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About
Early History Of Bible Memory Program, Inc. (by Harvey and Prudence Birky)
January 1, 1946, we left by car, towing a house trailer, for Sarasota, Florida, where we began Bible Memory work with children in the Pinecraft, Sarasota, Bradenton, and Tampa areas.
In the fall of 1947 we took an assignment with Children's Bible Mission of Lakeland, Florida, to go to Birmingham, Alabama, to begin a new work with Bible Memory in the public schools.
In a few years we were contacting 10,000 children each month in the public schools, with several hundred coming to Bible Memory camps.
Several workers from Middlebury Mennonite Church (where we attended before going south) came to Birmingham to help us in the weeks of summer camps. While there, they were so impressed with this new work that they asked to have the Bible Memory Program for their children in the Middlebury church. I said I did not think it would work. They said it would. The first year (1953) 16 children completed the 300 verses and were ready for camp. The leaders insisted that we come up from Birmingham and have a week of camp at Mennonite Youth Village in Michigan.
From this small beginning, the work began to grow and increase year after year. First it was placed under a local committee. Then it was put under the Indiana-Michigan Conference. As the work continued and spread into other areas and states, a new corporation (not under the Conference) was formed under the name of Bible Memory Program, Inc. The program is still supported by the gifts of interested churches and individuals. In 1956, the number of camps became too large for Mennonite Youth Village. Various campsites were rented for several years until, in 1959, Bible Memory had the privilege of having the first camp at Perrin Lake, now known as Amigo Centre.
Recent History
We are charter members of Mennonite Camping Association (MCA) and joined Christian Camp and Conference Association (CCCA) in 1974.
In 1993 we purchased our first building and in 2002 moved into our current office located at 1014 North Greene Road, Goshen, IN.
The Bible Memory Program is used by approximately 135 churches and a number of home groups in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Florida, South Dakota, Virginia and Pennsylvania. There are currently over 1,200 young people involved monthly in the ministry.
