people will end up reading the Bible you place in a hotel room?

b) What is the life expectancy of a Bible you give away?

c) How many Bibles do you place in a year’s time?

d) How many countries of the world have active Gideon chapters?

e) And that means, there are how many men in Gideons International?

f) How can a man find out about joining the Gideons?

g) And maybe most importantly of all, how can someone reading this blog donate some money to buy Bibles for this ministry?

Thanks to all you who serve our Lord in this capacity. You are doing an incredible work for Christ. Remember His promise in Luke 14:14– “You will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”*

You have His word on it.

Hey, wouldn’t you love to have been the one who bought the Bible Lynn Rodrigue read? Talk about eternal dividends for a small investment!

(*What a promise. Two questions come to mind about Luke 14:14. Can you believe that strong? Can you wait that long? The first has to do with obedience and the second with patience.)

13 thoughts on “So Many Gideon Bibles

  1. Isaiah 55:11 – The life of a hotel Bible – about 6 years reaching possible 2,300 readers. (The 100 Bibles given in memory of your father will possibly reach 230,000 for HIM. Gideons are now in 180 countries, distributing over a million Bibles every 6 days. Support comes from gifts and contributions of individual donations and from Gideons. Every cent contributed contributed goes to purchase scriptures without anything being held out for handling. All operation, freight, mail, etc. expenses are paid from annual dues of members. No other operation is so founded. For more info go to http://www.gideons.org/. I’m sure you’ve gladened the hearts of many today for your UNSOLICITED plug. I appreciate your daily news. God bless! Ed

  2. Like you, Joe, I cannot be a Gideon, because I am a pastor. Your article grabbed my attention in such a way that I just had to comment.

    Just today I was told this Gideon story. Two weeks ago, we allowed the Gideons to give a 5 minute testimony and receive an offering. On the evening before, one of our Sunday School classes had an outing at a local restaurant. Unplanned, an able and benevolent class member, on the spur of the moment and under heavy conviction to do so, decided to pick up the tab for the whole class. The next morning in Sunday School (this particular class meets after the worship service) one of the recipients of the free meal gave this testimony. “Going to that particular restaurant last night was kind of a stretch for my family’s budget. However, my wife and I budgeted $40 for the evening. When our meal was paid, I still had that $40. This morning I was able to give that $40 to buy Bibles. Otherwise, I would have had nothing to give.”

    Think of all the folks who got blessed. The man who paid the bill at the restaurant, the man who had his bill paid and then gave for the purchase of Bibles, the untold scores of people who will read those Bibles, and this humbled pastor who gets to see the body of Christ function like it is supposed to.

  3. Joe,

    I am not a Gideon, but I am proud that my father has been an active Gideon for many years in the Madison Camp before it became difficult for him to leave the house.

    I am also proud to have as a friend and Sunday School teacher the President of Gideon’s International here at FBC Nashville. He is a layman who loves and knows God’s word. He alternates teaching the class with a lawyer who is also excellent.

    For the next two weeks the President (Jerry) has asked us to pray for the palcement of our Holy Book in hotels in China. He is there talking with a government minister about this. They have forbidden the placement of the B. in the Olympic village, but seem to be open to having the B. in the hotels. Please lift him up in prayer.

    Charissa had her wisdom teeth removed today. She isn’t a happy or comfortable camper tonight.

    Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Love to Margaret.

    PS. Things that combine China and religion should be a little cryptic when dealing with specifics. Please excuse this.

  4. Dear Brother Joe:

    Thank you for your past and continuing support of the Gideon Ministry.

    Up-To-Date Statistics from page 12 of the October/November/December 2007 issue of The Louisiana Gideon follow:

    World Wide

    Countries ……………………..

  5. Like Gideon Brockelsby, I’m an early-morning browser. Seems to me nobody has answered your question (g). Specifically, go to http://www.gideons.org. Click on Donations, then click on Memorial Bible Program. All the info is there. As to how to become a Gideon — just ask a Gideon. He can be identified by the little pin in his lapel that depicts a white jar with a flame burning at the top. He’s probably in your church, because church membership is one of the requirements. I became a rookie Gideon at age 84, and it’s one of the most spiritually rewarding relationships of all those years.

    Thanksgiving blessings to you and yours.

    (I just previewed this and noted it’s posted at 8:22 a.m. But here in Bowling Green, KY, it’s 2:20 a.m.!)

  6. Joe,

    Thanks for recommending me for Gideon membership ten years ago when you were my pastor at FBCK. It is a very rewarding way to serve the Lord. God is in the life changing business. Your local church should be also. The Gideons are also in the business of changing people’s lives all over the world through the power of God’s Word. And, it just might change you life as well! It will certainly be a blessing. Get involved. Don’t miss it.

    Gary Lewis – Kenner Camp

  7. Your story of the pastor who was saved reading a Gideon Bible reminded me of a story told to me by a pastor when I was just 9 years old.

    All of his adult life, my grandfather was a carpenter/cabinetmaker who worked for a large lumber business. He mostly made windows.

    After he had been retired for a number of years, I was visiting him and my grandmother after school one afternoon. While I was there, a man came by to visit. He was a pastor who was a native of Hattiesburg, but was pastoring a church in another city. He had come to visit his parents and also came by to see my grandfather. They had a good time visiting, and suddenly, in the midst of it all, the pastor stopped and turned his attention to me. “Little girl,” he said, “I want to tell you something. You think your grandfather is just a carpenter, but he is much more than that. When I was a very young man, I lived a very hard life — smoked, drank to excess, and did a lot of other things that weren’t good. I worked at the mill with your grandfather, and not long after I started, he began to talk with me about how I was living and how harmful it would be to me in the long run. And he began to talk to me about Jesus. Eventually, he got through to me, and I accepted Jesus. It changed my life radically, and now I am a pastor. In heaven, little girl, every soul I lead to Jesus is credited to your grandfather’s account. Don’t ever underestimate the impact of a carpenter.”

    Obviously, I have never forgotten. That was more than 60 years ago, and I can still see us all on that front porch.

  8. I received a small green Gideons Bible in Montgomery as I was being processed for entry into Navy boot camp in September 1974. I carried it my entire naval career and as a civilian whenever I go on travel. It has been with me from the Marshall Islands to the Middle East and many points in between.

    Thank you Gideons

  9. Joe, about this time 24 years ago, when requested from a Gideon from your congregation to provide names of prospects for Gideon membership, you gave him my name. From that, I have been blessed immeasurably in serving The Lord through that min istry. Thank you for that! I would just like to urge that all pastors who read this make suggestions for membership to some Gideon he knows. We depend on membership from the local church & the pastor must approve each applicant anyway. To do this would bless the pastor, prospect, and the Gideon ministry. You have been a blessing to the Gideons for many years and the ministry has been blessed in carrying out the Lord’s ministry through the Gideons.

    (The reason this posting is so late is because we have been with our precious family in Grand Junction, Tennessee, for several days. Praise The Lord for your comments here).

  10. Joe, I was so glad to read this article on the Gideons… Steve and I have been Gideons for years and what a blessing it has been.. We need your prayers, however… One of the blessings for our camp has been for the men to be able to go into the schools and distribute Bibles…Recently, because of one woman’s complaint to the ACLU, it was decided to refuse the Gideons from now on the privilege of distributing them in Cumberland County schools…we were all heartbroken as this has been a practice for years…no one was EVER given a Bible…they were put on a table for the 5th graders to take at will… Testimonies have been given at our meetings of many young pepole who have given their lives to Christ because of that little Testament.. Please join us in prayer for restoration here… It seems to be the practice now to withdraw God from everything…. Hope you and your family have a blessed Christmas..

    In Christ,

    Claire

  11. i am reading wonderful comments but i have a small church and is badly in need of a few bibles if you can help please do. thanks in anticipation

  12. I am just a child, but today a Gideon came to my church and gave a presentation. His presentation spiked my interest, and the Gideons are all I’ve been able to think about. I was wondering if they had an adolescent division, but it seems not.

    A couple of months ago, two men were outside my school Penn- Griffin. They were passing out small orange New Testaments, and my mother and I each recieved one. My mother told me to keep hers because she has one already. So, I gave it to a friend, and she read, and passed it on. So far, that little orange Bible has been in the possesion of 15 different schoolchildren. I just got it back, and already it’s very worn. I am going to pass it around again, and maybe pass around others. This is my way of being a Gideon. My email is daddysposum@yahoo.com

Comments are closed.