MORE THAN EVER, LEADERSHIP IS NEEDED

    Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
(Isaiah 58:8)
 
I have a confession to make.
 
Not long ago, we sat down over Zoom and had a conversation with one of our long-time patrons, David Van Der Molen, who has been blind from birth. I asked him his honest opinion about the Christian Church and its blind members. I was shocked at what I heard.
 
“Blind people do have contributions they can make to Church life,” said David. “They’ve got gifts that God has given them. But it’s easy to go to church as a disabled person and be excluded, and end up sitting in a pew by yourself. The Church needs to welcome the disabled.”
 
I was convicted by the fact that, in all my years, I have spent little time getting to know blind people, learning from them, or even welcoming them into our church. By my neglect, I’ve chosen to make them invisible, as they already are to many others.
 
It’s convictions like this that motivated us to ask ourselves why TBL exists.  Are we just about recording books, or is it more than that? As an organization, we realized that, first and foremost, our ministry is always about the people we are serving—loving them, knowing them, and seeing them.
 
This is why God is calling us to refocus, to seek leadership that is committed to the millions in Canada and beyond who rely on the spoken Word, but are forgotten.
 
In close partnership with mission organizations, we have decided to seek and support missionary leaders who will dedicate their lives to touch those who are blind, visually impaired, and print disabled.
More than ever, leadership is needed, and so are your prayers. David has also worked for 26 years at the Canadian Council of Christian Charities. When asked who among the member charities, like us, is solely dedicated to ministering to the blind, his answer was unforgettable.
 
None.
 
Let me leave you with David’s remaining words:
 
“The Church can be a strong witness! It’s the duty of the Christian community to give blind people the opportunity to express their gifts. God has given them that mandate.”
 
I ask you to join with us to build leadership in Canada, and in the world—more than ever, the opportunity is before us to rededicate ourselves to this important work.
 
Humbly yours,

Raymond B. Chiu
Board of Directors