Against a backdrop of sales of $65 million last year and confident claims that theirs is the fastest-growing denomination, Jamaican Adventists are about to launch an aggressive book drive, but it’s definitely not about making money, they insist.

The book drive, while fulfilling the unchanging mandate of saving souls, will provide the Seventh-day Adventists (SDA) the opportunity to rediscover their roots in reading and selling books. That’s how they got started in Jamaica, according to church history.

It is about 1889-90. William Arnold, a colporteur (French word for seller of books), sold a book to man in Antigua. The unnamed man sent the book to his son, James Palmer, in Kingston, Jamaica. Palmer loved it. He asked the International Tract Society to send him more, which he distributed in Kingston. Out of those activities, a small group was formed – the first Adventists in Jamaica.

That group today has swelled to over 210,000 members, forming the bulk of what is known as the West Indies Union of Seventh-day Adventists. They are served by about 450 colporteurs whose ranks are about to be boosted by another 100, just in time for the book drive which kicks off tonight, one of the highpoints of a month-long family life crusade located in Marverly, St Andrew.

The man at the centre of the book drive is Joseph Barrett, director of the cash-rich Publishing Ministry of the West Indies Union. Barrett has a passion for books and reading, and his energy will be crucial in the islandwide push to get Jamaicans to “Buy a book, give a book, read a book” – the theme of the drive.

“We are changing the view that the black man doesn’t read,” said Barrett, dismissing the often recited claim that ‘if you want to hide anything from the black man, put it in a book’. “Every year, we sell more and more books. We are constantly under pressure to add more books to our stocks,” he told the Sunday Observer.

“Our experience is that people are buying and reading our books,” Barrett said, pressing home the point at an earlier press conference to announce the crusade and book drive. He had figures showing sales of $65 million last year to back up that claim.

Wayne Gentles, who manages the Book and Nutrition Centre for the East Jamaica Conference region – one of four regional managers – supported Barrett’s claim. “Last December, we brought in a shipment of 5,000 copies of one title and we are already sold out,” said Gentles.

“More non-Adventists are gobbling up the books than Adventists,” Gentles boasted, noting that among the best customers are doctors who can’t get enough of the health and nutrition books, a major emphasis of the publishing ministry.

Gentles oversees three book and nutrition centres in Kingston, Port Antonio and St Thomas. The other three regions are Central Jamaica Conference with stores in Portmore, Spanish Town and Mandeville; West Jamaica Conference with stores in Montego Bay, Savanna-la-Mar and Santa Cruz; and the North Jamaica Mission with outlets in Ocho Rios, Alexandria (St Ann) and Albert Town (Trelawny).

For tonight’s launch, Barrett has the significant support of the director of the publishing ministry for the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Maryland-based Jose Campos, half of a husband and wife team of evangelists who are the featured guests at the family life crusade.

Campos gave the book drive his blessing, noting that it came in the context of a global SDA publishing ministry of 58 publishing houses, using 210 languages, with 38,600 representatives operating in 210 countries.

“Last year, we had sales of US$1/2 billion. We sell wonderful books in full colour, distributed in the streets, dealing with a range of important subjects in health and nutrition, education, clean sex, lifestyle and so forth,” Campos told the press conference.

Campos said with the AIDS crisis raging – because of people’s improper sexual practices – Adventists would be trying to change that through books. “We have books that are trying to change that right now,” he said.

The other half of the duo, Adly Campos, who is president of the SDA-run Family Well-being International Inc, and a world renowned family therapist, will conduct nightly family counselling sessions from the Marverly Park, sharing her considerable experience with hurting families. Her teachings are reflected in many of the books that address strengthening family life.

Citing several reports of violence affecting children in only one edition of a local publication, Campos said when the church failed in its teachings, it was at the expense of the family and the society. “From God created Adam and Eve – the first family – no other factor in human history has been more significant than the family,” she argued.

Barrett had on display many of the tiles focusing on family life and lifestyle issues at the press conference. “This one (the book drive) is definitely not about making money,” he insisted “We want to bless and lift up our people through knowledge for the body and soul, to make a difference in the lives of Jamaican families.”