News
The current Update newsletter has more news and is published quarterly with the Free Grace Broadcaster.
Prison Ministry Highlight, 12/01/12
In December, we are highlighting the Prison Ministry. The prison population in the USA now exceeds 1 out of every 135 people! Because there are so many false teachers active in the prisons, and because chaplains are so very busy, the literature and courses from Chapel Library are often the only biblically sound discipleship materials available to an inmate. The Chapel Prison Ministry has grown from one prison in Texas in 1984, to more than 4,000 facilities today in all 50 states and Canada. It consists of five aspects. First, we mail more than 28,000 Inmate Order Forms to individual inmates and Chaplains each year. An inmate can use the form to order up to ten free Chapel Library titles from us each month. Second, using the same form, an inmate can purchase from us any of 25 “study aids.” These are the only titles we send out (only to inmates and chaplains) that we do not print ourselves; they include Hebrew and Greek lexicons, Bible handbooks, Strong’s Concordance, the Matthew Henry Study Bible, and many more. Because we are an official “bookstore,” we can buy from the publishers at a 40-50% discount, and we resell these to the inmates at our cost. Third, we always encourage the inmates to study the Bible via the Bible Institute courses, which we also send at no charge. Fourth, we send a free KJV Bible to any inmate who requests. Fifth, we send boxfuls of literature to chaplains for their distribution. In total and by God’s grace, each month on the average we are sending more than 450 packages of free literature to the inmates, 100 free Bibles, $1,300 worth of study aids, and, in addition, $7,000 worth of free literature to the Chaplains for their distribution. We thank you for your support towards the Lord's work in 2012.
Mt. Zion Bible Institute, 11/01/12
In November, we are highlighting the ministry of Mt. Zion Bible Institute. As you know, training and discipleship are among the most important functions in Christian ministry. MZBI reaches over many barriers to provide quality discipleship to churches worldwide and to prison inmates without charge in all 50 states and Canada. There are now 35 courses available, mostly using proven texts from prior centuries as reading material, including Spurgeon’s All of Grace, J.C. Ryle’s Holiness, Horatius Bonar’s Words to Winners of Souls, and A.W. Pink’s Attributes of God. There are also many courses that make up the curriculum of most Bible schools, including Church History, New Testament Survey, and Bible Study Methods. In addition, two ministries have allowed us to freely distribute courses that otherwise carry normal charges, to inmates and overseas: Fundamentals of the Faith from Grace Community Church, and At the Altar of Sexual Idolatry from Pure Life Ministries. Currently, the courses are going into more than 4,000 prisons in North America. More than 100 volunteer graders in 32 states review the written correspondence lessons, which the students have mailed back to MZBI. In the last five years, MZBI has sent out 27,700, 28,200, 36,000, 23,200, and 26,300 courses, of which about 2/3 go into North American prisons and about 1/3 go overseas. The courses are also available for free download worldwide at www.chapellibrary.com. Thank you for your support of all the literature, audio, prison, internet, and MZBI ministries.
eBooks for Download, 10/01/12
We are pleased to make available the following titles in eBook formats for free download at our website. These are also listed in the Kindle Store, and in process of being listed in the Apple, Nook, and Android Stores. By most accounts, eBooks are the way of the future, so we are working to convert our entire library to these electronic formats (which will take several years). Pink: First John 1:1-3:1, The Attributes of God - with Study Questions, Studies in the Scriptures - Annual Volume 1949. Spurgeon: Advice for Seekers, Around the Wicket Gate, The Bible (three messages), God’s Providence, The Heart of the Gospel, Jesus - the Substitute for His People, The Prayer of Jabez, Psalm 139 (from The Treasury of David), Revival (three sermons), True Prayer - True Power!, Yet There Is Room, Your Sanctification (three sermons), The Spurgeon Anthology (includes all the preceding titles, 400+ pages), Spurgeon Gems (highlights from many of his works). Ryle: A Call to Prayer - with Study Guide. Free Grace Broadcasters: Comfort in Affliction (#217), Modest Apparel (#216), Sanctification (#215), Self-Denial (#218). Lukesh: Greasy the Robber: A Story of Gospel Power. Paul Washer: Ten Indictments Against the Modern Church. H.Bonar: Treasures of Bonar (highlights from many of his works). We are grateful for your support in the work of the ministry.
New MP3 Audio Series, 05/01/12
In May we are blessed to make available on our website two significant audio series in MP3: “Here We Stand” and “Pastoral Theology,” both by Al Martin. Here We Stand is 125 sermons encompassing the core doctrines of the faith, delivered at Trinity Baptist Church in New Jersey during his forty year ministry there. Pastoral Theology is more than 70 messages delivered to the Trinity Ministerial Academy for training pastors in all aspects of practical ministry. We believe both are significant contributions for the teaching and training of church leaders worldwide; for the HWS series it is the first time available on MP3 anywhere (we have sent out thousands of these messages via cassette tape over the last twenty years). Thank you for your gracious gift to the ministries in making this outreach possible.
Online Courses Begin, 06/01/11
Ekklesia Theological Seminary online courses begin this month with the first course, “The Life and Teaching of Christ,” a New Testament Survey course, available online. The second course, “Christian Preaching,” will be available soon, with others following in the near future. At present six students from five states are expected to begin taking courses, with more students beginning throughout the month. Also, some international students are expected to begin taking courses this month. Ekklesia Theological Seminary (www.ekklesiaseminary.org) is offering distance education without charge for pastors overseas and prison inmates in North America, as well as others from North American congregations. Ekklesia offers the Master of Divinity and Master of Arts degrees. Ekklesia is confessional (London 1689), conservative, and church-based. Volunteer mentors team with students in order to provide one-on-one discipleship. For more info, contact Jonny White at Ekklesia@mountzion.org, or call 850-438-6666. Thank you for your support that allows the worldwide ministries here to continue to proclaim the Gospel and build up the Body of Christ.
Sound Literature for Malawi, 05/01/11
Malawi is a southeast African country of 14 million people, first explored by David Livingston in the 1800s. A British colony until 1964, English is the common language today for most Malawians. The Maxson family has served there as missionaries since 2004, planting two reformed churches in Zomba and Blantyre, and beginning a growing literature ministry. They need used conservative, reformed, Christian books to stock the bookstore and literature tables at the markets. They distribute materials to many students and pastors at nominal prices (if free in that culture, it normally is either misused or not valued). In the new Update Newsletter, we are asking all FGB readers to consider clearing out the good, conservative Christian books from their bookshelves and sending them to us, marked “for Malawi.” We will ship them to Malawi later in 2011, D.V. And, thank you for your gracious support of the ministries here this month.
Overseas Outreach, 04/01/11
Stephen Nowak, a pastor in England, is working with one hundred and fifty churches in Tanzania, teaching them the Doctrines of Grace. These churches were planted by Moravians, some years ago. He has made two trips to Tanzania, with a third planned for June, D.V. Many of the pastors read English and we will provide them with a CD that contains a couple hundred selected titles of our material. We will also send several boxes of printed materials. Thank you for your support of the ministries that allows for the work in Tanzania, as well as many other parts of the world, to continue.
Website Shopping Cart, 03/01/11
Our new website expands this month to include a shopping cart for the Literature Catalog (www.chapellibrary.org/literature/title-catalog.php). With this new facility, anyone in the USA or Canada can request up to ten titles without charge once per month online. We receive these requests via email and enter them into our normal order processing system, where they are mailed by library rate each Friday, D.V. We trust this will be used of the Lord to extend the ministry’s good literature from the excellent teachers of prior centuries to many new households. And, thank you for your support of the Lord’s work here this month.
Ekklesia Theological Seminary, 02/01/11
After much prayer, Ekklesia Theological Seminary has begun operations. Its aim is free distance education for pastors overseas and prison inmates in North America, as well as others from North American congregations. It offers the Master of Divinity and Master of Arts degrees. We are beginning with two classes initially: “Christian Preaching” and “Life and Teachings of Jesus.” We’ll add other courses this spring and throughout the year, D.V. Ekklesia is confessional (London 1689), conservative, church-based, worldwide, free of charge, and on-line or by mail. Volunteer mentors (mostly from the 4,000 pastors who receive the FGB in North America) team with students (mostly from those who receive CL literature overseas) in order to provide one-on-one discipleship. For more info, contact Jonny White at Ekklesia@mountzion.org, or call 850-438-6666. Thank you for your donation to the ministries this month.
2010 -- A Year to Remember, 01/01/11
2010 has been a blessed year in which our Lord opened many new doors for wide outreach. We are privileged to have sent regularly more material internationally than ever before. The year also saw 3,000 copies distributed of our first hardback book, a newly redesigned and expanded website, and new international distributors in Hong Kong, Nepal, and Papua New Guinea. We have been blessed to receive and distribute special offerings for books overseas: $3043 for Zambian-language Bibles, and $2531 for theology books in Indonesian for use at SETIA Bible College. Thank you to all who gave toward these ministries, and thank you for your timely gift as we begin what we trust will be a fruitful 2011.
Many New Titles, 12/01/10
In addition to the two new titles in this quarter’s free offer (God’s Gospel of Grace and What Does It Mean to Preach Christ?), we have recently printed several other important new titles: Church Discipline by John Owen (1616-1683), Parents’ Groans over Their Ungodly Children by Edward Lawrence (1623-1695), English Bible Translations: By What Standard? by William Einwechter, and in Spanish Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther (which was printed in English last year). These will be included in free quarterly offers during 2011, D.V. If you would like to have any of them now, please let us know. Also, please know our deepest appreciation for your support this month and this year.
God's Gospel of Grace Hardback, 11/01/10
In November we are so grateful to release the first hardback book ever printed by Chapel Library. This is a unique collection of 45 articles by 23 faithful, respected teachers from past centuries on the doctrine of salvation, bound in a quality 282 page book. These authors declare the Biblical faith of our fathers with one voice—a powerful refutation of the divergent “truth” confronting the church in the modern day. Each of the articles is from the pages of the Free Grace Broadcaster. They speak powerfully to the present day with grace-exalting, Christ-centered instruction. The book is included in the November FGB mailing’s Free Quarterly Offer. Henceforth, it will be available in a paperback edition. And, we are most thankful for your gift this month to support the work of the ministry here.
Facebook, 10/01/10
In October, after careful consideration and a long delay, Chapel Library is on Facebook! No, we are not attempting to keep pace with the world, nor are we trying to be as modern as possible. But we realize Facebook is still another vehicle for communicating effectively in this modern age, and we certainly want to communicate well. We are not posting comments or attempting to carry on real-time conversations, but we are posting daily information about and quotations from our publications. We think in this way users may discover some of the treasures here, which deserve to be set on a hill for use far and wide. So if you are on Facebook, please make Chapel Library and the Free Grace Broadcaster your friends to get daily info about the Christ-centered literature from prior centuries available here at Chapel Library.
New International Distributors, 09/01/10
In September we are most pleased to announce new international distributors in India, Hong Kong, Nepal, and Papua New Guinea. Pastor Jyoti Charavartty serves as Director of the Christian Science Foundation of India, the only creationism ministry in India that we know of. Pastor Pat Horner continues as our main distributor in India through Grace to Asia, and Pastor Jyoti distributes also to his many contacts. Pastor Thomson Chung serves Trinity Bible Fellowship in Hong Kong. He and his family moved there in 2007; Thomson graduated from the Trinity Ministerial Academy in New Jersey. Pastor Samuel Rai serves Cannan Baptist Church in Nepal. He trained at the London Reformed Baptist Seminary, associated with the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Pastor Timothy Kwara serves at the Christian Leaders' Training College in Banz, Papua New Guinea. All four of these men are reformed in their theology and earnestly proclaim the Gospel in their countries. Please join with us in praying for these and hundreds of other native pastors overseas, who face amazing hardships everyday in environments caustic to the Gospel.
New Website, 08/02/10
In August we launched our newly redesigned and expanded website. The site includes many new pages. Our complete catalog of 800 titles is a searchable database: by title, author, series, or topic. Most can be downloaded as PDFs. There is also a new Spurgeon database, with 431 of his sermons in MP3. And the Mt. Zion Pulpit page is also a searchable database, by title, speaker, series, or Bible book. There are video overviews of four ministries, ministry news, reader comments, and an entire section in Spanish, with 100 Spanish titles. And the current pages are still available, including the John Bunyan archive, the Free Grace Broadcaster, and A.W. Pink's Studies in the Scriptures. For design and expertise, we are grateful to Tim Challies (www.challies.com) and Ryan Freeman (www.striderseo.com).
Ekklesia Theological Seminary, 07/05/10
In July we are beginning a serious six-month investigation about adding a seminary to the ministries of MZBC, with a primary view toward no-charge seminary training for prison inmates and overseas pastors. Ekklesia Theological Seminary began two years ago, and is approved to grant degrees by the State of Florida. For the next six months, Jonny White, who is completing his doctoral dissertation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, will be investigating if other churches will share our vision of free distance-learning seminary training for those who do not have access otherwise. We desire to do this via written correspondence, DVD video, and online virtual classrooms with internet streaming. If you or your church would be interested to be involved, please contact Jonny White.
Important Visits from Zambia, 02/05/10
In the past few months we have received two pastors from Zambia. Pastor Conrad Mbewe and his wife visited in February. Conrad serves at the well-established Kabwata Baptist Church in Lusaka, Zambia's capitol. He was our first international distributor for the FGB in 2004, and also distributes Chapel Library literature and courses. Pastor Bernard Mwepu visited in December. He works with the Baptist Convention of Zambia, supporting 500 churches at the convention's new seminary: Zambia International Theological College. It is very difficult for the pastors to do residential study, so the college will begin using some of the MZBI correspondence courses. The 500 village churches are served by 200 pastors, most of whom have had little or no training.
Two Major Conferences, 3/14/10
At the bi-annual Together for the Gospel Conference in Louisville 4/13-15, we have a free literature table to give away materials to the 6,000 attendees. In a conference of this size we may have 200 new Free Grace Broadcaster subscriptions. In addition, our own Foundational Doctrines Conference for invited pastors, chaplains, and graders is 4/11-13. Joel Beeke and Sam Waldron are bringing messages on assurance and justification.
Prison Ministry in local churches, 3/14/10
We are launching a new program for prison ministry through churches. Volunteers can gather weekly to "grade" inmate correspondence lessons from MZ Bible Institute. The grading consists of writing discipleship feedback to each student directly on their answer sheets. We can arrange for a church to be responsible for all the prisons in a particular state or area. May the Lord use this to increase ministry effectiveness and reach.
Shepherds Conference, 02/05/10
We are preparing to visit the Shepherds Conference March 3-5 in Los Angeles, the annual conference for pastors hosted by Pastor John MacArthur at Grace Community Church. Last year they allowed us to send a booklet for each attending pastor. This year they have invited us to have a free literature table, and are expecting 3,000 pastors to attend from North America and 500 pastors from overseas. We distributed 22 boxes of literature---the pastors are exactly whom we want to reach, especially those from other countries. Pray that many would begin to get regular supplies of the literature containing Biblical truth, and through them, many thousands more would be reached.
2009 -- A Year to Remember, 01/12/10
This was a momentous year for us in six significant ways. The shipping container with 17 tons of literature safely arrived in Uganda in December and the materials are being distributed. We gave away free literature at four major conferences for the first time. The installation of two high-end copiers has allowed us to print and send 30% more literature than past years. A redesign of our web site is 80% complete (a major effort in 2009). The Spanish language edition of the Free Grace Broadcaster was launched successfully in North America, Latin America, and Spain. And a cooperation in Canada is allowing Canadians to receive a tax-deduction for their contributions used for Chapel Library ministry. All together, our Lord faithfully provided for all our needs, and has once again opened many new doors for ministry.
1689 London Confession in Tamil, 12/04/09
The London Confession of 1689 is the Baptist equivalent of the great Presbyterian statement of faith, the Westminster Confession. Both have proven essential in guarding Biblical truth for over 300 years. We were thrilled when a pastor called to ask us to print the 1689 in Tamil for his outreach to about 100 pastors in India. It turned out that Pastor R. Bala, an Indian pastor serving in New Zealand, had translated it already. He did an improvement to his translation and had it prepared "press-ready" via a friend in India, sending us the PDF file. We contacted seven other Indian pastors, and altogether, they requested 6,000 copies! These shipped in December, six months after the initial contact.
Evolution or Creation?, 11/01/09
2009 marks the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publishing of his On the Origin of Species, which was so attractive to those who rejected the Biblical account of Creation. This fall there will be further uproar with the publication of several atheists' books and films attacking the Biblical view of Creation. To address this important issue, we are very pleased to publish Evolution or Creation? It will help you to evaluate scientific evidence and Biblical data as you consider the origins of the universe. Its simple question and answer format makes the issues more easily understandable. Evolution or Creation? will help Christians and non-Christians to think more clearly about the scientific evidence for Creation and to discern truth and error with greater clarity in the current discussion about evolution and creation.
New Classics, 10/10/09
We are very grateful for a new cooperation with Grace Publications in the United Kingdom. They have a wonderful ministry in providing excellent titles prepared for the mission field. Over the years, they have published abridged versions of 22 Christian classics as paperbacks in modernized English. This fine organization has given Chapel Library permission to make further abridgments for our booklet format. The first title in this series will be The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther (1483-1546), D.V. GP is a sister organization with Grace Baptist Mission in the United Kingdom. GBM receives gifts from over 200 independent reformed Baptist churches in the UK and sends out missionaries to more than twenty countries.
17 Tons for Uganda!, 09/05/09
We are delighted to report that the shipping container bound for Uganda was fully loaded on 8/29 and is in transit during September and October. Thank you to all who donated materials for this major outreach. We worked in conjunction with ACTION International (www.actionintl.org), a missions sending agency in Washington state with active outreach to pastors through missionaries Jim and Kappy Robinette in Uganda. The ACTION team there will be distributing the 35,000 pounds of Christian literature, Bibles, and study aids throughout Uganda and West Africa. Hundreds of pastors will receive materials directly. Desiring God and World Publishers donated several pallets of material for inclusion. There were over 900 boxes in all!
Expanded FGB Use Overseas, 08/03/09
In August, we were pleased to increase significantly the number of Free Grace Broadcasters sent internationally. The USA and Canada edition now has nearly 17,000 subscribers. The new Spanish edition has about 800 subscribers to date. And 4,500 copies of the International edition are sent to international distributors in 13 countries. Most of these international distributors are churches or missionaries who place copies in the mail to individual subscribers in their country. However, three ministries that mail directly to native pastors also have asked to receive large quantities. Pastors Training International sends books to qualified native pastors from England. 500 of them now receive the FGB and other literature from Chapel Library each quarter. Pastor Bernard Mwepu works closely with the Zambia International Theological College; their 600 students soon will be receiving the FGB for a regular part of their pastoral training. And Edwin Hodges Ministries sends about 35 large shipping containers each year to qualified contacts overseas. Each container now carries CL literature and 50 copies of the FGB for distribution to pastors. Increasingly, our God is using the FGB not only for encouragement in North America, but also for the training of native pastors worldwide, who have so few resources.
New Canadian Partnership, 07/08/09
For several years, Chapel Library has distributed literature and tapes without charge in Canada as well as the United States. In July, a ministry friend established the Stephanos Development Foundation. The sole purpose of our partnership with them is to fund projects for the distribution of Gospel literature in Canada and worldwide. As such, Stephanos is able to receive Canadian donations for Chapel Library projects, fund those projects here, and write receipts that are tax-deductible in Canada. Canadians may contact them at stephanosinfo@yahoo.ca or send donations directly to
. Stephanos Development Foundation Corp.
. Box 478
. Nobleford, AB
. T0L 1S0
FGB Spanish Edition, 06/05/09
In June, we are launching the Spanish language edition of the Free Grace Broadcaster! The FGB in English has been printed for over 30 years. Each issue develops a Biblical theme using five to ten articles from prior centuries. In this modern age of compromise, the FGB is unique in presenting Biblical truths from great Christian teachers of the past, testified to by 17,000 subscribers in North America and 4,000 overseas. We plan to translate and print two new themes in Spanish each year and mail them out in the spring and fall seasons. The next issue will come in September, D.V. If you know any Spanish speakers, please tell them about the FGB and encourage them to write for a free subscription in North America. Or you can send up to five complete addresses to us, and we will mail a sample copy, mentioning that you referred them. Subscriptions are free in North America. We are also pleased to partner with Publicaciones Faro de Gracia in Mexico and Editorial Peregrino in Spain. Through these distributors, the FGB is available in Latin America and Spain free to pastors and for a small fee to all others.
Printing Capacity +30%, 05/07/09
Recently we have invested in new digital printing equipment that enables us to print about 30% more literature with the same staff. Because of the economic downturn, these were available at an additional 30% discount. The increased productivity results from moving time-intensive printing press activity to two large capacity digital copiers, thus freeing up press time for more black and white printing (tracts and booklets). We are so grateful to be sending out more materials to many new contacts around the world.
First Grader Conference, 04/02/09
The Grader Conference here in mid-March was a blessing to nearly 70 attendees. The messages from Pastors Geoff Thomas (Wales) and George McDearmon (NY) focused on foundational doctrines in Scripture. MP3 downloads are available at Conferences on the Audio page. In April we sent literature to two more major conferences: The Twin Lakes Conference for 250 pastors in Mississippi 4/14-16, and the Gospel Coalition Conference for 3,000 attendees in Chicago 4/21-23. Please pray for God's Word to go forth in power.
More Conferences, 03/09/09
In March, we were blessed to send literature for two major conferences: the Shepherds Conference (John MacArthur, 3,200 pastors) near Los Angeles 3/4-8, and the Ligonier Conference (R.C. Sproul, 5,000 attendees) in Orlando 3/19-21. Please pray for many to begin using the excellent teachings from past centuries. We also are printing our first Spanish edition of the Free Grace Broadcaster. We are now keeping a Spanish language subscription list in North America, and Demetrio Canovas of Editorial Peregrino is our newest International Distributor for Spain.
Free Literature at Conferences, 02/01/09
The Lord recently has opened several new doors for us at conferences. Since we do not advertise or send promotional material, conferences are special places for us to give away free literature in order to introduce the resources to many new churches and households. In the last month, the Shepherds Conference in California (3,200 pastors) has agreed to let us send Words to Winners of Souls for each attendee. And the Ligonier National Conference in Orlando (5,000 people) has agreed to let us have a free literature table, including Calvin on Prayer. In addition, the Gospel Coalition Conference in Chicago in April (3,000 people) and the Twin Lakes Conference near Jackson, Mississippi (250 pastors), have invited us to have free literature tables. Finally, we are sending material for the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology (2,500 people) and the HeartCry Missions Conference in Birmingham (1,000 people). Please pray with us that the materials would be used of the Lord to glorify His name.
Gospel Translations, 01/04/09
MZ is very pleased to begin working with Gospel Translations. This online ministry is using open source software to post solid Christian literature on the web. Then volunteers translate it into their own languages online, and other volunteers review and correct the translations online. In this way, hundreds of solid doctrinal works will spread into dozens of languages over time. In the first six months, 20 works were translated into six or more languages, and 50 more into at least one new language. Chapel Library will be able to print and distribute new translations of our literature. Others working with Gospel Translations include Desiring God, Ligonier, and 9Marks Ministries. Visit www.gospeltranslations.org.