When Lighthouse Christian Resource Center, a non-denominational street and prison ministry in Chehalis, Wash., ran out of funds to give Bibles to prison inmates and street youth, the center turned to KACS-FM for help.
A center volunteer asked the independent Adventist-operated radio station, heard on 90.5 FM in the Chehalis area, to run a public service announcement as a way to ask the Chehalis Valley and South Puget Sound community to help out.
Station manager Cameron Beierle launched an on-air campaign to gather 200 Bibles and Christian books. The appeal received a wide response from both listeners and organizations.
Chehalis Church donated the first 24 Bibles to the religious literature drive. Onalaska Church contributed two cases of Happiness Digest/Steps to Christ. Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute responded to the request with a dozen copies of Doug Bachelor’s book, God’s Caveman.
Listeners from between Longview and Tacoma responded by bringing “gently used” Christian books and Bibles. One woman from Centralia even purchased three Bibles with special cases from a Christian book outlet.
When Tree of Life Christian Outlet heard what the Bibles would be used for, the store joined the book drive and matched listener donations by giving two new Bibles for every $5 donated.
KACS listeners contributed more than 300 Bibles and several thousand Christian books to Lighthouse Christian Resource Center by March 17. Even after the deadline, books and Bibles continued to arrive at the radio studio.
"We are overwhelmed by the station's generosity and the outpouring of love to the homeless and inmates in our area,” said Charlie Kerr, Lighthouse chaplain. “This isn't a coincidence. It's an act of God."
The Bibles and books will be distributed in Lewis County through prison ministries, area shelters and homeless ministries.
A Lighthouse Christian Resource Center volunteer and Charlie Kerr, Lighthouse chaplain, look over the more than 300 books and Bibles donated during a Bible drive on Christian radio station KACS.
