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4WRD History
4WRD is a new
ministry, but the concept and structure has been well thought out and
tested by those founding it.
The concept of a
self-sustaining non-profit ministry such as 4WRD goes back to 1981 when
Gary and Glenna Flokstra were sent on a short missions assignment to a
four year school in Europe. It was there the difficulty of getting good
quality books shipped overseas from several different publishers or
distributors at an affordable cost and shipped in a method that was most
efficient for that country became apparent. Schools overseas had a need
of books both for libraries and as textbooks.
The goal of 4WRD is
to enhance the effectiveness of ministry training and religious education
(formal and informal) by providing resources, distribution, bibliographic
expertise, seminars, networking connections, and publications first to
overseas entities with this need and then to the US religious
non-profits. 4WRD also wants to provide the above, at a cost that is
affordable to those whose financial resources are inadequate to get these
types of resources at retail prices or in some cases donate the time and
resources as funding and time is available.
To our knowledge
there is currently only one other entity that operates with similar goals
and objectives as 4WRD in its entirety. It operates under the name of
Africa Library Services (ALS) also located in Springfield, Missouri.
However this office targets customers on the African continent. Gary
worked with ALS for 6 years. 4WRD’s goal is to provide similar services
as ALS to customers outside the African continent.
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