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Stories That Impact, Inspire, and Call to Action PUBLISHER
MARLIN MILLER KEVIN BILLE
GENERAL MANAGER
SUE WENGERD
SENIOR EDITOR
PHIL BARKMAN
COPY EDITOR
MATT YODER
ACCOUNT MANAGER GRAPHIC ARTIST
ISAAC HERSHBERGER SETH YODER
GRAPHIC ARTIST
BETHANY TROYER
CUSTOMER SERVICE
LANDON TROYER
PHOTOGRAPHER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
ELAINE TOMSKI
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
SHERRI ROMIG
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
DR. ANDREW A. SNELLING FERREE HARDY
CONTRIBUTING WRITER CONTRIBUTING WRITER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
MARCUS A. YODER
TORRY MARTIN & DOUG PETERSON
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
DR. TERESA HOXWORTH
APRIL AD SALES DEADLINE
MARCH 6, 2020
Plain Values is published monthly by Plain Target Marketing, LLC. Please contact us with any questions regarding Plain Values.
PO Box 201/2106 Main Street, Winesburg, OH 44690 Phone: (844) 260-4578 | Fax: (330) 601-4099 www.plainvalues.com | reachout@plainvalues.com
THE FORMALITIES This publication and its contents are © 2020, Plain Target Marketing, LLC. Individual copyrighted items, trademarks, etc. contained within are the property of their respective copyright holders. No part of this publication may be reproduced or redistributed by any means without authorization from the publisher. Publisher is not responsible for advertisers’ offers, products, or services, and publication neither expresses or implies an endorsement.
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CONTENTS OHIO
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ISSUE 81
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MARCH 2020
MESSAGE FROM THE PUBLISHER PEEP CATAPULT
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// 36
Spring is finally upon us, and soon everyone's favorite marshmallow treat will be back on the shelves; but did you know they can fly?
CHALK IT UP TO A GLOBAL FLOOD
// 41
When I was a boy, cringing at the occasional chalk squeak, I never realized these small white sticks actually came from a thick layer of rock...
THE TREASURE FROM WITHIN
// 48
That oyster was a picture of what had happened to me and continues to repeat in countless women I’ve met since.
CHOICE BOOKS // 13 A Message of Hope
FUNDS AND BENEFITS
Choice Books is all about John, Nancy, Sue, and a young Muslim man. Broken people who are lost without the hope of Jesus Christ.
Every month we provide a listing of opportunities to help out those in need. Pray for them, and support them financially if you feel led to do so.
KELLIS EYE CENTER // 31
A RENEWAL MOVEMENT // 57
OF MOOSE AND MEN // 62
// 78
PARVOVIRUS
// 71
ON THE COVER
INDEX OF ADVERTISERS
These books are displayed on Choice Books racks across the county; the other items shown harken back to the company's origins.
Every advertiser in this issue of Plain Values can be found here, along with the page their ad is on.
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MESSAGE from t he
PUBLISHER
words by: MARLIN MILLER Our feature story this month is about a favorite
books constitute the largest rare book collection in
topic of mine… books, and the concept of story.
North America. One of the three complete Gutenberg
Thinking about this over the last while, I became
Bibles remaining in the world is kept safely within
curious and did a bit of research. I am excited to
its walls.
share what I learned about the largest library in the
The Library of Congress functions as the
world: the United States Library of Congress.
research arm of Congress and the US Copyright
The Library was founded in 1800, making it the
Office with a staff of 3,096 and an annual budget
oldest federal cultural institution in the nation.
of $669.9 million. Someday I hope to visit, with
On August 24, 1814, British troops burned the
time to lose myself inside one of the Library’s three
Capitol building, where the Library was housed,
buildings of books. //
and destroyed the Library's core collection of 3,000 volumes. On January 30, 1815, Congress approved the purchase of Thomas Jefferson’s personal library of 6,487 books for $23,950. Today, the Library houses more than 164 million items, including 25 million books and 72 million manuscripts. Its collection of 5 million maps is the largest in the world, and more than 700,000 rare
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FEATURE STORY
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
GOD OF WONDERS
WIDOW'S PATH
OUR HERITAGE
GREAT OUTDOORS
CANINE CORNER
CHOICE BOOKS A MESSAGE OF HOPE
words by: ELAINE TOMSKI
You may think a company with the name Choice Books is all about books. Wrong. Choice Books (CB) is all about John, Nancy, Sue, and a young Muslim man. Broken people who are lost without the hope of Jesus Christ. John was so lost, he didn’t want to live anymore. That is, until the message in a book made all the difference. John sent Choice Books this testimony: “I have to take this time to tell you my story. This past Saturday I tried to kill myself; had it not been for divine intervention, I would have succeeded. While in the hospital, I asked my girlfriend to bring me Paul’s book [Hiking Through, by Paul M. Stutzman]. I had just purchased it from Walmart. I have always wanted to hike the AT [Appalachian Trail]. I was not a believer in
THE NORTH-EAST OHIO CHOICE BOOKS WAREHOUSE
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God until this last weekend. As I read Paul’s book, I felt like it was speaking to me. Towards the end, God and Paul sealed the deal with something along the lines of, ‘This book will end up in the hands of those who need it.’ Well, it certainly did. Paul, God, my wonderful girlfriend who had the knowledge to save me from myself… thank you all. I want you to know, Paul, that when I left the hospital, I gave my only copy of your book to a homeless man that was also depressed. He lost everything and was living in the woods… we started talking about camping, then hiking, and he told me he always wanted to hike the AT… It was at that moment I realized what God wanted me to do… I had to pass on the book to someone else.” “I believe the printed page has the power to transform lives,” says Joe Bacher, Executive Director of CB of Northern Virginia. “Today, with fewer than 1,000 Christian bookstores across the nation, our opportunity to be in the general marketplace is truly a gift. As a culture, we are in a crisis of overwhelming emotions of despair, anxiety, and fear resulting in depression, divorce, and suicide.” Many people who desperately need hope will never consider walking into a Christian bookstore. For this reason, CB racks are placed anywhere people go. Joe says, “A title grabs their attention, the Holy Spirit moves, the book is purchased, and hope and encouragement is the result. We are grateful for the opportunity to offer hope and encouragement to the brokenness of the world around us.” Have you noticed their book displays in places where you shop or visit? The books draw us in with colorful covers and promising titles. You may be one to spin the display to see all that Choice Books has to offer. Located across the continental United States, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, we find their book displays in grocery stores, drug stores, hospitals, large department stores, travel centers, airports, and military bases. They are placed in hotels, campgrounds, general stores, gift shops, hardware stores, restaurants, and bakeries. Displays are also found at tourist attractions, offices, car washes, bus and train depots, educational facilities, and newsstands. Whew!
A CHOICE BOOK DISPLAY SHOWCASING WHOLESOME BOOKS IN A PUBLIX SUPERMARKET
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PREPARING TO HIT THE ROAD TO RE-STOCK BOOK DISPLAYS
Choice Books’ mission is To share the “good news” of Jesus Christ in the general marketplace through inspiring and wholesome reading material. They’ve been enriching people’s lives, one book at a time, since 1962.
Organized To Reach People •
In 1962, fewer than a handful of men organized their efforts to sell inspirational books to various retail stores.
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By the 1970’s, the association called Life-Line Books grew to nearly 600 displays.
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In 1973, the organization registered under the new name “Choice Books” and expanded its distribution across the United States.
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In 1991, Choice Books reached record annual sales of one million books.
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In 1998, the not-for-profit organization defined seven regions set for distribution.
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Today Choice Books, LLC purchases its inventory from over 70 publishers. They sell books on more than 11,500 displays in retail locations, providing the opportunity to move over 5 million books per year into the hands of hurting people.
Simon Schrock has been involved in the ministry since 1968, so he’s no stranger to the history of Choice Books. He is also no stranger to turbulent U.S. history; he lived near Washington, D.C. while the Vietnam War was raging, Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered, and Senator Robert Kennedy was assassinated. Simon says, “During a time of riots and destruction, I was handing out gospel tracts to hippies.” When a new acquaintance, Owen Yoder, approached Simon to ask, “Have you ever thought of book rack evangelism?” Simon’s response was, “Wow! Have I ever?!” Together, the two worked at Life-Line Books, utilizing the centralized book-buying services of the Mennonite Board of Mission’s multimedia subsidiary in Virginia. Simon had his mind set on placing a display at the Washington National Airport (now Ronald Reagan WNA). Following several phone calls, Simon was directed 17
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