THE SURFERS BIBLE INFORMATION

ESSENTIALS & FAQ

 

OVERVIEW & ANSWERING YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT THE LAUNCH OF THE NEW SURFERS BIBLES & DIGITAL PLATFORM

 

Six Nations

We are in this together in the CS family and are grateful for everyones support to get this latest amazing resource finally into peoples hands and the digital platforms finished after a lot of hard work, planning and fundraising. Thank you!

To help us deliver this each of the six nations has an appointed ‘Surfers Bible liaison person’ who is connecting with Mel from the global SB team, they help to ensure oversight of the distribution and fulfilment of orders and connect with their National Leader on queries.

Each nation manages their own allocated stock of Bibles and decides where the Bibles are stored, who gets them and how many. (We have an average of 50% being distributed to CS chapters/groups during July 2024 and the rest kept for online orders and restocking for the next year approx).

Each nation also has identified a media person and a finance person to help make communication clear.

Bible costs

The Bibles cost approx USD$8 to produce and are being given away for FREE. If the person is a non believer/doesn’t have a Bible / has never had God’s word there is no cost at all if given person to person!

To make this project sustainable though the team decided:

  • If ordered online via the new website the Bible is free but the fulfilment and shipping cost will be charged at a flat rate for each of the six nations.

  • To Christians/ CS family, we will be emphasizing online and in person to our chapters/groups that if you already have a Bible to ‘pay it forward’ / cover the cost for a friend AND donate one for someone else in the future to get a free Bible / give so we can develop into new languages.

  • If you have a CS event and Christians want to take a copy for a friend, we suggest having an ipad/ mobile device/QR code link to the ‘GIVE A BIBLE’ page of the website so they can choose to make a donation at the time of receiving a Bible AND we can capture their personal details. Or take their email and follow up with an email and donate link later.

  • Also, we cannot ‘sell’ Bibles due to grant stipulations. Therefore do not use the language of ‘buy, sell, shop’. Use ‘pay it forward, give, donate, free Bibles’.

  • We can only emphasize, suggest and inform people of the need for sustainability and donations from believers and we cannot enforce it, and of course we have had some very geenrous people who have helped fundraise for us to get this far already.

How many Bibles can be ordered?

Bibles on the website can be ordered individually, or in multiples, or in boxes of 48x copies.

Staff/Chapters/Groups can make email requests to the SB liaison in their nation. Each nation manages their own stock levels.

For repeat or large orders, from churches for example, it will be on an individual basis (decided by the ND & SB liaison) and a recommended donation matrix provided for donation amounts and delivery costs.

Stocktaking & Tracking

The ‘Surfers Bible liaison person’ will manage the global SB Stocktracker spreadsheet and keep it updated by the end of each month. It is important to track where all the stock is and how many are given away so we can collect data to help us plan for the future.

Finance

The designated ‘Finance’ person from each of the six nations is responsible to fill in this global SB Finance spreadsheet and keep it updated by the end of each month. Please add receipts to the spreadsheet and you can copy/paste data from your accounting software to log expenses. This is to ensure we have clarity on expenditure and Casey from CSI office can organise reimbursements to each nation for any expenses.
We will cover the standard costs of printing the resources to go with the Bibles; such as the Postcards, the postage costs for online orders, the fulfilment process and storage fees, posting to chapters/groups/driving drop offs, but as each nation is different we recommend a conversation with Casey to ask specific questions casey@christiansurfers.net.

Data

When people order online via the Surfers Bible website we will capture their personal details via the payment gateway and the opt in default options will be:

  1. Receive Surfers Bible / CSI communications

  2. Receive your CS Nation communications - IF agreed to we will be able to share their details for you to contact them and add them to your mailing lists. We need their permission to share data in a secure way and for GDPR compliance across all nations.

Printed Resources to go with the Bibles & Comms

We made an ‘Instruction Sheet’ to be printed and go with every bundle or box of Bibles (or emailed) this is aimed at the person responsible for their distribution so they have some basic info & instructions. This could be a Chapter/ Group leader, a Church or youth worker, it includes the whats app group link for questions.

Global ‘Postcard’ from the Surfers Bible Project should be printed and tucked inside/given away with EVERY copy of the Bible. (Through local chapters/groups and with Bibles ordered online). This is to create awareness that there is a worldwide tribe of surfers who love Jesus that they can belong to and connect with, give them a greater perspective!

Each nation is free to create their own ‘CS national extra printed resources’ to be given out with the Bibles as well. We highly recommend that this would help guide the individual receiving the Bible in this nation to connect with local CS groups and events…the next steps to connection with real surfers and CS family. We have made resources available in Canva for you of bookmark designs/flyers. Please use the CS Brand guidelines to keep the style looking like one united family.

Canva doc link / Join the CSI Canva account here

The ‘Social Media Comms Plan’ has been created by cyle@christiansurfers.net and has been sent directly to each of the six nation media reps to help implement, along with resources in Canva and a folder in our google drive. If you have questions please contact him. The key to reaching as many people as possible is EVERYONE in CS sharing on their own personal platforms.

CS Chapters / Groups launch and promotion

The Surfers Bible website & QR codes linking testimonies and stories went live on 1st July and the CS Chapters that have Bibles can give out the physical copies locally. This is a CS internal soft launch phase. HOWEVER, we’ve had to push back the front facing PUBLIC campaign to 23rd July 2024…The UK & South Africa have had delays in getting their physical stocks (due by end July), the French translation work is coming together and we are still testing and finalising the online ordering processes in each nation. From the 23rd July we will have every country in the same place and be able to share more clearly with the public that the Bibles can now be ordered online.

CS Internal launch phase - It is a soft campaign until 23rd July but we encourage the six nations with local CS Chapter/Groups to plan prayer nights, host themed bible studies, think about beach missions and events to use these Bibles in the coming months…as they are an incredible tool in our global mission; so that every surfer has the opportunity to know Jesus! And don’t forget to thank those in your local communities who have already donated to make this possible!

For CS family this is a tool to reach friends:

  • Create as much awareness and hype as possible for first month amongst your nation’s CS crews.

  • Encourage individuals in your nation to share to personal accounts / stories / profiles for a greater online reach and to follow @thesurfersbible_ and @christiansurfers_

  • Subscribe to the YouTube channel @TheSurfersBible and watch full length video testimonies

Public External launch - Starting 23rd July…everything in the back end is complete and online ordering can begin in six nations! This is to reach non believers, by seeker friendly in language and tone via social media. Also through telling our friends and through mobilising local CS crew, we want to make an impact and share God’s word with a wide audience! We will be using language and comms that speaks to them and praying our CS family will be bold in their faith and for God’s continued blessing.

For people outside our network we want them to:

  • Request a Surfer Bible

  • Connect to community

Website / Digital platform

THESURFERSBIBLE.com digital platform with QR coded links to the new physical Bibles will go live on July 1st. The online ordering system will be live and active later in July, the six platforms are currently being created and tested. Our deadline is July 23rd for online ordering ALL six nations. (Pray!)

The key messages are ‘GET a Bible’ and ‘GIVE a Bible’ with ordering online systems PLUS all the interviews, links, Bible reading plans, video testimonies designed to compliment the Bibles will be found here. It will be available in English and French translations.

All orders/requests should be coming through this website only and not be available for ordering via your own websites please, you can add links from your own website to this new platform. This will help funnel all comms and make for a better customer journey and experience.

Fulfilment & Delivery in each nation

The Surfers Bible liaison person is helping with the process and system in place for requests for more Bibles from local Chapters/Groups and Churches and managing the stock levels. Each nation has a longer term storage venue/plan for the boxes of Bibles.

Orders from the new website will be fulfilled by each of the six nations via an appointed person or company. This is being overseen by Mel with the SB liaison and each country has a unique set up and situation. We want this process of fulfilment to be as professional and simple as possible and giving the best customer service that we can. Answering queries, special requests and logistics as best we can!

All enquiries can be directed to hello@thesurfersbible.com


Olympics

This year in Paris they start July 26th – August 11th, and the surfing events in Tahiti are July Saturday 27th - Wednesday 31st approx. We have French Bibles already there along with a local CS team who have been preparing and praying for this…as well as mission teams active in France to give out the Bibles during this exciting time.

Errors, links not working, concerns, questions?

Please get in touch straight away! Message in the Whats app group, other people might be wondering the same thing?
Or send us an email to hello@thesurfersbible.com
We are learning as we go and are inviting any feedback and queries as we develop this project and trust God will grow it more than we can ask or imagine! We are sure there are things we have not thought of - so let us know!

Stories, Testimonies & Feedback

We welcome stories, testimonies, images, comments and God incidents reported back to us via a more personal email address team@thesurfersbible.com This is so important to share and encourage across the movement to know how God is using this tool, so do keep in touch! We want to celebrate what God does in peoples lives and find more people to interview in the future!

FAQ

1. How much do they cost exactly? We suggest these donation amounts for 1x Bible / Pay forward for another to be given away:

USA $8 ‘Pay it Forward' for US$16.

EURO €8 ‘Pay it Forward' for €16.

AU$12 ‘Pay it Forward' for AU$24.

NZ$13 ‘Pay it Forward' for NZ$26.

UK£7 ‘Pay it Forward' for £14.

ZAR 150 ‘Pay it Forward’ for ZAR 300.

2. Where do we ship to? What about other countries outside of the six nations? = We can only ship to the six nations via the website automated system, it’s our first time testing the system and processes and we don’t want to complicate things. BUT requests can be made to hello@thesurfersbible.com or to the SB National liaison for each country to make alternative arrangements as a one off special post or via a local CS group/contact. For European orders we will manage those requests individually via Mel.

3. Flat Shipping rates to come…

4. What languages will you do next? = We are already having conversations about new languages; Spanish, Portugese & Mandarin are possible options… we also have the digital platforms, interviews and resources which can be translated as soon as possible. re-printing Bibles is expensive and so we will need to have the funds available to print more or new languages again!

5. Who is the Surfers Bible team? = This is a global project by Christian Surfers International with a growing team all working on different areas to bring this together.
Oversight - Roy - CSI Director / Project Manager - Jono - from CS Australia / Project Driver - Mike - CS Australia / Finance & Budgets - Casey - CSI Office / Ops & Logistics - Mel - CSI Office / CS S Africa / French Project Manager - Audrey - CS France / Comms - Cyle - CSI Office / Media - Rees / Website Dev - Spark - Australia / Design Style - Ben Hawkins - CS Australia / Plus numerous freelancers and consultants!
6. Who are the Surfers Bibles liaisons? = USA - Emily / France - Laurence / Australia - Lisa / New Zealand - Rachel / UK - Trish / South Africa - Lynette

Got more questions? - Please join the whats app group (see QR code at the top) or email hello@thesurfersbible.com