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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Last Tuesday I talked with each member of the transition team in follow up to the letter I sent each of them. All of them agreed to continue serving as we become the Enrichment Center Team. On that Wednesday during a team meeting each of them filled out a Duties Grid as to what they want to do on the team. All of the duties were checked except gift processing. All of them checked more than one duty.
On Monday of this week I sent similar letters to four people about serving as Engagement Coordinators and one senior adult about serving as a Review Reader. I will call them this coming Tuesday. And this week I was given information about two new members who are interested in serving with us. Both have library experience. Amazing how God provides!
We had another workday Wednesday. Processed more books, shifted the shelving to accommodate new books, and had a meeting to think through the Open House on August 10 and what all we need to do these last two weeks. Still waiting on electrical outlets. Purchased a printer today.
God is faithful!! Two more weeks!
A month from today the FHBC Enrichment Center opens our doors to welcome our church family to new opportunities to enrich their walks on their lifelong discipleship pathways. Yesterday afternoon seven of us spent several hours processing additions to our collection in a room that had no air conditioning. The construction crew are moving the thermostat so we just used a fan. How's that for sacrificing for the cause? Three boxes are waiting in the back of my car for me to add them to our catalog. Amy Layne, our team member who is a school librarian has been a great instructor! We could not have done all that we have done without her. God provides!
I spent this morning writing personal letters to each of the members of our transition team inviting them to pray about joining the "implementation" team. In the letter I told them that I will call them Tuesday evening for us to talk through options for each one to serve.
We will be meeting next Wednesday evening to work out the times we will be open on Sundays and Wednesdays. And considering a schedule for our team members. And our processing additions to the collection continues!
We considered several names which all had connections to discipleship. The final two options were Discipleship Center and Enrichment Center. We found people in our church could relate to enrichment better than discipleship. Perhaps that says a lot about our church family due to the accountability that goes with the word "discipleship." On the other hand, we also considered those visiting our church. For years, our church had and in some ways still has a program called Discipleship Ministry. Took place on Sunday evenings. Now it is called DiscipleLife. Mainly takes place on Wednesdays and weekdays. The word "Enrichment" seems to relate to all of the ministries of our church in the minds of our people. Although we now think of all of our ministries as making disciples.
I am curious about your choice of name for the library. I know you spent a lot of time considering this. It looks like the focus of your mission is discipleship. Is there any particular reason your chose "Enrichment Center" instead of "Discipleship Center?"
We had a great experience at the LifeWay Store on Wednesday!! We got 40% off from the sign on the shelves and another 20% at checkout. We filled three large carts with books. Surprisingly we found many of the titles our church staff requested and books on our list to complete series. We plan to go back today or tomorrow since the 20% checkout sale continues through tomorrow. To say the least, I am spending lots of time adding items to our catalog!!
During the last 2 weeks we sorted through books that were moved but not considered. And we have a list of items that we need to complete series of books both in fiction and non-fiction. We hope to take advantage of the great sales at the LifeWay Stores right now.
As of Tuesday of this week, we have finalized the title of our new library with our church staff: The Enrichment Center. We are all every pleased with it and the potential going forward. Click here to see our description that we will be using as a stepping stone in all that we do. We will be adding Scripture to each of the signposts.
We have lots of books to process which involves learning how to use the tools on Atriuum to add items to our catalog. I already now how to remove items. We also have an open house to plan which will be August 10. We are taking the holiday week off so we will get back with our journey on July 10.
will wait to hear... :)
Thanks for asking!! I have not posted it yet due to some work being done about the name. Give me another day to see if we can finalize the name.
Morlee, back on June 2 you mentioned you would post your 2-page plan. Did I miss it? And what was your new name (soon to be changed to include the word "center")?
Had a great meeting with our church staff yesterday!! They are in full support of our new direction. Discovered that titles of all rooms like the library needs to use the word "Center." So our transition team will meet this evening to rethink the title we had proposed to the leaders. Our new title was well received by the staff but we need to make this adjustment. And the suggestion was made to reconsider memorials. We will discuss this change this evening too.
And we are now moving toward a grand opening with the rest of our new building on August 10 and 11. Lots to be done. Still waiting on the construction crew to install electrical outlets. Great to have my laptop on Wednesdays when we work in there.
Our prayer needs: guidance to new team members and continued needs to consider the collection.
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