Actually, I should say our library is building. Since we are only in our second year, everything is in the building stage. With God’s blessing of new facilities came the space to house a library. During our first year, we made plans to begin renovation of a physical space for the library at our previous location of the founding church, Central Missionary Baptist in Ellisville, MS. Though plans were made, we just never seemed to be able to begin the renovation of the room. Now we know why.
God intended for the library to be at our new location on 217 Houston Road Laurel, MS. Here we have plenty of room. Plus, it was only after the provision of our new campus that unsolicited pledges of donations for books began.
The first was from the family of Brother Ray Thornton, a dear Brother in Christ and faithful solider of the cross who had been called home by God. The family offered the books from his personal library, and having known Brother Ray, I knew this was a treasure for preachers. Almost 2000 of his books now sit in our library awaiting processing for use by students.
Meanwhile, Brother Glenn Bond, another faithful preacher of the gospel, called and said he had six boxes of books recently pulled from his preacher’s library that he would like to donate. Of course we said yes, knowing Brother Bond personally, that his books would also be of great value, and they are.
In the midst of these happenings, another family called and said they had the personal library of a dear pastor brother in their family from the Laurel area who had passed away. They had seen MBBI on Facebook, plus, I had worked with one family member in the past and was acquainted with other family members, and though I never knew the deceased pastor, I had heard of him. He also has an excellent reputation as a great man of God. The books have been promised and I will identify the pastor and family later after we receive them.
Finally, Brother Vince Moss, one of our current students, donated some boxes of books that contained excellent books for our reference section. These are also in the library awaiting processing.
What a blessing to know that the books acquired by these faithful men will help teach other men of God and lay people at MBBI. The contributions of books from the deceased and those still living will continue to equip the saints here at MBBI for the work of the church, bringing glory to God.
God is never caught short and always on time. His plan was to provide books for the library after He provided the space for the library. Those times of frustration I experienced over not having the time to prepare the other room at our previous facility were unnecessary. It is a reminder to not get ahead of God when something doesn’t work out according to our plans, but just wait on Him. After all, He’s got it under control.