by Fran Geiger Joslin
“Buckle your seatbelt” described 2024 at Authenticity Book House (ABH). I can only imagine what will take place in 2025!
We begin 2025 by adding one more full-time staff member, Jessica. Jessica’s presence will help me immensely, as the day-to-day tasks continue to get more and more busy. Jessica proved herself over the last six months by working ten hours a week. Adding a full-time staff member comes as an answer to our prayers! Welcome, Jessica.
January 15 and 16 bring a board meeting and an ABH Day of Prayer. We implemented ABH Days of Prayer in 2024 because we saw the Lord working miracles and felt the need to ready our own hearts for God’s work. We carry on this tradition once a quarter to prepare ourselves for God’s continued work. We feel both humbled and challenged by watching God blow the doors wide open for ABH ministry, especially in Tanzania.
We begin our pre-trip training meetings in January as well. Our Tanzania team includes Howard, Jaysson (our pastor), Lori (a photographer and teacher), Carol (a Tanzanian translator), and me. Planning our conferences and preparing Jaysson and Lori for the culture in which they will teach requires much preparation.
On February 1 we will share ABH’s vision publicly for the first time in Iowa. “It’s time our friends in Iowa understand what we do,” I told my staff recently. We look forward to God opening the doors to prayer and financial support from our network here.
Five months out from our trip to Tanzania, we’ve already hit the downward slope! Howard and I both find ourselves sliding into homebase this week, trying to finish English manuscripts. Swahili translations began on the first chapter of Howard’s study Bible this month. Zakayo (the translator) wants to complete his translation before classes begin for him in January. Pastor James will begin the translation of my book Hope for Marriage in January. These books will go with us to Tanzania for use in our marriage conferences.
Looking at the ABH calendar, I feel like 2025 will fly by before we can catch our breath. In my mind the year is already half gone and we haven’t even begun!
I anticipate the need for even more staff by 2026 here in Iowa, in Tanzania, and possibly in Mexico. We need to employ our friend Pastor James in Tanzania. He has helped us so much already but without a salary. James will eventually need staff to help him manage the distribution of books and pastoral training. He will also need to employ full-time translators and a project manager.
We are receiving invitations from many different regions in Tanzania to come and train pastors. James and I are in the process of praying and strategizing to plan for managing these needs and invitations. We are also strategizing and planning for how many books we will need to print in 2025 since requests for books already exceed the number for which we can pay. These are good “problems” to have. It means God is at work, and we know God can handle what he brings us. Fund raising remains a necessary goal for 2025 as well.
Whew! Looks like “buckle your seatbelt” may also describe 2025! We feel blessed.