Blackberry Baptist Church, formerly Blackberry Community Fellowship, is a small congregation with a big heart for reaching families in the mobile home community in which it is located. The opportunity to build bookcases for children in the area was met with great enthusiasm.

Twenty-one bookcases were built in two Saturday work sessions. Distribution was scheduled for a Saturday in December and flyers placed in the area. Books for the distribution were furnished by the Women on Mission group from First Baptist Church Wharton.

On the day of the Bookcase Bonanza, eight families arrived at the church. Children and their parents registered, and then visited the decoration station for stickers and paints to personalize their bookcases. The children selected books to be read by volunteers, and enjoyed refreshments. They visited the book display, and each chose six books and a Bible to take home. As church members helped load bookcases in cars, they issued invitations for families to attend the Christmas meal the following Sunday.

Love lived in a bookcase on that Saturday; the outreach effort created unity, and deepened the desire of the congregation to make a difference in the Blackberry community.

Nelda Gerbine
Blackberry Baptist Church
Joshua, TX

Join us at Dallas Baptist University for this March 10 event. Robin Feistel will lead an ESL Ministries of Excellence session at 9:00. Catch A Library in Every Home at 10:30, and meet more of our team; learn everything you ever wanted to know about Books for the Border and Beyond, but were afraid to ask.