God continues to bless the Bogard Press and Baptist Bookstore in Texarkana. The personnel who labor with us are the best folks doing a great job. Finances are stable although we have times of ups and downs. Our printing processes are on schedule as we continue to accomplish our mission of supplying literature for the churches.
Although many things are going well in Texarkana, we do face our challenges, and as I mention three:
First, as previously reported, we have been told that our big off-set press will not be useful much longer. Since around June of 2025, our press has had many repair problems mostly due to age. Our service companies and servicemen all tell us that this press is coming to the end of its practical life. We thought it might be 3-4 years from now, but in the last few months, it has become apparent that its life is over. Also, other supporting equipment is quickly wearing out. A new press has recently been priced to us at around $4.5 million and other equipment to support it would be about $1-2 million. If we were to go on this route, the cost would have to be financed (not sure any bank would) and spread the cost out over a few years but would certainly increase our cost of operations. The other option is to convert to all POD or Print-On-Demand printing which also would increase our cost of operations but this would be much more feasible. We have spent almost every working day since June researching and meeting with professionals from all over the country and Germany about this matter. It has become very apparent that the POD printing would be easier, cleaner, and better for our future in many ways.
To accomplish our printing for the next two quarters, we will be outsourcing some of our printing and printing some of it in-house with our Print-On-Demand presses. This will give us time to make a complete conversion.
Second, the Baptist Bookstore continues to cost the ministry about $50,000 per year to keep the store open. Since the introduction of online sales, the store has not been profitable in any way. With the store being such a high cost and funds being needed elsewhere in the ministry, the future of the store is in question.
Third, a study is being done as to the possibility of downsizing our facilities. This could mean using less of our present building or it could mean relocating. Our current facilities are from the 1960s era and due to modern technology, our needs for large facilities are much less in modern times. This ministry at one time had 70 employees. Today, we have about forty and with some changes coming, that may be fewer. We have much unused space in our building, and we pay around $17,000 per year in taxes and upkeep on unused land. It has been estimated that with a reduction in facilities and other changes, we could save approximately $200,000 per year by downsizing.
God continues to lead us as we journey through these challenging times. Pray for us and come visit anytime. Thank you for allowing me to serve you.