Indonesia Scripture Blitz Exceeds Expectations

In early March, an international team of men who serve in The Gideons International arrived in Indonesia to help the local Gideons place and distribute Scriptures in a one-week event known as an International Scripture Blitz.

Additionally, 72 men who serve in Gideon camps throughout Indonesia came and served in various roles, filling in as drivers and interpreters for the international team. Many of them helped distribute Scriptures as well.

By the end of the week, they would discover that God had much greater plans for their distribution and placement activities than they did.

In God’s Hands

Upon arriving for the blitz, the team was surprised to find out that exams were scheduled in many of the secondary schools that week, potentially limiting the number of schools that would be open to distributions. Also, the government decided to hold an election in the North Sumatra Province on Thursday, closing many of the Scripture distribution locations for the day.

But the team members remained strong in their faith that God would have them accomplish what He wanted. “We set our plans accordingly and left everything in God’s hands,” says blitz team leader Kevin Fuller. They were also encouraged knowing that other members of The Gideons International throughout the world were praying for their success. “We were repeatedly saying how grateful we were to have a God who made the impossible, possible.”

Indonesia’s Students Welcome God’s Word

At one school, the principal was so excited about receiving Scriptures that he escorted the Gideons to every classroom and spoke to the students in each class about the gift that the Gideons had brought them. The doors to that school opened for the Gideons when a father of a student there had learned that Gideons were distributing Scriptures in the area. He then asked the principal to allow them to come there.

Christianity was just one of several religions represented inside many of the schools. However, time and time again, students and faculty of other religions were grateful and even enthusiastic in regard to receiving copies of God’s Word.

At a Chemical and Engineering School, one of the Gideons addressed the student body. He said that in addition to the school’s textbooks there was one book that all the students needed to read. He then held a New Testament up in the air. The audience responded with an enthusiastic round of applause.

An Angelic Chorus Of Young Voices

On the last day of the distributions, Fuller was greeted at a school by an angelic chorus of young voices—600 students, seated on the floor singing a Christian hymn. The students and their teacher had been waiting with great anticipation for the arrival of Gideons bringing copies of God’s Word.

However, there was no interpreter. So one of the students who could speak English helped translate the message of the hope in Jesus Christ that Fuller wished to share with them all. Each of the students was then given a bilingual New Testament. Many expressed their sincere thanks for this gift from The Gideons International.

The teacher then asked Fuller if he would lead them in a passage of Scripture. So he read this passage from Romans:

“… that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.” ¬—Romans 10:9-12

The students then stood as he led them in prayer. After which, they all joined him in singing, “Amazing Grace.”

“It was heavenly… a moment in my life I will never forget,” Fuller says. “I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit so strongly in that room.”

The Blitz Ends, But The Need To Continue The Work Persists

By the end of the blitz, Scriptures had been placed and distributed in a number of venues including schools, universities, jails, police and fire stations, hotels and hospitals.

The Lord blessed this blitz as the team placed over 141,000 Scriptures by the end of the week—that was 41,000 Scriptures above the goal. And the team members returned to their homes, encouraged and eager to share God’s Word with more people.

“I felt that God wanted our ministry to continue the work which we had begun. We need to continue to send people there to encourage the students and teachers, and to pray for them,” said one team member. “And I learned and felt from the kids’ reception and kindness, that Jesus truly loves all the children of the world.”