Alumnus of the Year: Sergio Cariello.

We told you about Sergio Cariello, Class of 1986, in our spring issue. Sergio journeyed from a comic book-loving childhood in Recife, Brazil, to the Bible Institute in New York, where God put a burden on his heart to use his unique art skills to reach people for Christ. This year, Sergio has seen his ministry-related work explode, with his latest creation, a fully illustrated graphic representation of the Bible called The Action Bible, winning several awards as it spreads around the globe.

Sergio was selected this spring from a group of alumni finalists to be the Bible Institute's Alumnus of the Year for 2012.

Sergio has been greatly used by the Lord to reach thousands of people through The Action Bible — and literally millions of people through a similar pamphlet that highlights the story of Jesus Christ. But he won’t take credit for the impact his work has made.

“I wasn’t intending anything big – I was just following God’s will,” he says.

Sergio points to his time at the Bible Institute as significant training for telling the story of the Bible in cartoon picture form. He is an enthusiastic communicator about the value of spending a year immersed in the study of God’s Word.

“It’s very humbling, because I don’t consider myself worthy of such a title,” Sergio says of his recognition as Alumnus of the Year. “I feel very honored.”

We thank Sergio for being a faithful servant of our Lord and for the encouragement through his identification with the Bible Institute.

See our original story on Sergio here.

The Action Bible reaches around the world:
*407,000 copies distributed in the United States
*24,525 New Testament copies distributed
*Translated into English, Portuguese, Ukrainian, Korean (still coming: Spanish)

The free "Story of Jesus" pamphlet:
*20 million copies
*Distributed in Cambodia, Belarus, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Pakistan, Singapore, Ecuador, Indonesia, North Korea, China, Venezuela, Guatemala, India, Chile, and Costa Rica