Once the family was safely settled in Rockford, I jumped in the van and headed back east toward Michigan. On the way, I picked up my friend and partner A.D. Riddle and we drove on to Holland, Michigan. We were invited to the first conference of the Institute of Biblical Context with a generous offer of a table for the photo collections of BiblePlaces.com. The fact that the conference theme was “Jesus in His Context” and our brand-new collection consists of photos illustrating the Gospels made this a wonderful fit. I might also add that the timing of this conference landed perfectly where it needed to in order to fit our inflexible vacation dates.
On the first morning, A.D. and I set up our table. It was larger than tables we have had at previous conferences, plus they didn’t charge us for carpet, electricity, or the use of a dolly (as at those other wretched union-controlled ones!). I thought our display looked pretty good! But would the attendees be interested?
That first afternoon was pretty slow. It did start off with an immediate sale to a gentleman who has taken many photos of biblical sites himself and who always purchases our latest collections. Over the next couple of days he and I ate together several times and were able to share stories of our travels in the Middle East. He also gave me an amazing gift that will benefit future photo collections.
The focus of our display was the Gospels volumes in the new Photo Companion to the Bible series. We finished this just in time for the conference! (It is not yet online yet, but I am working to get that in place in the next few weeks.)
On the morning of the second day, one of the conference organizers gave the collection the most glowing endorsement I have ever heard in my 17 years of selling photos. It was amazing. (And there is a backstory that makes it more amazing, but I can only tell you that in person.) The result: at least one guy walked out of the conference hall to buy it immediately. And for the rest of the conference, we had a steady stream of visitors before and after the sessions. We ended up selling out of all of the Gospels volumes we brought, and we had a healthy list of orders to ship. It was far beyond my expectations. For the launch of a new series that is both ambitious and costly, we were very encouraged.
On the second afternoon, our partner Steven Anderson drove over from his home in Grand Rapids to pick us up for a tour of the city. For many years I have written “Grand Rapids” on countless bibliographic entries, and yet this was my first time to visit the city of Christian book publishers.
We went first to Baker Book House, an impressive bookstore for both new and used books. If I didn’t have so many unread books already, this would have been very tempting. Then we went to the headquarters of Zondervan (a division now of HarperCollins) where we met a lady I’ve worked with for ten years in providing photos for Zondervan’s books. It was good to meet her in person for the first time, and she gave us an enjoyable tour through the offices, including a stop in the Sr. Vice President’s office. Unfortunately I failed to take a photo of our little group there.
After this we went to two more bookstores, passing by several Christian colleges and seminaries along the way. Then Steven took us to his home, where we enjoyed meeting his parents, touring the garden, and eating some delicious pie.
I might say a word about Steven here. We traveled through the PhD program at Dallas together, sharing much in common in our more conservative approaches to the Bible. About a year after I graduated and moved to California, we met up again and began talking about working together. Within a month, we had hit upon the idea of the Photo Companion to the Bible. Steven did all of the initial work in developing the collection, and he continues to be the primary content creator as we move forward with illustrating other books in the Bible. Without his interest, knowledge, and availability, the collection would still be a nice idea in my head.
Because of this conference in Michigan, the three of us who did most of the work in the Gospels collection were together for the first time.
I should add a comment about A.D. We first “met” when he visited BiblePlaces.com back in 2002 or so and sent me an email. Since that time, he has been invaluable in helping me with everything. I’ve said before that A.D. can do everything related to BiblePlaces.com I can do and more. He also contributed all of the photos for the Lebanon volume and many of the photos in the Central and Eastern Turkey volume. When he’s not working for me or taking care of his family or fixing his car, he is writing the last school paper of his life (a dissertation).
The conference was a success in every way I can think, and I am very grateful to the Lord for how he prepared so many things in advance.
It’s obvious that the Lord blessed you in multiple ways! He is good, always, but sometimes there are extra-special blessings! I’m glad you have been able to complete the Photo Companion to the Bible. You had mentioned it awhile back, and I had wondered about your progress. It sounds like it will be a huge asset for teachers.