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Book-Link puts Christian literature into grateful hands around the world

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EUBANK, Ky. (BP)–“Good, usable Christian literature ought not to be gathering dust,” says Olin Williams, executive director of Book-Link, a nonprofit, volunteer-operated Christian organization based in Eubank, Ky. Since 1986, Book-Link has been gathering unused Christian resources and shipping them around the world upon request, at no cost to the recipient.

But don’t just clean out your closets, said Geneva Faw, interim director of Book-Link along with her husband, Wiley, while Williams is in Zimbabwe for a year to establish a Christian library network.

Among the items not to send — “so you’re not wasting your money shipping us materials we can’t use,” Faw said, — are the following:

— highly damaged books (such as Bibles with the cover and some pages ripped off).

— novels (secular and Christian).

— Sunday school and Vacation Bible School materials that are written in.

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Since each Book-Link shipment is packaged to fill a specific request from a student or pastor, some of the most needed items include:

— Bibles.

— Bible dictionaries, commentaries, atlases, concordances and encyclopedias.

— English dictionaries.

— books concerning Baptist beliefs, theology, ethics, discipleship, stewardship, evangelism, prayer and church administration.

— Winter Bible Study, church study course, Vacation Bible School and Sunday school literature (especially materials in the Exploring the Bible and the Bible Book series).

— hymnals.

— sermon cassette tapes.

Recipients are typically theology students and national pastors in developing countries. Books also are sent to help create libraries in pastor schools in isolated areas. Requests must be accompanied by a letter of recommendation from a Southern Baptist missionary to ensure nothing will be wasted.

Book-Link depends entirely on donations for both the materials it sends out to fill requests and the money needed for postage and other shipping expenses. No one associated with Book-Link receives any sort of salary.

For more information about Book-Link, call the Faws (until February) at (606) 379-2005. Williams should return to Kentucky in February; his phone number is (606) 379-2140.
Donations of Christian materials — pre-paid, not C.O.D. – can be mailed to Book-Link, 4155 Highway 328 West, Eubank, KY 42567. With funds so tight just for shipping the books overseas, no money is available to pay for books to arrive in Eubank. The Faws recommend calling first to see what type of literature is most urgently needed at the time.

Monetary donations, made payable to Book-Link, can be sent to the Book-Link Foundation or the Hal Buchanan Memorial Fund, c/o Mississippi Baptist Foundation, P.O. Box 530, Jackson, MS 39205-0530. All donations received are used strictly for postal costs and shipping materials, and all donations are tax-deductible. For more information, call the Mississippi Baptist Foundation at (601) 968-3800.