CLC Mobile Ministry 70 Years of CLC New Bookstore in Thailand

2011 Issue No. 1
www.clcusa.org
World’s Largest Bible at CLC Thailand
CLC Mobile Ministry
Delivering God’s word outside our cities pg. 3
70 Years of CLC
Updates from longtime CLCers pg. 12
New Bookstore in Thailand
See pictures from the grand opening pg. 18
David Almack
US Director
INTERNATIONAL
CLC World is published
three times per year by CLC
Ministries
International,
701 Pennsylvania Ave., Ft.
Washington, PA 19034, a nonprofit organization meeting
literature needs around the
world since 1941. © 2010 CLC
Ministries International, Inc. No
part of this periodical may be
reproduced electronically or in
print without permission. We
welcome your comments. Email
us at clcworld@ clcusa.org.
CLC U.S.A. is part of an
interdenominational
faith
mission working in over 58
countries on six continents and
is a member of The Mission
Exchange (formerly EFMA).
FINANCIAL POLICY
This multi-ethnic ministry
involves approximately 1000
people of different nationalities
who, by faith, trust God to
supply their needs. Gifts
received for projects are used
as designated. Gifts given in
excess of project funding needs
will be designated to similar
projects. Proceeds from book
sales are used in the extension of
the work worldwide—opening
and developing bookshops
and mobile ministries as well
as publishing and distributing
literature in many languages.
Audited annual financial reports
are available upon request from
our office at PO Box 1449,
Ft. Washington, PA 19034.
Subscriptions to CLC World
are free. The average cost for
publication and mailing for one
year is $8.00.
CLC Ministries International
701 Pennsylvania Ave.
PO BOX 1449
Fort Washington, PA 19034
215-542-1242
www.clcusa.org
Dear Friends of CLC,
With this edition of CLC World, you will notice a new format!
We are excited to combine our mission magazine with our
bookstore catalog for the first time. This allows our readers to
both enjoy our regular ministry updates and to see the books
and resources that are in our shops and online. We want to
thank our catalog partners—The Munce Group—for making
this innovation possible. They truly have a heart for missions.
As we look to God for His leading in this new year, we offer
three things for your prayer and partnership:
1. 2011 is the 70th anniversary of CLC’s ministry around
the world! We thank God for His faithfulness and will be
celebrating this throughout the year. Please pray for God’s
continued blessing on the ministry and perhaps consider
making a donation to help us in the work of making
evangelical Christian literature available to all nations.
2. Biblical Literacy will be the focus throughout our ministry
in 2011. This year is the 400th anniversary of the King James
Bible and is also when a new version of the NIV will come out.
CLC is also producing its own Bible Companion reference
book that will be available internationally later this year.
3. Jim Pitman, my colleague and friend for the last fifteen
years, has recently taken over the leadership of our retail
group. Please pray for him as he transitions from his prior
role as Director of World Missions and also remember Mark
Ridenour who is assuming many of Jim’s former duties.
In this issue...
3 .......... Spotlight on Mobile Ministry
4-5 .......... Colombia Mobile Ministry
6 .......... CLC Myanmar Mobile Ministry
7 .......... CLC Sierra Leone Mobile Ministry
8 .......... CLC Uruguay Mobile Ministry
9 .......... CLC Japan Mobile Ministry
10 .......... CLC New Zealand Mobile Ministry
12 .......... 70 Years of CLC
15 .......... Bookshop in a Box
18 .......... New Bookstore in Thailand
From the start of CLC’s work in England in the early 1940s, taking
books and Bibles to the people has been a central part of our ministry
methods. From door-to-door Bible sales to boxes on back of motorcycles
to book vans, boats and even buses, CLC’s missionaries have done their
best to make sure that even remote areas are not left out.
This mobile work continues today in many areas of the world, reaching
those who still do not have adequate access to Bibles and Christian
literature.
Come see on these next pages how CLC works in other areas of the world!
by Blanca Lilia Garzón
CLC Colombia has, for many years, had a
Those who most benefit from our mobile
ministry live in small towns far from the
capital city of Bogota. We supply many small
bookshops in these towns, and our service
helps to update their stock and save shipping.
Numerous CLC mobile teams travel
throughout Colombia, each making three
to four trips a year. Drivers on a round trip
spend twenty to fourty hours behind the
wheel, often through guerrilla territory. The
mobile teams are staffed completely on a
volunteer basis. In spite of the dangers, we
have had no shortage of volunteers!
God has been so good! He has faithfully
protected us from mishaps, mechanical
breakdowns and guerrilla attacks while on
the road.
mobile ministry that supplies other bookshops
and sets up and maintains bookstalls in areas
that are too small and remote to support a
bookshop.
We praise God that our top seller is still
the Bible; other books and Sunday school
materials are in great demand as well.
Crossing through a checkpoint in
guerrilla territory
A Miraculous “Mistake” God pours out his blessings without fail and touches the lives of
those we have arranged to meet along the route. A few months ago, while visiting a bookshop in
a small town some 250 miles from our HQ, we had quite a surprise.
We met with a bookseller who told us that she had begun her ministry because of a “mistake!”
For no apparent reason, she had received a box of
books from CLC. After investigating where they
had come from and why they had been sent, she
was so struck by the books and the message they
contained that she decided to start a bookshop in
her town! Our “mistake,” she decided, was divine
intervention and a call to serve the local Christian
community with life-giving literature. She is now
one of our regular customers and is very blessed
in her bookshop ministry. Praise the Lord!
mistake
mistake
mistake
Glenys Alandete Gallo (CLC) and
customer Amarilys Llanos from Librería
Cristiana El Camino in Valledupar.
Customer Deisy Rivas from
Manantial de Dios bookshop.
CLC Myanmar
by Jacob Mung
In Myanmar our mobile ministry is mostly within the city of Yangon. This is a weekly trip of
about two hours back and forth. We also make a trip once each year to other more remote towns.
Travel is difficult in our country, so we visit Bible schools and other places where people find it
difficult to come to our bookshop.
By visiting these training centers, we create awareness of our ministry among current church
leaders and also the next generation of leaders.
Study Bible Is an Answer to Prayer
Last September we had the privilege of visiting a Bible college with about 120
students. It was our first visit there in about two years, and we brought some
study Bibles and theological books. We also had a general cross-section of titles
by well-known authors.
One student bought a Life Application Study Bible and told us he had been
praying for several years to be able to get one. He had saved up his money and
was thrilled to see that we brought the study
Bible so he could buy it. Many of the semiHe had been praying
nary students ordered a copy of Willmingfor several years for a
study Bible
ton’s Guide to the Bible, and we returned
a week later with their orders. Sales
were very encouraging—in fact, much higher than we had expected!
Poverty is a real issue in our country, but some people do have enough
money to buy books. The problem is where to get them. Often the
only way is by someone visiting them, so we praise the Lord for the
mobile work.
CLC Sierra Leone
“The entire Sierra Leone team is involved in mobile ministry, because we all go out to do
bookstalls in churches, markets and other events,” says Alfred Kaikai, who is responsible for the
mobile work. Chris Williams, a volunteer, helps drive the book van and sell the books.
“Because we don’t have a large team we focus more on the cities,” Kaikai says, “but we really have
the desire to go to more rural areas as well. If we had a staff member specifically for this project,
we know we would have a very great harvest. For now we are on the road three days a week, but
we are always looking for more opportunities!”
As in most places, Bibles are always in the greatest demand, with Sunday school materials running
a close second. We are currently out of Bibles—and this is a big challenge! Pray that we will
receive more King James Bibles because these are the ones most commonly used in meetings.
Chasing Down a Bible
“We had gone to a suburb of Freetown (our capital) a few months ago to deliver some books to
a school library,” Kaikai said. “We weren’t planning to sell anything, but we always have some
extra books and Bibles in the
van. We didn’t even notice the
lady running after us as we
made our way through the busy
Freetown traffic to the school.
She eventually caught up with
us and anxiously asked for a
Bible. She had just given her
life to Jesus Christ in a crusade
that was being held where she
lived. After purchasing a Bible,
she asked me where best to start
reading, and I encouraged her
to start with the book of John. I
also encouraged her to look for a church where
the Word of God is preached faithfully so she
could grow to maturity in her faith. She was
so excited and thankful to God! As she started
leaving, she told me her name and that she was
a former Muslim. Thank God for our book
van ministry!”
CLC Uruguay
U
ruguay’s mobile ministry is run by Carlos
Fernández, whose wife Sonia works full
time in the CLC bookshop in Montevideo. She
occasionally goes on mobile trips with Carlos.
The mobile side of the work in Uruguay makes
up 25% of their yearly sales, with Carlos visiting
over two hundred people who sell books in their
churches. Five of the churches have their own
small Christian bookshop.
In order to visit this many people, Carlos travels
two different routes, each five times a year. The
first route is over 1,250 miles and takes about
24 days to complete. The second is over 600
miles and is about 12 days round-trip. That is
really going the extra mile!
Buy a Motorcycle, Get a Free Bible!
In the city of Salto, a Christian man opened a motorcycle shop. He decided to
give a free Bible or Christian book with every motorbike purchased. This has
resulted in many wonderful opportunities to share the gospel with people and
to direct them to local churches. He now has put a shelf of Bibles among the
motorcycles in his window display, and people have begun to refer to the shop as
the “motorcycle/Bible shop.” It has certainly revved up interest!
CLC Japan
J
apan’s mobile ministry was started almost fifty years ago to provide evangelical literature for
regions with no Christian bookstore. Since then most of the bookstores have continued to
provide a bookmobile ministry. While costly in terms of personnel and vehicle expenses, it is a
vital and necessary means to advance the literature evangelism of Japan.
The book vans visit churches all over the island, leaving books on deposit and picking up
funds from those books that have been sold. One of our vans visits approximately on hundred
churches a month. This takes about ten days each month and means traveling about 13,000
miles during the year.
Our focus is on literature that is inexpensive and on evangelistic material. Recently our
bestsellers have been the Bible, When Spring Comes by Tomihiro Hoshino, and There Will Be a
Joyous Tomorrow.
About five times a year, the CLC bookmobile visits a church worship service at Kanazawa.
During this service, we speak to the congregation about CLC and the importance of our
evangelistic literature mobile ministry. We are always blessed by their understanding and support
of our ministry.
CLC New Zealand
I
n New Zealand our mobile ministry is actually a nearly full-time mobile shop! We visit churches,
and CLC staffers often serve as visiting speakers in this active outreach. The couple running the
bus this year, Graham and Sue Christie, are very dedicated and seek to reach people in need. They
have the bus on the road for three weeks out of each month, which works out to a little over eleven
months of the year. There is not a lot of time for an active home life with this ministry!
Graham and Sue are based out of Hamilton City and travel to most parts of the North Island
each year. They have a regular route that takes them into areas that are not serviced by a
Christian bookshop or that likely could not support a shop.
We carry a broad selection of Christian materials that would normally sell in a brick-and-mortar
Christian bookshop: Bibles, children’s books, Sunday school materials, gifts, etc. Our mobile
ministry provides many opportunities to reach out to people, of all economic backgrounds, and
we constantly keep our eyes open for bargains that we can pass on at special prices.
Honk If You Want a Bible
“A few weeks ago a car pulled up behind
the bus and the driver was honking his
horn and motioning for us to stop,”
Graham Christie said. “We were not
excited about stopping at first, as we were
not in a very safe area, but we decided
to pull over. ‘Do you have any Bibles for
sale?’ we were asked. Praise God we were
able to sell a couple Bibles right there on
the side of the road!”
t:
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W
e are very excited to announce
that this year we will celebrate
CLC’s 70th Anniversary! Let’s
hear from some of the people
who have been a part of CLC
over the years:
Sandy Sanderson
Sandy has been with CLC for 60+ years and
has had many vital roles, including being the
UK leader for many years. He continues,
even in his retirement, to help out at the UK
CLC Warehouse.
“As the printed page played a key part in
my conversion and call, it was obvious to
me that missionary service should be with a mission dedicated to spreading
the Word of God. However, CLC has been more than a missionary society,
but also a “family” of like-minded people, bound together in love for the Lord
with ministry springing forth from that love. Because no salaries were paid
and there was no support fund in the early days, we were totally dependent
on the Lord for everything–spiritual, physical and material. We developed a
sensitivity to the needs of others and often the obedience of one member met
the needs of others. Being a part of CLC is very special. I am part of a family
of people convinced of the need to share God’s love, as one CLCer put it, “by
life, lip and literature.” “It is a family which cares for each member in both
good and difficult times and whose dependence is upon God and whose desire
is to walk with Him and do His will.” – Sandy
Dottie & Willard Stone
“I first met CLC founder Ken Adams at the old
USA headquarters in Germantown, PA. It was
early winter in 1951, the best I remember. Ken,
not yet fourty years old, seemed to be friendly,
approachable, straightforward and something
of a tease to his two small daughters, Marge and
Jan. Shortly after my visit, CLC personnel
all moved to the old Van Rensselaer Estate
in Fort Washington, PA. Dottie and I did
our candidate training there beginning February 1952, and then Grace Chang and I were sent
to Indonesia in 1954 to start CLC in that land. Dottie joined us shortly after and we continued
there until 1980, followed by two years in Singapore and four years in the Philippines. At age
seventy we returned to the US and joined the team in Fort Washington. CLC has meant a lot
to us. We love the work and count it a privilege to have had a part in the vision of making the
Word of God and good literature available in many lands. To God be the glory. Dottie and I are
enduring our old age in Norristown, PA, and as we remember the past, we pray for the seed sown
to continue in the present and reach into the future until faith becomes sight and we rest in our
home with our Lord forever. What a glorious prospect!
“Congratulations CLC on your 70th anniversary.” – Willard
Alaisdair & Hilary Cameron
“We heard about CLC in the 1950s: Alaisdair
through WEC Bible School and Hilary at a
mission conference in 1955. Since we had
both learned so much about trusting our
Savior from reading the Bible and other
great Christian books, the idea of CLC
thrilled us! Here was an international,
multicultural organization that was stimulated by faith in an unfailing God. Through CLC we
met, married and now have four children and grandchildren. We’ve served in the UK and British
Guyana in various roles including Candidate Secretaries, Overseas Secretaries and being on CLC’s
International Council.
“We’ve been thrilled to witness countries that once were closed to Christianity and that we’ve
prayed for since the beginning now allowing Christian bookshops. We are constantly amazed by
all that God has done and is doing. We’ve even been blessed to witness that our love of reading
has been passed on to our children and grandchildren.” – Alaisdair & Hilary
Beulah Martin
“When I think of CLC, I think of my loving Christian friends—
people from all over the world who became an encouragement to me.
“The deeper-life books and literature which CLC publishes
helped me to mature spiritually. I came to CLC in 1992 for
candidate training and was accepted as a member in April
1993. I was assigned to work at the USA headquarters in Fort
Washington, PA in the accounting office. Most of my work
was doing accounts payable and other bookkeeping. I loved
working at CLC and completed tweleve years of service before
retiring for health reasons in April 2005.” – Beulah
Jake & Dena Prins
“We received the call to Christian literature when CLC
founder Ken Adams came to the Bible school in Grand
Rapids, MI where Jake was a student. About one year
later, in March 1958, we made the three thousand mile
trip from Alberta, Canada to Fort Washington, PA. What
interesting and challenging experiences we had during
that time. But what was so precious was the fond and
lasting friendships we made! In 1961 we and our two
sons made our way to Montevideo, Uruguay, where Jake
eventually became manager of the CLC bookstore. We
returned to the States in 1978 when the ministry went
into national hands. We praise the Lord that after all
these years the CLC ministry in Uruguay is still going
strong! In 1983, after a 25-year commitment to CLC, we moved to California and became
involved in another type of ministry. We still pray daily for the CLC ministry.” – Dena
Bill & Marge Almack
CLC is part of my DNA! I “Marge” was born into CLC
as the daughter of CLC founders, Ken and Bessie Adams.
At the age of five, I came to North America with my
sister, Jan, and our parents. We lived in Canada for two
years and then our family moved to Pennsylvania
where CLC, along with our sister mission, WEC,
established their US headquarters. What a privilege
to have parents who loved God’s Word so much that
they wanted the world to know about Jesus. So it
wasn’t surprising that God’s call was on my life to
follow in their steps. During four years at Columbia
International University, God gave me my wonderful
husband, Bill, and solid training for cross-cultural service with
CLC. Together we served with CLC in Jamaica (3 years), Trinidad (6 years) and Barbados (7 years)
and then in leadership for sixteen years in the USA. God has blessed us with four children, four
children-in-love and eleven grandchildren. Five years ago we moved to Columbia, SC to serve as
mission mobilizers, and we have the joy of reproducing CLCers as we share in universities, churches
and wherever God opens doors. Our oldest son, Dave, is now the US Director for CLC.” – Marge
Bo
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Fe
hat do Western Christians do when they have a spiritual need? Many turn to their
W
Bible or a good Christian book for answers. More than likely, they bought that Bible
or Christian book from a bookstore or ordered it on a website.
Now change the location to Africa, where
Christian bookstores—or bookstores of any
sort—are few and far between. Ordering on the
web is not a likely possibility, as internet access
is spotty and purchases cannot be shipped at
reasonable costs.
The ideal solution would be to open bookshops
in strategic locations throughout the continent,
but costs for such an undertaking are exorbitant.
That is, they were until CLC found an
inexpensive method of creating bookshops using
international shipping containers—literally a
“bookshop in a box.”
The continent of Africa has seen its share
of famines, as the growing Sahara Desert
encroaches on once-useful farmland. But today
Africa suffers from a famine of a different kind:
there is a growing literacy rate, a deep spiritual
hunger among seekers, and a desperate need for
discipleship of new believers—yet there is little
Christian literature to meet the demand.
One might assume that language is a barrier,
but many of the countries of Africa speak—
and read—English, French or Portuguese as a
national or trade language. The problem comes
down to economics and availability. People
cannot easily afford books at Western prices, and
transportation is difficult and costly when trying
to reach the more isolated areas of Africa.
CLC International responded to this need
through its Christian BookLink program, a
ministry in the UK, US and Australia which
collects new and used Bibles, Christian books
and other materials, donated by publishers,
churches and individuals or purchased by CLC at
reduced prices. Over the past several years, CLC
has shipped multiple tons of books and Bibles to
Africa, India and other areas of the world, to be
given away or sold at a nominal price.
Distribution Still a Problem
With Christian BookLink addressing the
problem of cost, CLC has now turned its
attention to the problem of distribution on the
African continent. Even when materials have
been donated and shipping costs paid, it can
be difficult to get Bibles and Christian books
out to the people who need them. Many live in
isolated, rural areas, but even for urban dwellers
there is much less access to transportation than
in the West.
It is these isolated towns and urban
neighborhoods that are being targeted for the
“bookshop in a box” program. The shops are
made from used shipping containers—steel
boxes about eight feet high, eight feet wide, and
either twenty feet or fourty feet long. With a
roof added for shade, doors and windows cut
out, and an air conditioner installed, a container
is transformed into a small but useful building
Buying
b
ooks in
with 160 or 320 square feet of floor space.
Lloyd Hodkinson, BookLink Africa Director,
developed the idea and worked out the details
behind this project over the last four years, and
CLC opened the first one in Nairobi, Kenya this
past year!
This first CLC “bookshop in a box” in the
Umoja area of Nairobi is doing well, and CLC
hopes this is just the first of many. The idea
has great potential, especially for less affluent
neighborhoods and villages.
At a cost of about US $15,000, CLC
can purchase a container, transport it
to the site, convert it into a shop with
a sun-shelter roof and windows, stock
it with books, train a staff of local
workers and provide support to them
for six months.
A typical bookstore, built from the ground up
and staffed with trained workers, would cost
several times as much.
With operating expenses provided for the first
six months, the bookshop is given a start-up
period to grow into a viable, self-supporting
operation. The bookshop provides access to
Christian resources for people within walking
distance—a much larger radius than in a
Umoja
, Keny
a
Western country—and helps stimulate the
economy of a low-income area.
“By taking a shipping container and converting
it into a shop, we reduce the costs, so that
people are able to buy affordable Christian
books,” Lloyd Hodkinson says. “The staff
would be trained both in retail operation and
evangelism, and supported by the existing
supply chain that CLC has in each country.”
CLC is promoting this project nationally in the
UK and US with a view to starting a number
of “bookshop in a box” projects around Africa.
“Recently CLC UK did a project where they
raised money to supply Christian children’s
books for school libraries in Sierra Leone,”
Hodkinson said. “Some publishers then
matched the money raised as they supplied the
books. This meant that the libraries got far more
than we had originally anticipated.”
We pray that many people will get behind
this project as well, and that through these
“bookshops in a box” and Christian BookLink,
CLC will be able to “feed” those who have been
starving for solid Christian literature.
To help CLC open these
“bookshops in a box,” go to
clcdonations.com
THAILAND
New Bookstore in
W
hat a blessing it was to have so many guests come and join in
the celebration of the grand opening of our new CLC bookstore
in Chiang Mai, Thailand on December 4th. There were traditional
Thai instruments and music as well as a worship service to thank God
for this wonderful new location. Several of CLC’s international staff
were there, along with the governor of Chiang Mai province, who
gave a wonderful speech of support and encouragement and also cut
the ribbon.
A lunch was provided for our guests and they got to tour the new
shop. A special treat was the display of the World’s Largest Bible. It
was a wonderful day, and now we are officially up and running in our
beautiful new location.
It’s all about Jesus, and we want Him to be honored, magnified and
glorified through it all. Praise the Lord!
Military setting up stage
Mr. Macinas and co-worker with
worlds largest bible
Policemen in front of door
Governor cutting ribbon
CLC managers Yongyut &
Paula Khanthaseema with the Governor
Orphan kids dancing
Northern Thai music
Gifts for customers
Mr. Lewis from CLC International
Yongyut thanking everyone
CLC’s purpose is
INTERNATIONAL
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215-242-4790
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609-641-4764
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856-866-2688
CLC Church Stores
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First African Baptist Church
901 Clifton Avenue
Sharon Hill, PA 19079
610-461-1108
Bread of Life Bookcenter
Sharon Reed Bookcenter
Sharon Baptist Church
ENON Tabernacle Baptist Church
2800 West Cheltenham Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19150
215-276-7200
inSPIRE Bookcenter
Abundant Life Fellowship
4151 Route 130 South
Edgewater Park, NJ 08010
856-461-7000
3955 Conshohocken Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19131
215-473-3000
CLC Bookcenter
Mount Airy COGiC
6401 Ogontz Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19126
215-924-9420
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