Purpose of the Open Bible Project

To make Bibles openly available to every person in Cambodia who needs the comfort and joy that is in the Word of God.

To remember Margaret Holz.  A devoted Christian, mother, and grandmother.

In Cambodia it is common for Bibles to be put away in the church and only brought out for classes and worship.  They are then locked away so as to protect them.  Pastors frequently worry about them getting worn out and not looking nice.  They want the Bibles to look beautiful in the event that their boss or whoever donated the money to purchase the Bible may come and see it in disrepair.  Whole boxes of Bibles have in the past been purchased and then left in the packaging for years to preserve the Bibles.  Or Bibles are stored away in separate rooms or in closed cabinets.  Church goers who don’t own their own Bible cannot take them out to study them at any time.

These pastors are burying their talents.  It is a frame of mind that we need to change.

The Word of God needs to be freely available to anyone and everyone and in their own language!

Christ’s words of hope, love, and comfort should be openly available to all who seek Him!

Through the Open Bible Project we are working to put as many Bibles into churches as possible, get those Bibles out in the open for all to see and use, and get them into the hands of individuals who need God’s grace and love.

In addition to purchasing Bibles for use in Churches, we will be purchasing shelves to hold these Bibles and put them out into the open in the churches for all to see and use.  We will teach the pastors not to worry too much because whoever steals a Bible is obviously in great need of it!

And finally we will purchase Bibles with covers to give to every girl who passes through TransformAsia’s New Development Center and the Battambang Trade School so that these girls can take comfort in the love of God and know that He will continue to love them and forgive them, no matter what they have been through and no matter what anyone has done to them.  They can use these Bibles, mark them up, read them daily and never worry about not being able to read God’s Word.

Please prayerfully consider contributing to this project so that the Word of God can be made available and known to everyone in Cambodia!

How we will use ur donation

How Much Does it Cost?

One Khmer Bible costs $5
A simple rattan shelf costs $15
A Bible cover will cost $3

Through a donation of $39 we can purchase 3 Bibles, with covers, and a shelf for a church.
If we can collect $5000 we can purchase enough Bibles and shelves for each TransformAsia church in Cambodia to have 25 new Bibles and a shelf.
Help us bring the word of God to the masses so that churches have Bibles not only to use but that they can give away to those who truly need God’s word in their lives and in their homes!

A Letter From Gregory Holz

My grandmother had quite a life.

She was born on December 17, 1913 in St. Louis, MO.  As a baby she was baptized and the Holy Spirit filled her and would never leaver her throughout her life.  During the Great Depression her father put her through college to become one of the first women ever to graduate from the University of Missouri with a bachelor degree in business. 

She was married to a Lutheran ministernamed Frederick Holz and lived with him in Pennsylvania where she gave birth to 3 boys; Arthur, Richard, and John.  However, in 1947 Frederick Holz died when my father was only 3 years old and Grandma was left to care for the boys all on her own.

She returned to St. Louis and because of financial difficulties she gave up John to be adopted and raised by her sister while she continued to raise Arthur and Richard on her own in 50s and 60s.

Later, her first ever grandchildren, twin boys, died at birth.  And beginning in the 90s her brothers and sisters and cousins began to succumb to old age.  However, despite all that had happened up to this point she kept on going and continued to be a faithful servant of the Lord.  She moved to Colorado to be near our family and was an almost daily fixture in the lives of my siblings and I.  We stayed at her home where she made us cinnamon toast and we played with old toys from the 50s.  And she was constantly involved with church.  Until she could physically no longer do it, she was volunteering in the church office to prepare worship bulletins, direct the seniors group at church, and even collect mite boxes for missions.  She was always telling us about our deep history and was proud of our family heritage in the Lutheran church.  Our family has been proud Lutherans for as long as Lutherans have existed.  And when I went to college I never had to worry about books because Grandma had it covered.

In 2001 she suffered the loss of her first son Arthur to a heart attack and within a few more years her last sibling passed away.  After this she yearned for God to take her home.  Yet despite these losses and her desire to be with the Lord, her faith never waivered.  Throughout her whole life her faith in Christ comforted her and kept her going.  Even while living in assisted living she tried to talk to and pray for all her friends she would make.  She continued to share God’s love to those around her.

Finally on April 24, 2011, on Easter Day, Grandma finally went to be with the Lord and all her family.  She was 97.  She probably appreciates that she could praise God and thank Him for her salvation shortly before she got to go meet Him.  Grandma was an extremely devout Christian whose faith never seemed to waiver and who proudly encouraged me to do the work I am doing as a missionary.

So in memory of my grandmother I am working with TransformAsia to try and get as many Bibles as possible for the churches in Cambodia.  The Word of God which gave her so much comfort throughout so many years, many of them filled with personal tragedy, kept her strong.  Just as we read in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10…

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

God’s grace covered her and in her weakest moments He made her strong.  Grandma would have wanted everyone to be able to share in God’s wonderful grace which strengthens us in our weaknesses and in our struggles.

Please help us to purchase as many Bibles as possible for Cambodia so that the amazing Word of God can bring comfort to this nation, just as it did for my grandmother!  Let us make the Word of God known to as many people as we can in the Kingdom of Cambodia!

Thank you and God’s blessings.

Sincerely in Christ,

Gregory Holz

Gregory Holz is the National Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries for TransformAsia.  He currently lives and serves in Battambang, Cambodia at TransformAsia Community Church.  The Open Bible Project is in remembrance of his grandmother, Margaret Holz.