By the grace of God, these last 25 years we have seen 96+ million copies of God’s Word distributed through The Most Important Story family of materials. They have reached 160 countries during this time. Our vision in 2020 and beyond is to distribute the next 100 million copies – truly! Won’t you join with us in sharing God’s Word to share His love and bring hope and faith to children and families the world over.
As you read the history of The Most Important Story, we ask you to join with us in thanking God for the astounding miracles of transformed lives through His Word. May this account also encourage you to also share the Gospel in your daily lives.
The first printing of The Most Important Story in Vietnam – 1995
As David had grown up in Vietnam as a missionary kid and there as a 10-year-old first began distributing Gospels of John with his missionary Dad, it was there that he first wanted to provide The Most Important Story to the children of Vietnam.
The Most Important Story was first printed in Vietnam in December 1995 under communism. The situation was extremely difficult. The pastor overseeing the printing had only recently been released from prison, so it had to be printed secretly by the underground church.
Further complicating the situation was acquiring the paper to use in the printing. All they could obtain was paper close to newspaper quality. As well, it was not possible at that time to print in full color as designed. The book was rather unattractive as it had to be done with only black ink. The cover was a faded duotone with the chosen colors in green, blue and yellow.
The quality was honestly not good, but they results were spectacular. The initial printing was 6,500 copies and they had to be shared with no more than two or three children at a time because of the risk of arrest. A huge endeavor. Upon completion of the distribution and upon carefully compiling the results, an astounding 1,534 children had individually put their faith in Jesus Christ. This in communist Vietnam. Nothing like this had happened in the 20 years of communist rule. (Vietnam fell under communism in April 1975.
David truly thought that if this printing and distribution was the extent of the use of The Most Important Story, it would have been worth it all – 1,534 children who had come to faith in Jesus Christ. However, Almighty God had something very much more in store for this Gospel book.
The story in Vietnam continues to be written and we thank God that today it is possible to print openly in full color.
What began as a secret printing used by the underground church has led to over 400 churches being established. Today, these are all self-supporting churches. The underground church that first printed the MIS grew from 30 or so cell groups to become the fastest growing denomination in Vietnam with over 1,000 churches from the south, all the way to the border of China.
The founder and leader told us early on as the Lord exponentially grew this movement that “The Most Important Story has become the flagship ministry of the entire denomination.”
All told, a miracle of God.
This is only the first chapter of The Most Important Story. Read on to learn of just a few of the highlights over the past 25+ years.
David with Franklin Graham in war torn Kosovo in 2001. The Most Important Story was distributed with Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes for 15 consecutive years.”
David with Rev. Hector Hunter, General Superintendant of the Assemblies of God of Cuba with Rev. Darryl Wright, Founder of Emblaze Ministries.
David with Augustina Castro Ruz and Rev. Jose Lopez
David with Rev. Jose Lopez, the Director of the Bible Commission and the man God used to facilitate the importation and distribution of 1.7 million copies of The Most Important Story into Cuba
One of the largest single distributions took place in the State of West Bengal. Rev. Anjan Singh writes. “Thank you for sending The Most Important Story in Bengali to us for the children’s Bible school ministry. Last year we reached more than 400,000 children. Through the children we are also able to reach their parents. Many, many children as well as their parents are getting saved.”
Rev. Premdas Telly with Rev. Peter Bose at the release of the Bengali MIS
From the slum of Dharavi in Mumbai to Delhi and Calcutta and throughout India, the MIS was shared widely and freely.
In 1982 David and Garth met with Mother Teresa in Calcutta and presented her with a Living Bible. Many years later, a Calcutta pastor by the name of Peter Bose went to visit her and share of the development of The Most Important Story with her. She was so pleased to see it and she encouraged the team to share it broadly with the children of the world.
Subsequently, the Catholic school system of Costa Rica approved The Most Important Story in Spanish to be taught in their elementary schools nationwide.
The comments from the kids were so encouraging.
“I liked the booklet because it told us about the life of Jesus. The part where Jesus was the healer made me laugh because of the pictures. The plan of God seems excellent. I could understand everything and like the picture a lot, not like reading the Bible which I don’t understand.”
“I liked the booklet a lot because I found it funny and interesting. It talks a lot about God and showed me that we must obey him and have more faith. I think that all children should be able to have one of these booklets to learn more about God and believe in him. If we believed in him, we would have a better world.”
“The booklet is very pretty and important. One learns more about the life of Jesus, about the creation of the world and about the Bible. I liked how the father told the children the story and how both parents explained to the children what they didn’t understand. I found it very interesting to learn more about the Bible in other words.”
“I think the booklet explains very well about the Bible and the pictures are very pretty. I liked the simple way that the story was told so that we can learn and understand better about the life of Jesus. It shows that we should do and what God indicates we do and not like Adam and Eve when they paid attention to the serpent and not to God. The booklet also shows that the family should be united and talk and understand about the Bible.”
In country after country, from Mexico to Haiti to Romania and India and countless other countries, The Most Important Story has been used to share the Gospel. See Testimonies to learn of more hightlights.
Although the focus has been to reach children, adults gravitate to the dynamic and very succinct Gospel presentation. The invitation to pray to accept Christ as the close of the book has been instrumental in bringing countless numbers of individuals into the Kingdom of God.
Whether it is local church outreach, evangelistic endeavors, shoebox type provisions or missions’ trips, The Most Important Story has proven to be one of the most effective Gospel presentations ever.
We invite you to use these materials today in your personal evangelism and in your ministry.
God bless you!
