g o o d n e w s continued
A woman who was fishing in Ohio had a Good News tract blown into her
the war, tract circulation had reached 42 million copies per year. The office in Chicago was publish ing tracts in many foreign lan guages as well as English. But Dennis was not satisfied with foreign language literature being printed and published in the Unit ed States and then shipped to for eign countries. The risk of faulty translations was great. Then the cost of American labor was higher and shipping charges had to be con sidered. This problem resulted in Dennis taking an extensive trip to visit 12 European countries where he dis cussed with Christian leaders the matter of literature publication in their own countries. Out of this visit came a branch plant in Switzerland in 1947 known as Grosse Freude Fur Europa and located at Beaten- berg in the heart of the Swiss Alps. This branch of Good News is di rected by Mrs. R. E. Neighbour, a former missionary to Europe. Its ministry has had a steady growth until today it publishes tracts, book lets and books in 22 languages with distribution in 56 countries. Much of the success for the wide spread distribution of Good News literature is due to its Tract Club. The club idea came to Dennis dur ing his first year in the tract min istry. It was apparent that if the tracts could be placed in the hands of Christians they would not only use them but write back for more. The Club started out originally supplying 100 tracts each month of one title to persons who would subscribe for a year in advance. The idea began as the Traet-of-the- Month Club, but it soon became apparent that most distributors wanted actual samples of many ti tles each month and the plan was revised to send out packets of as many as 10 or 15 actual samples of new tract and booklet titles along
with a chatty and informative bul letin. After the third year the legal de partment of the Book-of-the-Month Club demanded that the Tract Club change its name and in 1943 the name, Tract Club of America, was adopted. The Club has approxi mately 20,000 active members who are faithful and loyal tract dis tributors. The membership fee is $1 per year, payable in advance. Several other tract clubs in other parts of the world have been pat terned after the Tract Club of America. The Club in Switzerland, established only two years ago, has a membership of 1,750. Stories of definite conversions and how the tracts and booklets have helped Christians come to the Good News office every day. One of Dennis’ favorite stories is about the tract that was blown by the wind on to the lap of a woman who, with her husband, was fishing by a stream in Ohio. The woman read the tract and through its message was brought to Christ. She wrote to Good News and told her story. Tracts with decision forms are often returned to the office signed. The booklet Day by Day the Up ward Way seems to be one of the most consistent soul winners. Other favorites are Four Things God Wants You to Know, No Strings Attached and A Moment Ago. One of the first booklets Good News brought out, The Best Thing in Life, continues to be a good soul winner with consistently high cir culation — close to a million per year. Other booklets that have brought the good news of salvation and which God has used to reach unbelievers are God’s Way of Sal vation, Priceless, Life’s Motion Pic ture, The Reason Why and Safety, Certainty and Enjoyment. As the year? have passed Good News has been enlarging its minis-
Superintendent Hultmark gives last-min ute checkover on copy in layout room.
encouraged Dennis in this hobby. They would use the spare bedroom as an office and stock room. Mrs. Dennis would be secretary and or der filler while her husband worked in the print shop at night prepar ing the literature after his regular working hours. This worked fine for about six months. Then the Dennises found that orders were increasing and so many Christians liked the new tracts with color that it was impos sible to keep up with the demand. Dennis realized that the Lord was leading him into a much needed ministry, and after much prayer he gave up his work with Lund Press to spend full time with his Good News Publishers. In 1940 the little business was moved to Chicago. Christian busi nessmen who had followed the Good News work since its inception helped him with the move and ad vised him regarding the decision to set up the ministry on a non profit basis. Then came the war years. The young company grew by leaps and bounds. Tracts and booklets by the millions began to reach our service men and chaplains in all parts of the world. Literally hundreds were won to Christ. By the last year of
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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