Jim Masterson and Bob Vogt had an idea to fulfill the communication needs of churches in a unique manner. Their idea, to produce a stewardship/directory for churches that would be directly mailed to church members' homes, became Guide Book Publishing on April 2, 1991.
The first church signed for a Guide Book & Directory was All Saints Catholic Church in St. Peters, MO with approximately 1600 families.
Bob and Jim hired their first Account Executive at the end of May, 1991. Before the first book was published in July, eight other churches signed with Guide Book. Due to this rapid growth, three more sales representatives were hired and in October, 1991 our first graphic artist was added to the team.
On January 3, 1992, Bill Fisher, now our general manager, came on board. Bill and our two graphic artists worked out of Bob's house, while the sales office was located in Jim's condo.
As Jim and Bob's "baby" grew, the need for permanent office space became apparent. In July, 1992, Guide Book moved into a "home" of its own on Manchester Road in Ballwin, MO.
Guide Book purchased its own press equipment in December, 1993. "Rabbit" Kampmann became our first pressman.
Since Guide Book Publishing's inception we have grown an average of 25% per year. New departments were added as the need arose. New Church Development and a proofreading department are two. Existing departments were expanded to accommodate the large number of books being published. On June 14, 1999, Guide Book Publishing moved into its current headquarters. The bigger building accommodated our graphic artists, increased office staff, expanded press capabilities and addressed our need for more storage space. Since we expect to publish books for over 1000 congregations this year, our growth is obvious. From our rather humble start, we have come a long way and there is still so much further to go. We continue to envision our company as one that is dedicated to serving the needs of the churches and advertisers we represent. With the right kind of people and your help we can continue to Spread the Word about this unique idea in church communication.
