Vol. 10, #4, November 2005
From the Desk of the General Director:
Has EBI Grown Too Fast?
The EBI VISION began about 10 years ago as a newsletter to keep our donors informed about the ministry of EBI. We now distribute The EBI VISION to an ever-expanding audience.
Ten years ago EBI was also struggling with a mortgage payment in addition to all of its other expenses. However, God was gracious, and we were able to pay off that indebtedness. Since that time we have also expanded our offerings. The junior high Sunday school materials were completed, along with several additional adult quarters. At least six new TEE books were published. Now the junior Sunday school materials are nearly completed, and we are already beginning to prepare for primary level. We have added scores of books from other publishers to our inventory. The number of customers we serve has grown significantly.
With this growth came the need to expand. God provided a new building and within 18 months of the purchase it was completely paid for. Our old building was sold last year. Though we have not fully filled this new building, we already find ourselves asking the question, “What will we do when we run out of space?”
On the down side of this growth was the lack of new staff members, but God has now provided them, too. We have added a full time resident Spanish editor, as well as a part time editor we can call on any time we have the need. This year God has blessed us with two new staff couples.
One of these couples will head up a new venture for EBI – developing a theological curriculum for Spanish-speaking churches and Bible colleges from basic discipleship materials all the way to a graduate level Bible program. This has been a vision of several of the EBI staff for many years, but God in His perfect timing only made it possible this year. You will be hearing more about this program in the following months.
With all of our growth, it has put a tremendous amount of pressure on our print shop. Manned by one full time man, plus our many volunteers, we are unable to keep up with the demand for our publications. Again God has provided. Last winter a couple from Minnesota volunteered for four months during the winter. With their help, we were able to get caught up by late spring. However, since that time, the demand again far exceeded our capacity, to the place where we have a long list of projects waiting to be printed. However, when we could see no way of catching up, God brought us a full time, fully supported missionary couple, to work in the print shop. Though they will not actually move to Sebring until January, the prospect of them coming has buoyed our spirits. And the couple that volunteered last year plans to be here again this winter. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
As we realized that the majority of our new customers were from the United States, we sensed a need to make a major effort to reach independent Spanish-speaking Baptist churches in Latin America. To do this, we developed a program whereby EBI will send a packet of Sunday school material to each of these churches over the next five years. These packets will contain one quarter of adult material, junior high material and junior material. In a small pilot program in Nicaragua, we have already seen new interest in our materials.
Now I come back to the heading of this letter, “Has EBI grown too fast?” With 12 new publications waiting to be printed, with the demand for reprints that the Sunday school project will generate, with the cost of shipping all these materials to Latin America, with the additional materials that will be needed as the theological curriculum effort develops, how will EBI be able to meet all of these demands? Have we bitten off more than we can chew? Though we may not see how we will be able to get all of this done, we also realize that God is still in control and can provide whatever we need to accomplish His will. We feel that He has given us the vision. He has provided the staff. What He has not yet provided is the money to fund all of this. However, God has used His people to provide in the past, so we are moving forward trusting Him to again provide, as we need the money.
You can become a part of this vision. Many of you contributed toward the purchase of our new building with one-time gifts. Over $160,000 was raised through many small gifts. Would you consider another one-time gift for any of these efforts? Would your Sunday school class be willing to take a special offering once a month, or once a quarter, to help initially place Sunday school materials in the hands of hundreds of Latin American churches, and then to help purchase additional materials for many of these churches that cannot afford to pay for this material? (For example, EBI recently provided a number of poor churches in northern Argentina with a year’s supply of junior materials. They agreed to pay for 25% of the cost, which will tax their ability to give. EBI agreed to pick up the remaining cost, about $900.) Or, would your church be willing to raise the $3,000 needed to pay the cost of printing one of our new publications?
Has EBI grown too fast? We do not think so, and we hope you will agree that God has opened the door for us to pursue these opportunities. Will you join us in these efforts?
Sincerely,
Marvin W. Stephens
General Director
Spotlight on Staff
Darrel and Lori Jingst met at Faith Baptist Bible Collage, in Ankeny, Iowa, married, and began serving the Lord as a youth pastor’s family in Brayton, Iowa. During that time, Darrel also worked at a pre-press company, and that experience has been valuable in his work here at EBI. Darrel and Lori came to EBI with their two young daughters in 1996. They believe that God directed them to this ministry.
Darrel is responsible for all of the printing that is done in our print shop. He also manages the warehouse, and works closely with the volunteers who come to help in the assembly room.
Darrel and Lori, and daughter, Stacy, are active at Southside Baptist Church, Sebring. Their daughter, Stephanie, is a freshman at Faith Baptist Bible College. This couple is a valuable asset to the ministry of EBI.
Conference in Tennessee
Gary and Bernie Hilliker represented EBI at a fall Spanish pastor’s conference in Tennessee. Our materials were well received. They sold 15 sets of junior Sunday school lessons to be sent to Mexico. Total sales were $2300.00. They are looking forward to another conference in South Carolina during December.