Tonight is the eve of when we will move Lighthouse Trails onto the Shepherd’s Place. It feels like a historical moment. Not because LT is some big famous publishing house because it is not, but because it feels like this is the end of one season and the beginning of a brand new one.
We began LT 13 years ago in a small 1943 two story house in Silverton, Oregon. Our first shipping room was about 7′ x 13′. And my own office was a corner in an attic room. We actually ran LT out of that house for eight years, expanding office and shipping space until it just about took over more than half the house.
Five years ago, we moved to Montana, eventually bought some bare land when our little Oregon house sold, took a detour to go back to Oregon (books and all) to take care of my dying father, and now here we are, about to move onto this 10 acres of beauty with a shop LT can call its own.
Our in-office staff will remain small in number, but if you add up all the authors we now represent, the web assistants, the researchers, the advisers, and the editors, we number over 45 people. None of us make much money, but that isn’t the reason any of us are doing what we are doing anyway. God has opened our eyes, and He has given us the strength, fortitude, resources, and courage to keep going year after year. None of us feel like we are anything special. On the contrary, we often feel very unworthy and inadequate to carry on such a mission. But we know it is by His wonderful grace and mercy that believers in Jesus Christ can serve Him, and on this eve, in the middle of these Montana Rockie foothills, I thank the Lord for His love and also for those of you who have stood with us (and allowed us to stand with you) in this battle for truth.
For those reading this tonight, please pray for us tomorrow (Friday, April 17th) as we move over 20,000 pounds of books and DVDs, multiple shelves and desks, computers, and other office equipment including our large Xerox machine that prints the Booklet Tracts and journals.
The upstairs entry room and Internet station
The shipping room is ready.
And so is the employee bathroom
I grabbed a shot of the front double doors tonight with our two new porch lights. Still lots of equipment and debri laying around as the siding is being finished up.