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In 2018, an Australian woman named Tonya Illman was walking along a beach in Western Australia with her family and decided to pick up a bottle that she found in the sand. The bottle that she picked up turned out to be one that had been dropped into the southeastern Indian Ocean by a German ship captain on June 12, 1886!
There was a piece of paper in the bottle that identified it and asked that the finder contact the German consulate. It had been part of a research project into ocean and shipping routes that was conducted by the German Naval Observatory. They had dropped thousands of these bottles into the ocean in hopes that people that found the bottles would contact them and help them to get a picture of how the ocean currents worked in that part of the ocean. To date, only 662 messages have been returned.
People have launched messages in bottles for centuries. They have sent messages to imagined love interests, to ask for help when marooned on deserted islands, or to convey expedition reports. In many of
those cases, the message had a very low probability of being received by the intended recipient.
I thought of the “message in a bottle” as I considered the work of Lighthouse Publishing. Every few months we send out a new issue of Loaves and Fishes, our own “message in a bottle!” We write, edit, print and ship the magazines out, and in most cases, we never see the people that receive the message. Kind of like sending a message in a bottle, right?
But there is a stark difference between a random message in a bottle and the message we send in the magazine. The messages that we send include the Word of Life! It has a message from God himself! Isaiah 55:11 says: “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
We have the promise that when we are partners with God in spreading His Word, it will not be in vain. We may never know what the results are, but God sees and knows. Whatever your part of our mission is, whether it is financial support, distribution of the magazine, prayer warrior, or simply being an advocate for the magazine, know that your efforts will bring results! Let this knowledge invigorate your work! Let it continue to guide your efforts.
We don’t have to watch the bottle float aimlessly away on the waves, hoping against hope that it gets to its intended recipient. We know that God’s Word will prosper; it will not fail in reaching a hungry heart somewhere, and God’s Word always brings results.
—Wendell Martin, Board Member
There are some staffing changes coming to Lighthouse Publishing. Carinna Martin has committed
to a full-time school teaching position this fall, so will be having a very reduced role at Lighthouse. Suzi Hartzler and her husband have recently moved to Virginia, so she will no longer be working in the office. We wish both of them the best in their new endeavors, and we will miss their input and expertise in our organization.
We are happy to announce the hiring of Krista Bates to fill this vacancy. Krista is a member at Allegheny Valley Mennonite Church, and she will be handling the bulk of the data entry and filling orders that come in the interim between our bulk shipments. Please pray for the staff as we navigate these changes.
(People who distribute in prisons)
This embraces the vision of my ministry. The name of the magazine recognizes a miracle and interprets it as a symbol of Divine provision.
—Chaplain Alfredo Antonio Ayana, California
Love the way the issues are not dated. They are timeless, and once an inmate enjoys one, they ask for several previous issues.
—Chaplain Donna Hausler, Florida
We are continuing to send out marketing packets to prison chaplains at facilities that are not currently receiving Loaves and Fishes. This packet includes samples of recent magazines and a letter introducing our ministry to the prison chaplains and inviting them to subscribe. This has helped to drive an uptick in our bulk subscribers. The staff still has quite a ways to go until all the prisons in all 50 states have been reached, so continue to pray that new chaplains would find out about the magazine and subscribe for the inmates in their facilities.
Issue 56Issue 56 is completely designed and is shortly being sent to the printer. We should receive it by the end of August which will allow us to ship out our bulk mailing at the beginning of September. It is a blessing to be able to ship the magazine at 3-month intervals. It has long been a goal of the ministry to be able to do that. The issue is fully funded, for which we are very grateful. Any donations we receive will be put towards future issues.
