Nicholas Hold, one of three theology majors on the Literature Ministries team, began his summer knocking on doors in Powell, Wyoming. One of the first people he met was an individual known in the neighborhood. Learning that Hold was a Seventh-day Adventist, neighbor commented on how he appreciates the Adventist view of prophecy, and that he had heard of The Great Controversy and wanted to read it. He gave a higher-than-expected donation for the book.

Next door, Hold met a family who knew their neighbor. Introducing them to The Great Controversy, he mentioned that their neighbor had just got it. “Well, if [he] wants to read this book, then we should get all of your books!” they remarked.

For Hold, meeting this individual in the first few minutes of knocking on doors in Powell was no coincidence. God led his team leader to drop the canvassers at the right place at the right time to make an impact on that community for eternity! Close to 500 books were shared, sales largely impacted by the influence of one man.

Summer Success

This was just one testimony of many during the summer canvassing program in Colorado and Wyoming. The result of the weeks between June 5 and August 1 was not only literature being shared, but our canvassers met several former church members and local pastors are now giving them Bible studies.

This summer, our 19 literature evangelists distributed about 14,000 pounds of books and, yes, we had sore backs at times. They knocked on around 200,000 doors. Considering the average family size of 3.15 persons, we could say we reached an audience of 630,000 people. We might not know the true impact of our canvassing this summer, but we heard that in Laramie, Wyoming, a young man skate-boarded up to the church asking for Bible studies and expressing a desire to keep the Sabbath! In his hand was one of the books that our students left with him.

Arguably the greatest impact of the literature ministry program is what it does to our own young people. One of the team members, Jacob Rodriguez, was rebaptized last weekend. Three others, including the parent of one of our students, have started studying toward the same decision.

Bayli Graybill, commenting on her experience this summer said, “This program was a growing experience in my social life, physical life, and especially in my spiritual life. I was challenged in a good way to be bold with my faith and not afraid of my fears.”

Thank you to our amazing Rocky Mountain Conference churches in Colorado and Wyoming where our team worked this year, for their support of our young people. Your food, your homes, your prayers and even that stack of water bottles you hand delivered while we were knocking on doors, encouraged us to keep at our work of bringing the gospel to the people! Thank you, RMC!

–Matt Hasty is Rocky Mountain Conference literature ministry director; this article originally appeared on the Rocky Mountain Conference website. Photos supplied.