COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -
Pastor Brian Kluth wrote a
40 Bible devotional on generosity and submitted it to
several Christian publishers. But all the
publishers had no interest in the book because they they said there was no market for a book on
generosity. “So, my wife and I used some
inheritance money to ‘by faith’ produce and print 15,000
copies," Kluth said. "We thought it would take years to distribute
this many copies. But within a few years we have printed
450,000 copies to keep up with the demand!"
Hundreds of churches facing
a downturn in giving are utilizing this devotional in
instruct and inspire people about the importance of
living generous lives. In the coming months, radio
stations across America will be able to point thousands
of listeners to a 40 day online eDevotional version of
the booklet at
www.GiveWithJoy.org.
The
small 90-page unwanted
devotional book on how to lead a more generous life is something of a “publishing
miracle” since most Christian books never sell even 500
copies. When 100,000 copies were printed in the
first nine months, David Neff of Christianity Today, said
“anytime you get 100,000 copies of any book into the
churches, you’re making some impact. Doing so in a
9-month period is spectacular."
Churches of all sizes from
nearly one hundred denominations have ordered a personal
copy to give to every family. Kluth has also
worked with many denominations to send free copies to
thousands of pastors, Christian non-profit organizations
to give copies to their donors, and seminaries to give
free copies to their students.
The story of this booklet has even
caught the attention of the media with news stories on
NBC TV evening news
in Colorado, a live interview on CBN TV news and talk
show, a front page story in the Colorado Springs
Gazette newspaper Life section, a 1 hour live
interview on Moody Radio's 250 stations nationwide,
The Christian Post (as a top story),
REV! Magazine; Church
Executive Magazine,
CCM Magazine,
UPI - United Press International, USA Religious News,
Christian
Newswire,
Christian Headlines,
Google News,
Yahoo News and
MSNBC News.
Fellowship
Bible
Church in Little
Rock gave a copy of the booklet
to every family in their church.
One of Fellowship Bible pastor’s said, "We researched
every available resource we could find to inspire
people's generosity. This booklet was the best thing we
found anywhere!"
Some churches in the US and
overseas have even reported giving increases of 35% to
nearly 60% following the 40 days their church families
went through the devotional. In Kluth's own
church, they had been experiencing a decline in giving.
He gave copies of the booklet to every family and the
church's giving increased 41% in the following months.
Over a year later in the midst of a struggling economy
their church's giving is the highest it's ever been.
The "Spiritual Journey to
a More Generous Life" book takes people through 40 daily
Bible readings that help them understand what the Bible
teaches about managing their finances. "Years ago I
was in debt and had financial problems. As I learned
what the Bible teaches about money, God helped me
completely turn around my finances and gave me the
freedom to live more generously. I am grateful that so
many other people can benefit from the things I
learned," said Kluth.
The book is currently
being translated into over into
over 40 foreign languages including Spanish,
Chinese, Russian, German, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Mongolian, Hindi, Serbian, Croatian,
Afrikaans, Urdu, Punjabi and many other languages.
Denominations,
mission groups, and global ministries have signed up or
expressed an interest in becoming copyright partners to
freely distribute the devotional as a free download to
churches in countries all over the world.
In 2009, Kluth is launching a
nationwide radio campaign and an online 40 day
eDevotional version of the booklet to inspire greater
generosity across America. The
www.GiveWithJoy.org
60 second radio spots of forty true stories about
people's "journey to generosity" will be made available
for free to 1000 Christian radio to play on the air.
Listeners will be directed to the
www.GiveWithJoy.org
website to sign up for their free 40 day generosity
eDevotional.
The printed version of the devotional is available
in a standard version or churches ordering over 1000
copies can order a customized cover for just $1 more per
booklet. Some of the largest churches in the
country have been ordering thousands of copies for every
family in their congregation, including the First Baptist
Church of Orlando; Church for the Nations in Colorado;
St. Luke's United Methodist in Indianapolis; Fellowship
Bible
Church in Little
Rock; Crossroads
Fellowship in
Charlotte,
NC;
Grace
Community
Church in
Tempe, AZ; Rivertree Christian Church in
Ohio, First North SBC in Spartanburg, SC; Gateway Christian Fellowship in
New Haven,
CT, among other churches.
Kluth reports that after
bank failures in
Mongolia, the
largest church in the country translated the booklet and
gave it to their 1,100 believers. “Over the next two
months we saw offerings increase nearly 60 percent,” the
Executive Pastor emailed to Kluth.
“This whole thing is a
God-sized journey for us. We’re doing our best to keep
up with what the Lord is doing with this book,” Kluth
says. He is senior pastor of First Evangelical Free
Church in Colorado Springs,
CO but will be transitioning to a full-time generosity
minister-at-large role to give more time to speaking,
writing, and doing media interviews on the importance of
generous living and giving.
Kluth has had a ministry of
stewardship for several years and offers materials,
seminars, and other aids to churches and ministries in
this important area. Earlier this year Kluth was
honored by the Christian Stewardship Association with
the Outstanding Stewardship Educator of the year award.
Kluth’s web sites can be
accessed at
www.MAXIMUMgenerosity.org and
www.GenerousLife.info