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Rev. Reid Lamport speaks about encouragement at Poland Library
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Development Director of Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County Debbie Liptak asked Friends of the Poland Library for a total of $1,000 for a summer reading program for teenagers and children. After a vote, the motion passed.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Several books and magazines were on sale during Friends of the Poland Library's spring luncheon.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Rev. Reid Lamport spoke to Friends of the Poland Library about encouragement during the group's spring luncheon at Poland Library.
By TIM CLEVELAND
For its third and final spring luncheon April 1, Friends of the Poland Library took care of several pieces of business and also had Rev. Reid Lamport speak about his book “Unleashing the Power of Encouragement.”
The book was published in 2011 and is available at Barnes and Noble, through Amazon.com and other outlets.
“It’s a book that points out how each one of us has the potential to inspire, uplift, motivate other people within us,” said Lamport, who is the pastor at Church of the Rock in Poland. “How, so often, we fail to do that because we’re not intentional about encouraging other people. I’m going to be speaking about that today.
“To be able to enhance other people’s lives, to inspire and life them up and get them excited about life. It also gives us a purpose in life. If we go about our day not aware of other people’s situations, then we really can’t do much about it, but if we make ourselves aware of their life situations we can come along side them and we can get them excited about life, plus we can set out every day with our own purpose.”
Approximately 40 people attended the luncheon, with the biggest item being Development Director of Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County Debbie Liptak asking the group to donate $500 for a summer reading program for teenagers and $500 for one for children. The motion passed unanimously.
This was the final meeting until October, when there will be three meetings in the fall. There were several books and magazines on display during the meeting that could be purchased, as well as a buffet lunch of chicken marsala, sirloin, potatoes, red roasted vegetables and salad and breadsticks. Kravitz of Poland catered the luncheon.
Friends of Poland Library vice president and program chairman Angela Bilkie said she and Lamport have been friends for many years.
“Mr. Lamport and I were teachers at Poland High School,” she said. “He’s a special ed. teacher and I was a special ed. tutor there. That’s how I met him. He was also my son’s football coach, so it was kind of a double thing that I knew him.”
In addition to teaching at Poland Seminary High School, Lamport was a longtime football and softball coach at the school.
Lamport said an injury he suffered gave him the time he needed to write the book.
“It was something where I wasn’t looking to write a book,” he said. “I really felt inspired that God put it on my heart to write a book and He was very specific that it be a book about encouragement. I didn’t want to. I tried to find 100 different excuses – I was coaching two sports, teaching and also pastoring a church at the time so I didn’t have any time to write a book. I was also scheduled for hip replacement surgery, so that gave me a great opportunity during the recovery time to get it started. That’s what I did.”
Among those who wrote a blurb about the book on the back cover was former Youngstown State and Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel.
“The day it came out [in 2011] was the day he resigned from Ohio State,” Lamport said. “I said it just figures, but it worked out fine. He’s a great guy and been a good friend of mine for years. He said he would be happy to write something for it.”