When the ECF Headquarters moved to Monterey Park twenty years ago in 1985, the idea of starting a Chinese Resource Center with 10,000 volumes of excellent Christian books in the Chinese language was a real challenge. However, the ECF Board recognized that such a demand existed among the ever-growing Chinese population in the city, a budget was passed and I was invited to volunteer my professional service in coordinating the development team. At that time, my full time service as Associate University Librarian at Azusa Pacific University kept me very busy, but I felt the importance of this project and found no excuse to decline such an honor.
As soon as the project was announced in writing, we received positive responses from many seminaries, Christian colleges and universities. Many ECF supporters were excited about this meaningful project. We received four major gifts (totaling $20,000) from four families which enabled us to begin the development process.
The development plan moved on smoothly. The dedication of the new Resource Center was held on November 7, 1987, in conjunction with the ECF's 40th Anniversary Celebration. During the decade of the1990s, the entire Resource Center was upgraded with new carpet, and a new catalog was published in 1999.
Entering the new millennium, we faced another new challenge of upgrading the Center's computer services with new technology. In order to meet the needs of our users, we decided to use the Church Library Automation System, developed by the Almega System Analysis Limited in Hong Kong. With the help of Mr. Samuel Kwun, the founder of the system, we were able to complete the entire automation project in 2005 with a revised printed catalog. Currently, the total collection has reached the mark of 6,000 volumes.
We feel honored to present this modernized Chinese Resource Center to God as an act of rededication to the worldwide outreach of ECF and as the fruit of our committed services to the Lord who has blessed our ministry with ECF for the last twenty-five years.
August 2005
