BUTLER, Ill.\u2014Love Packages is a small ministry here in a town of 200 people, but a Missouri Woman\u2019s Missionary Union (MWMU) group helps them reach the world for Jesus.
\nFifteen MWMU members and guests of the Mt. Salem\/Wyaconda Southern Baptist Association made their sixth trip to Butler March 19 to sort and repack Bibles, Sunday School material, and Christian literature for spiritually needy people.<\/p>\n
Love Packages (LP), a non-denominational para-church ministry, began in 1975. Director Steve Schmidt felt God say, \u201cYou are wasting that\u201d \u00ad\u00ad\u2013 a pile of discarded Decision magazines. He \u201cargued with God for three months,\u201d then contacted five overseas friends in four countries, asking if they could use English, Christian literature.<\/p>\n
The responses were: \u2018We\u2019ll take as much as we can get, as soon as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nowhere else in the world like this place (America),\u201d Schmidt said. \u201cWe have so much and take it for granted. There are whole nations without Sunday School literature to teach people. We never get enough Bibles or literature.\u201d<\/p>\n
He contacted churches. People brought items to his house.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t realize everyone had a lot of stuff,\u201d Schmidt said.<\/p>\n
Schmidt and his wife, Jeanie, stored these in their basement, mailing 60 11-pound boxes the first year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought we were doing something great for the Lord \u2013 and we were,\u201d Schmidt said. Some of the original material is still in use.<\/p>\n
Who knew God\u2019s movement? Gradually they regularly sent tons of materials overseas. Now, weekly they send 20 tons of discarded Christian literature for re-use.<\/p>\n
Love Packages \u2013 now in a warehouse and a dorm for overnight volunteers \u2013 doesn\u2019t put its name on outgoing shipments. Testimonies sent by third-party distributors to Illinois confirm the Love Packages mission: \u201cKeeping People out of Hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
Employee Jason Jenkins told of two women from India, kept from suicide by material routed through LP. Both became Christians and led others to Jesus.<\/p>\n
Employee Vern Everett told the Northeast Missouri contingent, a Filipino pastor of seven churches had no Bible, only 1943 Sunday School curriculum.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of pastors all over the world don\u2019t have Bibles,\u201d Schmidt said, his eyes filling with tears. \u201cA pastor doing well overseas may make $15 a month to live on. Bibles cost twice what they do in the United States, and some pastors can\u2019t ever afford to buy one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many congregations also lack Bibles.<\/p>\n
Everett said a shipment of Bible School materials to Love Packages took up space. Schmidt told his team to \u201cget it all out of here.\u201d The Filipino recipient called it \u201cgold on paper\u201d and asked, \u201cHow did you know we had 187 churches? You sent 187 Bible School packs.\u201d<\/p>\n
As God blesses the literature redistribution ministry, there are no accidents. Two French books, mistaken in packing for Spanish, unknowingly met a specific Honduras prayer request. If a package spills before shipping, inadvertently packed cult materials spill out. A trash pile blowing may show a missed Bible.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod protects his Word,\u201d Everett said.<\/p>\n
With only three employees, LP needs volunteers to sort the seven tons of weekly boxes from all 50 states, Canada, and other places arriving by mail or commercial shippers. This doesn\u2019t count incoming boxes like the MWMU collection, or delivery from a closed Ohio bookstore.<\/p>\n
Volunteers (454 so far this year) sort and repack similar materials. Schmidt orders helpers to pack boxes to look like they are \u201c91\/2 months pregnant.\u201d Outgoing boxes are color-coded based on their contents.<\/p>\n
Christian publishing houses, including LifeWay, regularly send materials.
\nBefore shipments leave LP, hands are laid on them in prayer.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are praying for what you handle,\u201d he said. \u201cYou guys are part of the answer.
\nGod gets the right part to the right person to literally save their soul. We get it freely. We send it freely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is there enough money to ship the loads?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always have enough, and we never have enough,\u201d Schmidt said. \u201cThis has been a faith ministry since the beginning. \u201cMany, many times, we\u2019ve shipped a container and not had the money. It always comes in.\u201d<\/p>\n
What keeps him going?<\/p>\n
\u201cJesus Christ saved me,\u201d Schmidt said. \u201cI owe him my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
An illiterate India couple got the Word of God in a magazine through Love Packages. Although they couldn\u2019t read it, after Jesus was explained to them, they nailed the magazine to their front door, telling others the little they knew about Jesus. The couple told a military captain, demanding to know about the magazine, about the Word of God. He read the magazine, got saved, and witnessed to thousands of people before he was killed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere will your packages end up? Schmidt asked the Missouri group. \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BUTLER, Ill.\u2014Love Packages is a small ministry here in a town of 200 people, but a Missouri Woman\u2019s Missionary Union (MWMU) group helps them reach the world for Jesus. Fifteen MWMU members and guests of the Mt. Salem\/Wyaconda Southern Baptist Association made their sixth trip to Butler March 19 to sort and repack Bibles, Sunday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_selected_social_profile":[]},"categories":[8,10,48,16,15,17],"tags":[109],"yoast_head":"\n