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July, 2008
Dear Brethren, Yet another month has come and gone and we are one month closer to eternity. July ended up being a fairly normal month for orders and projects. It was a little lower than some peak months but still a busy month. I mentioned last month about writing our soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Hospital. Our people here at Grace took it to heart and mailed many cards to encourage our soldiers. However, we hit a snag! For some reason, one lady got everyone of hers back. So far, she seems to be the only one. The only difference I see is that she always uses a sticker with a picture of a Bible showing Ephesians 2:8 and then large letters reading “In God We Trust”. I called the hospital and got a Major on the phone. He is looking into the situation and promised to get back to me. I told him I thought it was strange that the only ones we are getting back are the ones with a Bible verse and our national motto. Until he gets it worked out, you might want to hold off before spending the postage. He thinks it is because the mailroom doesn’t know how to handle an unnamed card The wall expanding our print shop is nearly completed. The man doing most of the work was very busy in July and did not get it sanded or painted but that is all he lacks. After that, we are hoping to run some additional electric and also redo the water. The church is talking about buying some shelves and things to give us as much room as possible – until the Lord opens the door for us to buy or build our own building – which I am still praying for. We are getting more inquiries about binding books. The commercial price to perfect bind a book is outrageous. We are charging a modest amount (based on thickness) to help defray some of the expenses of the binder itself and the materials that go in it but our cost is far below commercial. As we do more books, we are getting better at it and our “waste” is less. That is a good thing. There are several very good books that were printed many years ago by some good, studious, brethren. Many of these brethren are now with the Lord. I am checking into the possibility of reprinting some of these works. Many of these books were printed on a duplicator and bound with a plastic comb. The quality was good for their day but by today’s standards, they are not very good. Trying to get permission to reprint some of them and then trying to scan them in and get a good copy can be very hard. Once they are on the computer, I then have to go through and format them and try to standardize the formatting. I may die of old age before I get some of them printed but if they can be brought back into print, there are some good works that would be good for any students to get their hands on – and some older people as well. In the last few months, I have received requests for tracts that were written by the individual pastor. As long as they are typed in software I have, it is usually not difficult to do. A few churches are asking about the Post Office changes. Most missionaries that do a monthly report can handle the changes fairly easily, as least for now. It will be those missionaries and churches that only mail occasionally that are going to be in trouble. As I said before, it will not affect churches doing “Rural Route” saturation mailings or “Postal Customer” saturation mailings. It will mainly affect churches and missionaries that mail to supporting churches and pastors. By January, 2009, the Post Office is supposed to be going to an “Intelligent Mail Barcode”. One main purpose behind that (I believe) is to eliminate small church and missionary mailings. Our software is ahead of the game and is ready to make the switch when the time comes. One thing I might mention is that we can certify the addresses, print the paper work for the Post Office, print labels, and ship the labels to the local church to be put on and mailed. Over the years, we have had several pastors and missionaries come or stop by to visit our print shop. We welcome any one to come who has a burden for our work and a desire to see what we are doing. Every one that has come so far has left amazed at what we are doing and can do. For missionaries, we can print and fold their letter. We can then insert the letter into the envelope, seal the envelope, and print the name, address, barcode, and meet all postal requirements. All of this is done on equipment that can work many, many times faster than trying to do it by hand. I want to say THANKS to all that send special offering to help us get out of the red financially. October through December is usually our busiest months and our costliest months. By God’s grace, we hope to be ready for those months when they come. Until next time, may God bless each of you as you labor for Him! Yours in Christ, Grace Baptist Church Printing Outreach Wilbert L. Ellis, Pastor |
