A Curiosity Question

[Dave Roberts]

According to this article, LifeWay is bidding to lease space to the state of Tennessee. Has LifeWay downsized to the point they have this much extra space?

[Sandy]

The building that Lifeway owns, and leases out, is the oldest of the three complexes they've constructed on the city block they own between Church St. and Broadway, and between 9th and 10th Avenues in downtown Nashville. The "downsizing" they've done is related to switching from direct provision of all of their own services to contracting for things like travel, attorney services, bookkeeping, the church envelope service, and the printer, all of which were once housed in the old BSSB office and warehouse that was located on the corner of Church and 9th. The office and warehouse complex that is now known as One Lifeway Plaza, is between 10th Ave. and the railroad tracks, and runs the length of the whole block from Church to Broadway. It houses the publishing divisions, the bookstore divison, technology services, and the literature publishing and shipping enterprise. When that was built, the old office and warehouse complex, constructed in the 1950's at 127 Ninth Ave. North, was renovated to house the conference center and church services divisions. The printer, the envelope service, the travel agency, the lawyers, the business office, the catalog, phone and internet sales, all moved in there. That left the oldest set of warehouses and office space, on Church St. between Tenth and Ninth, vacant. It is right across the street from the State of Tennessee's office and parking complex. Rental property in downtown Nashville is an excellent investment, so Lifeway renovated the property and the State has been a tenant in one of the office buildings, Thomas Nelson in the other. The printer, envelope service, and travel are now contracted out, so that space may also be available.

Given their revenue report to the SBC at the last convention, "downsize" isn't an appropriate term.

[Dave Roberts]

Thanks, Sandy. I guess those buildings have been converted to taxable real estate, which I'm sure the city of Nashville appreciates, given how much church agency real estate there is in downtown. I guess now, with the sale of Glorieta, the conference center division can just go to Ridgecrest as well. I knew they were out of the printing business because it's cheaper to contract with larger firms.

[Sandy]

[TrudyU]

Ed: I am amazed to read that that Lifeway is contracting out its printing. Perhaps they got caught in the rather rapid changes in printing technology. I had a individualized tour of the facilities back when it was still the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board (mid 1970's). At that time I was told that the Sunday School Board was second only to the U.S. Government Printing House in the volume of mail sent out each work day.

[Sandy]

The printing has been contracted out for a long time, and I think it's probably less expensive to do that than it is to operate the size of a printing operation themselves. In addition to the massive amount of Sunday School literature and periodicals they publish, there are the book publishing divisions, and the Bible publishing. I would imagine that they use several different companies for the printing. I've seen the distribution center in operation, it is quite a process, largely automated. Since Thom Rainer has been there, the marketing has really expanded the sale of their products. They've gone way beyond just being a denominational publishing house. There was a time when you could only get their products by ordering them directly, or going to the Baptist Book Store, but they are widely available now. Their best sales pitch used to be that if your church was SBC, it ought to use SBC literature, but SBC churches account for only half their literature sales now.

I live about 30 miles from National Church Supply, which contracts with them for the church envelope service. That is quite an operation in and of itself.

[TrudyU]

[Sandy]

[TrudyU]

Ed: Yep same place http://www.yellowpages.com/chester-wv/m ... c-15211836

Lifeway Envelope Services
https://plus.google.com/105269113731554 ... gl=us&hl...‎
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2670 Pyramus Rd Chester, WV 26034
(304) 387-5292

and National Church Supply
www.envelopeservice.com/‎
Welcome to the Envelope Service. Producing A Quality Product and Service Second To None.
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2670 Pyramus Rd Chester, WV 26034
(304) 387-5200

different phone #

[Sandy]