Saturday, December 5, 1998

Evangelical publisher takes 'the Word' to Russians

By TOM KISKEN

Scripps Howard News Service

When Bill Greig Jr. visited Moscow in 1987, the Soviet Union was a communist, atheist nation. Bibles were banned.

The evangelical publisher from Ventura, Calif., learned he could display Bibles at an international book fair but shouldn't hand out the books. Men and women came to his booth with pencils and notebooks. They copied favorite verses to take home, peeking over their shoulders to make sure no one was watching.

It was then Greig began to realize his mission was delivering the Word to Russia and other formerly communist nations.

"The whole USSR had been starved for the Bible, for the word of God, for 70 years," said Greig, a 74-year-old Presbyterian who says he is following God's will by committing his energy to Russian publishing.

His company, Gospel Light, is printing the rebuilding Russian Orthodox Church's only Sunday School curriculum. It will be used by as many as 15,000 parishes and also is intended for public schools where its lessons about honesty and love will be tapped for their moral value.

"They don't know what's right or wrong," Greig said of Russia's youth. "They don't know because they've been lied to forever."

Greig has traveled to the former Soviet Union two dozen times over the past decade. He sees the Sunday School materials as a way to rebuild the religious foundation of countries spinning in economic and moral crises.

"As in any country, the kids who go to school now are the ones that will lead in the future," said Zhanna Berezkina, who immigrated from Russia seven years ago and now works with Greig as vice president of the publishing project. "All they care about now is to go to McDonald's and watch MTV."

During a speech earlier this year in Moscow, Greig blamed Americans for exporting pornography and immoral television, films and advertising. He asked Russians for their forgiveness. Observers said he was greeted with a standing ovation.

His son, Bill III, said Greig's commitment to the Russian publishing project is absolute.

"He's willing to die for it," he said. "He's 74 years old and he's traveling in one of the most dangerous places in the world. He's like, 'Don't worry about me.' "

Greig has been publishing Christian materials for more than 50 years. He inherited Gospel Light from his father and last year passed it on to Bill III.

It's one of the nation's larger Christian publishing houses, grossing more than $20 million a year. Much of the money comes from Sunday school manuals and student guides used by 10,000 churches, as well as vacation Bible School materials used by about 25,000 churches.

Though the word-of-the-Bible texts are used by mainline denominations, the biggest customers are Baptists and the growing nondenominational charismatic churches.

Gospel Light employs 120 people at its Ventura offices, with another seven people at a Russian publishing office in St. Petersburg. The company publishes about 35 books a year, ranging from tomes that explain spiritual healing to the reference guide, "What the Bible is All About."

The Russian project is part of Gospel Literature International, which publishes books in 100 languages. About 20 titles have been printed in Russian, including books by born-again Watergate defendant Charles Colson and religious right spokesman Dr. James Dobson.

Greig retired from the company last year but has taken the Russian project as his own ministry. Already a students' guide has been published for kids ages 7 and 8, with a second due in January.

By 2005, the texts will cover ages 3 to 18.

That's important because of the dearth of religious training in Russia, said Constance Tarasar, who lectures at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in New York state. Not only were religious materials banned during most of the communist reign, but many Orthodox churches were shut down. Only a few families braved the risks of attending the churches that survived.

"There was a church, it's just that the church was chained for 70 years," Tarasar said.

Greig doesn't know if it will make a difference -- if the Russian Orthodox Church will reclaim what he sees as lost souls.

But he has a hunch.

"You want to know why I keep going over there?" he asked. "Because I think God's going to do it. I don't know how."

(Tom Kisken writes for the Ventura County Star in California.)