{"id":4968,"date":"2017-06-15T15:06:58","date_gmt":"2017-06-15T15:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maiglobal.org\/?p=4968"},"modified":"2017-08-03T15:10:46","modified_gmt":"2017-08-03T15:10:46","slug":"italy-simple-visit-opens-door","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maiglobal.org\/pt\/italy-simple-visit-opens-door\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy: Simple Visit Opens Door"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>By John Maust<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t get many international visitors at our office near Chicago.\u00a0 So, I was surprised and pleased when Italian publishing manager Daniela Benevelli stopped by one day.<\/p>\n

As Daniela talked about the work of The Bible House<\/a>\/Geneva Bible Society in Turin, it became apparent that our two ministries shared a similar vision for training.<\/p>\n

Only six percent of Christian books in Italy are written by Italians, Daniela said, and The Bible House wants to equip local authors and editors. \u00a0I responded that MAI exists for the very purpose of seeing more “homegrown” Christian publishing.<\/p>\n

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MAI-Europe’s Nicholas Gray with Daniela Benevelli<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We agreed to keep in touch, and I encouraged Daniela to contact MAI-Europa<\/a> Chair Rodney Shepherd.\u00a0 She did, and ultimately MAI-Europe and The Bible House formed a partnership to provide Christian publisher training in Italy, nation of 62 million with about 40 mostly small Protestant publishing houses.<\/p>\n

A first training conference took place in April at the Bible House.\u00a0 Some 27 staff from 12 publishing houses received training from Martin Manser<\/a> of MAI-Europe (editing), Bible House director Giancarlo Farina (marketing), and Antonio Cal\u00f2 (finance).<\/p>\n

The Italian Publishers Forum featured “excellent training with high quality speakers and visually strong presentations,” said MAI-Europe Vice Chair Nicholas Gray, who helped organize the program.<\/p>\n

Participants were “happy and impressed to see how much MAI is investing in them,” added Daniela, a gifted linguist who sings American gospel with a group.<\/p>\n

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Twelve publishing houses sent 27 staff to our Italy training<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Going forward, the Bible House plans to hold six one-day trainings in three different cities, plus a possible writer\/editor workshop in 2018.<\/p>\n

“Our partnership with The Bible House is strong, and they have the vision to extend MAI\u2019s unique training ministry in Italy and beyond,” Nicholas Gray said.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m amazed by what God has done in the two short years since Daniela\u2019s visit, and by His plans to prepare the Italian publishers for greater impact in their nation of 62 million.<\/p>\n

Watch this brief video of highlights from the Italian Publishers Forum: <\/strong>
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