To the Editor:

I bring you greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. A special thanks to all of you who were drawn by the spirit of the Lord to read His Holy Word! What a great joy it was to be a part of this very special event and to meet and get to know many of you.

Isaiah 55:11 says, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the things for which I sent it.”

God, in his infinite wisdom, has been planning this event for some time. When the idea was discussed as being a part of the National Day of Prayer agenda, I jumped at the opportunity to coordinate this event for the first public reading in Caldwell County.

The committee wanted to include each and every church in Caldwell County. We mailed a letter to every church in the county. We had 21 churches respond to participate in the reading of God’s Word publicly at the Prayer Center in Princeton. We had over 250 people from these churches make a commitment, and sacrifice their time to read God’s Word.

There were still many time slots available for additional readers as we started the reading. God inspired many of the readers to sign up and read again at later times.

The International Bible Reading Association, in Murfreesboro, Tenn., told us that it would take 90 hours for the reading from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21. In talking with Fay Nelson, former coordinator in Henderson, she said it took them 84 to 87 hours to read the Bible from beginning to end. We read it in 76 hours and 40 minutes, finishing at 1:40 a.m. Thursday! Praise the Lord!

At 8 p.m. Sunday night, we had an opening service with praise and worship music by Don Hershman and the message on the Word delivered by Bro. Duane Burden of Midway Baptist Church. We started the reading at 9 p.m. Sunday night with Van Knight, Caldwell County Judge/Executive, being the first reader. Twenty-four hours later, we were reading in I Kings 16! Moving along! Forty-eight hours later, on Tuesday night at 9 p.m., we were in the book of Jeremiah. Wednesday at 7:20 a.m., we were finished with the Old Testament. Glenna Rowland of Fredonia was reading at that time.

The New Testament reading was going well with not many people missing their commitment to read! By late Wednesday evening, a calm reverence started to fall on the reading at the Prayer Center. It was now evident that we were going to read the Bible in fewer hours than projected. This was brought about by the many, and I mean many, gifted readers that we had come and read! We then started calling the remaining readers that had signed and committed to read God’s Word. One comes to mind during the calling; she was so disappointed because she and her husband were not going to be able to read! Oh, that all of us had that passion!

As the end of the Bible was approaching, Vic and Judy Greenlee were reading, Sharon Rustin, Don Hershman, Boone Chambers, James Mason and myself, surrounded the podium and we all read the last three verses of the Bible together!

Rev. 22:19…“and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. 20: He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus! 21: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” NIV.

Don then led us in praise and worship music for 30 minutes, just praising our Lord and Savior in the quiet night air, celebrating the first reading of God’s Word publicly in Caldwell County and Princeton! It was such a special time and I thank God for each and every person that helped and read. Most of all I want to thank the many of you that lifted this event up in prayer!

A special salute to Carol Koebel, State of Kentucky National Day of Prayer Coordinator; Phil Calkins, Caldwell County National Day of Prayer Coordinator; all the pastors that helped promote the event; Jeff French, my pastor; and Boone Chambers, Michael Rickard, Janica and Daren Yates, Gwen Hicox, Ann Barnwell, Rocky and Luisa Sears, Don and Kathy Hershman, Christy Shrewsbury, for putting in the time necessary to make this event such a success!

And most of all, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Alpha and Omega!

Stan Bramblett, Coordinator

Caldwell County Bible Reading Marathon

705 W. Main St.

Princeton, Ky. 42445