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At the bottom of this email, I have an exciting announcement. But first, this: On Thursday night, Meaghan Fogarty posted a video to Twitter, and it went viral, receiving nearly half a million “likes.” More than 2,000 comments on the post noted that it was a pure moment, or that this is exactly what the world needs right now. The video reminded me of times I spent as a child watching for wobbly eggs in incubators at feed stores and in the 4-H building at the state fair.
Here’s the video (it will open as a youtube video in a new tab):
From Meaghan Fogarty: My mom’s kindergarten class watching a chick hatch and then singing happy birthday to it
Several viewers noted how wet and exhausted this chick is. I don’t know if you’ve watched a chick emerge from its shell, but it generally takes four to twelve hours, and it’s common – if conditions are right – for the process to take up to twenty-four hours.
The chick in this video just finished a marathon – maybe two or three marathons.
I wonder at the persistence required for emergence, and I wonder if I’m capable of accomplishing what this baby bird has just accomplished.
Being at Barclay Press feels a little bit – I imagine – like trying to break out of a shell. For years, we have depended on steady funding from yearly meetings to make possible the work that we do in publishing Fruit of the Vine quarterly reader, Illuminate small-group and Sunday school Bible study materials, as well as a handful of Quaker books and resources every year. With that funding phasing out at the end of 2019, I’ve needed to raise replacement funds from donations. This year, in order to keep the doors open, I have to raise $25,000.
This is where I make the announcement I promised at the start of this letter: As January comes to a close, Barclay Press has raised a little less than $2,000 toward our year-end goal. To help us enter February strong, a private donor has offered to match every donation that comes in over the next four weeks, up to $1,000. This is a fantastic opportunity to double funds raised for the year as we slowly work our way out of the shell and toward our goal of being a full-fledged, healthy and independent Quaker publisher.
If you can join in supporting the continuing work of Barclay Press as a publisher of truth for many years to come and would like to see your donated dollars doubled, now is the time to make a one-time or monthly donation. Just click on DONATE at barclaypress.com, or mail a check to Barclay Press, 211 N Meridian St #101, Newberg OR 97132.
Harold “Doc” Arnett writes in this morning’s Fruit of the Vine that pastors and leaders sometimes “feel too small for the task.” We ask ourselves whether we can do what God has called us to do – “comfort a family in the aftermath of tragedy,” say the words people need to hear, offer something of value on a Sunday morning or a Wednesday night. We consider the pain and suffering in the world and in our neighborhood. We know that we can’t fix it, whatever it is.
“As I reflect on some of the situations that I’ve faced,” Harold writes, “I have to admit that my doubts are always anchored in my own expectations of myself.” For whatever reason, we think we’re supposed to be able to fix the pain and say the words that will make people whole.
But ministry isn’t magic.
Harold shares that he’s learned to pray, “Lord, help me to be a blessing to these people,” and that he is reminded that it’s not up to him to impress. His role – our responsibility – is to bring good to others, even if just a little. God “is always able to take the little that I have and multiply it for others.”
“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they said.
Jesus “gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied.”
We are too small for the task, but we dare not let that stop us from bringing what little we have, giving it to Jesus, and trusting that somehow it might be a blessing.
A friend texted me last night: “Any resolutions for the new year?”
“The publishing non-profit I manage,” I texted back, “I want to keep it running for at least another year.”
I recognized later that what I’d shared wasn’t so much a resolution for me as it is a resolution for us. For sixty years, Barclay Press has continued to publish Friends books and curriculum with the financial support of the yearly meetings it serves. As those yearly meetings make cuts to their budgets, Barclay Press has also cut its staff and its services. I serve as a half-time employee. Our bookkeeper maintains our production calendar and is also our archivist, an editor, and a project manager. Our shipping clerk is also our database manager, our graphic designer, our IT expert, and (for at least one project) our staff photographer.
On January 8, 2000, a task force met to determine the future of Barclay Press. That task force included Joe Gerick, Harlow Ankeny, Margaret Lemmons, Dave Hampton, Paul Anderson, Arthur Roberts, Dick Sleeper, Mark Ankeny, Dan McCracken, Susan Fawver, Ken Beebe, Floyd Watson, Leroy Benham, Dan Cammack, Dea Cox, Alice Maurer, and Stan Muhr (my dad!). The members of the task force agreed that Barclay Press should remain “a publisher of truth for many years to come” and that its “financial situation had to be improved if we hope to have any ministry in publishing/printing in the future.”
If I were to gather a similar task force today, it would likely come to the same conclusion.
I’ve written a few letters like this in the past, and many of you have responded generously. In the last month, seven individual donors have given $1,140 to support the work of Barclay Press. Which is awesome! Over this next year, I need to raise $25,000 in order to stay ahead of long-term debt, maintain equipment, pay staff, and support new projects. If you’ve benefited from the work of Barclay Press, or if you want to support the continuing work of Barclay Press as “a publisher of truth for many years to come,” I wonder if you might consider one or more of the following:
A one-time or monthly donation – just click on DONATE at barclaypress.com.
Talk to your church or monthly meeting about making support for Barclay Press a part of your budget.
Bring us your next project. This last year, we reproduced glossy, full-color bulletin inserts for a fund-raiser concert; we helped to print a church photo directory; we designed posters, bulletin inserts, and a curriculum guide for Evangelical Friends Mission; we designed and set up three websites; we provided stock photography and managed three weekly newsletters.
Pray for Barclay Press and for the work that we do.
