. Back to Front Page .......... Vol. 1 August 1998 No.4 .......... Contact the editor/publisher
Internet Update
The project is still alive!
Greetings! Several months have passed since my last communique, and there is much to share, all good, for we have God's promise, "All things work together for good!" (Romans 8:28). Thus we may rejoice in "all things" and "In everything give thanks."
To update you on the Internet project, we have had numerous blessings and some major challenges. First, the blessings.
All of us, it seems have areas of our lives that we have trouble getting together, and I am no exception. I have had trouble stabilizing my life, and when this project began I had no home of my own but was living and working in other peoples' homes. Miraculously, since last I contacted you, God has provided a place of my own. It is a small mobile home that just fits me and my belongings. The price was reasonable, rent-to-own. Thus I now have my desk and computer set up and am personally online. What a difference it makes!
I can testify to having a "zeal . . . but not according to knowledge," regarding things Internet. Getting online and having hands-on experience let me know how little I knew when this project began and how much I still need to learn. I have an uncompromising conviction that this strategy is right, but how very difficult it is when one has to rely on other peoples' knowledge. Hopefully, that will become less necessary as time goes by.
We have hit some vexatious hurdles but have hope that the most difficult is nearing solution. We were (and have been for some time) poised to commence our advertising when, due to circumstances, the decision was reached that I would be responsible for receiving and processing orders and the publisher would drop-shop only. The problem? I work 36-48 hours a week. Taking and processing orders on a volunteer basis would take time I don't have. Therefore, we have been seeking a fulfillment center which would be willing to take and process orders and send the orders on to the publisher to drop ship. This is the only arrangement that would work for us.
In order to facilitate international sales, we need to be able to take orders with a credit card. The difficulty arises due to the fact that merchant credit card accounts require that businesses using them have the merchandise on-hand (rather than drop shipping from another business). If anyone out there has knowledge that would help us, please e-mail and educate me.
However, we have a couple of possible solutions. One is to run orders through Barnes & Noble. The down-side is that this would create a lag time of up to eight weeks for orders to be received by the customer. Amazon.com would take the books and get them out promptly, but we would have to first ship them to Amazon.com, an approach which has its own down-side.
We do have other possibilities we are exploring at the present time. I cannot give too many details, but please keep it in prayer. We need an arrangement that would enable us to run properly without danger of becoming thoroughly deranged, which could happen if I were personally to attempt this responsibility.
Again, your prayers for this project are essential.
On to "The Great Controversy" Part 2 by Jack Carpenter ........................