The Gideons were formed July 1st - This Week in Christian History for the week of June 30-July 6, 2013

The Gideons came about after two of their founders ended up having to share a room in a crowded hotel. John Nicholson and Samuel Beliot joined found that they had much in common, including a love of God. On the night of their meeting in Boscobel Wisconsin the men decided to form an association. In May of the next year they met again in Beaver Damn Wisconsin and they called a meeting in Janesville on July 1^st at the Y.M.C.A..

At this meeting they were joined by William Knights. They chose their name, which was inspired by Judges Chapters six and seven. All three men were business travelers and wanted to know how they might impact people who were in hotels. In 1908 they came up with the goal to put a Bible in every hotel room in the United States. Only two months later a minister in Cedar Rapids Iowa was the first to support “the Bible Project,” as it was then called, and provide the Bibles for all of the local hotels.

Since then the Gideons have expanded their outreach to hospitals, convalescent homes, medical offices, domestic violence shelters, prisons and jails. The Gideons also place Bibles in the hands of students in 5^th grade or above and emergency service personnel. The Gideons have placed more than 1.7 billion Bibles and New Testaments in over 190 countries.

In a stament about their ministry on their website, the Gideons say, “Having God's Word can and does lead people to faith in Christ, and those new Christians then grow by studying their Scriptures and even use them to share their faith with others. For this reason, we focus on distributing complete Bibles or New Testaments. These copies of God's Word are printed in more than 90 languages.”

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Thank you for reading.