When we received the first order of the print version of Simple Answers to Not So Simple Questions, we began distributing them to some of our longer-term ministry partners. Much of that delivery was via the postal systems (Canada and the US). But some of our ministry partners are a bit closer to home.

Less than twenty miles from our home is the Jehovah Java Coffee Shop, a enterprise of Be the Bush Ministries. Be The Bush Crisis Center is a Christ-centered, residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation program. Caleb McCall and his team are on the front lines, battling the drug epidemic that is ravaging the United States.  The Crisis Center serves as a feeder program for the larger, Teen Challenge Ministry that has multiple locations across North America. 

For several years now, BTB has used Clear and Simple Media books as discipleship tools in their program. With several copies of the new book in hand, we visited the facility to donate them to the program library.

Prior to 2021, the ministry served only men. But in the last several months, BTB launched a women’s program and purchased a residential facility called Miriam House. Some of the women from that facility were working in the coffee shop that day. 

When we showed them the books and talked about our hope that they would be helpful, one of the young women in the program said:

“Oh, good. We have the other book at our house. When I came into the program, I knew almost nothing about the Bible. That book (Travel Guide to the Bible) really helped me catch up. It is so easy to understand that, when I get stuck, I go get that book.”

When we first crafted our approach to simple English writing, we had a specific audience in mind – new English readers. Thankfully, God had other ideas. Little did we realize the places the books would end up and the variety of people they would appeal to.