Little Red Book Ministry

A. Defining a new opportunity
Once you recognize an area of opportunity in which you feel led to start a new ministry, you need to carefully and prayerfully consider just how much you can handle and how far you can take it. You should also seek the advice of your pastor and other Christians whose judgment you trust. It is helpful to develop a written plan which details:

1. The need, as you see it
2. The method by which you can meet the need
3. The cost in time and money
4. The results you can reasonably expect to achieve with God’s help

B. The Little Red Book story
The idea behind the Little Red Book ministry came when Tommy Tilman, a great missionary to the lepers in Southeast Asia, came to the First Bible Baptist Church in Rochester, New York to present his burden for these people and their special needs. During his message, God began to deal with the hearts of a number of men in the congregation who all worked for the same company. These men began to meet together during their coffee breaks to discuss these needs and what they could do about them. One of these men, Ron Giannetto, felt led to organize the conclusions of these discussions into a formal ministry. Thus, a ministry dedicated to meeting the needs of foreign missionaries was born.

As these men were led of God, they began to “put their money where their heart was” and the ministry was able to meet some of the needs that Tommy Tilman had presented. They also began to meet special needs of other missionaries out of their own church. It soon became apparent that the single greatest need of all missionaries was well written evangelistic material. Through the coordinated effort of a Christian artist and several knowledgeable people, the Little Red Book tract was created. It was determined that this would be given freely to missionaries as the Lord provided funds for printing.