Anchor for Christmas

A few days ago we received a letter from a prisoner named Angela. She wrote us with the good news that she came to Christ through reading An Anchor for the Soul. She even gave the date: October 3, 2012. What stood out was the stark honesty of her desperate situation:

 I was on the edge of just killing myself. 

At just the right moment a friend in prison with her gave her a copy of the book, which told her about the Good News of Jesus. Please understand. The book didn’t win her to Christ. The Holy Spirit drew her to Jesus, but the Spirit used this little “gospel book” to reveal the truth to her. 

Last night the following Tweet showed up on my Twitter feed:

Mark Lopez is a prison chaplain in Arizona who wrote us in late November with this request:

We are a facility with a capacity of 3060 male inmates, throughout the years we continue to seek donations from various religious outlets for our inmates and their respective faiths. We have a thriving Christian population of approximately 369 along with a Spanish population of 283.

This Christmas it would be a blessing if we could give An Anchor for the Soul to each of them. Additionally we have 236 inmates in segregation that we would love to gift this book to as well.

Lastly, as Chaplain not only for the inmates but to staff as well. We have seen and increase in loss of loved ones and hard times and this book may be a means in which to offer hope to our 469 dedicated employees.

That request went to our Anchor Book Depot in Pontiac, IL. several days later Brian Bill happened to be in the UPS store when he snapped this picture of boxes of Anchors ready for shipment:

We ended up sending 4000 Anchors to the prison in Arizona. The 3000 books that were distributed today by Chaplain Mark Lopez came from that shipment. 

In the past five weeks we have shipped 6300 Anchors to the following ministries:

Denver Women’s Correctional Facility
Compassion Pregnancy
Deerfield Men’s and Women’s Work Center
ECS Ministries
SCI-Graterford
La Palma Correctional
Maleng Regional Justice Center
Forgotten Man Ministries

As you can tell from Angela’s note, this little book saves lives phyically and spiritually. 

I mention this so that you will pray for the ministry of An Anchor for the Soul. We make the books available free of charge, and we pay the shipping. But when I say “we,” I really mean you and me and all of us together. There is no “we” apart from your generosity. 

Since we ask for your financial help from time to time, it is only right that we share the life saving results of this ministry. It is good to remember at Christmas that Jesus is light and life to this dark, dying world.

Thank you for helping us shine the light and spread the life-giving Good News of Jesus.