Author Archives: troytaft

Love Packages

Do you have an old Bible laying around or some old Christian magazines? Read this before you throw them away.

The founder of this ministry was in the same situation. He had some old Bibles and magazines that had been sitting around for too long. He was about to throw them away and decided to make some calls first. What happened next was nothing short of a miracle. Here’s his story:

What You Can Send

You might be thinking that no one would ever want your old Bible, but the opposite is true. There are thousands of people who are still longing even for a piece of your Bible. Here are the things that they are looking for:

  • New or used Bibles in any translation
  • Reference materials like dictionaries and commentaries
  • Christian Books – non-fiction for both adults and children
  • Devotionals and magazines from Christian publishers
  • Sunday School Materials
  • CDs, DVDs and BlueRays
  • Tracts
  • Puppets, nativity sets and gospel oriented items

A Surprising Way to Give

There are many ways to give when you don’t have money and this is one of the most surprising ones. It appears that here in the United States, we are absolutely saturated with what other nations desperately need. If you can find a good strong box and have enough money to ship your old Bible, there’s someone wishing they could have it right now. If you are ready now, there are a couple of places you can ship it to:

Love Packages
220 Union St
Butler, IL 62015

-or-

Love Packages
60-D South Mountain Dr
Decatur, AL 35603

The website recommends that you send your packages weighing under 35 pounds in a tightly packed box as USPS Media Mail.

English is Surprisingly Well Known

You might be wondering how an English Bible would be in such demand in a country like Africa. As it turns out, there are African countries that teach English in school. In fact, there are huge numbers of people in India that were required to learn English to go to school. These people were given English, but they still lack knowledge about the Gospel. This is an amazing and simple way to help.

A Unique Mission Trip Idea

How about taking your youth group to a mission trip to the Love Packages warehouse? All of those Bibles and all that literature has to be handled and prepared to be shipped out all over the world. What an opportunity to use your time and your strength to give! Learn more at this page at their website.

Of course, if you don’t have a group that can go with you, you can arrange a time to volunteer as an individual as well.

Monetary Donations Still Needed

As you might guess, money is definitely needed to do all of the handling and shipping required to get these books into the right hands. If it is your desire to simply give money, it would be a big blessing and helps to make these shipments possible. It takes about $1 to move 10 Bibles. That’s quite a good deal wouldn’t you say? You can learn more at the donations page of the Love Packages website.

The Main Point

The reason that Love Packages does all of this is to spread the Gospel. If that’s something you want to be a part of giving to Love Packages is a great option.

Visit the Love Packages Website

iVoter Guide

IVoterGuide LogoIf you want to use your gifts to help the country, you might consider giving to iVoter Guide.  You may also want to check them out if you are having trouble figuring out what the candidates stand for.  This is a God-focused non-profit organization that helps to gather information about candidates so that you can make more informed decisions when you vote.

Recommended

There have been many great voter guides over the years.  It may be a good idea to use more than one if you can, but iVoter Guide is growing to become one of the stronger choices as other guides have decided to encourage their readers to check out iVoter Guide.

Good Use of Technology

iVoter Guide uses your zip code to help you out with close races.  They compare the candidates based on how they answer questions.  They also keep track of candidates’ campaign promises to see if they are following through.  Having the data in one place makes it so much easier to make a decision.

You Choose

iVoter Guide is intentionally “Grounded in God” and “Grounded in Research” but they clearly want to provide information to you so that you can make your own choice.  They don’t intend to tell you how to vote, rather they want to make the data obvious so that your choice is well informed.

Go to iVoter Guide

 

Christian Community Credit Union

Christian Community Credit Union LogoIf you find yourself distrusting your financial institution, you should consider doing your banking with an organization that is not only a non-profit, but that also shares your worldview.  That’s what we have as Christians when we choose to do our banking with Christian Community Credit Union.

Well Established

Christian Community Credit Union was established over 60 years ago by a group of Baptist pastors.  Since that time it has greatly expanded and is now one of the country’s largest credit unions.

Member Owned

One of the great things about credit unions is that they are owned by their members.  This means that any profits must be returned to the members.  In the case of Christian Community Credit Union, this means that fees are very low, savings rates are high and loan rates are very reasonable compared to most banks.  The credit union truly exists to meet the needs of its members.  In the case of Christian Community Credit Union, it goes well beyond that.

Good Savings Rates

One of the surprising things about CCCU is their high savings and CD rates.  My investigation shows that they are often well over double the rates at the bank and many other credit unions.  This is a testimony to their frugal use of member resources but I believe that it is fundamentally a testimony to their commitment to put God and their members first.  You can see CCCU’s rates for your self here: Christian Community Credit Union Rates

Becoming a Member

To become a Christian Community Credit Union member, you must either be a part of a member church or organization, or you must be related to someone who is already a member.  You may find that you are qualified in more than way.  Find out the details here: Christian Community Credit Union Membership.

New Member Benefits

As of the time of the writing of this article, CCCU was offering a new member 18 month CD at 4% for $500 up to $2500.  You are probably not going to find anything like that at a bank.  They also offer a $200 bonus when you open a checking account as a new member.

Personal Loans

CCCU is a full service credit union that offers mortgages, car loans and lines of credit at competitive rates.  One of the great things about Christian Community Credit Union is that they hold their own loans and don’t sell them as is so common with banks today.

Giving

When you use Christian Community Credit Union credit cards, you are also giving to missions and ministry projects.  The credit union also offers scholarships to students.

Locations

CCCU is located online at MyCCCU.com.  Their website is very intuitive and easy to use.  This means that the nearest branch is on your computer or cell phone.  Christian Community Credit Union is located in California but they are a part of the CO-OP Shared Branch system.  As a result, CCCU ATM’s are available in every state.  They also share some branch services with many local credit unions.  This means that there are thousands of ATMs across the nation that you can use for free.  You can see if CCCU has ATMs and shared branches in your area by looking at the map on this page: Christian Community Credit Union Locations.

Church Loans

Because they have a decidedly Christian worldview, CCCU understands how churches fund their projects.  They know that it is very common to fund large projects with donations, even with small congregations.  This is something that banks may not understand at all.  CCCU has been providing loans to churches for many years and they have a deep understanding of the needs that churches have.

Small Business

Christian Community Credit Union also provides accounts and services to small business.  The organization has invested in online tools that make it easy for business to do their work from their own location without even going to a branch.  This is done by using modern online tools including phone apps, making it easier to do business banking faster.  Business will also learn that their fees are much lower than popular banking alternatives.

A Great Opportunity

Christian Community Credit Union gives Christians a great opportunity to work with a financial organization that shares their worldview.  This goes beyond your typical financial experience.  It helps you to know that you are working with an organization that shares in your work for God’s kingdom.

Go to: Christian Community Credit Union

 

Ethnos360

Ethnos360 LogoThis organization is probably better known as New Tribes Mission. Since 1942 that’s the name they used.  This missionary organization is special in that they intend to do everything they can to reach tribes of people that are isolated and haven’t heard the Gospel.

This organization teaches in the language and culture of the people.  By better understanding the culture and by learning the language, they are more careful to avoid worldview traps.  They can use some cultural ideas to help share the Gospel, but they must also avoid others.

Ethnos360 has discovered the power of sharing the Gospel to these cultures by starting at Genesis.  Telling the whole biblical story ensures that those who hear the Gospel don’t mix ideas with their old ways.  It’s important for missionaries to avoid helping to create new false religions and by teaching the whole Bible, this is avoided.

According to the Ethnos360 website, 2,500 of the 6,500 people groups on earth still need access to the Gospel.  This organization intends to do everything they can to reach them.

Like many good missionary organizations, Ethnos360 works to establish strong churches.  They don’t merely save people by encouraging them to make a decision.  That’s the example that we see in the book of Acts.

This organization has had good results and have done a very good job of communicating those results over the years using film and video.  Here’s a video about one tribe that was deeply deceived by their culture.  It was keeping them from living in a healthy way.  God’s word saved them.

Ethnos360 also provides a great opportunity to those who wish to help in this effort.  As you might imagine, learning a new culture and language in order to share the Gospel is no small task, yet, God has used this organization to do just that.

As a result of work that we do like this, people know the truth.  Here’s the truth from one of the ones that was taught by Ethnos360 missionaries:

To help Ethnos360 in their efforts, please visit:

Ethnos360

 

Blue Letter Bible

Blue Letter Bible LogoBlue Letter Bible is a ministry that provides powerful Bible study software online for free.  What used to cost pastors a fortune is now accessible to the common man by simply visiting this site.  If you are interested in supporting pastors and teachers in a powerful way across the world, you might want to look into supporting Blue Letter Bible.  It’s a tool that’s easy enough for all of us to use.

The Blue Letter Bible website provides a tool to search the entire Bible for a word, phrase or reference.  You can use this tool to simply read the text, but where it really shines is when you decide to study it.

Once you find the text you are looking for, you can easily switch between Bible versions.  There are 14 English versions to choose from, but for the serious student, it also provides access to the original Greek and Hebrew versions.

If you decide to do word studies, a single click exposes all of the Strong’s numbers right there on the screen.  Should you dare to click on one of those numbers, you automatically look up the word in the lexicon.  It doesn’t stop there.  Unlike a book, you can view the vines dictionary entry for the word, the Strong’s definition and the Thayer’s Greek Lexicon entry.   To top it all off, you can actually listen to the word’s pronunciation!

The site currently provides access to 10 Bible dictionaries and provides a searching tool for those as well.

When you are looking at a specific verse of the Bible, the Blue Letter Bible, provides a “Tools” button to the left of each verse.  When you click on that button it immediately shows you the original language,  translated right in front of your eyes, in the interlinear tab.  The “Bibles” tab shows you all 10 versions of that verse one after another.  The “cross-refs” tab give you a single click method of looking that verse up automatically in the “Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.”  The “Commentaries” tab, indexes that verse to where it was mentioned in the commentaries.

One of my favorite tools is on the commentaries tab.  On this tab you will find the audio commentaries in both English and Spanish!  If you click these links, you can stream or download the audio immediately.

There are currently 43 written commentaries available!  This includes classics like:

  • John Calvin
  • Jonathan Edwards
  • Matthew Henry
  • Martin Luther
  • Charles Haddon Spurgeon

More modern commentaries are also provided, such as:

  • David Hocking
  • Thomas Ice
  • J Vernon McGee
  • Chuck Smith

Blue Letter Bible doesn’t just give you a tool and leave you to yourself.  They also provide video training right there on the website.  There are 36 short videos that show you how to use the features.

The site also provides maps, devotionals, bible reading programs and even an online theological school called the BLB Institute.  I hope to write about that in a separate article.

One of the most exciting things about Blue Letter Bible is their reach.  This tool is supporting people in over 200 countries.  You can look at who is using Blue Letter Bible right now on this map.  It is likely that many of these people would not be able to afford these resources if they weren’t being made available by donations.

If you want to have an impact in the lives of pastors, teachers and anyone else who wishes to study the Bible.  I highly recommend investing in this ministry.  Visit:

Blue Letter Bible

 

Eight Days of Hope

Eight Days of Hope LogoEight Days of Hope is a ministry that responds to natural disasters by organizing volunteers to be “the hands and feet of Jesus” to those in need.  They are an evangelistic ministry that encourages those with skills as well as those without skills to volunteer to rebuild homes and churches after a natural disaster.

This organization provides free food and lodging for volunteers so that they can respond to natural disasters in the United States and help people rebuild their lives.  They also provide building materials.  When you give to Eight Days of Hope, you can give for specific items such as a new roof, re-wiring or drywall installation.

Don’t forget that you don’t need to give money.  If you have any kind of skill, or just wish to use your vacation in order to help, you can sign up for their next project.

To give, visit:

Eight Days of Hope

 

Your Church

praying in churchOne of the very best places that any of us can give is our own local church.  There are several good reasons to start your giving this way.  Your church directly supports you.  It is also possible to see where your gifts are going.  You can give more than just money to your church and these gifts are part of our heavenly bank account too.

The local church participates in almost every kind of charitable function including:

  • Sharing the gospel
  • Feeding the poor
  • Apologetics
  • Education

And often many others as well.  Our church leaders are fed and clothed by our gifts and that is a big blessing to God who calls them.

When you search for other places to give, remember that gifts to your church count too.

First Liberty

First Liberty LogoFirst Liberty is a legal organization that works to defend our freedom of religion.  This is the largest legal organization dedicated exclusively to this cause.  Perhaps you have heard of the bakers in Oregon who were fined 135,000 for refusing to bake a cake, or the Air Force Veteran who was dragged out of a retirement ceremony for mentioning God.  This organization specializes in cases that defend our constitutional and natural right to religious liberty.

This organization provides these legal services to people of faith without cost to them.  They have a small staff of their own, and have assembled a group of experienced and talented attorneys who have a deep desire to work on religious freedom cases pro bono.

First Liberty has also been highly successful.  At the time of this writing, they have won over 90% of their cases, and have argued cases at every judicial level including the United States Supreme Court.

First liberty takes on cases for religious organizations, members of the military, students, teachers and other cases where religious liberty is threatened in public.

The First Liberty website is also valuable resource.  They have a list of cases that you can review.  They also have resources to help organizations be more legally prepared to defend themselves.  They offer several “Kits” in PDF form that give free legal guidance to the U.S. Military, Churches, Ministries, Students,Teachers, and Christian Schools.   These kits help them to prepare appropriate legal language before an they are challenged.  These kits can be found here.

If you are interested in supporting them, please visit:

First Liberty

 

Biblical Science Institute

Biblical Science Institute LogoOur information crazed world continues to bombard us with intellectual arguments against God.  It has become increasingly important to address the questions raised by those who are honestly seeking answers.  Many simply assume that believing in the Bible is unscientific.  Well, the name of this apologetics organization implies that the Bible and science go quite well together.

Dr. Lisle has been instrumental in teaching Christians about how science and the Bible really do go well together.  In fact, he argues that science depends upon what God says.

Biblical Science Institute produces materials and provides lectures that help Christians to stay strong in their own beliefs and find the truth about what science actually tells us.  Dr. Lisle is a Ph.D. Astrophysicist himself, and you can expect his organization to provide rational arguments that address today’s issues.

Dr. Lisle also help’s Christians to think logically and become better equipped to defend Christianity, even when talking to someone more educated than themselves.

The ministry also provides a place for members to ask questions and find answers on it’s online forums.

You can give to this apologetics ministry by visiting:

Biblical Science Institute

 

 

Samaritan’s Purse

Samaritans Purse LogoIf you are looking to support relief operations around the world, Samaritan’s Purse is an excellent option.  Relief operations are just one of the kinds of things that this organization does.  Many relief organizations don’t share the gospel.  Like other organizations we highlight, Samaritan’s Purse meets physical needs in order have the opportunity to share the gospel.  This organization is represented by Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham and they are committed to keep the message of Jesus a primary focus in their efforts to help those in need.

Samaritan’s Purse has built a top notch operation that serves those with all kinds of needs, all around the world.  They are also the power behind Operation Christmas Child.  That’s the group that organizes volunteers and resources to pack and send thousands of shoe box gifts around the world every year for Christmas.

Samaritans Purse Boy with ChickenThis article is too small to describe all of the things that this single organization does.  If you join their operation, you will receive top-notch communication about what they are doing all over the world.  Here’s a list of some of their project categories:

  • Animals and Agriculture
  • Construction
  • Country Projects
  • Disaster Response
  • Education
  • Feeding
  • Medical
  • Operation Christmas Child
  • Operation Heal Our Patriots
  • The Greatest Journey
  • Water
  • Women and Children

 

Samaritan’s Purse not only puts feet on the ground after a natural disaster, they help the poor by making a way for us to help provide for their physical needs.  They publish a catalog of items that you can buy to help those in need.

God has used this organization to inspire people to give too.  Two young bakers took it upon themselves to raise money to repair an entire hospital.  Yes you heard that right.  Here’s their story:

 

God continues to use Samaritan’s Purse to inspire us to give as well.

If you are interested in giving, visit them here:

Samaritan’s Purse