Lincoln-based ministry helps share the word, in braille
JUSTIN DIEP - Lincoln Journal Star
When Dexter Thomas attended his local Seventh-day Adventist church in Trinidad and Tobago 30 years ago, he started receiving Bible lessons in braille.
The nonprofit organization behind the braille publications was Christian Record Services for the Blind, a Lincoln-based ministry that has provided free services and resources to help people who are blind or have limited vision since the end of the 19th century.
“It brought me into the community because I could read what others had access to,” said Thomas, who was born blind. “That did a world of good for me.”
Christian Record Services started in Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1899 when Austin Wilson was concerned about the lack of Christian reading material available for blind people like himself. So Wilson decided to produce it himself. He modified a clothes wringer to emboss paper, creating the first page of a Braille magazine he named the Christian Record, which is still printed today.
Soon, the organization moved to Lincoln’s College View neighborhood in the early 1900s next to Union College (now Union Adventist University), eventually finding a home at a brick-and-limestone building at South 48th Street and Bancroft Avenue.
Today, the organization, a ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, has expanded its reach. In 2023 alone, more than 17,000 people were helped worldwide through services such as free reading materials, Bible schools, summer camps, scholarships for blind students, and a live call-in ministry, according to an annual report. Globally, the importance of braille is marked annually on Jan. 4, which is World Braille Day.
It eventually moved its headquarters to South 52nd and Linden Streets and now operates out of an office near South 56th Street and Old Cheney Road.
Diane Thurber, the organization’s president, said she believes society too often holds back blind or partially sighted people because they aren’t seen as capable.
“We totally underestimate people who are blind,” she said. “They are just as talented and gifted as we are.”
Christian Record Services is most well-known for printing reading materials, such as braille Bibles and other resources. Its Naomi Chapman Turner Library maintains more than 4,000 print and audio resources that can be accessed by mail or online.
Thomas said the “full-vision books” printed in braille and text allowed him and his daughter to read together.
“That’s been huge, that as a blind parent, I can actually bond with my kid,” he said. “It normalizes parenting that we could share this literacy moment.”
Christian Record Services expanded to print more than just faith-based texts for its members, such as books on nature and character-building and mental health resources.
Thurber said some are surprised that Christian Record Services even prints cookbooks in braille for blind and visually impaired people.
“People say, ‘Oh, I don’t know. Blind people like to cook.’ Well, they do very much so, but there are limited resources,” she said.
PhoneFaith, Christian Record Services’s live call-in ministry, offers 17 weekly programs for blind people to call in and listen to others who are going through similar experiences.
“The commonalities are there, and so it provides an opportunity for empathy, sympathy, and encouragement, giving information that is relevant to the callers,” said Leanora Ruff, who runs PhoneFaith.
Thomas said he believes PhoneFaith opens an outlet for blind people who sometimes live isolated lives.
“To be able to pick up the phone and you are immediately in a community of 15 to 20 other people that are laughing and learning, that is ginormous, for the blind, that’s life. That’s not like just entertainment, that’s life,” he said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates about 7 million Americans are blind or have limited vision, including 40,000 in Nebraska.
Those wanting to learn more about Christian Record Services for the Blind can visit https://christianrecord.org, call 402488-0981 or email info@ christianrecord.org.
While a ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, most people who use the organization’s services are not affiliated with the church, Thomas said.
“We serve people of all faiths, some of which are not Christian, but they appreciate our resources and programs,” she said. “We truly just want to help people on the journey in whatever way they tell us they need help.”
Reach the writer at 402-4737326 or jdiep@journalstar. com. On Twitter @Justin_ Diep_
