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Correction appended
The largest Christian literature ministry is taking more of a grassroots approach to fighting crime and social and moral decay in major cities.
Problems relating to marriage, drug abuse, pornography and abortion are the issues that people in most cities face. And to tackle these problems, the International Bible Society is trying to get people back to the root of joy and peace - God's Word.
Through the CityReachers program, the ministry is visiting major cities giving away hundreds of thousands of New Testament Bibles, all of which have been customized for each city - containing images of the city, local history, and testimonies from area residents.
Just earlier this month, IBS traveled to the East Coast to reach out to Pittsburgh residents.
Around 180,000 Pittsburgh area residents awoke Sunday morning to find a Pittsburgh-specific New Testament enclosed in their Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper. Area churches and volunteers pitched in to deliver another 40,000 New Testaments to residents who do not receive the local newspaper.
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The CityReacher New Testament has inspired at least one Pittsburgh resident to attend church again.
“This was an awesome idea … handing out Bibles with the newspaper,” wrote one Pittsburgh resident, according to IBS. “It inspired me to join up with a church and become active again.”
Peter Bradley, former president of International Bible Society, had said the customized Bibles help bring the Gospel to people in an "appealing" way by highlighting a future filled with positive things.
"There is a natural tendency to avoid a thick, black book that says 'Holy Bible' on the front," he said.
Already this year, CityReachers has also distributed Scripture to more than half a million homes in the Virginia Peninsula, South Florida, Philadelphia and Spokane, Wash.
IBS is currently gathering donations to carry out distributions planned within the next year.
The organization hopes to distribute to the following locations in 2009:
• Fort Worth, Texas: 219,000 New Testaments through the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
• South Florida: 286,000 copies of Gospel of John, in both English and Spanish through the Miami Herald and El Nueva (Newspaper)
• Philadelphia (second phase): 260,000 New Testaments through the Philadelphia Inquirer
• Tampa Bay: 195,000 New Testaments through The Tampa Tribune
According to IBS, it costs less than a cup of coffee to reach one resident.
"This is a special invitation from pastors of the churches in that city, from IBS, that is going to say to each recipient: 'Would you just take one minute and open this book? It will change your life,'" said Bradley.
Correction: Monday, September 22, 2008:
An article on Monday, September 22, 2008, about the International Bible Society distributing customized Bibles to cities across the nation incorrectly reported that Peter Bradley is the president of the organization. Bradley is the former president and David Passman is the current U.S. president of IBS.
