Publishing House to republish book for U.S. troops

[fgoodwin]

Publishing House to republish book for U.S. troops

 

http://www.wfn.org/2006/11/msg00165.html

 

Nov. 14, 2006

NOTE: A photograph is available at http://umns.umc.org.

By J. Richard Peck*

 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - The United Methodist Publishing House will resume its role as the publisher of a 64-year-old book of daily devotions for U.S. military troops.

 

In the days after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, staff members of the Methodist Publishing House discussed ways in which they could serve the thousands of men and women enlisting in the armed services.

 

The Publishing House staff decided to ask church and academic leaders from many denominations to write one-page devotions for each day of the year. Each message would be written for combat troops. The staff titled the book Strength for Service to God and Country.

 

The massive publishing project was completed in 1942; by 1944 the book had been given to 800,000 troops, the largest publishing effort by the Nashville-based agency to that date.

 

The original book was a hard-back pocket book purchased by local churches and individuals to give to troops as they were deployed for Europe and Asia.

 

The book was republished during the Korean conflict, and it was then forgotten by nearly everyone except World War II or Korean War veterans who kept copies of the book as a reminder of their days in the service.

 

Boy Scout leads republishing effort

 

One of the veterans who kept a copy of the pocketbook was Eugene Hunsberger, a former Navy officer living in Orange County, Calif. His grandson, Evan, noted how important the book was to his grandfather and Evan asked him if it would be a good idea to republish the book for his Eagle Scout project. "That's not a good idea," said Eugene, "that's a great idea."

 

Eugene Hunsberger did not live to see his grandson's Eagle project completed, but five years later, with help from the churchwide Commission on United Methodist Men, the addition of devotions by contemporary religious leaders and contributions from across the nation, more than 250,000 copies of an updated version of the historic book have been sent to members of the armed forces.

 

Unlike the first effort in which local churches purchased the book and gave it to service men and women, the men's agency has solicited funds to send the books to chaplains who distribute the books to their troops. The goal of the agency is to give copies of the book to 1 million troops.

 

Shift in publishers

 

In November, after publishing 250,000 copies with the Franklin, Tenn.-based Providence House Publishing Company, the Commission on United Methodist Men returned the publishing role to the original developer and copyright holder, the United Methodist Publishing House.

 

"We were pleased with our five-year relationship with Providence House," said the Rev. David Adams, top staff executive of the agency for men's ministry, "but we think there may be people who want to purchase the book for local police, fire fighters or emergency workers, and we felt we could reach new markets through the United Methodist Publishing House with more than 70 Cokesbury stores and outlets."

 

"We all stand in the need of prayer," said Neil Alexander, president and publisher of the United Methodist Publishing House. "We all hunger for an encounter with God's word and God's grace. Surely this is even more so in times of great crisis and moral challenge, and in places where we are far from loved ones and surrounded by threats of conflict and violence." He said the Nashville-based Publishing House "is privileged to join with United Methodist Men from all corners of the world to offer holy words of guidance, solace, forgiveness and challenge through this new version of a historic publication."

 

Appreciation from Iraq

 

Captain Pete Keough, an Army chaplain stationed in Iraq, recently wrote the commission to thank it for sending Strength for Service to God and Country books. "I have been carrying copies with me as I go 'outside the wire' to visit soldiers at the places of duty within the Baghdad region. I have worked it out to where at least one book goes with every squad. The feedback from the soldiers is unanimous: 'It is the perfect devotional for the warrior/soldier on the go.' I keep mine in my left leg pocket, a perfect fit. Your ministry is a huge blessing. May God richly bless you all!"

 

The 400-page books are also given to men following their basic training before they are deployed. "Strength for Service speaks right to the heart of a warrior and hits on the topics that are at the forefront of our thoughts," said Marine Lt. Jason Rochester, a chaplain at the Paris Island, S.C., training center. "The size is ideal for carrying in a cargo pocket or in the pouch of a pack."

 

"I read a passage every night at lights out and it always strengthens me and gives me motivation," said Pvt. Schmidtberger, a recruit at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

 

Copies were also sent to staff members of the Pentagon, who also suffered an attack on 9/11. Pentagon Chaplain Jim Driscoll said the books have "been much appreciated and used by civilian and military personnel throughout the Pentagon."

 

The men's commission hopes to provide all U.S. service men and women with a copy of this historic book. The commission is accepting donations by mail to GCUMM, P.O. Box 340006, Nashville, TN 37203-0006. For additional information, contact Larry Coppock at (615) 620-7262 or by e-mail at lcoppock@gcumm.org. Additional information is available at the commission's Web site, www.strengthforservice.org.

 

*Peck is a retired clergy member of New York Annual Conference and communications coordinator for the General Commission on United Methodist Men.

 

News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org

[SSScout]

I was given one of these books at the Jambo from the Methodist Relations Table. It is a collection of little 'sermonettes' by various faith leaders, some well known in their own right, some not so. It was truly a large undertaking for this Eagle candidate to search out all the permissions that were needed to make this happen. Our Methodist brothers are to be congratulated for their support.

The book is small, but it holds much more than its size would suggest. The juxtaposition of so many different faiths is also a thought provoker.

 

YiS

[fgoodwin]

Evan Hunsberger's Eagle project was mentioned in the Sep 2002 issue of Scouting Magazine:

 

A SCOUT'S DEVOTION

 

http://www.scoutingmagazine.org/issues/0209/d-news.html#sbard

 

By Keith Monroe

 

The idea was modest when 13-year-old Evan Hunsberger visualized an Eagle Scout service project as a Good Turn for two military bases near his home in Orange, Calif. Evan's inspiration was a frayed book, Strength for Service to God and Country. The pocket-size devotional had been used by his grandfather, Eugene Hunsberger, during service as a Navy corpsman (medic) in World War II, a pharmacist's mate in Korea, and for more than 60 years as a Scoutmaster.

 

Originally issued by Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, a United Methodist Church publisher, the book contained a page for every day of the year, with a Bible verse, a short prayer, and an inspirational message or story by a leading Protestant clergyman or other leader of the era. Eugene Hunsberger had read pages to lonely or wounded servicemen in hospitals and later to Boy Scouts during campfires. Hundreds of chaplains had used the book, but it went out of print after the war in Korea ended in 1953.

 

Evan learned that most chaplains lacked a similar source for providing spiritual comfort to the men and women in today's armed forces. As a service to the military, and a tribute to his grandfather (who gave his blessing to the project but died before it was completed), he decided to print a new edition of the book for distribution at the nearby Los Alamitos and Camp Pendleton military bases.

 

Evan wrote letters, made telephone calls, and sent e-mails in an effort to obtain the needed permissions to reprint the original text and obtain additional material. His fellow Boy Scouts from Troop 241, classmates from Servite High School, and his parents, brother, and sisters all helped him update the original text and add new material so all faiths could use the book's new version.

 

Evan sought new prayers from theologians, priests, rabbis, and Muslim clerics, and he received more than 40, including ones from Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, Duke Divinity School professor Karen Westerfield Tucker, United Methodist Bishop Ernest Lyght, Dr. Robert H. Schuller of the Crystal Cathedral, and Calvary Chapel's senior pastor Chuck Smith. New prayers were added for Jewish holy days, like Yom Kippur, and Islamic holy months, such as Ramadan.

 

Progress was slow at first, but interestand the project's scopegrew as more people became aware of the effort. The General Commission on United Methodist Men agreed from the start to Evan's request to sponsor the project and promote wider distribution of the new edition, which would be published by Providence House Publishers of Franklin, Tenn.

 

A computer company in Orange scanned the original pages to computer disks for free. Each weekend for three months, four Scouts from Evan's troop and 12 to 30 others, including adult leaders, college students, and classmates, corrected hundreds of typographical errors on the more than 400 scanned pages. Then there were four more months of editing from school, home, and office, and five months of formatting.

 

Following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the Department of Defense agreed to order up to a million copies, for distribution to military personnel around the world. The National Council of Churches and other interfaith groups and chaplains' organizations offered to help distribute the book to police and fire departments and other outlets. The General Commission on United Methodist Men began a nationwide effort to raise $3 million to fund the publishing of the books for the military.

 

For his efforts, Evan, who is Catholic, was honored by the United Methodist Church with its Good Samaritan Award. The award honors youth who demonstrate the attributes of a minister to others through outreach or humanitarian assistance. On Memorial Day, three years after Evan began his project, the first 10,000 copies of the new book were scheduled to be sent to military bases.

 

And in June, Evanwho had postponed completing his Eagle requirements to concentrate on his projectfinally received Scouting's highest rank.

 

Keith Monroe lives in Santa Monica, Calif. For information on purchasing the new edition of Strength for Service to God and Country or contributing to the fund for its publication, contact the General Commission on United Methodist Men, P.O. Box 340006, Nashville, TN 37203-0006.