Archive: Night Train to Nairobi

by Steve | May 3, 1981 | Archive - 1981

A miracle happened to missionary Gene Lewton on the

Archive: Night Train to Nairobi

by Dwight Harriman
Condensed from A Call to Prayer, with permission

Gene Lewton awoke and peered through the predawn grayness of the room and wondered what he had eaten last night that would make him greet the day with such a vile stomach ache. But this was his vacation. He was determined that nothing would interrupt it. He rubbed his midriff in condolence and got out of bed.

It was 1961. Gene and Marion Lewton, with their three young children, were taking their yearly vacation on Kenya’s east coast at Mombasa. It was a favorite spot for missionaries desperately needing a temporary respite from heavy work loads, a place to “let their souls catch up with their bodies.”

For days now, the Lewtons had watched blue waves come crashing in over white sand, swum in the churning water, and marveled at resplendent sunsets. Their souls were just catching up with their bodies. …

“I think we better go to Mombasa to see a doctor,” Marion said after they had eaten a simple breakfast.

Gene was hardly one to be terribly concerned about the aches and pains of life. But since the discomfort had not let up since he’d risen, he conceded, “I’ll go.”

The doctor at Mombasa pronounced the verdict. “A simple liver infection,” he said. He reached for a darkly colored bottle. “Just take this and you’ll be all right. ”

They returned to their cottage on the beach. The pain increased throughout the day. By 3:00 that afternoon, Gene was lying on the bed in the cottage.

Then Marion remembered Dr. Barnett, a doctor with Africa Inland Mission. He was staying not far from them and she hurried to summon him.

By now Gene was feeling a pain that spread like a hot blanket over his midriff, ever tightening around his entire abdomen. He was starting to grit his teeth. Marion felt a dark anxiety growing in herself. Something was very, very wrong.

Dr. Barnett arrived, took one look at Gene and declared, “This man must get to the hospital immediately!” Nairobi was 300 miles away. The only remotely comfortable way to get there was via a train that docked in a station separated from them by 20 miles of rough roads and a strand of ocean that had to be crossed by ferry. The train was leaving in less than an hour.

“Lord, somehow help us get there on time,” Marion prayed. In the rush of the moment, a thought entered her mind. She knew she would have to find a policeman who had the authority to call the station and ask them to delay the train’s departure. Finding a policeman would be a miracle. Having the station master hold up the train would be a bigger one.

But, in one of those baffling “coincidences” of divine providence, she had no sooner stepped out the door and walked a few paces than she ran directly into a Kenyan policeman. She explained the emergency to him, and he agreed to make the call.

“They said they would try to hold the train for 15 minutes,” he said.

But now, before any more action was taken, something had to be done about Gene’s pain. It was like a sword, probing inside him, whose blade grew keener and fiercer with each passing minute. His knuckles were ivory white as they gripped the edge of the bed he lay on. He inhaled in short, quick breaths.

Dr. Barnett reached in his medical bag and pulled out a small vial containing a colorless fluid, labeled “Morphine Sulphate.” He plunged a needle into its rubber cap, drew out 1.5cc of the clear liquid, and injected Gene as quickly and carefully as possible.

“In 10 or 15 minutes the pain will go away,” he told Gene. “That will last three, maybe four, hours. After that, you’ll need these.” He handed him a bottle of 15 wide, white tablets. “Take two every three to four hours.” Little did he know that soon Gene would be in such an agony of pain he might not be alert enough to take them.

Quickly now, with a sense of each passing second, Dr. Barnett and Marion removed a mattress from the cottage, put it in the back of his station wagon, and helped Gene onto the cushion. Marion told her children to remain there until they got back and then they got into the car and headed out to catch the Nairobi-bound night coach. Marion remembered that the policeman had said they would try to hold the train. He hadn’t said they would. She prayed again. She didn’t know it, but Gene and the doctor were praying, too.

The roads to the station were everything they had expected them to be. Potholes, bumps, and curves sent giant throbs through Gene’s body as he waited for the morphine to take effect. Each jolt was a new experience in sounding the depths of pain. They careened down the road as carefully yet hastily as they could. Gene’s occasional groans and outcries became less frequent as the injected drug took its miraculous effect.

The station finally came into view. The train was still there, steam pouring impatiently from its sides. They drove up to the loading platform, and things happened in rapid succession. The conductor, who had apparently been keeping an eye out for them, hurriedly ushered them to the train. Then, amid a flurry of movement, Gene was laid out on a berth in a small compartment. Marion desperately wanted to go with him, but she knew she could not leave her small children alone in an unfamiliar cottage by the beach. She would have to go back, then get to Nairobi on her own, as soon as she could.

Fortunately, she remembered a visiting American friend who happened to be on that very train to Nairobi. Thankful for having recalled the fact, but having no time to find the lady, Marion explained the situation to the conductor.

“Have her check on him until the train reaches Nairobi,” she said. The cars began moving out of the station.

“Lord, help him to make it,” she prayed.

But Gene doubted if he would. Pain—like a knife; twisting and stabbing its way through his sides and exploding in his brain. His body rocked back and forth in grotesque crescendos with the swaying of the railroad car. The morphine had worn off.

Gene was too irrational at the time to know it, but someone else prayed for him—all night. Marion’s friend on the train had received the message about Gene, and checked on him at intervals throughout the long journey. There was nothing she could do but pray.

Somehow, during the night, he was able to remember the pills. After much staggering and slopping of water in his glass, he got them down. But what good was codeine against that excruciating torture? He longed for morphine—sweet, relieving, heavenly morphine.

He was incredulous that he could feel such convulsive pain and still live. He had never known such fierce agony in his life. Was there no limit? Was there no end to it?

Dr. Barnett ·had called ahead so an ambulance was waiting to pick Gene up at the Nairobi station. It was an army truck ambulance which, if it had springs at all, were certainly the firmest set of springs any vehicle ever possessed. As it wheeled Gene from the station to the downtown Nairobi hospital that morning, the bouncing was one last terrifying experience which he was to be years in forgetting. After 14 hours on the train he was only half coherent, but aware that he was off the train and probably headed for the gleaming, modern, Nairobi hospital. With doctors and nurses. And morphine. Maybe they would give him morphine. …

But they gave him ether instead, and after that he didn’t feel anything. …

“My appendix had burst,” Gene explained weakly to Marion as she stood by his hospital bed. “The doctors said it had probably been that way for three or four days before I got to the hospital.”

Most men would scarcely have been alive under Gene’s circumstances. But medically speaking, a very unusual thing had happened. After Gene’s appendix burst, a protective sac had formed around the poisonous fluid, sealing it off from spreading totally through the rest of his body. Gangrene had already begun to set in, but the unusual sac had been enough to help keep him alive until he reached the hospital and the operating table.

“It’s a miracle I’m alive,” Gene said. Marion smiled. Miracles had a way of happening when they prayed.

Archive: Does anyone care about 3,000,000,000 Lost Souls?

by Steve | May 2, 1981 | Archive - 1981

Archive: Does anyone care about 3,000,000,000 Lost Souls?

An exclusive interview with Dr. Robert Coleman, internationally recognized authority on evangelism

Q What was the Consultation on World Evangelism (COWE); who was invited, and what was the main theme?

A About 650 invited Christians in various positions of leadership, together with a couple hundred official observers and staff, came together in Pattaya, Thailand, in June, 1980 for ten days to consider ways to reach the remaining 3,000,000,000 people in the world who do not know Jesus Christ. Following up the Congress on World Evangelization held six years ago in Lausanne, Switzerland, where the theme was “Let the Earth Hear His Voice,” this smaller meeting addressed the more technical question, “How Shall They Hear?” By its purpose, then, the gathering was essentially a working conference designed to develop effective strategies of evangelism for the 80s.

Our great diversity of cultures and religions, of course, call for different kinds of approaches. To get at this, the Pattaya meeting actually comprised 17 mini-consultations, each focusing on some major “unreached peoples group.” Included were traditional religionists in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, Buddhists, Hindus, cultists, Jews, Marxists, secularists, Muslims, Chinese, city dwellers, refugees, and nominal Christians among Roman Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants. The world assembly was the culmination of study groups meeting on the local level for over a year, gathering grassroots input from as many and diverse segments of society as possible.

Q What do you see as the thrust of this Consultation on World Evangelization with reference to United Methodists in America who are interested in world missions? Has our mission board been “missing the mark”?

A To me the Consultation’s reaffirmation of the primacy of world evangelization in our Lord’s missionary mandate focuses the real issue today before the church. It is not that evangelism and social action are unrelated, as the Thailand Statement points out, “but rather to acknowledge that of all the tragic needs of human beings none is greater than their alienation from the Creator and the terrible reality of eternal death for those who refuse to repent and believe. If, therefore, we do not commit ourselves with urgency to the task of evangelization, we are guilty of an inexcusable lack of compassion.”

Our Board of Global Missions, much as the World Council of Churches, has tended to minimize, or, at least, obscure this priority in their obsession with liberation. I believe that the forthright Declaration of COWE, representing as it does such a great body of believers, serves to keep the Biblical perspective before our officials, while also giving encouragement to the millions of Methodists who still hold evangelical convictions.

Q Were there any new currents or directions discernible? If so, what were they, and will they intensify opposition?

A In terms of strategy, I think there is an accelerated concern for reaching unevangelized groups of persons who have a natural affinity with one another. Worldwide there are nearly 20,000 such groups that have been identified where at present there is no realistic Gospel witness. As ways are found to penetrate these neglected peoples, and cross-cultural messengers are trained to communicate with them, Christian missions will become more effective and universal. I think that it is fair to say, too, that such evangelism will become more sensitive to the social needs of the oppressed people of the earth.

Along with this intensifying outreach ministry, we can expect to see increased opposition to the Gospel from the old religions, like Islam. Just as threatening will be proliferation of new demonic cults. Marxism and humanistic secularism also are likely to become more defiant and insidious in their attacks upon the Church of Christ.

Q To what extent are evangelical Christians from around the world willing and able to cooperate in evangelism? Can we unite on the priority of preaching the Word of God?

A The Lausanne movement, broadly conceived, is one answer to this question. For it encompasses on the world scale a vast spiritual fellowship of evangelicals from virtually every communion of the universal Church who recognize the imperative of the Great Commission. As such, it reflects probably the greatest ecumenical thrust of our generation.

That Bible-believing Christians can unite around evangelism is a witness to our sense of priorities in the Word of God. This does not minimize the need for basic doctrinal integrity, nor ignore differences on non-essentials, but it clearly demonstrates the power of the Gospel witness in bringing people together.

The American Festival of Evangelism in Kansas City, July 27-30, 1981 reflects this cooperative spirit. Already more than 140 denominations have endorsed the meeting, including the United Methodist Church. The four-day celebration will feature not only great inspirational rallies to begin and end each day, but will also include over 150 workshops and seminars in practical aspects of evangelism, discipleship, and equipping, plus first-hand presentations of 36 exciting, growing congregations. (See page 19 for exciting plans about Good News satellite meetings at Kansas City.)

Q Are there places in the world where the fires of evangelism are burning today? Is the UM Church doing anything in these areas?

A Oh yes, there are brush fires of evangelism burning all over the world, and in some places the flame has spread into a ventable conflagration. Look at Korea, where a few months ago 2.7 million people gathered in one service to hear the Gospel, with more than a million remaining to pray through the night. In that nation six and one-half new churches are being started every day, and it is very possible that the membership of the church as a whole will double in size in the next three years.

In the large Aymara tribe in Bolivia, there were only 20 churches six years ago: Today there are 1,000. In Chile some single congregations have grown to 40,000 to 50,000 members. The Jotabeche Church in Santiago now numbers 60,000, with most of the members involved in weekly prayer meetings, Bible study, and street evangelism. In the little nation of Costa Rica in the last eight years evangelicals have expanded from one percent to eight percent of the population.

This kind of growth is by no means limited to countries friendly to the Gospel. Behind the iron curtain in Romania, for example, both the Baptists and Assemblies of God have increased from 30,000 to 164,000 since 1945. Even in a place like China, those who are in a position to know estimate that in addition to the few city churches now being reopened, there are 20,000 house congregations scattered over the land, and the number is growing.

While in Thailand last summer I visited several of the refugee camps along the border of Cambodia. It is a depressing sight, seeing multiplied thousands of helpless people crowded into these bamboo enclaves of bare subsistence. Yet in one of the camps, amid incredible deprivation, I found a joyous fellowship of 20,000 believers, most of whom were converted to Christ in the last nine months. This is more Christians than there were in all of Cambodia before the war.

God is doing a new thing across the earth. While the examples I have cited may be exceptional, nonetheless they can be multiplied many-fold.

As to the extent of evangelism in United Methodism, I am afraid that on the whole we are not in the forefront of the action. Still there are spots where real growth is taking place. Brazil stands out in my mind, for I was there last spring to speak at their National Congress on Evangelism. All six bishops were present, as were delegates from most of their 500 churches. I felt the excitement among the people. A plan was projected to increase church membership by fifty percent in the next four years, and to double in size by the end of the decade. With their momentum, I see no reason why they cannot reach their goal. Would that the UM Church in America could venture forth with as much vision!

The spirit of Wesley—the passion to bring men to God—is more alive today than ever before. It can be seen in the purpose of a Billy Graham Crusade, in the discipline of a Campus Crusade action group, in the joy of a Catholic Renewal Fellowship, in the earnestness of a neighborhood home Bible study, in the aggressiveness of a Salvation Army street meeting, in the enthusiasm of a Holy Spirit Conference, in the vision of a growing Baptist Sunday school, or in a thousand other dynamic forms of outreach. Though it is unfortunate that the UM Church is not leading the advance, thank God that other people are in the harvest. And wherever you see men and women being constrained by the love of God to reach the lost and build them up in the Lord, there is the heartbeat of the Wesleyan revival, by whatever name it is called.

Q What UM involvement is there in the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization and at the Pattaya Consultation? Are you our only representative?

A I think that we are well represented in LCWE. In addition to my own membership, George Hunter (Assistant General Secretary of the Section on Evangelism, Worship, and Stewardship of the Board of Discipleship) has recently been elected, doubling UM participation. In addition, there are several new persons from other Methodist communions in South Africa, India, and Germany who have come on the Committee.

A Methodist presence is also evident on various auxiliary bodies. For example, Bishop Earl Hunt is a member of the Planning Committee for the American Festival of Evangelism, which is an outgrowth of the North American Lausanne Committee.

Q If people are interested in world evangelization, where can they write to get information from the Lausanne Committee?

A Everyone who would like to receive the LCWE Information Bulletin can get it for the asking by writing: LCWE, P.O. Box 1100, Wheaton, Illinois 60187. Overseas persons might get faster service by writing the: International Office LCWE, P.O. Box 21225, Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa. (Note our Good News book ad on page 45 and send off for “The Lausanne Covenant,” an exposition and commentary by John R.W. Stott.)

I would hope, too, that Good News people would like to get in on the American Festival of Evangelism this summer. Information may be obtained by writing P.O. Box 1981, Kansas City, Missouri 64141. (See their ad on page 15.)

Q As a man who has given his life to the cause of evangelism, what are your opinions as to evangelism today, both in America and across the globe? Will evangelism become easier?

A In terms of corning to grips with the Great Commission, I believe that most of us have not taken to heart the urgency of our task. Of the 4,000,000,000 people now on the earth, three-fourths still have no professed relationship with Christ. By the end of this century, the projection is that there will be 7,000,000,000. What makes this figure so overwhelming is that unless the course of things is changed, in the year 2000, 5,200,000,000 people will not be Christians. That is, there will be more lost, aimless persons 20 years hence than there are human beings now living on the earth. Clearly the pace of evangelism must be vastly accelerated if the church is to fulfill her mission.

Yet I believe the tide is turning. The very feeling of despair and futility of our age is causing people to look beyond themselves for answers to the ultimate questions of life and death. Materialism and hedonism have not satisfied the soul. Into this vacuum the Gospel speaks with new hope and assurance. I am not saying that everyone will respond to the message with gladness, for there are many voices appealing to the restlessness of man, not the least of which is the beguiling nature of sin.

I look for the evangelical church to come under increasing attack, especially as disciples become more daring in their witness. Before it’s over we may see open persecution on a scale hitherto unknown. Yet the fire of adversity, even martyrdom, should not be feared. It will only serve to refine the gold of Christian character, and thereby make the church more beautiful in holiness.

A revived church, sensitive to the priorities of the Kingdom, could fulfill the Great Commission in this generation. And if we are approaching the last days of history, we can anticipate just that happening. What a day to be alive!

Q How would you advise people who care about evangelizing the world to get involved? Obviously, we can’t all go “to the ends of the earth.”

A I would say for us all to move with the Holy Spirit where we are. God is out to reach every creature, and all who believe on Him are called to have a part in the work. Whether one is considered clergy or laity makes no difference. In the Body of Christ, we are all ministering servants, and can make disciples whatever our gifts or vocation. Find those of like mind, and work together. You can help each other learn. When all is said, the only way to make disciples is by doing it.

Each of us has to answer the question for ourself. Are we willing to follow the Great Commission lifestyle of our Lord? Such disciples of Christ will invariably become disciplers, and as they in turn do the same, through the process of reproduction, ultimately the Gospel will be known unto the ends of the earth. Then the King will return in His glory.

Archive: “Turn off the cartoons, Mom…here comes the Bible Bowl!”

by Steve | May 1, 1981 | Archive - 1981

Archive: “Turn off the cartoons, Mom…here comes the Bible Bowl!”

Irrepressible evangelist Jack Gray has discovered a way to bring the Gospel into the hearts and minds of children.

by Jay Gaines, Carrollton, Texas

Nearly eleven years ago, evangelist Jack Gray was conducting a revival in a small town in East Texas. He was staying in the pastor’s home. One evening, the pastor’s 12-year-old son invited Jack up to his room to see his model airplane collection. Upon entering the room, Jack could not believe his eyes. There were airplanes everywhere: beautifully scaled models hanging from the ceiling, mounted to the walls, and resting on every available square inch of dresser and desk space. Jack was told, rather proudly, by the young man, “I have 119 of them.”

The pastor’s son then began to explain to Jack every bit of information imaginable about each of the 119 aircraft. He knew the year each plane had been introduced, who manufactured the aircraft, the horsepower, how fast and far each could fly, how many bombs each could carry, and how and where each was used in a combat situation. The boy was literally “a walking encyclopedia on airplanes.”

On impulse, Jack decided to test the young man’s knowledge in another area. Reaching into his pocket, Jack pulled out a crisp $1.00 bill and told the small aeronautical expert that if he could name the 12 disciples of Jesus, he could have the dollar bill as a reward. Amazingly, the boy could not name all 12. In fact, to Jack’ sorrow, the boy did not even know the Ten Commandments, Fruits of the Holy Spirit, Books of the Bible, the Beatitudes, or any of the basic Bible passages every Christian should know.

That evening at church, Jack again tried to give his dollar bill away and again he had no success—not one child could answer any of his questions. A few days later, a very disturbed Jack Gray left the small community, still puzzled over the inability of the small children to answer even the most basic of Bible questions.

As Jack traveled across the country in the following months conducting revivals, the amazement he had experienced in the small Texas town turned to deep concern as he came to realize that few children really knew much about the Bible. “In almost every church and community I visited, I found that the same condition existed—children did not know and love the Word of God.” Jack’s heart cried out over the dilemma, “Lord, what can I do? What can I do?”

He realized that there was one thing he could do and he began working with children wherever he preached. “The Lord taught me three things about children,” says Jack. “He taught me that children can learn anything if they are motivated. They love games that are exciting and fun, and they love competition.”

Based on these three premises, Jack began to develop into his crusades a daily routine of working solely with children in a specially designed, action-packed, competitive game dealing exclusively with the Bible. He called the new game Bible Bowl.

From the very beginning kids loved it and, as Jack observed, “Attendance of children at my revivals doubled, even tripled.” Jack began to develop materials for Bible Bowl and soon Bible Bowlers had such things as the Bible Bowl Memory Book (with rainbow memory cards containing Bible passages every Christian should know) and the Bible Bowl Quiz Book (with 36 Biblical categories). There were also membership cards, T-shirts, Bible Boy and Gospel Girl buttons, pins, and balloons, and there was “B.B. the Robot” (Beebee), a popular favorite among the kids. Bible Bowl became a very important part of Jack’s ministry.

Churches across the country began hearing about Bible Bowl and they began to use the program as a vehicle for teaching children in their congregations. Soon, there were Bible Bowl Vacation Church Schools, Bible Bowl Sunday Schools, Bible Bowl Seminars and, finally, a Bible Bowl Summer Camp where boys and girls spent five days in a Christian atmosphere.

The turning point in Bible Bowl’s growth occurred one day while Jack was in a Tulsa church. A man walked up to him and said, “Jack, I’ve never seen my grandkids get so excited about the Bible. This program needs to be on television.” He then handed Jack a check for $1,000.

Bible Bowl TV was born. On October 29, 1978, Bible Bowl went on the air in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Dallas, Texas. We have often heard Billy Graham say, “There are over 40,000,000 children in America who do not regularly attend Sunday school and church, but almost every one of those children have access to a television set.” Jack Gray says, “We are trying to reach these 40,000,000 children and excite them to want to learn the Bible.”

Exactly what is Bible Bowl? It is an exciting and colorful television and in-church ministry that is reaching children (and adults) all across the country. Bible Bowl teaches the Bible to these little ones while making the learning experience a fun-filled and excitement-packed educational event. It is 100 boys and girls, wearing T-shirts, buttons and badges, and armed with pompons, noisemakers and foghorns, erupting in a cacophony of cheers. Bible Bowl is highspeed, spontaneous excitement, fringed with suspense as two teams (boys vs. girls) compete for cash and points in an effort to win the grand prize—”The Glory Bowl” which is a nine-gallon banana split topped with sparklers.

The program, on television and in church, is divided into four quarters. Whistle-tooting, Bible-quizzing “Coach Jack” leads the youngsters through various segments of the game such as “Bleacher Battles,” “Giant Question Mark,” “Paddle Battles,” “Quiz Kids,” “Quote Votes,” “Tic-Tac-Toes,” “Bible Baseball,” and songs. It is the Gospel Girls and the Bible Boys using their knowledge of the Scripture in a competitive situation. Jack says, “We call it Bible Bowl because it is bigger than the Super Bowl—it deals with eternal life.”

Dr. Kenneth Carter, Pastor of the First United Methodist Church of Carrollton, Texas says, “The Bible Bowl ministry is the most exciting outreach ministry in America today … no one else is doing anything comparable.” Dr. Carter and his congregation believe so strongly in Bible Bowl that they recently donated $15,000 to the program.

Bob Stamps, Campus Chaplain at Oral Roberts University, suggests that Bible Bowl does more than just “turn kids on.” He says, “[Jack] shows adults what a man of God can do with kids to excite them about the Word, then he challenges the parents to be as excited and as creative in their working with kids. That, I think, is Bible Bowl’s strongest point.”

Jack would probably agree because when asked to justify Bible Bowl’s ministry, he points to the last verse of the Old Testament:

He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.

Jack goes on to say, “Our land is under a curse because the fathers are not turned to the children, therefore the children are not turned to the fathers. They’re not turned to the Father God. Fathers represent God in America or any other nation. So the fathers must turn to the children if the children are to get interested in God.”

It would appear that Bible Bowl is getting children and adults interested in God and His Word. To date, over 2,000 churches have displayed interest and enthusiasm for Bible Bowl. The program is now on CBN (Christian Broadcast Network), PTL (People That Love), and in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles every week. Many churches have not only conducted Bible Bowl for their own congregations but have also contributed substantially to the ministry. Churches from Reading, Massachusetts, to Billings, Montana, to Abilene, Texas, to Jennings, Louisiana, to Mobile, Alabama, now mail regular offerings to Bible Bowl.

“But,” according to Jack, “there just never seems to be enough money.” In 1980 alone, over $90,000 will be spent just to handle the mailing of free books to children who request them. Another $80,000 will be spent for the continuing operation of Bible Bowl, and plans now call for nearly $5,000,000 for the establishment of a permanent National Bible Bowl Headquarters, Camp, Children’s Ministry Center, and Nationwide Bible Bowl Contest.

Bible Bowl is produced by Jack Gray Ministries of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Jack is, of course, well-known not only for his evangelism crusades, but for having led the children’s programs at past Good News Convocations. (He will be leading the 1981 Convocation also.)

The need to reach children is obvious and Bible Bowl is meeting that need. If one should doubt the desperate need to reach the churched and un-churched children of this country, one would only have to sift through the hundreds of letters received at the offices of Jack Gray Ministries every week. One letter, in particular, seems to epitomize the urgent need for this outreach ministry. An eight-year-old in Mesquite, Texas wrote, “…I try to go to church, but my parents are asleep. They really sleep late. I just discovered your show and it’s fun to watch.”

Jack and his supporters know there are millions more just like the Mesquite child, and it is Bible Bowl’s goal to reach these millions. It is their prayer that soon, all across the land, children will be heard to say, “Turn off the cartoons, Mom. It’s time for Bible Bowl.” That time may be soon.