Bible Cookies Offer crumbs Of Wisdom

Bible Cookies Offer crumbs Of Wisdom AG WORLD Ag World 21-1-20 The way to the soul is through the stomach. So it seems to Bill Heiland of Minneapolis, Minn., who tucks Bible verses into fortune cookies. He calls them "Scripture Cookies" and he expects to sell about 600,000 this year. He says God gave him the idea in a dream. "I'm not called to preach," says the 58-year-old Catholic. "This is how I evangelize." Heiland will soon launch his second product - suckers with Bible verses on the sticks. "We expect they'll be really popular next Halloween," says Heiland. He had no experience in the food industry, but he stepped down from his job to work on the new business. "I love doing this - it's in my blood," says Heiland, who attends mass every day. "It's a good way to spread God's word with-out forcing religion on people." Heiland's cookies are baked in the Minneapolis ovens of Sunny Kwan, a Chinese Buddhist who makes fortune cookies for a living. Heiland enlisted nuns to sort and pray over the verses. "It makes us feel close to God," says Sister Rose Alice Althoff. Heiland's cookies are packaged in the same bubble wrap as fortune cookies and generally sell for 25 cents. Inside the sweet treats, Bible verses are printed on small slips of paper. Jan Morford, manager of Osterhus Gift & Book Store in Robbinsdale, Minn., says customers buy the cookies for weddings, Christmas stocking stuffers, Sunday School classes and mother-daughter teas. "It's a great novelty item," says Morford. "People are interested in what the verse has to say." Says Heiland: "When I started out, I'd give cookies to taxi drivers and stewardesses and say, æHere's a good word for you.' It's a nice, non-threatening way to share God's word." Heiland has a folder stuffed with letters from people around the country attesting to his cookies' value. One woman said she gives them out at prayer meetings. A parent wrote that the cookies were the only way to get her son to read the Scriptures. Another woman asked him to send the cookie recipe and discount coupons. A bag of 50 cookies sells for $13.50 including S&H; 100 cookies sell for $21 including S&H. There's a money-back guarantee if you don't like them. For more information on Scripture Cookies, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Evangelistic Foods, Box 16410, Minneapolis, Minn. 55416 (ph 800 743-0142 or 612 915-1014).

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