The Gideons of South Carolina, who are a part of the oldest Christian business and professional men’s association in the country and are best known for their distribution of Bibles, will be honored guests at the South Carolina Baptist Pastor’s Conference when it meets Nov. 12 at Calvary Baptist Church in Florence.
Danny Burnley, pastor of West Gantt First Baptist Church, Greenville, and president of the Pastor’s Conference, said the annual meeting provides “an opportunity to honor the Gideons as they spread the word of God throughout the world and to challenge the pastors as we preach the word of God throughout the world.”
Burnley pointed out that one of the featured speakers at the conference, Elliott Osowitt, pastor of Faith Fellowship and Harvest Ministries in West Jefferson, N.C., formerly of the Jewish faith, became a Christian due to the influence of a Gideon Bible.
“I was introduced to Elliott by Randall Jones (retired pastor of Langston Baptist Church, Conway),” Burnley recalled, “and we began to talk about how good it would be to make the Gideons aware that Elliott would be preaching at the conference.”
Burnley said that Osowitt put him in touch with Jon Schweigert of Simpsonville, Gideons president for South Carolina. “Since then,” said Burnley, “Jon and I have met for prayer and to discuss the conference. He was excited to learn that the Gideons of South Carolina would be our special guests. Every year, the Gideons honor our pastors with a delicious meal, and now we have an opportunity to bless them. As First Corinthians 3:9 tells us, ‘we are laborers together with God.’ “
Calling the upcoming Pastor’s Conference “challenging, motivating and rewarding,” Burnley said that the pastors and Gideons attending the meeting “can surely encourage one another in the Lord.”
Gideons International was founded in 1899 as “an extended missionary arm of the church.” It has more than 250,000 members in more than 180 countries. The primary function of Gideons International is placing and distributing Bibles and New Testaments “in the human traffic lanes and streams of national life.” As laymen, they view their role as “missionaries” representing their local churches in “going to the four corners of the world to win others for the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Each year, the Gideons place and distribute more than 63 million scriptures worldwide, which works out to 1 million copies placed every six days, or 120 each minute.
The Bible, they declare, is “the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword, and the Christian’s charter.” They believe the Bible should “fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet.” The Bible, they recommend, should be read “slowly, frequently, and prayerfully” as a “mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure.”
Gideons International is a non-profit organization supported by pastors and churches “who realize that presenting people with the gospel message is an indispensable element in winning people to Christ.