SID Dedicates the Missionary Book of the Year


On Sunday May 17, 2008, the Southern Africa Indian Ocean Division held a special dedication service for the Missionary Book of the Year: The Ten Commandments. The service was conducted by GC Vice-President Ted Wilson. In his address Elder Wilson cited Psalm 68:11 as a media ministry text: “The Lord announced the word and great was the company of those who proclaimed it”. There are whole classes of people, he reminded us, who will only be reached through literature. Holding up a copy of the Ten Commandments, he declared “these books announce the second coming and teach people to prepare for His coming.”

At the end of the presentation SID Publishing Ministries Director Super Moesi shared the distribution plans for the books. During his appeal, he reiterated that this type of ministry is one in which 100% of our church members can participate. Then all the presidents and division officers were invited to kneel around the alter of books as Elder Wilson prayed for a blessing upon these books, that these specific books would touch and change lives for the kingdom of God.

Remarkably, by the end of the day all 700 copies of the Ten Commandments had been sold. The committee members planned to leave one copy in their hotel room and to take another copy to share with someone they would meet during their trip home.

Sister Antoinette du Pont, a committee member from Swaziland who works in the hotel industry, purchased 200 copies. She will place one copy in each hotel room in Swaziland, and pledged to buy 100 copies every month to replace the copies that travelers remove.

Sister Roselyn Tsoka, from Zimbabwe, told Pastor Moesi that her church was excited by the idea of the Missionary Book of the Year project. At one Sabbath afternoon program the literature evangelists who were visiting her church and divided the audience into ten groups. They assigned each group to read a chapter in the Ten Commandments. After reading the chapter, each group was to return to the auditorium. The reports were captivating. Sister Tsoka described the book as a “very easy read which goes straight to God’s instructions: the ten commandments.” “This is a book we can use to revive a reading culture,” she said.

The LEs urged the church members to remember the slogan, “999 Mark of Service: 9 books to 9 people in 9 days”. Church members were encouraged to buy 10 copies, 1 to keep, and 9 to distribute to 9 families. One recipient later told Sister Tsoka that the book “cuts right through to the important matters of life; it is brief and to the point.”

One SID worker told of an experience with a bank teller. He shared a copy of the book with the bank teller. The next time he was in the bank the teller mentioned how touching the book was—so much so that he shared his copy with another colleague. The SID worker immediately asked for more copies of the book when he returned to the office.

It is true, “… 1000 will soon be converted in one day, most of whom will trace their first convictions to the reading of our publications”.

M. Super Moesi
Publishing Ministries Director
Southern Africa Indian
Ocean Division


 

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