Oak Brook puts its mark on Bible

Tim Paneitz and his wife, Brooke, have spent the better part of the last month immersed in the Bible, verse by verse.

Paneitz, a youth pastor from Ormond Beach, Fla., was in Oak Brook Sunday as part of the Bible Across America project, sponsored by Zondervan, a Christian publishing house.

For the past month, the couple has traveled from city to city on behalf of the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based company getting people to hand-write a verse of the Bible.

By February, the company hopes to have all 31,173 verses of its translation of the Bible compiled, with an index of all its contributors.

"People ask why we need their telephone numbers," Paneitz said as a small group of members from Christ Church of Oak Brook waited in line to contribute to the project. "We joke and tell them we're creating the world's largest Christian telephone book."

Zondervan began the project to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the publication of the New International Version of the Bible, a translation used mostly by Protestant and Christian Evangelical churches.

About 200 members of the Oak Brook church contributed in writing lines from four books of the Bible: Numbers, Deuteronomy, Numbers and Judges.

Eileen and Steve Johnson of Berwyn learned about Sunday's event through the church and were thrilled at the idea of being a part of the project.

"This is not an everyday occurrence," Eileen Johnson said. "This is an expression of our faith."

The company hopes to have the verses from all 60 books written by sometime in February, Paneitz said. All told, the project will visit 90 cities in 44 states over the next few months.

The company then hopes to convince either the Smithsonian or the Library of Congress to put the finished handwritten compilation on display, he said.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime event," Paneitz said of the daily road trips to Christian communities. "I think this is a wonderful opportunity to become a part of history."