For 40+ years, Augsburg Fortress has invested in the creation, publishing and distribution of what has become known among ELCA and ELCIC rostered leaders as “The Little Red Book.” It is a small, pocket calendar that includes key church year dates and other information of interest to pastors and other church leaders. I have actually had pastors send me photographs of their collection of LRB’s! (no, I couldn’t make that up!)

We send it out for free. Frankly, it costs us a small fortune! But, based on our research and anecdotal evidence, it is much beloved by about 1/3 of our denomination’s leaders! Another 1/3 don’t really care. And, another 1/3 want us to invest in creating digital versions rather than the ink on paper variety. Sometimes if feels as if we are Starbucks! How many varieties of coffee? How many varieties of the Little Red Book?

For those of you who like having that LRB in your pocket or purse, the print version is in the mail. Many of you have probably already received yours. If you are on the ELCA or ELCIC roster and don’t receive yours by the end of October, send me a note along with your mailing address and we’ll make certain you receive one, as long as supplies last.

Two digital versions are available for free on our website. The two versions are for Palm and Outlook. Within the past few weeks, I have been receiving emails and tweets asking about an I-Phone version. We’re working on it…stay tuned!

Tonight, however, I learned that one of the people I follow on Twitter, Pastor Andy Arnold, has posted directions on his blog for downloading our Little Red Book content onto his Google calendar. Thanks, Andy! This is great!

This points to one of the reasons I enjoy using Twitter. I posted something at about 8:45 last night about the Palm and Outlook versions being available. By 5 p.m. tonight, I was exchanging tweets with Andy about his Google calendar blog posting! Community. Sharing. Helping one another. Gee…that sounds a lot like what church is!

I hope that the ELCA & ELCIC rostered leaders who want the ink on paper variety enjoy using their 2010 Little Red Books. And, I hope that anyone who wants the information (not just those on the rosters!) enjoy using the various downloadable versions!

Blessings,
Beth

http://twitter.com/bethalewis

Beth A. Lewis, President & CEO Augsburg Fortress

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 1st, 2009 at 10:34 PM and is filed under Academy, Business and ministry, ELCA Churchwide Assembly, Faith Formation Resources, Gutenberg to Google, Leadership Resources, Ministry partnerships, New AF Resources, Worship & Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.