Our Mission

It is our mission to equip you with the most effective and attractive Gospel presentation available so you can share the greatest gift of all: the redeeming love of Jesus.
“And now the word of the lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere”
– 1 Thessalonians 1:8 NLT

About Us

“Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” II Corinthians 10:17

“…all that we have accomplished you have done for us.” Isaiah 26:12

After all, it is His story – His Word.

“…for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.” Psalm 138:2

This background is to celebrate our loving and gracious Lord and His eternal Word. It’s about Him – His Word – His work – His love – His saving grace.

The Story Behind the Story

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.

Background

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.

Operation Mobilization – worldwide evangelistic ministry through floating libraries on ships
  • George Verwer – Founder and President of OM obtained a copy of the MIS in 1996 and raised funds to place 200,000 copies on their ships
  • For the last 25 years the MIS has been carried on the OM ships and are considered essential materials
  • Countless thousands have received the Gospel as a result
  • Watch a great story that OM filmed about MIS!

Luis Palau Evangelistic Association
  • As Hong Kong was approaching the turn-over to China in 1997, Luis and team organized the last broad evangelistic crusade in Hong Kong
  • We were led of God and through generous support, we were able to provide 100,000 copies of the MIS at this strategic hour
  • Not only were 20,000 copies utilized for the children’s crusade, but the remaining 80,000 copies were distributed throughout Hong Kong by the churches and evangelistic organizations

Around The World

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

Cuba 
  • Although a communist nation and in spite of organizations still smuggling Bibles into Cuba, the Lord opened wide the door to reach the entire nation with the MIS
  • Under Fidel Castro, this island nation had countless restrictions for the churches, regarding outreach and the provision of the Word of God
  • However, we obtained government permission to import containers of the MIS beginning in early 1997
  • A requirement that we welcomed was that we had to distribute the MIS to all 76 denominations of Cuba proportionate to their size
  • It just so happened that our two leading partner denominations were also the two of the largest and fastest growing, so they received the lion’s share of the MIS – the Assemblies of God and the Eastern Baptist Convention
  • The MIS soon became instrumental in evangelistic outreach nationwide, not just to children but to adults including those in prisons, medical institutions and senior’s homes
  • Fidel Castro’s own sister Augustina, a wonderful believer, learned of the MIS and was able to obtain 800 copies
  • Although evangelism was outlawed and certainly, door to door evangelism was prohibited, in 1997, Augustina along with a lady from her Bible study went door to door to 800 homes in Havana sharing the MIS
  • When the Pope visited Cuba in 1998, Augustina was with her brother Fidel on the platform when Fidel was overheard saying to the Pope as he pointed to Augustina, “There is my sister, the missionary in the family”.

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

  • Remarkably, that same year, we were invited to Revolution Plaza where the headquarter building of the National Library of Cuba stands to meet with its Director to discuss providing the MIS for all government libraries in the country
  • Never in history had an evangelistic book been permitted to be placed in any library and subsequent to this historic meeting, we were able to place the MIS in every single library in Cuba. We also were invited to place Bibles in every library which we were honored to provide.
  • Then, in 1999, Fidel Castro permitted the absolutely unprecedented Evangelical Celebrations. Ultimately, 22 celebrations were permitted from one end of the country to the other.  We were asked to provide an unprecedented number of the MIS for the celebrations – 500,000 copies.  Again, Fidel himself gave permission and 500,000 copies went to every church in Cuba.
  • By 2007, a total of 1.7 million copies of the MIS had been provided for the 11 million people of Cuba
Egypt – Cairo International Book Fair
  • The Cairo International Book Fair is the largest and oldest book fair in the Arab world, held every year
  • Up to 2 million visitors a year representing every one of the 25 Arabic speaking nations attend with hundreds of publishers and millions of books on display
  • Incredibly, twice, at the close of the Book Fair, the MIS in Arabic was the best-selling book and taken back to the countries and homes of those who normally would have great difficulty to obtain a Christian evangelistic book

Belarus – Chernobyl kids
  • Following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, reports from Soviet and Western scientists indicated that Belarus received about 60% of the contamination that fell on the former Soviet Union
  • Ten of thousands of children were greatly affected with many being hospitalized in clinics in Minsk
  • We went to a number of the clinics and visited with the children and the dedicated staff, sharing the love of Jesus Christ and giving the children toys and each child received a copy of the MIS in Russian.
India — The Most Important Story in 15 languages
  • The MIS was first introduced to India in 1997.
  • Never before had such a book ever been provided in this nation and soon requests were coming in from all over the country.
  • Rev. Premdas Telly took on the mammoth responsibility of seeing the MIS translated into 15 of India’s major languages.

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.

Mother Teresa and Costa Rica

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.

  • This nation puts a very high priority on its education system and primary education is compulsory for children ages 6 to 13
  • We were thrilled when we were requested to allow the MIS in Spanish to not only be provided for school children but to be used in classes throughout the country

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.”

The Rest of the Story

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!

©1995- The Most Important Story. All rights reserved. The Most Important Story® is a registered trademark.