Making Many Magazines

News

We are encouraged to report progress on the next printing of Loaves & Fishes. The last issue went out back in January, so we are eager to move ahead.

Darold (Dad) will print this issue here, Lord willing, except for the covers, which were done at Carlisle Printing. We are two days into the printing now.

We already had some of the paper for the project, and we ordered enough more to print 80,000 booklets. There are sufficient funds to cover the expenses so far.

Current Needs

Postage to send these subscriptions will be around $15,000. We still lack most of the postage money.

You can help us mail these booklets and publish future issues of Loaves & Fishes every quarter with your gift of $1/day or any amount of participation.

We also need your prayers for God’s protection and grace as we work on this project. There are many obstacles to overcome and decisions to make.

Online Donations

Now you can give one-time donations or set up a monthly sponsorship online! In fact, these online donations are collected through Pikeville Christian Fellowship (our local church), so all online donations are tax-deductible.

Join the team of monthly sponsors and help us publish Loaves & Fishes four times per year!

Click here to learn how you can give.

Americans Behind Bars in the Last 100 Years

1910 – 2010

The Dark Side: USA Incarceration

• There are approximately 2.3 million men and women behind bars today.
• More than 1 in 100 adults are in prison or jail.
• Roughly 1 in 32 Americans are either behind bars, on probation, or on parole.
• We taxpayers spend over $68 billion a year to take care of the prisoners.
• It costs around $30,000 a year to house one prisoner.

The Bright Side: “Can you please help me?”

• “Can you or someone write to me and tell me how I can get Jesus in my life? I am 42 years old and don’t know Jesus. Can you please help me?” Donald Roberts, Fort Worth, TX

• Tens of thousands of hungry prisoners have asked us to speak into their lives. We have access to masses who will receive and appreciate what we teach them and even share it with their friends!
• You can partner with us to make an impact with your prayers and financial support. Let’s wake up to these opportunities before the night comes when no man can work.

Click here to learn how you can get involved.

For the Kingdom,
Lavern Gingerich

Important Update: $304 – You = $303

News

If you’ve been following us during the last year, you know that our goal is to publish one issue of the Loaves & Fishes magazine every quarter.

We have discovered there is a tremendous opportunity to encourage and teach open hearts in prisons through reading material.

The devil and his workers are already using literature to influence the masses. Today we also have an open door to plant the seeds of God’s Word in the hearts of the masses in prison. In fact, they are begging us to.

Loaves & Fishes is already touching tens of thousands, but we see an urgent need to increase its impact by publishing more often. Our goal is to publish the magazine four times a year instead of only once.

As you’ve probably heard, we’re trying to build a team of partners who together can pledge to give $350/day. An increase of $350/day would cover the hard costs of publishing Loaves & Fishes four times per year.

So far official monthly sponsorships have grown to $46/day, which means we have $304 to go. We are sincerely grateful for these commitments.

One-time gifts are helpful and make up the bulk of our income now. However, monthly sponsorships create the dependable support stream that enables us to plan ahead and publish on a predictable schedule.

The needs in prison are great, the doors are wide open, and the night is coming when no man can work.

We are confident there must be 304 more people somewhere that want to partner with us in this goal.

Will you make this a matter of prayer and consider becoming a monthly partner with your gift of $1/day?

Click here to learn how you can give.

“I saw [Loaves & Fishes] and was deeply moved and inspired. Especially the article ‘Paid in Full’… Me being a new born Christian could really use that type of encouraging network in a place like this.”

Jamal Spence • ACI • Fairfax, SC

Quick Updates

• It’s a blessing to have Darold back in the office again full-time. His greenhouse business is shut down until next year, so now he has a lot more time to work at Lighthouse. He does too much to list here, but his work includes processing mail from prisoners and maintaining the mailing list.
• In the last months, Robert and Verba have cut back on their time commitment here. Robert works with a local construction crew to support his family, but they still support the work in their hearts and help with mailings, etc.
• We are doing another small mailing of the most recent issue of Loaves & Fishes, which we published in January. There are 4,600 new single subscriptions that came in since we mailed out the first mailing of this issue.
• We have some ministry presentations scheduled for October. Several churches in Missouri want us to come share. Presentations are a good way to raise awareness and build face-to-face relationships. If you know of a church or group of people that would like to learn more about Loaves & Fishes, let us know.
• The next issue of Loaves & Fishes has been prepared for about six months now. It will take around $30,000 to publish this issue. After using some funds for promotional literature and overhead, we would have close to one-third of this amount left.

Let’s work together to touch more hearts in prison while it is day!

For the Kingdom,

Lavern Gingerich

Loaves & Fishes Feedback From Prisoners

Loaves & Fishes

Enjoy these testimonials from prisoners who read Loaves & Fishes.

“Your book is very inspirational and I would love to read more. I’m ready to change my life, and I feel reading your books will lead me in the right direction.”
Keith LeGrand, Smithfield, NC

“Your Loaves & Fishes publication is a real inspiration for me and helps my drive to study God’s word. My prayers will include you always.”
Charles Finchum

“I really like Loaves & Fishes. It helps me a lot and I really enjoy reading the poems. But I read Loaves & Fishes from a friend. I have sent in three requests to receive my own book, but for some reason I still haven’t got it.”
Michael McKinney, Fort Worth, TX

“Thank you for producing the book. It is a tremendous help to me. I pray the Lord Jesus continue to bless you. Amen!”
Name unknown

“I read two of your poems for prisoners and I really thought they enhanced my spiritual walk.… Your ministry has a powerful impact on my life. Keep up the good work.”
James Hairelson, Duncan Unit, Diboll, TX

Click here to learn how you can help us make more of an impact in the prisons.

Fellowship for Lonely Prisoners

Loaves & Fishes

Have you ever tried to imagine how it would feel to be locked into your house for a whole year, forced to stay in your bedroom for hours at a time?

Worse yet, imagine being torn from everything familiar and buried alive behind block walls and razor wire, with no hope of escape for 5, 10, even 50 years.

I can’t imagine the helplessness of that feeling. But over two million of our neighbors faced that reality when they woke up this morning in jails and prisons across the U.S.

Step into their shoes for a moment. You long for home. You try to remember what it was like to be free, to go to work in the morning and return to your family at night. You dream of holding your child and embracing your wife. The years ahead look endless.

That’s life in prison, and the people living it face the same loneliness, discouragement, and condemnation you or I would.

The good news is that Jesus died for their sins and He rose again from the dead, so that these 2 million prisoners could be set free in their hearts and experience the life, hope, and freedom that only He can give!

We realize the majority of these people are locked up because of a law they have broken. But we also care about their pain and need for meaningful relationships.

Many of them who are seeking after God are young in the faith and need discipleship and encouragement to overcome the temptation to sin around and within them.

And perhaps the biggest encouragement to them is the example of others who are living in victory, joy, and peace behind the prison walls!

That’s why we give prisoners an outlet in every issue of the Loaves & Fishes magazine. “Free on the Inside” is our section dedicated to prisoner writings. Poems, testimonies, and short writings from prisoners are common in “Free on the Inside.”

Poems and testimonies from Christians in prison are a special blessing to other inmates because the writers can identify with them in a way that I can’t. Prisoners devour these blessings from fellow-inmates and it gives them a sense of fellowship through the Spirit of God.

We hope to soon have enough funds to print another issue of Loaves & Fishes. You can help us  spread the message of hope and friendship in Jesus Christ with a gift of even $1/day.

Click here to learn how you can give.

Let’s work together to point the prisoners to the life-changing grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Until the night comes,
Lavern Gingerich

“Your magazine, Loaves & Fishes, is awesome. It truly is a blessing. When I was reading the different poetry, stories, and testimonies from the different inmates, I was truly fellowshipping.”

Sarah Markovitz, York Correctional Institution, Niantic, CT