This story is shared by Nancy Keel of Bible TransMission.
My daughter Marguerite, son-in-law Eric and I were able to give away about 3,000 audio Bibles and Jesus Films in 250 languages for South and Central America at the Coicom Convention at a 3-day event in Cali, Colombia, South America.
We had a booth and saw about 2,000 attendees who were delighted to have free audio Bibles or Jesus Films downloaded to their mobiles. We kept 2 Spanish translators and 2 download assistants (Marguerite and Eric) continually busy. We had pre-loaded some languages to give away, and we also took individual language requests. As many as 25 “orders” were waiting at any given time to be filled. We used a small paper form where someone would write a request(s), leave his micro SD card, flash drive, etc., in a small clear box and would come back later to pick it up.
Additionally, Global Recording Networks let us use some space on their BibleBox, a WiFi hotspot, to put a few audio Bibles and Jesus Films for WiFi downloading. We had no advertisement for this service, yet attendees passing near our booth when using their mobiles noticed our hotspot and chose to download something. We averaged about 2 downloads an hour. We don’t know who they were, and they did not know that we were the ones providing the downloads.
What joy to see the profound gratitude when someone found a very remote language that their village spoke! What joy to see the profound gratitude of large ministries when they learned that audio Bibles in many languages were freely available for their countries. This kind of mass dissemination to many people was very successful.
One downloader can download about 10 requests an hour using a computer and the USB method of transfer. Pre-loading memory cards and giving them away to selected ministries was also an important part of the outreach. Those downloads were done in advance since there was not enough time to download large files while we were there.
If anyone is planning to visit a place where there will be many people from many nations, I highly recommend the 3-way method to give away as much material as quickly as possible.
- Pre-load large libraries for a region or a continent to be given away to many ministries.
- Have download assistants, paper forms and small clear boxes or plastic zip-top baggies ready to take special language requests.
- Use a hotspot device loaded with the most popular languages and advertise its presence with a sign.