A pastor concluded that his church was getting into very
serious financial troubles. While checking the church storeroom, he discovered
several cartons of new Bibles that had never been opened and
distributed.

So at his Sunday sermon, he asked for three volunteers from
the congregation who would be willing to sell the Bibles door-to-door for $10
each to raise the desperately needed money for the church.

Jack, Paul and
Louie all raised their hands to volunteer for the task.

The minister knew
that Jack and Paul earned their living as salesmen and were likely capable of
selling some Bibles. But he had serious doubts about Louie who was a local
farmer, who had always kept to himself because he was embarrassed by his speech
impediment.

Poor Louie stuttered badly. But, NOT WANTING TO discourage
Louie, the minister decided to let him try anyway.

He sent the three of
them away with the back seat of their cars stacked with Bibles. He asked them to
meet with him and report the results of their door-to-door selling efforts the
following Sunday.

Anxious to find out how successful they were, the
minister immediately asked Jack, "Well, Jack, how did you make out selling our
Bibles last week?"

Proudly handing the reverend an envelope, Jack
replied, "Using my sales prowess, I was able to sell 20 Bibles, and here's the
$200 I collected on behalf of the church."

"Fine job, Jack!" The minister
said, vigorously shaking his hand..."You are indeed a fine salesman and the
church is indebted to you."

Turning to Paul, "And Paul, how many Bibles
did you sell for the church last week?"

Paul, smiling and sticking out
his chest, confidently replied, 'I am a professional salesman. I sold 28 Bibles
on behalf of the church, and here's $280 I collected.'

The minister
responded, "That's absolutely splendid, Paul. You are truly a professional
salesman and the church is indebted to you."

Apprehensively, the minister
turned to Louie and said, "And Louie, did you manage to sell any Bibles last
week?" Louie silently offered the minister a large envelope.

The minister
opened it and counted the contents. "What is this?" the minister exclaimed.
"Louie, there's $3200 in here! Are you suggesting that you sold 320 Bibles for
the church, door to door, in just one week?"

Louie just
nodded.

"That's impossible!" both Jack and Paul said in unison. "We are
professional salesmen, yet you claim to have sold 10 times as many Bibles as we
could."

"Yes, this does seem unlikely," the minister agreed. "I think
you'd better explain how you managed to accomplish this, Louie."

Louie
shrugged.. "I-I-I re-re-really do-do-don't kn-kn-know f-f-f-for sh-sh-sh-sure,"
he stammered.

Impatiently, Peter interrupted. "For crying out loud,
Louie, just tell us what you said to them when they answered the
door!"

"A-a-a-all I-I-I s-s-said wa-wa-was," Louis replied,
"W-w-w-w-would y-y-y-you l-l-l-l-l-like t-t-to b-b-b-buy
th-th-th-this
B-B-B-B-Bible f-f-for t-t-ten b-b-b-bucks---o-o-o-or---
wo-wo-would yo-you j-j-j-just l-like m-m-me t-t-to st-st-stand h-h-here and
r-r-r-r-r-read it t-to y-y-you?"