HURRICANE KATRINA FUND:

CONSIDER HELPING PASTORS & SEMINARY STUDENTS REPLACE THEIR LIBRARIES

Friends/Colleagues of The GRAMCORD Institute:

We are all aware of the devastation which the City of New Orleans experienced because of Hurricane Katrina.  Not everyone is aware of the tremendous damage done to the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary campus, including the prolonged flooding of so many student and staff residential units. (At the recent ETS conference, NOBTS seminary faculty told me that when students and staff were finally allowed to return to the campus for a short visit in order to recover their personal property, many drove away with empty U-Hauls and trailers — because there was literally NOTHING salvageable to take elsewhere.)  Throughout the city — and indeed throughout the entire swath of Katrina's path — countless pastors and their support staffs are reeling from what for many will prove to be the biggest challenge of their ministry careers. The physical and emotional toll has been enormous for everyone — and we all know that many seminary students and ministers were already living very sacrificially with limited finances long before Katrina added to their daily burdens.

Here at The GRAMCORD Institute we immediately began hearing from various GRAMCORD FOR WINDOWS and GRAMCORD Lite (for Palm & Pocket PC) users who had lost CDROM's and software documentation. Fortunately, they discovered that we've always offered free update (and replacement) software on our website and we routinely replace several lost installation sheets by email on a daily basis -hurricanes or not. For those who have no Internet broadband access, we have been shipping replacement media and documentation at no charge and we feel privileged to serve our brethren (and sisters) in this small way.  However, the more reports we hear from seminary students, professors, and pastors in the devastation areas, the more we have become convinced that we should do more to aid and encourage the Lord's ministry family.  The GRAMCORD Institute is a non-profit entity incorporated under State laws which do not allow the retention of earnings.  (In other words, we must finish our fiscal year breaking even after all funds are expended on ministry projects.) Therefore, early in our fiscal year this ministry is not in a financial position to contribute significant dollars to the many "Katrina restoration funds" organized by friends of various seminaries, churches, and denominations.  So we believe that the Lord would have us contribute what we do have in replacement of what so many lost: original language Biblical texts, exegetical tools, Bible translations, and Bible reference books on CDROM.  We've already asked the faculty of NOBTS to nominate international students at the seminary in need of such resources, especially those who lack the "support networks" which aid most of their American peers. And as our funds permit (yes, we must pay significant royalties and expenses even on Bible software that we donate), we would like to extend this assistance to not only so many seminary students who have lost their entire personal Bible study libraries, but also to many pastors in the areas of devastation who have lost their homes, church offices and sanctuaries, and virtually everything they owned!  Fortunately, many were able to take their computers with them in fleeing the hurricane even while their Bible reference libraries (accumulated slowly over a lifetime) had to be left behind. Therefore, the more we talk to the region's pastors and the more we hear and pray for the needs there, the more we would like to ENCOURAGE the many emotionally and physically (and even spiritually) exhausted students and pastors who deserve to experience some GAINS among the enormous losses. We've already asked our seminary colleagues who know pastors in these areas to nominate additional recipients of our GRAMCORD FOR WINDOWS GNT/HMT/LXX/NAS95 and related software donations. And yet the more we "open the coffers", the more needs we encounter.

The GRAMCORD Institute does not have unlimited resources and yet we don't want to turn away deserving pastors and students who have experienced such losses of ministry books/tools even while they are dealing with traumatic events and physical deprivations and going without the daily comforts and luxuries that most of us take for granted. Amidst all the difficulties they have experienced in recent months, we would like to provide — and indeed we have already been providing — not just some token material gift but a complete set of original language Bible texts and the kinds of Bible study software tools that will save ministers/professors/students time in preparing sermons and class handouts and assignments and at least partly make up for the loss of their personal libraries. In our almost thirty years of ministry, The GRAMCORD Institute has never made an overt appeal for donations. And there is still a part of me which is hesitant to ask of donations — but the needs brought about by Hurricane Katrina are probably among the most urgent most of the affected ministers and students will ever experience.  Would you consider sponsoring GRAMCORD Institute Bible software to replace a pastor's or seminary student's personal Biblical exegesis reference materials?  And keep in mind that direct donations to the non-profit GRAMCORD Institute's Bible education projects throughout the world isn't the only way to help.  All proceeds from GRAMCORD Institute software orders help to fund this ministry's unique mission throughout the world.

Sincerely,

Professor Paul A. Miller
Acting Executive Director & Founder, The GRAMCORD Institute


P.S.  If you plan to take a tax-deduction for donations to The GRAMCORD Institute's Hurricane Katrina Fund (or any other TGI project), please contact us for special instructions.  (Plus consult your tax advisor for regulations specific to donors in your country.)

These are general guidelines and only the IRS and your professional tax accountant can determine the eligibility of your donation for tax-deduction purposes.

We thank you for your support of Greek and Hebrew Biblical language tools and databases -- and for sponsoring nearly 30 years of GRAMCORD Institute research!