Fay Hudnall is leader of the Blue Valley church library which has two locations—their main campus and their Ridgeview campus. She asked me to post their story.

 After losing every item in our Ridgeview campus church library due to water line breaks across the hall and above the library, the Ridgeview campus library of Blue Valley Baptist Church is completely back to the pre-flood condition! Whew! As I reflect on the past 18 months, I see God’s hand and direction through good and bad times.

 The insurance company never questioned our claim. Praise God for all of Bill Jones’s Concourse training of at our library conferences! The insurance company couldn’t believe the information we had about our books! All of the same titles were ordered as we had before...except we had permission to get updated editions of any title we had previously owned. Purchasing the same titles was a condition of our insurance company. Our local LifeWay store ordered about 50 percent of our titles and gave us the sale price of their promotion at that time! We received 30 percent off all adult books—nonfiction, biographies, and fiction. Our receipt was 30-feet-long.

 Our insurance company even covered some the supplies we had used in processing the books. Labels, tape, jacket covers, book covering materials, and label protectors were purchased with insurance money.!

 Our library team had just lost one of our precious members to a stroke a few weeks before the flood. Another passed away after an extended battle with a rare cancer that attacked her heart. Two others are still fighting disease, and two more of our team moved out of state. However, their love for Jesus is outliving their lives each time one of the items they helped process is checked out from our two libraries! I think one of the best lessons our library team has learned is that work for Jesus is never lost . . . and continues even if we are no longer present.

 During the past months, we had six new workers in our library! None of them were asked to join our team—they volunteered! Each one of them are dedicated, talented individuals! God provided each one of them! Our team worked very diligently getting the Ridgeview campus library back to its former condition as well as keeping our Antioch campus library going.

 Eighteen months ago, a dark cloud was hanging over our libraries and library team. However, joy has returned to our hearts and laughter fills our libraries. God is good...all the time.

 Fay Hudnall

Let's start sharing what  we are doing through our library ministries with preschoolers and children. You are invited to join our new Children's Library group to share ideas and concerns. Click here.

For all of us, let's share what is happening here. Perhaps these ideas will prompt some of us to invite new team members to develop a library ministry with preschoolers and children.

Are you hosting a book club this summer for children?

Does your church have a separate location for a children's library that is near the children's area? 

Are you collaborating with the preschool and children's ministry leaders?

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 27^th, 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

Today, January 23, 2019, is Maxine's 100th birthday. You are invited to send your greetings to Maxine by doing so through your comments here. We love you, Maxine!

I was thrilled to get yesterday's edition of Daily Insights from Facts & Trends. The feature article is right on point about how our churches are dealing with domestic violence today.

Note that at the end of the article where the author asks the question: "How can ministry leaders help these women so they don't become another tragic statistic?" her third recommendation points to our church libraries to become resource centers for church leaders as well as the women dealing with domestic violence.

Click here to read the article: 5 Myths the Church Often Believes About Domestic Violence.

For those of you who are providing resources for people dealing with domestic violence, would you share what you are doing through a comment? 

THANKS!

Morlee Maynard

Do you have a subscription to Facts & Trends? I encourage you to get the new digital edition which replaced the print edition this Fall. Many libraries have had the print edition in their collections for years. Since that is no longer possible, I highly recommend library team members subscribe to this newsletter.

If you are unfamiliar with Facts & Trends, click here to visit past issues. In case you missed it, our church library article is on pages 44-45 in the Fall 2017 edition.

To subscribe, click here. 

Be sure to note on the subscription page that you will also receive book giveaways to subscribers and resource recommendations. 

Cheers!

Morlee Maynard

Just released by Brazio (Baker Books). I can't wait to use this book with a small group on Wednesdays at my church. I'm thinking it will be a perfect book for a small group study or book club sponsored by church libraries. Some of you have pastors and staff who discount the value of fiction for making disciples. Here's a book that is highly recommended to pastors and staff as well as the rest of us.

Have you discovered Lifeway.books?  Click here to find a book review on this book. Great source for book reviews.

Did you know LifeWay Stores matches prices with Amazon and other retailers? Just show them the price at the other retailer when you check out. 

Vicki is a member of the CLN. Check out the information she is providing about her books.

Click here to open the series. Click on each book cover to see Vicki's description of the book.

Thanks, Vicki!

Would you share your stories about VBS this year? How did your library participate? Any pictures? You can add pictures here or go to Photos. Let's share ideas as we get ready for next year!

Maxine Bersch, one of our long time members, just released a new book!! Check it out by clicking on the cover!! Congratulations, Mackie!!

We would love to hear about your church's library ministry highlights! Follow the prompts and share your stories. While you share about 2015, be sure to share your plans for 2016.

What are your thoughts about these research findings by the Barna Group?

Donna Duncan from First Baptist Church of Arkadelphia recently joined the CLN. She shared their need to develop a vision statement that will help them serve their 21^st Century church. One of our realizations in recent years has been the importance of our church libraries connecting in strategic ways to the vision statements of our churches. Let’s start a discussion on how our library teams have done that. Would you share how you did that and how you use this vision of where your team wants to be in the future in your planning process.

Rose Newcomb, First Baptist Church, Cami, IL sent in the following:

 

What are your 2014 Accomplishments and your 2015 goals for your church library? Click on comments here to respond. 

Let's pray for each other as we seek to glorify God through our libraries in 2015.

Recently, Dottie Almond from Hudson, NC emailed me about her team's successful use of the Check Points for Ministry guide. We thought you would enjoy seeing what is going on in Hudson.

Thanks for the Check Points for Ministry guide. Our biggest downfall is using the Desk Book and written instructions for tasks performed in the Media Center by a group of workers that have worked together effectively for many years. I update the Desk Book every few years but no one ever uses it. When we have new workers, we show them how we operate, promote, process, etc. rather than giving them written instructions. The staff meets once a week for our work/planning sessions and we seem to stay on top of things that way. I will work on some written instructions so if something happens to all of us, someone else could come in and pick up where we left off.  However we did rank in the Excellent Library rating on the Check Points scale.

God has been so good to us this year.  Many changes in the library (I now have two staffers with their Master’s in Library Science and one other staffer who works at the public library).  In addition, our church moved into our new 3.4 million dollar Christian Life Center last January and had the note burning recently. We never had to have a mortgage. We are not a large church with a lot of money but God provided in miraculous ways. He will continue to provide. The library is in need of space, but our location is perfect, so until we  can expand, we manage our collection by weeding and removing items that are not in much demand. I look forward with anticipation to see what He will do.

Dottie Almond, Media Center Director

First Baptist Church

Hudson, NC 28638

Thank you, Dottie, for sharing your experiences with us! Congratulations! Based on First Baptist, Hudson's experiences, we encourage you to consider the Check Points process as an evaluation tool for your church library. To view and download the guide, click here.

Join me in celebrating the ministry of Beth Andrews. Share your love and admiration for Beth as well as your experiences with her through the years.

Thank you, Beth, for letting God use you in our lives in such significant ways. Thank you for all the miles you have traveled on our behalf and for all the words you have written that still guide us today. The work you have done regarding church library policies has been a true gift for most of our libraries.

May your retirement be a continuation of your ministry with all of us! We love you!

Peggy Krause sent in this great idea!

My sister, Diane Moody, has just released her newest book. Must admit, I almost read it in one sitting which is unusual for me. Could not put it down! Great historical fiction that tells the story of a little known part of WWII. As you will see on the Amazon reviews for this book, men are interested in this book and highly recommend it. And you will see that Diane based the story on the life of our Dad, but he is not the main character as such. However, he did grow up in Chicago on Yale Avenue! If you would click on the book cover, it will take you directly to the Amazon page for this book. Thanks!!

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A long-time friend of mine from my seminary days has just published an excellent new Bible study tool, Jeanette Ford. As the title indicates, Jeanette is an archivist who served with the National Archives in the 1970s and 80s. This new tool arranges the twenty-seven books of the New Testament in to four sections--the books relating to Peter and his evangelistic team; those relating to James and his companions; the documents of Paul and his evangelistic group; and the writings of John and the brothers. She has used archival principles in this arrangement. Many of your Bible study teachers and facilitators will find this book to be a helpful Bible study tool.

It is available on Amazon as a print book and an eBook: