Bible booklets | What’s up with that?

Photo: Andrew Nawrocki

Working at a movie theater, I’ve noticed these small booklets showing up on the tops of the bathroom urinals. The covers say things like “Smile, Jesus Loves You,” “God Loves You” and “Personal Bible Verses of Comfort, Assurance, Salvation.” Who is behind these mini Bibles and why are they trying to inspire faith while people are peeing?—P.A., Uptown

The source of these “Bible booklets” is Sowers of Seed Inc. The 49-year-old Fort Worth printing company (sowersofseed.com) produces more than a million of the tiny 30-page pamphlets every year and sells them in bulk to evangelism organizations and individuals interested in spreading Christian doctrine. “The books can go where a preacher can’t. They can minister to people who might not be open to hearing about God from an individual,” says Brenda Downey, a longtime Sowers of Seed employee. “We’ve had many people come to the Lord through these little Bibles through the years. All the credit goes to the Lord. We’re just the vehicle.” The stories of fortuitous salvation have come from a vet who carried one of the books through rice paddies in Vietnam, a couple teetering on the edge of divorce and a man diagnosed with terminal cancer who was mulling suicide. “Recently, we heard from a family who survived last year’s Joplin, Missouri, tornado. Their house was gone. Sitting in the driveway was a little Bible that said ‘Smile, Jesus Loves You,’ ” Downey says. “I believe God puts these books strategically in places to let people know that he loves them. He cares enough that he would put a little tiny book right in the middle of your path.”