Report of the
Board of Publication and Printing
Now it came to pass, is the way Matthew 19 starts in the New King James Version. Jesus’ life seemed to pass by rapidly and the whole thrust of the gospel writers is to leave the impression that Jesus was passing through to a destiny selected by His Father. It was a life deserving more than passing notice, however. He passed on to us His teaching, example, sacrifice, and forgiveness. We do poorly when we take a pass at passing on the gospel.
As the Board of Publication and Printing passed through the year 1996 we took a look at our past. The December, 1996 issue of Fellowship News reviewed the thirty-five years of publishing history. An interview with the original editor, Pastor David E. Thomann, and other former editors, gave us an historical perspective. Our present editor, Carol Z. Snyder, is coming to a first-anniversary mark with a year of solid progress for Fellowship News. We have been most grateful and humbled by many of you who have taken the time to tell us of the fine job she is doing. Thank you for the encouragement. Your suggestions are always welcome.
“Go ahead and hit us” is what we want you to do. We trust you will do that on your computer and not with it. The Internet web site of the Bible Fellowship Church was started this year. Our “Web Servant”, Eric Clontz, of our Wallingford Church, has invested much time in establishing this new medium. We want to especially thank Byron Barnshaw and Jerry Moyer for all their work in this project as well. Like most of our projects, it is ongoing and will continue to be “under construction”. We will need the input of the Agencies and Churches to make this truly effective. We are finding the e-mail section to be of growing interest. If we do not have your e-mail address please be sure to give it to us. Our address is www.bfc.org. The Board will be giving more attention to the development of the web page this year. A special presentation will be made at this Annual Conference on the possibilities for your church’s involvement on the BFC website.
The new Faith & Order is proving to be quite popular. The inserts containing some corrections and new material passed by the 113th Annual Conference will be made available at this conference. If you have not seen the most recent Faith & Order be sure to obtain a copy at the Board of Publication and Printing table.
While you are at the table, check out our newest booklet – Advanced Directives. This material is from the 1996 Yearbook and should prove most helpful for those who are making critical end-of-life decisions from a Christian perspective.
Last year, the Board experimented with receiving payment for the Fellowship News at Annual Conference. This seemed to strike a receptive note with many of you and we will be doing it again this year. You should be prepared to pay for not only this, but any material you purchase, and the 1997 Yearbooks you order.
The publishing work of the Bible Fellowship Church has historically been done with financing from a kind of patchwork quilt of sources – subsidies from the BFC Board of Directors; contributions from conference agencies, boards, committees, and churches; and sales of printed materials. In order to keep expenses to the churches down, the Board has never charged the full cost of production of materials and some have been provided at no expense. An example is last year’s Yearbook – we charged $6.25, but the actual cost of producing was $8.33. The source of our dilemma is not difficult to see. A commercial venture operating on this standard would have soon gone out of business.
To ease this problem and to be more responsible, the Board is planning to do the following: (1) Obtain sponsorships for each issue of the Fellowship News and the Yearbook. This option will be pursued under strict guidelines outlined in our Policy Handbook. (2) For the first time in four years, request a contribution increase for Fellowship News (25¢ per member increase). (3) There will also be an increase in the Yearbook price.
Finally, if you have any thoughts or suggestions as to how the Board of Publication and Printing can serve our agencies and churches better, please call anyone on the Board. We value your input.
Some important addresses:
Fellowship News articles and questions about editorial policy should go to:
Mrs. Carol Z. Snyder
2660 Allentown Road
Quakertown, PA 18951
(215) 536-0768 (Phone and Fax);
E-mail: cebfc@juno.com
Checks and questions about billing of accounts should go to the Business Manager:
Mr. Paul T. Rutman
Apt. 607, 824 Lisburn Road
Camp Hill, PA 17011
(717) 731-1490