Newsletter - November 2012

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Equipping Scholars and Leaders By Wayne Bornholdt

As our name indicates we are interested in

“networks” and “networking.” We frequently

collaborate with other groups doing work

that supports both their mission and ours.

One such partner is Scholar Leaders

International (SLI), based in Illinois. SLI is a

group encouraging and enabling theologically-

trained leaders from the Majority World.

SLI provides scholarships for these men and

women to come to the West to study and

train to become significant leaders back in

their homeland.

Upon returning to their home institutions,

these scholars usually encounter a shortage of

books in their field of study. The rich

resources to which they had access in the

West are no longer available to them once

they have returned. This is an impediment to

their teaching and scholarship.

The Theological Book Network and SLI have

embarked upon a project that addresses the

need for appropriate resources for these

November 15, 2012 Volume 4, Issue 2

scholars. The project began in 2011 and is

scheduled to be completed by the end of this

calendar year.

The outlines of the project are fairly straight-

forward. The Network’s trained staff will

provide 125-150 books that fit the subject area

of the scholar’s field of study. These books are

for their personal use in teaching, research and

writing. We then provide an additional

1000-1200 titles to the scholar’s institutional

library, thus strengthening the school’s resources

for use by students, faculty and local churches.

The scholars engaged in this project are from ten

countries: Cote D’ivoire, Ethiopia, the Congo,

the Philippines, Ghana, Cameroon, South Sudan,

Argentina, Algeria and Puerto Rico.

The schools with which the scholar-leader is

affiliated are all established institutions that

provide quality theological training in their

respective regions. Generally, this instruction is

Some of the institutions we

have shipped to in

July-October 2012

Instituto Biblico

Ebenezer, San Cristobal,

Venezuela

Africa International

University,

Nairobi, Kenya

Wuhan University,

Wuhan, China

Fundacion University

Seminario Biblico,

Medellin, Columbia

Evangelical Theological

Seminary,

Cairo, Egypt

Evangelical Theological

Seminary of Puerto

Rico, San Juan

Theological BookTheological BookTheological BookTheological Book

NetworkNetworkNetworkNetwork

3529 Patterson Ave SE

Grand Rapids MI 49512

616-532-3890

Phone: 616-532-3890 www.theologicalbooknetwork.org [email protected]

Converting excess in our world to access in the rest of the world.

The Newsletter of the Theological Book Network, Inc.

Books Shipped

July-October 2012

50,603

The Network News

“Upon returning to their home

institutions, these scholars usually

encounter a shortage of books in their

field of study.”

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Anne-Marie Kool, Associate Editor,

ACTA MISSIOLOGIAE

“The Theological Book Network is

very selective in the materials they

send. Your focus on quality is

absolutely important. Being a book

recipient of the Theological Book

Network I can really tell you how the

quality of your books is so

appreciated.”

Anne-Marie Kool

Professor

Karoli Gaspar University, Hungary


Egypt

At last, the Network has a shipment on its way to Egypt!

These books have been packed, loaded

on pallets and ready to ship for nearly

two years, but have been held up by the

Arab Spring and religious strife in the

aftermath of the Egyptian revolution.

Students, faculty and staff at the

Evangelical Theological Seminary in

Cairo are ecstatic to be receiving these

long-awaited resources. It is their first shipment from the

Theological Book Network.

Photo courtesy of the Overseas Council

Spanish Language Project

The Theological Book Network is now shipping Spanish-

language books to Christian colleges and seminaries in Latin

America. We have already shipped boxes to 24 schools in

Bolivia, Venezuela, Paraguay and Colombia, and will soon send

books to an additional 36 schools in Guatemala, Honduras,

El Salvador, and Nicaragua.

(Continued from page 1)

accomplished in spite of libraries that are under-resourced in books that are relevant to the scholar’s work and the

school’s goals. These are the challenges addressed by this project. While one shipment cannot “fix” these issues in their

entirety, it is the beginning of a long-term strategic relationship.

As with nearly all of the Book Network’s projects, there are logistical issues that we must overcome. In the Congo and

South Sudan, for example, there is political unrest in the regions where the school and the scholar are located. Other

challenges include corruption in the customs offices of some countries; excessive amounts of paperwork required for

delivery of the books and poor infrastructure in the receiving countries that impedes prompt delivery. Despite these

challenges, the project has moved along well. To date, we have shipped 2,761 books, and expect to send another 8,000

to the scholars and libraries by the end of the year

Together with SLI, we believe it is vitally important that trained theological leaders in the Majority World have a voice in

the on-going discussion within the global church. This partnership seeks to facilitate that goal.

Hungary

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The Network recently received a very large donation of theological books from a UK

publisher, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK). Over 50,000

brand-new volumes have arrived at our warehouse and are being sorted for inclusion in our

shipments to international seminaries and colleges. This donation includes books from

introductory Bible and theology texts to those appropriate for graduate programs. We are

extremely grateful for this high-quality donation, and look forward to placing these books in

service to the global church.


The Theological Book

Network would like to

thank the following

for their gifts and in-kind

contributions. This is

certainly not an exhaustive

list. We are grateful for

each and every donation we

receive.

World Council of Churches

S.P.C.K Publishing

Chicago Theological Seminary

Andover-Harvard Theological Library

Buswell Memorial Library

Columbia Theological

Seminary

Keri K's Cupcakes 616-366-7028

Grand Rapids Coffee

Roasters grandrapidscoffee.com

Matthew Hillman

Musician [email protected]

Matthew Eastman Eastman Audio

[email protected]

Theodore Ndawillie II soundcloud.com/theodoreii

Varnum LLP

www.varnumlaw.com

Rapids Computer Solutions www.rcsol.com

Theological

Book Network

Science and Theology

The Theological Book Network has received a grant to

provide books for a series of international lectures on the

question of origins in Genesis. These lectures are being given

by Professor John Walton of Wheaton College and are based

on his well-received book, The Lost World of Genesis One

published by Inter-Varsity Press. The Book Network will

provide copies of Dr. Walton’s book and many other titles

that pertain to the topic. Seminaries in three regions of the

world will receive the books. The project will begin in January

of 2013.

UK Publisher Donates over 50,000 Books

New Books to 500 Schools

The Theological Book Network recently

completed its multi-year Library Development

Project. The Network enhanced the library

collections of 500 schools by providing each

school with 40-50 brand-new academic

theological titles. Schools in 29 countries on

four continents are now putting these valuable

resources to work in service to the church.

We couldn’t have done this without the

generosity of our donors.

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The Theological Book Network hosted two public events in October – a warehouse tour and an

evening reception, to allow friends of the Network to meet our new Executive Director, Nancy

The warehouse tour, held at our headquarters in Grand

Rapids, Michigan, provided members of the public an

opportunity to talk with staff and learn how book

donations are received, sorted, and shipped to scholars

around the world. Visitors learned about the need in the

Majority World for books, and saw first-hand how

donated books and financial contributions are put to use

in fulfilling our mission. If you have not had the chance to

visit our facility, we’d love to show you around! Please

call our offices to schedule a visit.

The evening reception was held at the beautiful St. Cecilia Music

Center in downtown Grand Rapids. Our guest speaker, Emmanuel

Bileya, spoke movingly about his experience as a student struggling to

access books at his seminary in Nigeria (see page 6). His first-hand

account highlighted the important difference the Network makes in

the lives of students. Dr. Nancy Arnison closed the evening by inviting

guests to participate in this ministry. She announced a new giving

opportunity, Books Build Leaders: A Fund for New Initiatives (see page 5).

We would like to thank all who were able to attend the events. It was

a wonderful day filled with in-depth conversations, and an opportunity

to meet existing and new donors.

Wayne Bornholdt and Franklin Goldberg

Arnison, and hear about the work we’ve been doing.

Welcoming the Public

Emmanuel Bileya

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Theological Book Network

Books Build Leaders: A Fund for New Initiatives

Send this form to:


3529 Patterson Ave. SE

Grand Rapids MI 49512

Name:

Address:

City:

Email:

Credit Card Number:

Security code:

Name (As it appears on card)

Signature:

State: Zip:

Phone:

Expiration Date:

3529 Patterson Ave SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49512

616.532.3890 [email protected]

www.theologicalbooknetwork.com

Yes, I’d like to support new leadership

development in the Majority World

church. Please use these funds to initiate

new collections and serve emerging

leaders in communities that have not yet

been blessed with high-quality

theological resources.


Roger Loyd

Tom Arnison and Rachel Hillman

Sara and Daniel Harlow at the reception

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Even though my seminary has one of the better equipped libraries in Africa, my observation is that it has less than one fourth of the books in the fourth floor of Calvin’s Hekman Library alone! Many of the theological books we need in Africa are only available from abroad. African theological schools are able to buy some books; however, since many of the books needed are foreign books and are not cheap to purchase, only a few books can be purchased each year. The books we need in Africa are mostly books on: New Testament studies and theology, Old Testament studies and theology, Apologetics, Systematic Theology, Doctrinal studies, History, Philosophy, Missiology, Biblical Languages, Lexicons, Dictionaries (on various fields), Ethics, Western and Eastern Traditional Religion, Biographies of ancient theologians, materials of ancient theologians, etc. I pray that the Lord enables the believers in the United States to see the need and the importance to support the theological schools in Africa with the much needed books. And I am so grateful for the work of Theological Book Network and all who support their work. Thank you all for the opportunity to share this need with you. Remain blessed in the Lord.”

Emmanuel Saba Bileya (Rev.)

Keynote Address by Emmanuel Bileya:

The Value of Theological Books in Africa “Calvary greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I am Emmanuel Saba Bileya, an ordained pastor with the Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria (CRCN). I have a Bachelor of Divinity from the Theological College of Northern Nigeria (TCNN) in Plateau State, Nigeria. In addi-tion to being a church planter and a pastor, I served as the Coordinator of the Theological Education by Extension (TEE) for the Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria. I was also a member of the governing Board of Veenstra Theological Seminary (VTS) for 4 years. Prior to coming to Calvin Theological Seminary, I served as a teacher and the Dean of Studies at the Christian Leadership Training College in Nigeria. From my experience with these schools – which are like so many theological schools in Africa – I can boldly testify that theological books are seriously needed in the theological schools of Africa.

I can still remember, at the Theological College of Northern Nigeria during my undergraduate studies, how we could not find some books for our assignments or thesis projects. Our assignments were on courses like: Church History, New Testament, Global Trends, etc. My project was on B ib l ica l Pattern for Missions. The assigned

books were few or not available at all in the library. Some students used to rush to check out the few books left for some courses, leaving others with none. The most painful experience was when we could not find the required books in either the library or popular bookshops. Sometimes when we could find the books we needed in the bookshops they were expensive beyond what we could afford – they were foreign books. The shocking thing is that even though my seminary is one of the largest and most popular seminaries in Africa, there were many times when the needed books were not available.

Emmanuel Bileya

Gratitude from Azusa Theological

Seminary in Zimbabwe

“Thank you for your

donation of books. These

volumes will go a long

way in building theological

education and training in

our country and beyond.

Azusa college expresses

its deepest appreciation.”

-Rev. C. Gomba, Principal

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Kenya

In October, Nancy Arnison and Wayne Bornholdt participated in the triennial meeting of the International Council for

Evangelical Theological Education (ICETE) in Nairobi, Kenya. ICETE brings together international theological educators for

consultation, workshops and presentations that address the needs and challenges of theological education in the Majority

World. About 200 people from 40 countries attended the meeting.

The Theological Book Network gave presentations both at the general meeting and

at a special consultation on doctoral programs. We focused on ways the Theological

Book Network might help new and emerging doctoral programs develop high-caliber

libraries in support of their academic goals. We also led a workshop detailing how

we support less advanced institutional libraries.

A highlight of the conference for many people was the opportunity to sample books

that the Theological Book Network provides through our network distributions. We

had shipped nearly a thousand volumes to Kenya and participants eagerly received all

the books within two hours. It was a smashing success. The books generated high

praise for their quality, range and substance, and the event prompted numerous encounters with conferees interested in

future collaboration with the Theological Book Network.

While in Nairobi, we also visited three libraries with which we have worked in

the past. Each visit generated first-hand accounts of the ways in which our

shipments have strengthened these libraries. Fr. Jocelyn at Hekima College

described not only improvement in Hekima’s library, but also the impact on

neighboring libraries with which Hekima has shared its books. Hekima College

even sent books to a school in South Sudan, thus multiplying the generosity.

We are pleased to see the impact of our work in Kenya and are grateful for the

opportunity to listen to the needs and hopes of schools we hope to serve in the

future.

The Theological Book Network was the recipient of a generous gift recently when the

World Council of Churches (WCC) made the decision to combine the

operations of their two research l ibrar ies in Geneva and

Bossey, Switzerland. The Geneva-based library was closed, and operations moved to

the library in Bossey. Because the two collections had a great deal of overlap, the

WCC dona t ed t h e dup l i c a t e s t o t h e Theo lo g i c a l Book

Network. The books were packed into a 40’ container, and shipped to Network

headquarters. The container arrived at our warehouse in October,

holding well over 20,000 volumes of academic theological titles in English, French,

German and Italian. Our staff has only begun to sort these volumes, but a donation of

this size will enrich future shipments to the Majority World for years to come.

The World Council of Churches Donates Library

Fr. Jocelyn Rabeson

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Staff Notes

Tim Shangle has joined the

Theological Book Network as

Technology Manager. He is a recent

graduate of Asbury Theological

Seminary where he worked as the

Interactive Media Developer.

He is happy to be relocating back to

Grand Rapids. Tim enthusiastically

supports the mission of Theological

Book Network and has already made a donation of books

from his personal collection in Kentucky.

The Theological Book Network is committed to the creation and

development of Majority World Leaders who serve the Church by

providing access to educational resources from the west and by assisting

in the production and dissemination of local resources, contributing to the

practice of theological reflection on the needs and goals of the Majority

World Church.

The Theological Book Network is pleased

to welcome new board members:

Brenda K. Bailey-Hainer

Executive Director, American

Theological Library Association

Scott Bolinder

Executive Vice President, Biblica

Richard Brown

Director, Georgetown University Press

David Esterline

Director, Institute for Cross-Cultural

Theological Education, McCormick

Theological Seminary

Roger Loyd

Retired Director, Divinity School

Library, Duke University

They join continuing board

members:

Nancy D. Arnison

Executive Director, Theological Book

Network

Dwight Baker

President, Baker Publishing Group

Kurt Berends

President, Issachar Fund Initiative

Ellen Esterline Larson

Co-Founder/Co-Owner

PaxMed International, LLC

Mark Muller

President, Ben M. Muller Realty Co.

Robert D. Thompson

Sr. Account Manager, Ahead, LLC

Rev. Laura Sumner Truax

Senior Pastor, LaSalle Street Church

We welcome Heather Feltman

as Director of Advancement.

Heather will lead fund development

and communications strategies for

the Network. A diaconal minister,

Heather most recently served as

President and CEO of Lutheran

Social Services of New England, a

multi-state operation. She has

a Master of Arts in Religion, a Masters in Non-Profit

Management, and a Certification in Nonprofit Executive

Leadership from Harvard Business School. Heather is

thrilled to be joining the Theological Book Network.

Mission Statement Board of Directors

9

“DZIALALNOSC FUNDACJI

THEOLOGICAL BOOK NETWORK”

Staff

Nancy D. Arnison

Executive Director

Wayne Bornholdt

Director of Acquisitions

Heather Feltman

Director of Advancement

Greg Heynen

Logistics

Rachel Hillman

Project Coordinator

Justin Holford

Warehouse Manager

Eric Karloski

Warehouse

Tim Shangle

IT Manager

Rolin Timmerman

Warehouse

General Information

[email protected]


A Note from the Executive Director

Books Build Leaders

In my five months with the Theological Book Network I’ve found an

extraordinary organization with a bold dream – a mission to serve both the

church and the world by ensuring that students and faculty – wherever they are

– can access the theological resources they need.

We believe that books can change the world. Books build leaders. And

leaders transform church and society.

Do you recall the books that have changed your life? Opened new worlds?

Shaped your dreams and formed your scholarship? What a miracle it is to

share that gift with sisters and brothers around the world. The Theological

Book Network is committed to developing thoughtful leaders by providing

access to high-quality theological resources that are desperately needed in the

Majority World.

As you consider your holiday giving, please help us put books into the hands of

those who hunger for them. Help us make their dreams come alive.

Investing in this ministry, you’ll find not only a passion for the work, but an

effective and efficient organization that is making a concrete difference in the

lives of scholars. Over and over again, I hear of librarians who are finally able

to meet the needs of their students because the Network has sent a

shipment! The fact that they receive high-quality academic books appropriate

to their own context, is our mark of excellence.

Your contribution will be significantly leveraged. The books we receive are

donated or purchased at deep discounts, and our shipping costs are kept low

through expertise and economies of scale. We are able to furnish a Majority

World library at a fraction of its real cost.

Since 2004, we have sent over a million books to 500 schools. We invite you

to be part of this ministry.

Last month, Laurentiu Nistor from Romania wrote, “The books you sent were

more than we could have hoped for – just like grace, unexpected, unmerited

and generous.”

Please join us in supporting Books Build Leaders: A Fund for New Initiatives. Your

contribution will send books to schools we have never served before, bringing

God’s grace to young leaders eager to learn and serve. Thank you for your partnership in this ministry.

The Network Featured in

International Journal

10 Phone: 616-532-3890 www.theologicalbooknetwork.org [email protected]

THEOLOGICAL BOOK NETWORK, INC. 3529 PATTERSON AVE SE GRAND RAPIDS MI 49512

THEOLOGICAL BOOK NETWORK

Your donation makes a world of difference. For every $350 the Network collects, we can provide more than 100 books.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call us at 616.532.3890 or email us at [email protected]

Send this form to:


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Newsletter - November 2012