Saturday, July 04, 2009
Trying to spread the word
Shirley and Alvin Everett devised a fun way to teach the Bible. Now they just need people to buy it.
Retired educator Shirley Everett and her husband, Alvin Everett, created a board game for people to learn about the Bible and gain inspiration in their daily lives. In the game, called Living Life Abundantly, players answer Bible trivia and make decisions as they move around the board. The Everetts used their own savings to produce the game.
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She spent her life teaching children. He spent his life starting businesses and selling them. They both wanted to share God's word.
Shirley Everett, a retired assistant principal of South Salem Elementary School, and her husband Alvin Jerry Everett, a founder of taxi cab and home construction companies, began creating teaching tools in 2006 so people could learn about Bible scriptures. They said they wanted to spread God's word.
It was two years this summer that the duo, members of Unity Church of Roanoke Valley, unveiled a board game about making the right choices called "Living Life Abundantly." Since then, they've discovered that getting people's attention -- and getting people to buy the game -- can be daunting. Only a few dozen people have taken sets of the game, which is actually made by a company the Everetts have contracted.
"I'm not losing my faith," Shirley said recently at her home. "I know that God has not brought us this far with this idea to leave us."
The couple's inspiration and motivation for the game -- as well as the journal and magnetic reminder cards they've created -- is to share the Gospel. They say they want to share with people the belief that those who live life through God's word will prosper physically, financially, socially and emotionally. They hope the tools they're producing will help people understand Bible scriptures, which are not easily digestible straight from the Good Book.
"Everybody likes to learn through games," Shirley said.
In the board game, a player rolls a die and has to be the first person to move her marker around spaces drawn on the board to win. Along the way, the player collects money and is faced with Bible trivia, in the form of fill-in-the-blank scripture verse questions, and cards that explain how choices lead to consequences in life.
A pamphlet for the game says its goal is to explain "how to use the laws of prosperity [and] enhance and develop prosperity consciousness."
The challenge has been selling the game. The Everett's dug into their personal savings to produce the game, and sell it at what they say is a break-even discounted price of $125. It has also been difficult, they said, to find buyers for the "Co-Creator Journal," a booklet with scriptures for daily prayer that sells for $20, and the "Inspirational Reminder Magnetic Cards," which sell for $10.
Since they released the game, Shirley has given presentations at Unity Church of Roanoke Valley, to high school students in Lawrenceville, Va., and to students at a Christian school in Jamaica. "We're dropping the seeds and we know they'll start growing in time," she said. "I feel that sometime we'll be reaping the blessings of being able to share verbally the message instead of having it out there in isolation."
