In early October, we were deeply saddened to learn of the murder of one of our beloved colleagues at the Palestinian Bible Society bookshop in Gaza City, Rami Ayyad. Please keep Rami’s widow, Pauline, and their three very young children in your prayers for protection, provision and healing.

Later in the month, we had happier news. We were blessed by a visit to Bible House from The Rev. Dr. George Joseph, the auxiliary secretary in Mumbai for the Bible Society of India. That Bible Society is the largest in the world, with 16 auxiliaries (or branches). This is not perhaps surprising, because India’s population is three times that of the U.S.

Mumbai is in the most populous and commercial part of the country, where just walking down the street can be a challenge. Rev. Joseph ministers God’s Word to those in great need of care and contact. Among them are some 12 million people who are blind, 8 million who are infected with HIV/AIDS and many more who are destitute, including refugees from Bangladesh.

Rev. Joseph was in New York to preach at an Indian church and went on to preach at two more in Dallas. Here in the U.S., the Christian Indian population is thriving and just about every denomination is represented, he says. Back in India, there is also good reason for hope: The Christian population represents 7% of the whole and is on the rise.

I hope you are heartened by this issue’s story about ministry to vulnerable children around the world. Thanks to your support, the American Bible Society is supplying hundreds of thousands of New Testaments to unchurched kids through Operation Christmas Child, the Salvation Army and Winning Our World International (WOW), an evangelistic outreach to urban youth.

As always, thank you for your prayers and support. I’m looking forward to what will happen in the year of our Lord, 2008.