When Sean Keiper, Upper School Principal at Palmetto Christian Academy (PCA), attended East Cooper’s Global Impact Conference last fall, he attended one of the breakout sessions led by Joe Fleming. Joe shared about the work happening in Africa and mentioned a great need for Bibles. As one of East Cooper’s global partners, Joe serves with Training2Send, an organization that exists to provide reproducible training that teaches the foundational, biblical doctrines necessary to make disciples. The goal of Training2Send is to produce individuals, who will go and disciple others, while continuing to work to multiply the Kingdom. There are more than 5,000 new believers being discipled through this organization, but many of those new believers do not have access to a Bible. Many are not financially able to purchase a Bible or do not have access to one because of where they live. For example, while in an African country, Joe found 12 available Bibles when he was in need of thousands. To fill that gap, he looked to churches in the United States to get Bibles over to brothers and sisters across the world.

After the conference, Sean discussed this need with PCA parent and East Cooper member Theresa Watson, who was also in Joe’s session. They reached out to Joe and asked how they could be a part of this work in Africa. As a result, PCA launched a Bible Drive to collect new and used copies of the Scriptures. Students were given the opportunity to help get God’s Word into the hands of new believers who do not currently have access to Bibles. “This was a great opportunity to get our student body and community involved in the global mission of the gospel,” Sean shared. “As students are engaged in the classroom and our local community often, it is key to simultaneously develop ways for them to see beyond their current context and into new areas for them to give and serve where God is at work.” A goal to collect 750 Bibles, approximately one Bible from each student in Grades K-12, was set. The Bible Drive launched in late January and by February 4, PCA students and families had collected 836 Bibles, exceeding their goal. In addition, East Cooper Baptist collected 265 for a total of 1084 Bibles which will be sent to English speaking countries in Africa. If you are interested in supporting a project like this one, consider giving to the Global Impact Fund that provides funds and resources to take the gospel to unreached people around the world.