Sow 1 Billion, a plan to print and distribute 1 billion special publications around the world, is steadily gaining momentum, reports Pastor Harold Baptiste, chairman of the Sow 1 Billion Taskforce.
Sow 1 Billion, a plan to print and distribute 1 billion special publications around the world, is steadily gaining momentum, reports Pastor Harold Baptiste, chairman of the Sow 1 Billion Taskforce.
The scope of this initiative is unprecedented, says Baptiste. The plan, which organizers say has the potential to reach two-thirds of the world’s population, was approved by world church leaders in October.
Planning in each of the church’s 13 divisions, or regions, is already underway, and enthusiasm for the initiative so far has been strong, reports Baptiste. He says one of the key reasons for the appeal of Sow 1 Billion lies in its simplicity. Laypeople need no special training or skills to be involved—they just need to make a commitment to pass out brochures to friends, neighbors, and people they meet during the course of everyday life.
Each publication will include space to list the postal or web addresses where individuals can request Bible correspondence courses. Adventist Laymen-Services and Industries is also heading up an effort to establish a Web site that will offer Bible studies in many different languages. A crucial part of the project will be strengthening the church’s Bible Correspondence School network—if the response rate to Sow 1 Billion is just half a percent, there will be some 5 million people requesting Bible studies.
“This is an effort that goes to the heart of the mission that we have been given as a church,” says Baptiste. “Sow 1 Billion will rely on partnership and cooperation between an extraordinary range of individuals and organizations around the world. It will also rely on the participation of individual church members—men, women, and children—who have caught a vision for how this initiative can touch millions of people with a message of God’s saving love.”
Baptiste, who is also a general vice president of the world church, made his comments following the first meeting of a Sow 1 Billion working group, which met Nov. 27 at the world church headquarters. The first meeting of the full taskforce will be Feb. 6, 2003.
