BY THE BOOK

“And he had in his hand a little book open...” (from Revelation 10:2)

Early on Saturday morning, I opened an e-mail from my friend Ed from Texas.  Ed is a rural letter carrier and and a former Assemblies of God minister.  Ed had lost track of an Assemblies of God minister from Colorado and asked me for his contact information.  The national office of the Assemblies of God has regularly published two directories each year:  one national church directory and one national ministers’ directory.  A copy of the national Assemblies of God Constitution and By-Laws has also always been published every other year.

I have been in the regular habit that when the new books come in, I put the latest ones in my church office and I bring home the previous year’s books and put them on a shelf in my bedroom.  On Saturday morning, I went into the bedroom to get the ministers’ directory to get the contact information for Ed, and I was surprised that the book was labeled “2005”.  The directories come out in the Fall.  Thus, my office directories should read “2007” and my home directories should read “2006”. I looked up the information for Ed from the 2005 book and e-mailed Ed, but I was kind of mad at myself.  I figured I’d forgotten to bring home the 2006 directories when the 2007s came in, and that I’d just disposed of the 2006 directories.

When I got to my office on Saturday I was surprised that my most recent national directories were labeled “2006”!  For a second, I felt as though I’d gone back a year in time!  I’ve been an Assemblies of God minister since 1981 and EVERY Fall those directories come in the mail.  I hadn’t noticed that the 2007 directories never came!  I wondered if (in this cyber-everything world) the Assemblies of God figured that they have all of that church and minister information available on-line (we ministers have “accounts” and “passwords” so we can go to restricted Assemblies of God areas on-line and get all sorts of information) and therefore have discontinued the “hard copy” books.  (Incidentally, I also noticed my office copy of the Constitution and Bylaws was from 2005.  I was due to get a new one in 2007 and never did.)  If we were supposed to be notified that all this stuff in “hard copy” is no longer being printed, I somehow never got that information.

I e-mailed my local Assemblies of God District Office (located on Route 20at the Charlton/Sturbridge line) and heard back from our local Secretary/Treasurer that he believes the national office has “gone digital”.  I know it must seem really hypocritical and inconsistent that I’m writing on a cyberspace blog (of all places) that I think that kind of STINKS...that it’s the end of an era....that some of the old-timers over age 80 who don’t use computers will just kind of lose out, but, well, indeed I think that kind of STINKS...that it’s the end of an era....that some of the old-timers over age 80 who don’t use computers will just kind of lose out!

I realize in the “grand scheme of things” this is not a big issue!  I am sure that not printing the books saves money, and trees.  Honestly, I think they should have still made the “hard copy” books available to those who would have requested them, for a reasonable fee.  I, for one, would have opted to pay for and receive the books.

The few of you Assemblies of God ministers who read this blog...(well, maybe there are more than just a few)...what do you think about this?   You can leave a comment, or e-mail me at revrbaril@aol.com

For the rest of you readers who have fallen asleep...sorry...but I guess if you fell asleep you are not reading this anyway...