Give The Gospel, Part I

One of our taglines that you’ll see is - Write the Gospel. Give the Gospel. 

So what do we mean by “Give the Gospel” and the story behind it. I know that many of you have gotten excited about this vision, and we’re excited too. I hope ultimately the journals stand on their own from a quality standpoint. But, I do hope that the giving of Bibles becomes a hallmark for what DEN is known for.

When Double Edged was born in May 2015, there was no such idea for printing a Bible for every journal sold. It wasn’t on my radar at all. We were going to print our journals here in the United States. Going overseas made me nervous primarily because I didn’t want to use cheap, child or exploited labor. And so I wasn’t going to do to print overseas. And that was that. Or so I thought.

Most printers in the States wouldn’t even bid the project. One did. And they came back with prices between $18-25 per unit. It soon became clear that we weren’t going to be able to print our ideal journal.

We started making wholesale changes and we got the product down to around $3/unit, but I didn’t like it. I frankly wouldn’t buy it myself, and I was unsure as to what to do. I was close to pulling the trigger but it just didn’t feel right.

As chance would have it, I was meeting with two gentlemen from Watermark (my church) about my business idea in late July, when one (John Royer) mentioned to me that he knew a guy who lived in Dallas that had a plant in Asia that printed paper products.

Well, that changed the equation for me. Before long I was talking to some new friends in Asia about the journal, and it became clear that it might just be feasible.

In those conversations, the desire within me welled up to figure out a way to give back and to partner with Asia, countries that were closed to the Gospel. I remembered a sermon from 2014 (I think) from Jonathan Pokluda where he played this video about Chinese people getting their first Bible. It overwhelmed me then and had lingered with me ever since. One day in August, I recalled it vividly.

While I was wanting to push people to become 2 Tim 2:15 workmen, there were people all over the world that didn’t even have their own Bible in which they could accurately handle the word of truth.

Then the Toms shoes model rang clearly in my head. Double Edged was not going to exploit Asia. It was going to partner with Asia and do its best to give back.

A journal sold would equal a Bible given. And not just a Bible anywhere, but a Bible distributed in a country closed to the Gospel.

To continue, check out part II.