One of you asked a great question earlier this week: What Bibles do you use to train pastors, and how much do they cost?
Thanks for asking! The Thompson Chain Reference Bible (in French) cost us just under $40 each, then close to $10 more for shipping. We buy them from a publisher in France directly or from a Christian bookstore in Montreal, Quebec. Then we have them shipped to Missionary Flights in Florida, who in turn flies them to Cap Haitien. Finally, we have them carried overland to our conference location. It’s a three-step shipping process – the most efficient we have landed on so far – to get them from our supplier to the training location!
The Thompson Chain Reference Bible in French is our main training tool for church leaders in Haiti. We use around 100 per pastors conference depending on the mix of first-time church leaders and “alumni” (who earned a Thompson Bible at a previous PPI training).
We also provide Creole Bibles because they’re so needed i
n the Haitian churches. We get them from an American Bible Soclety affiliate in Port-au-Prince at around $10 each depending on the currency exchange rate. We then pay a small shipping fee to have them sent to our conference location. You can give to provide Bibles for pastors HERE.
We’re planning a “Partnership of Pastors Open House” probably in late March. Members of our Cap Haitien mission team will talk about this pastors conference. Also, as part of that evening, I’m going to offer an introduction to using the Thompson Bible (we’ll have English copies!). I think many of you would really enjoy and benefit from using the Thompson Bible. We’ll keep you posted on the date and location as we get final details ironed out.
Please pray for our pastors training this week. Our team is working hard on preparing conference materials as I write.
From Cap Haitien,
Pastor Ken MacGillivray
Thank you Pastor Ken
You’re very welcome, Mary! Thank you for your prayers and support. We’re in Cap Haitien, Haiti now getting ready for a pastors training this coming week. PKen
Ken, Do you want the additional Creole bibles to be handed out at your conference?
Yes. We give two Creole Bibles to every church leader completing our training. This is a big deal in Haiti! And we give additional Creole Bibles to the 10 Haitian members of our coordination team as a thank-you.
We were at a church today that had one very worn Creole Bible on the pulpit and just 2-3 other Bibles in a congregation of 50-60 people. I saw one man with a Creole New Testament, and the pastor spoke from Psalm 1.
That’s the need and that’s why we’re committed to getting Creole Bibles into the hands of Haitian church leaders!
Ken, Can you get bibles in a 3 day turn-a-around from Port of Prince, while you are there to hand out? I will make a commitment to you, if you can get them that quick, during this visit.
Thanks for your generosity, Bob! The Haitian Bible Society is not able to turn around a Bible order that quickly. They need 3-4 weeks to prepare and ship them to our conference location.
We have another pastors training coming on July 11-18 in Ouanaminthe. We need 300 Creole Bibles for that conference. Would you consider providing Creole Bibles for the Ouanaminthe conference?
Ken, We will discuss that when you return.
Sounds good. Thank you. Our first day of training went well today!
Ken