Volume 7, Issue 2, June, 2002

Core values

The EBI staff spent three days in March with our field administrator and the vice chairman of our Board of Directors at a working retreat. One of the primary purposes for the retreat was to affirm and restate the values that make EBI work. After careful consideration, the staff summed up our core values with the following statements:

Sound Doctrine – We will personally and corporately remain true to the Word of God in all areas of our lives and ministry. Our publications will reflect Baptist distinctives taught in the Word of God.

Service – We will serve Hispanic churches by providing quality training and training materials (1) needed to assist in the equipping of the saints and (2) affordable to the majority.

Stewardship – We will commit to financial integrity, sound business practice and personal accountability at every level.

Whether you are a donor or a customer, you can count on EBI to use these values as we attempt to “create a spiritual heritage for the Hispanic world.” Pray for our staff as they sometimes face difficult decisions based on these values.

Five-year Plan

Another outcome of the staff retreat was the development of a five-year plan for publishing and development. We established a rigorous schedule of new publications based on the need expressed by our customers. Some of that plan is based on locating additional staff. Pray that God would move in the hearts of individuals whose talents could be used at EBI to further this ministry.

Another major feature of this plan is the development of distributorships in other countries. Gary Hilliker has this as one of his primary goals. He is traveling to Mexico in June to pursue this with missionaries and nationals. Since Mexico is such a large country, it may require the development of two or three distributors. He is also in discussion with individuals in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Honduras. Pray for this needed development and for Gary as he works through all the details.

Bible Versions

The Board of Directors, in collaboration with the EBI staff, approved a statement about the Bible version that EBI will use in its translations and sales.

The Reina-Valera 1960 will be quoted in all EBI publications unless the original author uses another version for a specific purpose or illustration.

EBI will stock only the Reina-Valera 1960 for sale.

Because there is some question among our customers, we felt it was necessary to make our position clear on this issue.

Junior Level Sunday School Materials

As frantically as we have worked to get these materials printed and available to our customers, it appears that they will not be available until at least late summer. The backlog created when the Heidelberg press was down for many weeks has moved the print schedule back at least four months. Demand for out of stock materials required us to reprint several titles of both Sunday school and Theological Education by Extension (TEE) materials. Our commitment to a quality product will not allow us to rush this process and produce inferior materials. The only way that this problem will change is to locate someone to help full time in the print shop. Pray that God will lead us to the one who can help us in this way.

Pastors’ Libraries

EBI continues to promote our Ministry Enrichment Program. Several new names of needy pastors come in each month. Donors have continued to appreciate the need for these libraries, so our working funds have remained a little ahead of demand. This program is outlined below.

Ministry Enrichment Library

Library content (all in Spanish):

Wiersbe N.T. commentaries (12 volumes)*
Elemental Theology, Bancroft
Old Testament Moody Bible Commentary
New Testament Moody Bible Commentary
Complete Bible Concordance, Denyer
Vine’s Expository Dictionary (one volume)
The Student Bible Atlas, Dowley
The Charismatics, MacArthur
How to Prepare Bible Messages, Braga
A Guide for Organizing and Conducting a Baptist Church, Reese*
Doctrine of the Local Church, Jackson*
Biblical Basis for Baptists, Brown*
Adult Sunday School Manual*
Junior High Sunday School Manual*
Unger’s New Bible Manual
(* EBI publications)

Retail value of these 26 volumes = $330

EBI’s program: $150 donation from individual or church in the States; $20 contribution by recipient pastor or his church, if able to afford it. Shipping costs paid by EBI.

Qualifications of recipients:

A Spanish-speaking pastor active in the ministry.
A Baptist by his demonstrated ministry.
A national, having demonstrated need (need, not age, the factor).
Recommended by a cooperating missionary (an active customer of EBI).
Asked to contribute $20 towards the library (may come from pastor’s church).

Donations may be sent to EBI, designated for the pastors’ libraries.