Veteran Northwest Christian publisher reaches out to world

By RICHARD KOE

GRESHAM - John Van Diest, longtime Christian publisher born and raised in the Northwest, has a heart and vision for enabling Christian publishing worldwide to thrive for the cause of Christ while there is still time.

A Christian publisher for 35 years, including 20 years as director of Multnomah Publishers before it was sold to his son-in-law, Don Jacobsen, in Sisters, Van Diest has been a vital part of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, whose members have a deep burden for literature ministry overseas.

In January 1990, association members initiated the Moscow Project in Russia, joined by the International Bible Society and other Christian organizations, which led to the distribution of 4 million Russian-language New Testaments in Moscow and other parts of what was then the Soviet Union.

This great impetus led to the formation of Evangelical Christian Pub-lishers Outreach (ECPO) in 1994 to enable Christians worldwide to publish and distribute the gospel with maximum effectiveness in the own culture. Simply put, ECPO became an international ministry connection, and Van Diest was helping to lead the charge.

ECPO became the Global Publishers Alliance with Van Diest as interim president and later as vice president of program development, responsible for overseeing the alliance's various projects around the world. His first overseas trip was to Hong Kong, where he met with publishers and established a strategic partnership.

Van Diest told his fellow evangelical publishers that he believes they have a unique opportunity and responsibility to band together and do some significant things in what he believes are the last days before Christ returns. "If not us, who? If not now, when?" he asked.

In 1998, the alliance approved and funded eight worldwide projects, including a publishing company in Nigeria; a Christian bookstore in Warsaw, a Christian magazine in Poland; bookstalls in Bulgarian churches; a bookstore in northeast India; publishing seminars in Eastern Europe and China; and Christian publishers in China and Russia

Van Diest brought many these project into fruition with trips to Poland, Russia, Nigeria, and China, working with key personnel in opening bookstores, setting up literature distribution systems, and starting Christian magazine training institutes.

Today, Van Diest has 20 projects under way with new nations added such as Romania, Iraq, South Africa, and Mozambique.

The alliance has shipped 30 tons of Christian books to Baghdad, Iraq since the war began, with a four-story building used as a ministry center. English versions of Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life were made available to American and British troops, as well as 10,000 copies in Arabic to the Iraqi population.

Van Diest also has started a database with the help of many U.S. Christian publishers, an "Adopt-a-Publisher" program for developing nations that involves training and exchange of personnel, and more training missions in China and Eastern Europe with the goal of starting 200 Christian magazines.

In the recent tsunami disaster in South Asia, the alliance has been busy distributing Christian books and literature to victims within the various countries, including material provided by Walk Thru the Bible Ministries. Van Diest is thankful that Christian bookstores and publishing houses are not located in coastal areas where the tsunami hit.

More travels await Van Diest this year, including trips to Colorado Springs for two days of planning work for the alliance, Anaheim, Calif., for the National Religious Broad-casters Conference, and Nashville, Tenn.

Being an advocate for Christian literature across the globe doesn't interfere with Van Diest's other publishing pursuits. He still manages to work with authors, recruit writers, make acquisitions, and write more books. Two days each week is devoted to Tyndale Publishers of Wheaton, Ill. He believes that the best books are yet to be published.

As for his own publications, Van Diest authored a series of books in 1998 on 10 Reasons Why, addressing the greatest concerns and interests of Christians today and offering clear, relevant Biblical solutions and responses.

With Alice Gray and Steve Stephens, Van Diest published 13 titles of Lists to Live By. This series has also been translated into Spanish, and is recommended by the Center for Conscious Parenting as supporting the "joy and reality of family."

In January 2000, Van Diest completed a book titled Unsolved Miracles, a collection of uplifting stories that reveal God's wondrous and endearing love for mankind..

Contributors to the book included Billy Graham, Max Lucado, James Dobson, David Jeremiah, Chuck Colson, and Joni Eareckson Tada.

Regarding Global Publishers Alliance, headquartered in Tempe, Ariz., Van Diest said its potential work is huge. "People across the globe are hungry for books, many markets are wide open, and there are few or no barriers to publish and distribute Christian literature around the world."

To contact the alliance, write to 1969 E. Broadway Road, Suite Two, Tempe, AZ 85282. To reach Van Diest, phone 503-663-5426.