Baptist Bulletin article about EBI

Published in the January 2002 edition of the Baptist Bulletin.
Reproduced with the permission of Regular Baptist Press
Schaumburg, Illinois.

EBI Staff
(Front row, from left) EBI General Director and Business Manager Marvin Stephens, Editor and Office Manager Bernice Hilliker, Senior Editor and Director of Internet Development Gary Hilliker, (back row, from left) Production and Warehouse Manager Darrel Jingst, Director of Christian Education and Information Services Richard Meyer, and Director of Donor Relations Bob Owen stand in the shipping department at the ministry office in Sebring, Florida. Not pictured are Joan Stephens, Georgia Owen, Sheila Meyer, and Lori Jingst, who also serve on the publishing staff.

Marvin Stephens, Editorial Bautista Independiente general director and business manager, leads the EBI team in providing spiritual growth curriculum for Spanish-speaking people by translating, publishing, and distributing Regular Baptist Press Sunday School material, pastoral training courses, Bible studies, and Bible reference books. EBI, an extension of Baptist Mid-Missions, provides materials for missionaries, pastors, and believers in 27 countries, primarily in Central and South America, Spain, Israel, Australia, Canada, and the U.S. Marvin is a graduate of Cedarville University and the University of Nebraska. After working in science-related fields for many years, Marvin entered missionary ministry with EBI. Marvin and his wife, Joan, have three children, Jennifer, Jason, and Nathan, and three grandchildren. Together the Stephenses describe EBI’s vital ministry.

Why is there a need for Editorial Bautista Independiente (EBI)?
Marvin: Forty years ago missionaries were asking for Baptist Sunday School curriculum that was Biblically sound cover-to-cover to put into the hands of Spanish-speaking national teachers and pastors. The available curriculum had some satisfactory lessons, but other lessons had marginal content. Inexperienced teachers didn't know which parts of the curriculum were acceptable and which were not. Charles and Molly Cook, Baptist Mid-Missions missionaries serving in Peru, responded to the need for dependable curriculum by founding EBI. The Cooks began to translate Regular Baptist Press materials for use in conservative, evangelical Baptist churches. Out of that ministry they became aware of the need for training national pastors who may not be able to go to Bible school, so they developed Theological Education by Extension (TEE), a set of self-paced courses on doctrine and church ministry.

What types of materials does EBI publish?
Marvin: We have Regular Baptist Press Sunday School materials-a seven-year cycle of adult and a three-year cycle of junior high curriculum. The junior level Sunday School materials are almost ready to print and will be available this spring.
Joan: I am helping Margaret Tolosa to get this junior material ready. With her background as a missionary in Venezuela and her current ministry with Hispanics, Margaret is an excellent editor.

What are the challenges in doing these translations?
Joan: We go through the English materials and attempt to determine what the churches can use. Some of the city churches have the same things we have here in the States; but many churches in the interior and in small towns don't have teaching aids such as overhead projectors or flannelgraph. Margaret and I work together in getting rid of the Americanisms in the curriculum. For example, we make substitutions for references to American holidays. Thanksgiving is not a holiday in Latin America, but we include a lesson on being thankful. Another challenge in preparing the material is the visuals. We take the pictures that are in flannelgraph form and design them for a flip chart. We also include directions for making a pocket chart that can hold cards for learning the books of the Bible and memory verses. Some of the interest centers are not practical for a Sunday School teacher who may be teaching under a tree, so we try to simplify. We probably go through a quarter's curriculum six or seven times. After the material is translated, Margaret looks at the Spanish copy while I look at the English copy. We discuss back and forth and rewrite sometimes. It's a slow procedure, but we're trying to be careful. We want to get it right. This is EBI's first time in publishing children's materials.

Tell us about your other publications for Spanish-speaking churches.
Marvin: Our training course for pastors, Theological Education by Extension (TEE), includes subjects such as music theory, the family, New Testament survey, Old Testament survey, Biblical interpretation, and the doctrine of God. We are working on additional courses, including the doctrine of Christ and the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
Joan: We've completed 13 of Warren Wiersbe's New Testament "Be" series. We're just finishing the book on Matthew. A few years ago we began publishing Christmas programs because many Latin churches requested them. We have books on how to establish and organize a Baptist church and on the Baptist Distinctives. We also distribute Bibles, commentaries, and Bible dictionaries. Many times when people order Sunday School materials, they will ask us for these other books. We can supply their whole order.

When you present your ministry, do you find that people have misconceptions about EBI?
Marvin: When we were on deputation seven years ago, hardly anybody knew about EBI. One of our major focuses is to promote EBI in the States as well as internationally. Today there is still a lack of knowledge about what we do. However, as soon as we show how we are meeting the needs of missionaries and national churches, church people in the States respond, "Wow! We didn't know this was here, but that's great. We really need that!" The biggest thing that has given us credibility when presenting our work is the name Regular Baptist Press. As soon as we tell churches we are translating Regular Baptist Sunday School materials and other RBP materials, there is almost an immediate 100 percent credibility.

What challenges do you face with your publishing ministry?
Joan: We lack personnel. There's a lot more we could do. We receive many requests for women's Bible studies and vacation Bible school materials, but we lack the personnel to work on them.

If an individual wanted to become a full-time staff member, would he or she need to raise financial support?
Joan: Yes, the person would apply to Baptist Mid-Missions and then go on deputation. This is a slow process because some churches do not consider support ministries as being real missions.

The dilemma of your need for staff and the slow process of raising support is a hard one.
Marvin: We could simplify the process if retirees would be willing to come and give us full-time or part-time help, even for six months. We need a printer. If a retiree who had a printing background or was willing to learn contacted us, we could ask the mission for approval for the retiree to help us. We could use another couple who are fluent in Spanish and could act as editors and formatters of our materials. That's the bottleneck-everything flows through the editors. We've got far more in the funnel than what we can pull through the neck.
Joan: We do have a regular group of retirees who come in and help with things that are easy for them to pick up and do, that is, book assembly, sorting, and mailing. One man helps in the print shop. It would be hard for us to survive without these faithful volunteers.

Would you consider outsourcing if a printer in another part of the country wanted to do a printing project for you?
Marvin: Sure-we are praying about locating those kinds of people. No one at this point has taken that step.
Joan: We are grateful for our staff. EBI is not an operation that the two of us do. This ministry happens only because everyone works together as a team! We've gone as a team and ministered in churches by providing special music, preaching, and presenting EBI. It has been a wonderful way of opening awareness of EBI!

What are your dreams for EBI?
Marvin: One of our dreams is someday to be able to put on a Sunday School Conference, similar to RBP teaching conferences, in Latin America. Everything comes back to the fact that we need additional staff. If we were going to start a new project, we would immediately start preparing the RBP primary children's Sunday School material. I would like to see Juanita Purcell's Bible studies for women and RBP's Real Men Series printed in Spanish. In January we are sponsoring a TEE writers' workshop. We hope to train six missionaries on how to write this material for use on the field. We hope this training results in more TEE courses.

You spent a number of years in a secular vocation. What brings you joy in serving full time?
Joan: We've started a new ministry of providing libraries for national pastors, which has been rewarding for all of us. Personally, I get a great deal of satisfaction in packing the books. I'm thinking as I pack them that my hands are handling the books that a pastor in some remote part of Latin America will be using in his ministry. I pray for the shipping of those boxes because many things can happen to them after they leave the U.S. It's special when we get letters back expressing appreciation. Our staff has to motivate themselves because our ministry is not face-to-face. We rarely get to see people using our materials. Probably the greatest joy and satisfaction I have is in knowing that we are where the Lord wants us to be.
Marvin: The most exciting part of what I do is the daily interaction with missionaries throughout Latin America. I'm probably in communication with 100 to 150 missionaries at any given time, primarily through e-mail. Another personal satisfaction has come from starting the Ministry Enrichment Program that supplies a library for a national pastor. When churches in the States provide a $150 donation, we send a 26-book library to a national pastor who has been recommended by a missionary. We have now sent more than 260 of these libraries. Most national pastors would never be able to afford a library of this caliber.

Why did you make a career change into vocational ministry?
Marvin: God moved in our hearts. Toward the end of my secular career, we had a degree of dissatisfaction. We wondered, Is this all there is, making money? We were working in a local church, but we thought that maybe God wanted us to do more. God clearly led us to make the change. The transition involved a year of short-term service. When we took that step, the next step opened up. It was easy for us to make the decision to enter full-time ministry.

How can churches get involved with the ministry of EBI?
Marvin: We are attempting to enlist 1,000 churches or individuals to join the "Committee of 1,000" by supporting EBI at $10 a month. It's a small amount, but when added together, the total will make a big difference for our ministry. Sunday School classes, missions conferences, or missionary fellowship groups can get involved with the Ministry Enrichment Program by sponsoring a library for a national pastor. Most of all, we ask churches to pray for our ministry.

Building Exterior
Editorial Bautista Independiente maintains its administration, editing, printing, shipping, and warehouse facilities in Sebring, Florida.

The Theological Education by Extension (TEE) courses work well. I taught the New Testament survey and music theory courses to a group of national churchmen in Venezuela. I used the curriculum to teach song leading to three men. Before they took the class, they would stand up and wave their hands around to lead singing, but now they lead with purpose and skill. The TEE material is good for Spanish-speaking students. The repetition used in our courses fits the way they learn.

—Gary Hilliker
Director of International Development for EBI

For more information regarding Editorial Bautista Independiente, phone: 863-382-6350; e-mail: info@ebi-bmm. org; or visit EBI's Web site: www.ebi-bmm.org.

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