Call 1-800-347-4261 to order. It is also available now online at Amazon.com,  and Barnes and Noble.com.   Sometimes they offer free shipping.

So far, it has been well received by people of the Church of God. This has been very gratifying and I hope it continues to be well-received and well-read.

I and the publisher realized from the outset that we could not include everybody in the Church of God due to space and cost factors. In fact, we have not been able to include every major leader but I have tried to get major representation of leadership in ALL parts of the country including Ontario, Nova Scotia and other select foreign mission areas. In the future when we revise and republish this work, there will be opportunity then to update it with new entries, and to correct any gaps or errors in existing entries.

If the first edition sells well enough to merit it, we would like to bring out a hardcover edition. Please pray about this project.

Photo Caption: Jan speaks to a workshop group at the COG General Conference meeting July 7, 2011 in Omaha.  the group had many interesting questions and comments about Church of God history and the preparation of the book.

Thanks to everyone who helped pay publication costs and who have purchased books. A special thanks to each one who served as a Contact Person in your church to keep people informed.  This project could not succeed without friends and members like you. God bless you all.

J. Turner Stilson

The Biographical Encyclopedia: Chronicling the Church of God Abrahamic Faith was successfully uploaded to the printer this weekend! Hooray!

I know this sterling news means more to some than others, but I wanted you all to know what a tremendous moment this is! This weekend marks the pinnacle of 5-6 years of Jan’s hard work and research, and several of mine. I have enjoyed every moment of this project–even the trials–and now VERY anxiously await to hear if the files were received in good order and can be processed for a proof copy. With 620 pages and numerous (hundreds) of photos, some illustrations, and charts, it’s a project that falls in the epic range of variables that can possibly go awry. Pray, offer votive deposits, send reiki, do yoga–whatever you think will help align the cosmic forces!

Through this production I’ve been excited, elated, stressed, distressed, grouchy, forgetful, neglectful (mostly in communications), and harried. But, deep down, I have loved every minute of the process. The learning, the challenges, and getting to know Jan even better–shes’ a dear, sweet, patient friend to bear with me through all the learning curves we’ve clung to together–usually by our last tooth, broken nails shredding out behind us. Thing is–I really like this publishing thing–as much as writing and being generally involved in this business…. Now to cultivate it, make it grow, add the remarkable talents of friends (you know who you are!) to the mix, and with a little luck actually make this a long-term viable business for all of us. Hope with me!

To those of you who have remained friends and offered support and a shoulder to weep on, I extend my deepest gratitude and love. It’s with ardent hope that I say I can become a more normal, responsive, attentive person as the remnants of this project wind down and before the next ratchets up.–Dawn

From Jan:

This is a very exciting time and it’s hard just to sit and wait!  We hope to have printed copies for distribution at General Conference. We are anxiously awaiting our proof copy and when we sign off on it, orders will be submitted.

I agree with Dawn, please keep this project in your prayers for excellent conclusion, faithful response, and potential of the book for evangelism purposes.

Thanks for standing with us in this project.

Caption:   The congregation of the Virginia Conference meet together at the old hall at Seven Fountains which stands or used to stand just across the road from the present-day Fort Valley Church of God.  This photo was taken around 1900 and is from the Archives of Atlanta Bible College, McDonough, Ga.

Comment:

Congratulations to you both, Jan and Dawn.

I’ve had the privilege of looking over Dawn’s shoulder and offering a bit of advice here and there while this book came to life. The absolute volume of work done on this project was herculean! And it has ended up being a beautiful volume. Well researched and written with layout and design that the Encyclopedia Britannica would be proud to call it’s own.

Big Kudos and Hoorahs to you both.

M____________

P.s. Now I’m crossing my fingers, toes and eyes that the proofing stage goes smoothly. I know from personal experience that can as big of a challenge of the rest of the production.

I am including it here, for your information. It is gratifying to know that information about the Church of God is going out around the world via the internet. It is also gratifying to know that the leaders and pastors of the Church of God from the 19th century are still being studied in the 21st century. This confirms my theory that seeds which were planted in the 19th c will bear fruit again. I think that is a promise we can claim because God’s Word does not return to Him void.

Here is the e-mail. I have blocked her last name to protect her.

To: Webmaster

From:
Desiree S_________

Message:
Dear Mrs. Stilson,

My name is Desiree S________ and I am a student at Heidelberg University in Heidelberg, Germany. I am majoring in translation/cultural studies and I am about to complete my studies this upcoming fall with a Master of Arts degree. In partial fulfillment of this degree it is a requirement to write a thesis.

Prof. Dr. Joachim Kornelius, the professor who is supervising my thesis, has had a particular interest in “profiling”, but in our very own ways. We are interested in researching the life of forgotten artists and personalities and our special interest right now is focusing on the Reed family. There are two works already completed by our institution, one about Myrtle Reed in partial fulfillment of a Bachelor of Arts degree, written in German, and one about Earl Reed, Sr. titled “The Etchings and the Prose of Earl H. Reed. Forgotten Artist of the Midwest”, written by Carina Kleh, through which I came across the Reed family tree and found out about you..

Since my professor is so interested in the Reed family, digging up information about Myrtle and Earl Reed is not yet enough for him. So he has given me the special task to put Charles B. Reed in the center of my research project for my thesis. However, this has proven to be rather difficult since  the internet does not provide a lot of information, especially not about him or his father.

During my research I have come across this blog entry:
http://truthhistory.blogspot.com/2010/10/many-thanks.html stating that you have given someone biographical information on a Hiram Vaughn Reed. This led me to wondering whether this is the same Hiram Vaughn Reed that I am searching for. And since the only information I have about Charles B. Reed’s father Hiram so far, was that he was a preacher, I figured it could very well be possible that you can help me find the information I am looking for.

I hope I am not taking up too much of your time. I would be really grateful to hear back from you.
Signed: DS

The Biographical Encyclopedia is scheduled to go to the printer this week. Please continue to pray for this process, and that the finished book will be something of which we can all be proud.

We are aiming to have our book off to the printer by May 15 and hopefully, back to us by June 15. That is in an ideal world. We know that things in the world today are far from ideal.

Therefore, I am asking each and every one who is reading this blog today to pray daily until that book is in our hands. I am not small in faith, but I my faith in printers is not as great as my faith in your prayers! So please pray. This will be book based and bathed in prayer. And, therefore, you can have confidence in it.

Because we are having to spend extra hours in page setting in order to meet the looming deadline, costs are mounting even more rapidly than I had anticipated. No fear….We are still well within our proposed budget to the Board of Directors two years ago, but consider that the book we proposed was 425 pages, and the book that will go to the printer is 645 pages! There may be some cost overruns.

The fund in Atlanta will be depleted when the March invoice is paid. Please stand faithful to this project and speak to your church about sending that check they have delayed sending. If you have already donated once or twice, please do not feel you must do so again. But, others please stand up and be counted!

I have personally donated to this.  Will you personally send a check to Atlanta Bible College 2020 Avalon Parkway Ste. 400 McDonough, Ga. 30253? Remember to mark the check “Archival/Encyclopedia Fund”.

Many people have stepped forward already to assist us with written copy, financial donations and prayer. Please be counted among them. (Too late now to send written copy.)

We love you, and we are all excited about seeing this book! May God be with us as we receive it.
The photo was supplied today by John Smead of his father’s Bible Training Class.  This must be the Winter Session, 1930 or 31 as the men stand without coats behind the Golden Rule Home.  They are from L to R, Clarence Lapp, John Denchfield, Harvey U. Krogh, Jr., Cecil Smead and John Richard LeCrone.

A.  For the Ark hives.

Yes, I like that joke.  Being an Archivist is fun.  It’s like mining for gold.  There is treasure in the Archives at Atlanta Bible College,  Rock River Christian College, and Belle Plaine Church of God in Iowa.   But, sometimes I can get a fact wrong and that happened yesterday.

When I was in the newspaper business occasionally, sometimes daily, we’d have to print a correction or clarification notice.

Two readers of Jan’s Blog wrote to inform me that Carl Jennings is not preaching at Blush Church of God, but Denver Wagganer is preaching there. That’s the correction. The clarification is that Carl Jennings has preached there in the past but not recently. So I was partly right, and partly wrong. That happens sometimes when writing history.

Someone has said “History is fiction.” This is because it doesn’t always get recorded by the primary participants exactly as it happened (the spin factor), and those writing about events years later also spin the analysis of events. Voila: fiction.

It is hoped that readers of the forthcoming Biographical Encyclopedia will have tolerance for minor deviations from family stories, church legends, preconceived notions, and the spin factor.  Yes, all books do reflect a bias and the bias of this book will be the particular manner in which the Church of God interpets Scripture.I tried to be neutral but it was very difficult.

The book reflects the information from the Archives.  It is as correct as it can be. The nice thing about being informed of a mistake:  People are reading the Blog!  That’s a good thing.

We have tried to offer as much Church of God history as possible for a low price. We think this is a good price.

Furthermore, we have offered this book to the General Conference to sell, and to keep any proceeds from it. This will “repay” the Archival fund for the pre-prepublication costs paid by the General Conference.

The General Conference in its electronic version of The Restitution Herald today has a flyer announcing a pre-publication discount price of $29. So hurry, and get your order in now. Call Nola at 1-678-833-1839. She can accept credit card over the phone.

These books will also be sold at pre-pub discount price at Christian Worker’s Seminar. They can accept checks, cash or credit card at that time.

May I remind you as a contact person to do a spot check of libraries and church seminaries in your area to see how many of these books you or your church could distribute as gifts to the libraries. To raise money to pay for the books, perhaps you could have a youth car wash; ladies’ bake sale; special love offering, etc.

Thank you to each and every one of you who has made a recent contribution to the General Conference Archival Fund. We anticipate that within a couple of months, the demand on the fund will stop or at least slow down dramatically. If you have been thinking of sending a donation, please do. The General Conference can use those funds after the first of May to order printed copies of the book for sale at General Conference.

We still need your prayers for successful completion of the production process. Just correcting typos is not easy, and that’s not considering problems with pagination, photos, spacing, etc.

The photo at the top of the blog is the Blush Church of God near Fredericktown, Missouri.  Carl Jennings preaches there on a regular basis.

I am attaching Section S today in the e-mail to Encyclopedia Contacts.  This book  is still in production so please do not send this out to a general audience.  This is for your eyes only. You will notice there are a few post-it notes in various places throughout the section. These pages have gone back to Dawn with post-it notes in place to inform her of errors that need to be corrected before the final pdf is saved.  To open, click on the attachment in the e-mail.

I hope this will give you some insight into the production aspects of putting a book together. If I survive this part of the job, I will praise the Lord. There are a million details and we will miss our first deadline of March 14th, although we will have the 19th century portion finished by then.  So of course, my stress can be a topic for your prayer, and I will thank you in advance.

The 20th century is not as long, but it has a few more details to be worked out right now. Within a week, the file will be closed and I will not accept any more data or photos for the 20th century. Once Dawn begins to set it into Insight, the 20th century will go quickly.  (no pun intended, as the real 20th century is already history.)

There will be an Appendix of 70 pages back to back, and an Index of another 10 pages or so. Then, PTL. it will be done. Printing will be done by Baker and Taylor and should not take long.  Hopefully, we will have a finished book for distribution at General Conference in Omaha July 5-7.  I am presenting a short session on July 7 to talk about the book.

Expenditures for production costs are still ongoing. We really need your help right now to complete this process. Donations have been slow to come to the General Conference, but Thanks! to you who have sent a recent donation. Every little bit helps. In 2 months, these expenses should be finished, and then comes the ordering process introduced first by a pre-publication discount price, TBA.  Remember to mark any check to the GC with Archives/Encyclopedia.  Send to ABC Box 2950 2020 Avalon Pkwy Ste 400 McDonough, Ga. 30253.

We hope to have information on the pricing structure by the time you arrive at Christian Worker’s Seminar this spring. Please remember us and the mission of the encyclopedia in your prayers. We hope this book can be an effective tool for evangelism for your local churches and for the General Conference.  God bless each of you.

The picture in the blog today is the old Guthrie Grove Church of God at Pelzer, South Carolina.

The page count through Section “L” is now 164 .  When the pdfs for each section are finished in galley form, I receive them to inspect for errors and omissions.   Attached to your e-mail today is Section “J”, a short one, just to illustrate how it looks, and how errors are highlighted.

Once I have finished, the section is sent back for corrections and then put in the tank so to speak.  Changes could still be made if necessary at this point, but every change delays the paginator from moving forward.

On another note, finances are getting a bit scant again, and if you have not mentioned this to your church board or state conference, this would be a good time to consider it.  Two-thirds of the encyclopedia publishing project remain unfinished, and bills need to be paid.  It’s been costing about $500 per month.  Please instruct your treasurer to mark the donation for the Encyclopedia Fund.  Thank you in advance, and thanks also for keeping us afloat up to this point. Send to COGGC Box 2950 2020 Avalon Parkway Suite 400, McDonough, Ga. 30253.

After you have finished reading “J” please consider how you can use this for ministry.  Don’t make copies of it to spread around just yet, but please feel free to read portions of  the shorter entries to your class, to the congregation, to Church of God shut-ins, etc.

Our deadline for sending this to the publisher is April 1.   By that time we should be better able to estimate the retail cost.  Once we have a completed page count, price can be set at the printer, and that determines retail.  We think the finished book will be just under 600 pages which is good.

The photo is Verna Thayer with the Macy girls:  Cheryl, left, Karla and Joyce.

Christmas comes but once a year, but we spend half the year getting ready for it!  And we spend, spend, spend.  This year the media reports that spending is up and that should help our merchants, and perhaps our economy for 2011.

I hope each of our Church of God friends and members had a blessed Christmas.  The Stilsons had a good day with young son Randy and wife Brenda, and their 2 -year old daughter, Bijoux.  Older son Rick and wife Melinda, and middle child Marianne with daughters Amory and Jessie are arriving tomorrow for belated Christmas Monday evening.

Mari has planned an Open House to visit old friends and to celebrate numerous December birthdays on Jan 1st, so that is a good way to start the New Year.  We wish you could all come.

I am reminded that in the 1860s the  Illinois Church of God members used to meet together in Geneva, or Northfield for a 2-day  quarterly conference over Christmas.  That was before the holiday was commercialized, and since people were off work for that day, they devoted the spare time to having a church conference.

I think the Church of God does a great job of keeping Christ in Christmas, and celebrating the Advent season for the right reason:  Christ’s birth.  Let us look forward to the new year, and to celebrating again at Christmastime next year.  But, I don’t think we’d better plan to have a quarterly conference then.  Too much going on.

The photo is of Oregon Bible College campus in 1945 or thereabouts.  Student Ed Graham took the photo and it came to us via his son David.

Researching history is a little bit like solving a mystery.   One sees a name, or an insignificant note about an event, and the investigation to learn more about the person or the event begins.

The history of the Church of God which has been under scrutiny the past 25 years is finally revealing some clues about itself and its members from the 19th and 20th centuries in America.  Finally the investigation of clues is piecing together a beautiful tapestry of the development of the evangelistic ministry of the Age-to-Come/One Faith movements.

Some of the entries in the encyclopedia trace the lifetime of notable people.  In fact, Church of God history is filled with notable people.   For example, do a search in Google for the names of Joseph Marsh, R. V. Lyon, J.M. Stephenson, O.R.L Crozier, Benjamin Wilson, or L.E. Conner, and you will begin to find interesting information about those preachers and editors.

Look for Jane Marsh Parker, Elizabeth Reed, and Mary Chapman and you will find that these notable women made significant contributions to the development of the Church of God, and also to the literature.

Most of the people in the encyclopedia are not famous people.  They are common, ordinary, intelligent people who became dedicated to spreading the news of the Gospel of the Kingdom.   They may have been well-known within their townships or communities as a Justice of the Peace, an Alderman or local Editor, but outside their immediate areas, their fame was not known.

Piece by piece, the historical puzzle turns into a work of beauty, because the beauty of Jesus can be seen in their lives.