Photo courtesy: Breath of Life Ministries
Carlton P. Byrd, speaker/director of Breath of Life Ministries and senior pastor of Oakwood University Church in Huntsville, Ala., believes spiritual health is partially dependent on personal involvement in outreach. One way Byrd encourages members to be active participants in sharing the gospel is through literature distribution. While organizing members to distribute literature isn’t a new concept, for some churches, it is a newly revived practice that generates a lot of enthusiasm.
“Praise God for the spoken word and the sung word, but some will be won by reading the Word of God and truth-filled literature. I am a proponent of literature because when literature goes out, it can go places we can’t go,” said Byrd.
This emphasis birthed Breath of Life’s first sharing book, FREE: Revisiting God’s Plan for Oppressed People, co-authored by Byrd and Christopher C. Thompson, Communication and Marketing director for Breath of Life. The pocket-sized volume points readers to a Deliverer who is concerned about the social, economic and political circumstances that oppress people and suppress the voices of millions in America and around the world.
Released on June 19, FREE has already been distributed to hundreds of people in preparation for the ministry’s public evangelism meetings. Several churches in Miami have shared the book throughout their neighborhoods, but especially in the city’s Brownsville community.
After receiving a copy and reading several of its pages, one community member said, “Thank you for this. I love this!”
Brownsville is the home of Bethany Church, which served as the location of the “Breath of Life Summer Revival.” At the end of the revival, Byrd and area pastors baptized 120 people into the Adventist Church.
“It is Breath of Life’s sincere desire that this project will help empower local churches to similarly experience the joy of personal outreach in preparation for public evangelism,” said Byrd. “Jesus isn’t coming anywhere until the gospel goes everywhere.”
Christopher Thompson, Communication and Marketing director, Breath of Life Ministries; and Carl McRoy, director of Literature Ministries, North American Division
