RAYTOWN – Spring Valley Baptist Church in Raytown is writing a new chapter for their church library. Debbie Atwood, media director, brought her church library into the 21st-century by putting the catalog online.
“Our church has always been an equipping church,” Atwood said. “So, it was important for our library to become an asset and a resource.”
Atwood is working on a new project to make the library even more accessible. “Recently, our pastor, Larry Heenan, retired from thirty-five years of preaching, with twenty-eight of those years pastoring our church,” Atwood said. “Larry told me that he was cleaning out his personal library, and he wanted to know if I wanted them for our church library.”
“I walked into our media center a few days later,” she continued, “and I was amazed. Books were stacked everywhere.”
Atwood started sorting and found a couple shelves that were almost empty. “I started organizing the material, and then I realized this was a gold mine.”
Atwood explained the reason Spring Valley was an equipping church was that they had an equipping pastor.
“I realized that this would become a legacy collection,” she said. “Whenever someone brought up an issue or a problem, our pastor had, or obtained, the resource to fix it. He has a collection of resources that he used to prepare for Wednesday night Bible Study, Sunday morning services, as well as items for counseling and pastor self-care.
“When I saw this collection,” she explained, “I knew that God had a bigger purpose. We decided to make them available to other churches across the state. It includes a 23-volume set of The Pulpit Commentary which Pastor Heenan calls the ‘Holy Grail for pastors.’”
Atwood is passionate about sharing this wealth of knowledge. “We want these materials to be used,” she said, “It is God’s will for us not to just warehouse it. If it blesses someone financially as well as spiritually, it is a win/win.”
Realizing other churches might need the materials but not be able to purchase them, Atwood has a plan. “I’ve already started my church on a ‘give your change’ plan, and I’ve asked for budget money for shipping,” she said. “It breaks my heart to see other churches in need and this information might prop them up. We want to be a church that comes alongside, like the churches of Acts.”
Atwood also outlined another difference in her library and other public libraries that might have the same material. “There are no due dates or fines,” she said. “I want this material to be used without the pressure of a due date. If it is gone a year, I might touch base but I’m not going to track people down.”
“We are all Team Jesus,” she concluded. “We want to share instead of storing up grain in our own barns.”
Atwood can be reached at riul09@gmail.com.
The Spring Valley library catalog can be accessed via the link: https://www.librarycat.org/lib/SVBC.
To apply for a library card, visit https://www.springvalleybaptist.org/library-card-application.