Back in January (2019) our pastor and staff started the process of assessing all the ministries of our church as to how each on aligns to the mission, vision, core values, and discipleship process of our church. They determined that our library ministry needed to move in the same direction our church family is going.
On March 27th, I officially became the library team leader with no team members. The first task was moving the collection to a new room being created by a building program. With the services of my Sunday School class, we prepared the collection for the move and made the move in four weeks. All of us have jobs and have daily commitments so most of our work was done on Wednesday evenings. The actual move itself had to be done in a few days so many of us readjusted our schedules in order to make it happen by the deadline. To God be the glory!
Our next step was unloading the borrowed carts which made the logistics possible. That took three Wednesday evenings. Members of my Sunday School class plus a couple of others have continued to set up the space. Currently we are doing an inventory to confirm what items are on the shelves. We hope to finish the inventory during the next two Wednesday evenings.
Layered on top of these actions, we are also working out a new direction for this library ministry. We are dramatically changing the purpose and mission of the collection and the actions of the ministry. Our focus is on making disciples. As we finalize our concept, I will share our two-page description with you. We are very excited about what God is doing in our midst! Hopefully, we will have our grand opening on August 11 when our new building opens.
Grateful,
Morlee Maynard
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We have another first! Our non-fiction shelf signage now has our church mission statement key words connected to our Dewey categlories. A win-win for sure with our pastor and church staff. Click on Fullscreen to see the pictures.
We had our first ever preschool storytime in the Enrichment Center this morning! We had no idea how many people would show up so we were very surprised to have 17 people! That included 9 preschoolers plus mothers and one dad. None of us had ever done a storytime in our church so winged it. Our preschool minister was terrific to work with on this opportunity. And our Mothers Day Out leader surprised us to help. Several MDO preschoolers came.
As the parents and preschoolers arrived, we had blocks and coloring sheets ready for them. Rachel started it with introductions and prayer. As the children continued to play, I talked over them with the Moms about the Enrichment Center. Only 2 of them had ever been in the library. Then I read 2 books with the children. Since they were a mix of toddlers up to a couple of 4 year olds, they helped me read the books. Rachel led them in music activities. Then she ended our time together with prayer. They all went to the playground and had a great time together too!
I did take pictures but I forgot to get permission to use the pictures on the internet.
Our next preschool storytime will be in May. We've already started planning that one. We were amazed that so many came today. Something new often takes a few times for the word of mouth to encourage others to participate!
For your story time experiences and tips, click here.
In mid-August we started the second year for our morning reading group which takes place during the Women's Ministry group time on Wednesdays. We now have 12 in the group which is the same number we had all last year. Basically the same group. We continue to thrive spiritually and relationally as we share each Wednesday morning what we experienced the week before while reading our books. Each of us pick Enrichment Center books according to our individual interests--fiction or nonfiction. We are always amazed how God works through our weekly sharing time and discussion. A new member of our group is blown away by this unique type of group experience. We also now have 2 young women in our midst.
In August we started a new "semester" for our evening group. We doubled in size from last Spring when we started the group. We now have 8 in the group that now includes a male college student, 2 older men, and the rest women who represent 3 generations.
Both groups love the way we read different books and have such a rich discussion based on these books.
One of the benefits of this approach is the way we all have opportunities to share our life stories. Many of the members of these 2 groups are in Sunday morning groups that are using lecture formats. People need opportunities to tell their stories. Every session is a blessing!
As of last Friday, the Enrichment Center has a new flyer/brochure that is quite different from our first edition. We are all very pleased with how it turned out how it looks and feels. Content is easy to read and to the point.FHBC Enrichment Center Practice Flyer. It is a tri-fold. Copies are available on our self-checkout counter and we give them to people we add to our online catalog when we are there.
Yesterday, was Easter. My church had 4 worship services back to back all morning. Our people were asked to go to one service then serve during one service. I went to the first service then served in the Enrichment Center the rest of the morning. I did have a few people drop in, but I had plenty of time to add 4 books to the collection and reshelve books. The awkward part for me was switching my focus all morning. Caught myself having to switch "moods" when people entered the library distracting me from the computer and the shelves to joyfully visiting with people. I was exhausted by the time I got home. Am I the only one that had a strange morning yesterday?
No, you're not the only one. I was asked to proof the church's new web site. Lo snd behold there was scant library info that I had never seen and it was wrong!!!!!!
Tee'ed to say the least.
Whew! That is bad!
Funny time to think to update our Enrichment Center journey at Forest Hills Baptist, Nashville, but I had another one of those "experiences" last week.
Our Communications Director contacted me last week that she wanted to "update" the Enrichment Center flyer. Her predecessor prepared the original one so she offered to give the flyer a new look. The new flyer was attached to her email. I like the visual look of the flyer so I emailed her back with appreciation. A day later I started reading it. My diappointment kicked in. She not only gave it a new look, but also rewrote it. Well, that sort of hit me wrong because our team spent a lot of time on the content which includes our policies that we call practices. I decided not to share it with any of the team members until she makes obvious changes. For example, the only picture is of a boy in a Sunday School classroom.
She and I are now setting up a time to take a new picture in the Enrichment Center. I've made "edits" on a hard copy which we will talk about this Wednesday.
Am I the only one that gets flown off guard when someone reworks something you put together without including you? I am grateful she is including me now.
When we agree to the final look and content, I'll post it here.
Anyone have such stories to share or am I the only one that has this sort of experience?
Morlee
Time for an update to our journey at Forest Hills Baptist Church Enrichment Center. Friday evening during the VBS Family Night we launched our first kids summer reading challenge. Great crowd and lots of attention to our focus area in Fellowship Hall. By yesterday we had 31 participants. Looking forward to the next 5 weeks.
I've explained what we are doing here.
Wow! I love the video. Very professional and full of valuable info.
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