By James Sauer, Library Director

This summer, on my way to the exciting and wild carrying-on at the Association of Christian Librarians at Asbury University in Wilmore, I was able to take a two day layover at Parchment Valley West Virginia. Unfortunately, I was not able to get to the Mothman Museum which was nearby (and believe me, I honestly wish I had, as my stock among conspiracy theorists and X-File aficionados would have risen considerably).

Instead, I was able to work on the small collection of library books we have available for Seminary students in the Mountain State. The Parchment Valley Conference Center, an American Baptist retreat, is a beautiful rustic and well-kept site serving the West Virginia community near Ripley. In one of the buildings pictured, the two dozen plus students of PTS in West Virginia hold their classes.  Allan Copenhaver runs our program there.

The 200 new books I brought, sorted, and interfiled with their already existing library of 600 books form the basis for a reference collection required for the American Theological Schools accreditation. Eastern also provides access to our 1.4 million online books and over 50,000 online journals, so they have very adequate resources to get a solid theological training.

In fact, in the grass filled rolling fields of West Virginia, one could almost say they are getting a literal “pastoral” training. And of course, in the Mountain State of West Virginia, whose motto is Montani Semper Liberi – “mountaineers are always free” – this is especially true, because the Seminarians of Palmer Theological Seminary West Virginia, place their faith upon the Mountain, the Rock, Mount Zion, the Refuge that cannot fail.

And to know that Rock, is to truly set one free.