BEAMS at Monte Hebrón: Providing Bibles for Mexico and Central America

The BEAMS distribution ministry at Monte Hebrón connected the supply of whole Bibles with pastors, missionaries, and people beginning the Christian life. Under Carrie Suhl’s oversight, the campus served as a distribution center for workers in Mexico and Central America. The ministry’s reach included large conference distributions and the presentation of individual Bibles to newly baptized believers in the local church. [1, 2]

BEAMS—Bible Education and Missionary Service—provided the Bibles through a wider missionary supply ministry. Its relationship with Monte Hebrón helped place copies of Scripture into the hands of people who might otherwise have difficulty obtaining one. [1, 2]

The people behind the work

Julian Pope founded BEAMS. He was a friend of L. H. Ashcraft, Tommy’s father, and the father of Pastor Johnny Pope. By the period covered in the 2011 and 2015 accounts, René Frerét of Gulfport, Mississippi, directed the ministry. BEAMS supplied whole Bibles to missionaries and national pastors serving on fields around the world. [1, 2]

Carrie Suhl oversaw the distribution center at Monte Hebrón. By May 2015, she had worked with the ministry for several years and had supervised the center during the preceding years. Her responsibilities brought the wider Bible supply ministry into contact with workers serving congregations across Mexico and Central America. [2]

The material she distributed included BEAMS Bibles, gospel tracts, portions containing John and Romans, and other ministry resources. The annual volume ran into thousands, serving dozens of missionaries and national pastors. The center therefore supported both the supply of whole Bibles and the distribution of additional evangelistic literature. [2]

Bibles for pastors in Durango

An earlier distribution took place in Gómez Palacio, Durango, in 2011. Tommy preached at a pastors’ and workers’ conference in the church led by Antonio Gómez. More than thirty pastors attended, and Tommy brought three hundred BEAMS Bibles for distribution to them. [1]

The intended recipients extended beyond the conference delegates themselves. The pastors could take the Bibles to people who would otherwise be unable to own a copy. The gathering provided an opportunity to supply several congregations through the workers already serving them. [1]

At the same time, another shipment of one thousand BEAMS Bibles was waiting at the border to be brought into Mexico. The account shows the work at different stages: Bibles awaiting transport, Bibles delivered to pastors, and individual copies being presented to people in the local church. [1]

Conference distributions in 2015

Monte Hebrón’s annual conference provided another setting for supplying pastors. At the February 2015 meeting, attending pastors received 1,296 BEAMS Bibles. The distribution placed a substantial supply into the hands of workers gathered for instruction, preaching, and fellowship. [2]

Carrie also traveled to a conference in Campeche, on the Yucatán Peninsula, where she delivered 480 Bibles to pastors. Her work thus extended beyond receiving and distributing material at Monte Hebrón: it included taking Bibles to workers meeting in another part of Mexico. [2]

These were two distinct distributions—1,296 Bibles at the February conference and 480 in Campeche—rather than a complete annual total. They provide specific examples within the larger volume handled by the center. [2]

A Bible for a new believer

Within the Monte Hebrón congregation, BEAMS Bibles became part of the care offered to new converts. After someone made a public profession of faith and was baptized, the church gave that person a Bible on the next occasion he or she attended a service. [1, 2]

In November 2011, twenty new converts received Bibles on one Sunday morning. A spring 2015 account records another eight recipients who had been baptized. These individual presentations connected the distribution work directly with people beginning to learn and live the Christian faith. [1, 2]

Providing the Bible gave a new believer a copy of the Scriptures to read beyond the church service. The supply ministry and the congregation’s evangelistic work met in that practical act: placing the text used in preaching and teaching into the recipient’s own hands. [1]

A connection between supply and local ministry

BEAMS at Monte Hebrón operated at several levels. René Frerét and the wider BEAMS ministry supplied Bibles; Carrie Suhl oversaw distribution to pastors and missionaries; visiting workers carried copies into their own areas of service; and the local congregation presented Bibles to new believers. [1, 2]

The documented deliveries in Durango, at Monte Hebrón, and in Campeche show how conferences could serve as distribution points. The Sunday presentations show the same work at an individual level. Together, they preserve a picture of a ministry concerned with making Bibles available both to those teaching congregations and to those just beginning to study the Scriptures. [1, 2]