The Quarterly News Magazine of Torch Trust for the Blind
OUR AIM: To overcome sight loss as a barrier to finding a personal faith in Christ and to living a fulfilled Christian life.
From:-
TORCH TRUST FOR THE BLIND, Torch House, Torch Way, Northampton Road, Market
Harborough, Leicestershire, LE16 9HL, U.K.
Telephone: (01858) 438260, Fax: (01858) 438275, email: info@torchtrust.org
Charity Number 1095904.
“Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”. Jesus quoted this Scripture to refute temptation (Matthew 4:4). Matthew’s assertion that “he was hungry” seems a tad understated. He was starving - literally! Jesus had been fasting in a food-free desert for an extraordinary 40 days. He must have been so vulnerable to this temptation, so inclined to make bread from stones, as he was surely capable of doing.
Often when the word “bread” is used in Scripture (and elsewhere) it signifies the most basic of food - that which is essential for survival. This is not M&S Mediterranean sun-dried tomato and Andalusian extra virgin olive oil foccacia, this is ordinary fill-the-rumbling-tummy bread. God knows we need it. But it’s not enough. Jesus taught that we shouldn’t worry about food and clothing: “... your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:31-33).
We tend to see our physical needs much more clearly than those even more fundamental spiritual needs. It’s a matter of priorities. Though we need bread, we need spiritual food more. Without “our daily bread”, our bodies won’t survive. Without spiritual food - our souls cannot survive. It’s that serious. If we are not reading or hearing God’s word on a daily basis our souls will be undernourished, crippled with hunger and vulnerable to temptation.
This is a particular issue for those who cannot see well enough to read. My thoughts go back to the origins of Torch. It’s 1958. Ron and Stella had welcomed blind youngsters into their home and their Bible Club. Several had become Christians. They looked for suitable Christian literature to help them grow in the Faith, but found nothing suitable. In “Coping with the Camel” Stella wrote: “Here was a big, big need that was not being met. ‘What can we do, Lord? Where can we get something which will feed these young folk with Your Word?’ The words of Scripture came to us very clearly: ‘You give them something to eat!’ (Luke 9:13)”.
Jesus said this to the disciples when faced with a hungry crowd of 5,000 plus. The Heaths were as perplexed as the disciples must have been. “Us, Lord?”. Yet today Torch regularly feeds well over 12,000 blind and partially sighted people with Bibles, books and magazines which carry “the words of eternal life”!
Torch is in the food business. Not just ordinary food, or even M&S food - but something so much more satisfying that comes from one store only: “the mouth of God”.
Gordon Temple
[Torch touches many lives. Andrew tells his extraordinary life story.]
My name is Andrew Holyer, but I am usually known as Jake. When I left school, I became a commercial vehicle mechanic and in order to get to work, I bought a motorbike.
One day I was travelling along a fast road on my 850cc motorbike when a car dazzled me. I hit the car at speed and was rushed to hospital where I was in a coma. Despite my heart having stopped, my life was restored and after physiotherapy I left hospital. Then one day as I was going to work, a school bus that was heading in the other direction was in a hurry so cut across the junction and hit me. I was rushed 70 miles to hospital under police escort. Many people prayed for me; my mother, staying with friends nearby, came in every day, knelt beside my bed and prayed. The doctors held out little hope; their prognosis: a blind vegetable at the best.
While in my coma I saw a white light and there written across the white light in red letters of blood was the name Jesus. At that moment, Jesus met Jake and Jake met Jesus. From then on my recovery was miraculous.
When I came out of hospital I wanted to know more about this person, Jesus, whom I had met. So I started going to church.
Many years on, I am married, have a son and own a house. I am involved with several Christian things, including Through Faith Missions and The Walk of 1000 Men, where God uses me as the only blind evangelist. I daily listen to Every Day With Jesus, on tape from Torch, and listen to other Torch literature, allowing the Lord to lead me HIS WAY. I did the Christian Service Training course at the old Torch House in the 1980’s, and this helped me with grounding in the faith. The literature I receive helps me with living my Christian life, and to know that in spite of being physically blind, due to my conversion, I am no longer spiritually blind.
Underpinning everything at Torch is a deep-rooted commitment to discover God’s will and to follow it. Each year in January our Trustees get together for a two-day “retreat” - a meeting with extra opportunity to talk and pray together about the work of Torch, seeking to ensure that what we plan to do is lined up with God’s will.
Last year, we put making Connections at the top of our agenda. 12,719 blind and partially sighted people benefit from regular literature mailings from Torch House, but this is a tiny fraction of those we could be serving and it has not grown much in recent years. During last year we averaged 100 new contacts each month. Not bad until we put it in context. Each day, in Britain alone, 100 learn they are losing their sight.
We have made a start towards radically increasing the rate at which we make Connections with blind and partially sighted people and this must continue into the new year. Towards this aim we are getting ready to launch our weekly programme on Premier Radio by Easter. Listen out for it!
Thankfully God has brought us to a “spacious place” (2 Samuel 22:20). With the good equipment, technology and methods that were adopted as we prepared for the relocation to the new Torch House we feel we could comfortably serve many more blind and partially sighted people.
Our theme for 2007 is “Building for the Future”. As well as the ongoing Connections initiative there are three other priority aspects to our programme for the year ...
Values: Torch is a faith mission built on the values that came from Ron and Stella Heath’s determination to do things God’s way. With many new people working for Torch there are just a few of us that were involved in those formative years. It’s time we captured and interpreted those God-given values in a way that will inform the decision-making of generations of future leadership.
Systems: Throughout the history of Torch technological advances have helped us respond ever more effectively to the need. Braille embossing has evolved from “dot at a time” to “cell at a time” to “page at a time” and now “book at a time”. Now we are adopting new text preparation software developed by the RNIB that will enable us to speed braille and giant print transcription. Following the launch of the web page access to the library catalogue, we are also laying plans that will facilitate much more direct interaction with Torch via the Internet.
Leadership: God has always sent us committed and gifted people. As we seek God’s plan for the future of Torch we realise that the right leadership is essential. Recruitment, training, organisational change are all on the agenda as we seek to bring vision into reality, something we can only do with God’s anointing.
Pray that 2007 will be the year in which we lay sound foundations for the years to come, a year in which we discover more of God’s will for Torch as we build for the future.
Gordon Temple
May 1 - Day of Prayer (join in wherever you are)
May 15-18 - Christian Resources Exhibition (Esher)
June 16 - Open Day (at Torch House)
July 16-19 - Sight Village (Birmingham)
October 27 - Thanksgiving Service (Tonbridge)
Have you booked yet? There’s still space.
French Spring Harvest: September 2nd-11th - at the Spring Harvest holiday park on the west coast of France.
Israel holiday: September 15th-26th - based by the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Call 01858 438260 or email info@torchtrust.org for more information.
There’s a full programme at Torch HRC too. Call 01273 832282 or email Torch HRC@torchtrust.org to request a brochure or make a booking.
Administration - to support the Torch leadership, especially in developing volunteering activities.
Media Development - to raise the profile of Torch especially among blind and partially sighted people as a part of our Connections programme.
Production - to supervise production of giant print, braille and audio books and magazines.
The postman is kept very busy bringing us letters from blind and partially sighted people overseas, who read our magazines and library books. We are always encouraged when we read of lives being blessed and changed by the power of the Holy Spirit as they read them. We would like to share extracts from a very few of the many recent letters so you can rejoice with us in what our Mighty God is doing.
“Thank you for your wonderful gifts of Torch magazines, which you send to me - a friend in need is a friend in deed.” (Zimbabwe)
“The magazine of the Torch is most important in my gospel ministry. Many people have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour through the inspirational message I use in preaching from The Torch.” (Zimbabwe)
“Many thanks for all your spiritual materials I do receive - they help me grow spiritually in my day to day life.” (Zambia)
“Thanks be to God and for you to help me to know the Bible because of you at Torch. Right now I am a teacher for Sunday school, and I am able to preach in church because of you.” (Zambia)
“Each of our magazines is very helpful to me, our Saviour is Jesus who is the way to God.” (India)
“Sending me your magazines is one of the best things that God gave me in the year 2006.” (Egypt)
“I have found The Torch a great source of help and encouragement during this trying period of my life.” (Nigeria)
“Thank you for the provision of reading materials - it has gone a long way in blessing my spiritual life.” (Nigeria)
“Because of your materials I receive I am happy in Christ who is my Saviour as I can read Biblical literature and understand more about Christian love.” (Kenya)
“During my childhood I worshipped the Lord but didn’t know Him - but then I read the giant print The Torch issue 3 of 2006. There was the story from Matthew 16:13-16 where Jesus asks His disciples who men think He is. Peter gave the correct answer and I realised that I was one worshipping the Messiah I never knew. Believing the gospel that day brought salvation upon my flesh and I was born again.” (Zimbabwe)
“At first as I finished school I had nothing to do at home, only sitting and sleeping for there was no one whom I could be talking to. ... Having books ... really brings life in me ... they have brought me closer to Jesus and moved me up so I now have a clear understanding of spiritual life. Yes reading is now taking away my loneliness from me. I thank God for these books.” (Malawi)
“As an old woman the only friends I have now are books. I used to have a lot of hard times, no one to talk to, nothing to do. Jesus gives me happiness after reading the books. Books brings life in me ... Books takes away loneliness from me ... Books are like friends to me ... Books bring healing in me. Be blessed.” (Malawi.)
* * * * * *
Torch magazines are sent to 100 countries overseas.
There are 73 recipients overseas of UK Library books.
There are 30 small Torch sub libraries overseas.
Torch regularly sends magazines to 9079 blind and partially sighted readers overseas.
Extracts from emails from Malawi tell the following story:
“We in the Lower Shire area came out of 2006 without rains, but the first day of 2007 the rains began and it rained for a week.”
“People planted crops and the germination was quite good. Then there came a second rain. The small rivers flow down into the Lower Shire where we live and could not be contained - the rivers burst their banks hence washing away crops, houses and livestock.”
“One sad story regarding these floods is that a number of people lost their lives. There is a woman known personally who had her baby snatched by a crocodile from her back as she was trying to cross a river.”
“Some of the houses built for the blind people have been washed away and some have fallen down. This is a very sad situation. We are happy that some Christian organisations have initially helped some of these affected people with the basic needs.”
“We ask for your prayers regarding this bad news.”
“Yes we prayed for the rains but not like this.”
Janet Stafford tells how Torch is able to respond to the need:
Before all this happened Torch was packing a container, which left UK on Boxing Day for Malawi. God willing this container should arrive at Torch House, in Blantyre early March. I will be going out for that time to assist with the sorting and distribution of the goods.
The container includes many basic needs of clothes, soap and support items for blind and partially sighted people. The packing of the container was quite amazing as everything just found space; I was struggling to get the last package in when Gordon (Temple), came along and gave it a mighty shove! Although all the goods were generously given by folks like yourselves who have a heart for the Lord and others (which is wonderful and we thank you) the freight charge for transporting the goods is £3,500.
Set in Dezna, Western Romania, Torch’s summer camps reach out to blind and partially sighted children from across the country. These camps make a real difference in their lives. Last year about a dozen children acknowledged Jesus as their Saviour.
But to run the camps we will need a band of enthusiastic volunteers. The dates are August 6th-16th; volunteers pay their own travel and accommodation. For more information email JanetS@torchtrust.org
This is the spring issue of TFN, and in the Fellowship Groups we do feel the encouragement of new shoots and growth that this time of year brings.
Prayer and Planning groups have started in Bedford, Coventry, Nottingham, Southwark, Market Harborough and Scarborough, and there is interest in beginning groups in Rochdale, Kendal and Wellington. So, keep watching this space ...
Through a massive effort by Torch staff and volunteers, the New Testament is now available on CD in the DAISY audio format. Using special DAISY players the user can select book, chapter and verse. Packaged in a “DVD case” with a cover to match the print edition of the Today’s New International Version, it can be ordered from Torch or the RNIB priced £3.99. Here are a couple of comments from those who have purchased it.
Stephanie Sergeant: The DAISY New Testament is absolutely marvellous. I can look things up when I take Bible study now! Revelation is read with real expression, I listened to extra chapters this morning it was so good. The cross references will be incredibly useful, and it is so easy to find what I am looking for.
Tony Warren: As Mum has now had her DAISY bible for a month I thought you might like to know that she is really thrilled with it. She finds it easy to navigate to the passages she wants. The readers are very clear and very "English" (Mum was worried that perhaps American voices might be used!). Mum looks forward to the “old testament project”. Please pass on my mum's thanks to all involved in the project.
Very often, blind and partially sighted people arrive at big Christian events, only to find that there’s nothing but unusable standard print, or screens they can’t see. Working closely with event organisers, we’re trying hard to put a stop to that.
For instance, we’ve been working with Spring Harvest on their study guides and songbooks since 1991, and this year’s no exception. Last year, we also provided braille and giant print to the Keswick Convention, New Horizons in Northern Ireland, New Wine and, for the first time, Grapevine near Lincoln.
We have another first this year in the form of the Cheltenham Bible week, run by FIEC in August. Pray for us as we explain blind and partially sighted people’s requirements to event organisers with many other considerations on their minds. Our aim is for giant print and braille materials to be ready, waiting and available on a blind person’s arrival at the event.
Many of the Torch Fellowship Groups meet a crucial need among those losing their sight later in life but there are a few that cater specifically for younger, working-age blind and partially sighted people. These meetings are less frequent and more informal, but as with all Torch activities Jesus is at the centre. We hope there will be more of these Groups.
Meeting bi-monthly, around 20 blind and partially sighted folks travel from all over N Ireland - some meeting together for the first time since leaving boarding school 10-20 years previously! What excitement - and what a lot to catch up on! As we say in NI, “it’s great craic!” Laughing together, sharing experiences/gadgets/favourite music together - not to mention pizzas, pies and pavlova at suppertime!
Why not come and join us next time? - Friday 20th April, 2007
Contact: Cecil & Irenee (Bingham) - Tel: (028) 9332 3555
We meet informally three times a year to have fun together and to share our Christian faith.
Amongst other things we have enjoyed testimonies, Bible studies, discussions, musical afternoon, quizzes, carvery or pizza meals, boat and steam train trips and holidays. This month we are looking forward to a wonderful day of teaching and music with Peter Jackson.
Over the years friendships have developed and been the means of real encouragement and support for each other.
by Ildi Kalla
It all started a few years ago in Hungary, when a friend of mine gave me a tape of a blind Christian singer, Marilyn Baker, which I loved very much. I wanted to know more about her, so I went online, found her website, sent an email to the contact address given, and to my great surprise she answered it herself! That’s how our friendship started.
Then about a year later I told her I felt a desire in my heart to work for a Christian organisation, and she mentioned that Torch was looking for a librarian. First I thought “wow, what a coincidence!”, as I was working as a librarian, but I felt I just couldn’t leave so quickly. It meant leaving everything behind, my work, my home, my family and friends - and even my homeland.
However, after praying a lot about it, I felt God was telling me to step out in faith. So I put it all in His hands, asking Him to lead me and open doors or shut them. I came for an interview in the summer of 2006, and felt very welcomed. People seemed happy to see me, which was very encouraging, and I felt at peace about coming to work here. Throughout the whole thing, while everything was happening I kept asking the Lord to shut the door if it wasn’t His plan for me, but everything went quite smoothly, and so in November 2006 I started work here. I’m so glad now that I took that step of faith!
[Marilyn Baker is a Torch trustee. For further information on Marilyn’s ministry, visit www.marilynbakerministries.org]
Pam Ward was a regular guest at houseparties at Hallaton in the 1990s, and it was from this contact with Torch that she eventually came to work on the staff in 1998.
For all the time she was with us she worked in the production department, first, collating and checking magazines - a mundane and tedious job, yet she did it faithfully, taking encouragement from the fact that the magazines were going all over the world to be a blessing to many blind people. Then later she was involved with the despatch work. She was always a reliable and hard-working young lady, who overcame the disability of very poor sight and diabetes with the joy of serving the Lord in a humble yet very necessary job.
Pam has now left us to go home to live with her mother in Wisbech. We pray that God will bless her in the years ahead.
Last year God blessed us with an amazing surplus of income over expenditure. This came through the confluence of large legacies. Legacies income is an important component of the financial support for Torch but it is by nature “lumpy” with unpredictable timing. Last year’s generous legacy income masked a downward drift in the routine donations. The early part of the present financial year saw a further marked slackening. Running Torch costs around £2,200 per calendar day, yet daily donation income for the three months October to December amounted to only £733, covering just S of the running costs. The most predictable income for Torch comes from standing orders, and this has been gently growing but still only amounts to an average of just £112 per day.
Already the healthy bank balance is being eroded, threatening some of the projects in our “building for the future” plans. For example, we have just committed to put in place a massive data store that can hold all our audio books “online” with an off-site duplicate system to ensure this priceless collection is secure for the future. This is expected to cost around £10,000. We know we can trust God to provide for the work, but it is certainly challenging to see a growing gap between donation income and routine expenditure.
Gordon Temple