Volume 6, Issue 1, March 2001

God Blesses the Ministry Enrichment Program

When EBI embarked on this program in April of last year, no one guessed how successful it would be. By January of this year, 130 basic libraries had been sent to needy pastors in Central and South America. At the beginning, funds ran behind requests so that we had to hold up shipment of many of the libraries. By the end of the year, funds exceeded the requests, but we still had to hold shipments because either our suppliers or our own inventories were depleted. In January we caught up with all the requests. We are now honoring new requests since we still have funds for more libraries.

We were able to add another book to the library toward the end of last year. The four volume set of Vine’s Expository Dictionary was replaced by one volume and at half the cost. To try to keep the value of the library the same, we added another book, either Unger’s New Bible Manual or Willmington’s Guide to the Bible. We have received letters of appreciation and many pictures of the pastors who received these libraries. Not one has a sad face! A missionary wrote about one of the recipients, “He has the books proudly displayed as a center piece in his home.” If you have not been involved in this ministry, I would encourage you to consider funding the purchase of one or more of these libraries. It is a great project for Sunday school classes, women’s missionary groups, or summer Bible schools. See the reverse side of this letter for the program details. Pray that God will continue to provide the funds for this program.

Sales Booming!

Sales through the end of February, the eighth month of our current fiscal year, already exceed the sales of all previous years. Of course, the sale of the libraries contributed to these good numbers, but sales overall have remained very good.

Another contributing factor to good sales was the free shipping we have been offering since last June. Many took advantage of this great offer. It saved our customers several thousands of dollars. However, we have had to discontinue this offer. Postage to foreign countries increased significantly in January. A first class letter went from 60 cents to 80 cents, a 33% increase. All shipments of books now must go in a mail bag. The minimum cost for surface shipments of books is $11 for anything weighing less than 11 pounds. It costs $1per pound after that. That increases to over $3 per pound for air mail, with no insurance, no ability to track the shipment and no guaranteed delivery. Pray that we will be able to find an equitable way to pass these charges on to the customer without making the cost of shipping prohibitive.

Print Shop Suffers from Sales Success

The print shop has really felt the effects of our successful sales this year. Increased demand requires that we reprint more titles. Add to that load a number of new titles, and we have a real backlog. One man is trying to keep up with this demand. Pray that God will send us someone who can work with our Production Manager, Darrel Jingst, on a regular basis. He does not have to be a printer, but he must be able to learn how to run the presses and other equipment, stand for periods of time and be handy with his hands.

New Opportunities

With several invitations to display our books at pastors’ conferences in Central and South America and the islands, we have made some administrative changes. Gary Hilliker, who was our General Director, has accepted the position of Director of International Development. He will be working with missionaries and national pastors to introduce our materials all over Latin America, primarily through pastors’ conferences. He will also be trying to identify and assist individuals who will serve as distributors of our materials in many of these countries. We feel that establishing these distributors is necessary to reduce shipping costs, to increase security for the shipments and to make delivery times more reasonable. Gary will continue to serve as Senior Editor.

To fill the spot left by Gary’s new assignment, Marvin Stephens has assumed the responsibilities of General Director and Business Manager. Richard Meyer will act as Director of Christian Education and Director of Information Services. Bob Owen will serve as Director of Donor Relations and Supervisor of Building and Grounds. Continue to pray for our staff as they face increasing work loads and for additional staff who can help fill some of the gaps.

New Sunday School Materials

We have been trying to get junior level Sunday school lessons published for years. Our customers ask for this kind of material frequently. Finally, we have been able to make it a priority and have asked three individuals to work on these new lesson materials almost exclusively for the next few months. This material will be different from the adult/junior high materials and more expensive to produce. It will include many more visuals, use a lot of color and provide several options for the teacher. Each lesson will also give extensive help for the teacher preparing the lesson. Pray with us that the first two quarters will be available by Fall and that the cost of printing these lessons will be underwritten by donations so that the price can be kept low for our customers.

Ministry Enrichment Library

Library content (all in Spanish):

1. Wiersbe N.T. commentaries (12 volumes)*
2. Elemental Theology, Bancroft
3. Old Testament Moody Bible Commentary
4. New Testament Moody Bible Commentary
5. Complete Bible Concordance, Denyer
6. Vine’s Expository Dictionary (one volume)
7. The Student Bible Atlas, Dowley
8. The Charismatics, MacArthur
9. How to Prepare Bible Messages, Braga
10. A Guide for Organizing and Conducting a Baptist Church*
11. Doctrine of the Local Church, Jackson*
12. Biblical Basis for Baptists, Brown*
13. Adult Sunday School Manual*
14. Junior High Sunday School Manual*
15. Willmington’s Guide to the Bible or 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:

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

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