News & Views from Walk Thru the Bible
Celebrating 40 Years! A Look Back— and Ahead Weekly Devotionals for Fall
Fall 2016
Walk Thru the Bible 5550 Triangle Parkway, Suite 250 Peachtree Corners, GA 30092 www.walkthru.org Volume 5, Number 4 Fall 2016 Published quarterly President Phil Tuttle Vice President of Advancement Michael Gunnin Editor Chris Tiegreen Designer Michael Koiner Contributors Chris Tiegreen Emily Tuttle
Walk Thru the Bible ignites passion for God’s Word through innovative live events, inspirational biblical resources, and lasting global impact.
© 2016 by Walk Thru the Bible® Ministries, Inc. Contents may not be reproduced in any form unless authorized in writing by the publisher. Printed in the U.S.A. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 2011 by Biblica. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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e love the local church. Walk Thru the Bible has always focused on helping churches fulfill their mission. But we also recognize what recent studies have shown: that church attendance and spiritual growth do not necessarily go hand in hand. So what makes the difference between whether we grow as Christians or not? If it isn’t church attendance or involvement in church activities, is it prayer? Spiritual disciplines? Theological education? All of those are good, but the most powerful predictor of growth is engaging the Bible. And it isn’t just reading the Bible on occasion; research indicates that there’s a tipping point of about four times a week. Those who let the Bible speak to them at least four times a week show a remarkable increase in growth. Those who don’t, don’t—at least not very often. That’s why Walk Thru the Bible has done what we have done for the last 40 years and why we now reach into more than 140 countries. We have been intentional in our strategy—not just to help people to know the Bible, but to help them engage with it on a daily basis. We have always wanted to do more than create events and resources. We want to launch movem ents. We want people not to be impressed with the amazing truth of God’s Word in a one-time experience but to be captivated by it for a lifetime. This issue of Pathways celebrates 40 years of pursuing that mission . We have seen God do some awesome and inspiring things in the years since 1976, when this ministry began. Quite a few people have been a signific ant part of that mission by walking with us, praying for us, and suppor ting us financially. And it isn’t over. In fact, we are eagerly looking forwar d to the next 40. God’s Word is always fresh and relevant, and it always has the power to change lives. Especially when it becomes part of our daily lives.
Phil Tuttle President
If you are not currently receiving Pathways and would like to, email pathways@walkthru.org or use the attached envelope to let us know.
FALL 2016
VOL. 5
NO. 4
FEATURES
6 Reaching a Generation 40 Years of Impact—and Beyond
A lot has happened in 40 years, and there’s much more to come. Walk Thru the Bible celebrates its story and anticipates the next 40 years with a growing vision.
Devotionals 22
The Believer’s Mission Weekly readings excerpted from indeed magazine
DEPARTMENTS
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New at Walk Thru the Bible
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Regional News
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Step Into the Story
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Leader Profile
New resources and a new face on the board
Highlights from around the world
What Does the Future Look Like?
Helping People ‘Get It’ Paul Keeys, national director for the United Kingdom
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Donor Profile Excited for What’s Next Josh and Abbey Griffin
What’s New @ Walk Thru When God Calls Your Name >
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id you know that Mary is the only woman mentioned by name in the Quran? That while many Catholics have a deep reverence for Mary, many Protestants have never even heard a sermon about her? That men can learn as many lessons from her life as women can? Billions of people know who Mary was. She gets a mention at least once a year around Christmas when the story of the Nativity is celebrated. But not many people have studied her, and far fewer have followed in her footsteps of faith. She has become for us a unique character in a seasonal story rather than a model of how to live every day as someone chosen by God. That’s why we’ve developed Chosen: When God Calls Your Name as the third installment in our Biblical Character Series. It examines the life of Mary, whom the Bible calls the most blessed among women—a huge cue from God that she’s worth knowing. She offers life-changing lessons for any believer, as well as being possibly the strongest woman any of us have ever encountered. Like the first two installments in the Biblical Character Series—Crucible on the life of David and Detour on the life of
Joseph—Chosen includes a foursession DVD series and workbook for small groups, and can be preached as a sermon series. A full-length book with additional chapters is in production. “Our hope is that this will be a bridge-builder between Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox, both here and around the world,” says president Phil Tuttle. “We see this course as a vital tool for reaching millions, not only with her story but with the biblical story as a whole.” Some of our Middle East partners have already expressed enthusiasm for the opportunities Chosen will give them among Muslim-background or Orthodox audiences. “The fact that God chose a young virgin to bring the Savior to the world can really open hearts in a part of the world where women are often told that they’re just not valued at all,” Phil says. For more information about Chosen, visit www.walkthru. org/chosen.
Meet Our New Board Member >
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alk Thru the Bible has a new board member. André Kennebrew, senior manager of talent acquisition at Chick-fil-A, joined the board in June. He has worked with Chick-fil-A since 2006 as a franchise selection consultant. Before that, he served as the administrative pastor at Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Tucker, Ga., and has been an ordained Baptist minister since 2003. Before entering Christian ministry, he served as a vice president at First Union National Bank (now Wells Fargo) for 15 years. André attended Davidson College where he majored in political science and was a three-year starter in football. He also has a Master of Ministry degree from Luther Rice Seminary. “I’ve gotten to know Andre over the last five years as I’ve ministered at the Chick-fil-A headquarters,” said Phil Tuttle, “and he brings a unique blend of ministry and corporate experience to our team.” Paul Johnson, board chairman emeritus, said, “In all my experience with boards, I don’t believe I’ve encountered an individual more qualified.” André has been married to his wife, Donna, for 28 years. He has two children, Holden and Kristen.
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OT in the NT >
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he New Testament didn’t just appear out of nowhere. It was written about a Jewish Messiah by people who all, with one possible exception, were Jewish. So it only makes sense that it is filled with quotes from Hebrew Scripture and fulfills promises and prophecies God revealed to Israel. The Old Testament in the New Testament, a followup study to the God’s Grand Story: New Testament campaign and guidebook, is being released this fall. It explores the Old Testament background of Jesus’ ministry and the New Testament writings, especially highlighting the specific quotes and themes used by the early church to understand how Jesus fulfilled ancient Scripture. The six-week study takes small groups, churches, and individuals through six major sections of the New Testament: the birth of Jesus; His ministry; His death and resurrection of Jesus; Acts; the letters of Paul; and the general epistles and Revelation. Earlier components of the God’s Grand Story series have included God’s Grand Story: Old Testament (the Old Testament overview), Jesus in the Old Testament, and the New Testament overview.
Regional News Africa >
Latin America >
In response to an official request and several providentially opened doors, Philip Tutu taught several sessions of the Detour curriculum on the life of Joseph to 600 inmates at one of Ghana’s most notorious maximumsecurity prisons. Many prisoners responded to the teaching with grief for those they had hurt, prayers for forgiveness and reconciliation, prayers for patience and endurance, and commitments to follow Jesus. Philip’s team left 300 God’s Grand Story workbooks for inmates to use as devotional material—including one for the prisoners’ Muslim imam who requested one for himself.
Caminata Biblica–Central America in Honduras led two Detour events for more than 100 youth in two different substance-abuse rehab programs, and a course on relationships and sexuality for another 90 at a home for abused and recovering youth. All three events were well received and resulted in life-changing decisions by youth in attendance. In addition, about 100 pastors and their wives attended Understanding the Love of Your Life in July.
Asia > Gil Balignasay, training coordinator in the Philippines, led Manobo tribal pastors and church leaders in a version of the Walk Thru the Old Testament event with no electricity or laptop aids—only solar-powered lights. The event was translated into Cebuano for the attendees.
to meet the need. Each leader is now equipped to lead the event in their various ministries. Also in Russia, several churches have gone through the God’s Grand Story Scripture-immersion campaign that gives participants a big-picture overview of the biblical story. One small-group leader taking 14 people through the program remarked on the spiritual hunger of her group members, five of whom were not familiar with the Bible and had never accepted Christ. The group would stay late after each meeting to discuss what they were learning. At the end of the six weeks, four had made professions of faith.
Central Asia/Ukraine > In April, Phil Tuttle taught Crucible to pastors and church leaders in Nigeria and Togo and Detour in Ghana. More than 150 participants attended in Lagos, Nigeria, and more than 15,000 workbooks were ordered for use in these leaders’ churches. In Ghana, several denominations and many churches were represented; one attendee is the training director of Ghana’s largest denomination, and another is the pastor of the church where Ghana’s president and chief justice attend. Both of these participants, as well as many others, believe the course can have a significant impact on the country.
Yuri Shelestun, regional director for Central Asia/Ukraine, conducted a Walk Thru the Old Testament event in the Ural region of Russia for 57 pastors and church leaders who work with churches and missions, orphanages, youth ministries, Bible schools, and rehab centers. The trainees attended because they said they have seen a deep thirst for God’s Word in that region and want to be equipped
No churches remain in Anastasiivka, Ukraine, but six elderly women still meet once a week to pray and encourage each other in the faith. For support, they read Story Thru the Bible to discuss questions, find answers, and explore the Bible together. .
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Reaching a Generation 40 Years of Impact—and Beyond
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ruce Wilkinson had done a massive amount of work on his master’s thesis and was not enjoying the process—or the topic, which was on creative teaching methods. His wife came to him at 2 a.m. as he was researching one night and said, “This really isn’t working, is it?” “No, it isn’t,” Bruce answered. “Didn’t you get to choose your topic?” she asked. “Yes, but I didn’t realize it wouldn’t light my fire.” “Then why don’t you change it?” “I’m too far into it. It would be too much work.” “Well, if you were to change it, what would it be?” Bruce thought about it for a moment and said he would take all the things he was learning
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about creative teaching and develop a survey of the Bible to use one day when he taught at a Bible college. “Think about it,” she suggested. And Bruce did. The next day, he met with his professors, Howard Hendricks and Gene Getz, and told them what he was thinking. They thought it was a great idea and suggested he get to work on it. The results were called “A Walk Thru the Old Testament” and “A Walk Thru the New Testament,” which, after defending his thesis and getting affirmation and feedback from the faculty, were taught in front of 150 classmates at Dallas Theological Seminary. And Walk Thru the Bible was born. Well, not immediately. But those were the seeds of what would become Walk Thru the Bible a couple years later, after Bruce was teaching at
Multnomah Bible College (now Multnomah University). He had recruited some of his friends from seminary to teach the Walk Thru the Old Testament and New Testament seminars (we now call them “live events”) because churches were requesting this novel teaching they had been hearing about. Because the idea was spreading, Bruce invited six teachers to get away for a week and discuss how to tweak the Walk Thru the Bible courses. They never got around to tweaking. One of Bruce’s questions to kick off the discussion—just for brainstorming purposes, he says—was, “Where do we want Walk Thru the Bible to be in 10 years?” He was talking about the seminars, of course; no organization existed yet. But everyone at the meeting started putting their dreams on the table. The
dreams fit together. Ideas grew. And on Friday, the last day of the meeting, every attendee quit his job to start Walk Thru the Bible, the organization. “God supernaturally birthed the ministry with a burning vision that caused some pretty wellbalanced guys to jump out of the boat and into the water,” Bruce says. They had no money, no place to meet, no concrete plans. But they had a vision, took one step at a time, and a ministry grew. God provided buildings, strategic partners, and lots of ideas. Very often these came by miraculous means, like when the ministry bought its first building by praying for a number—Bruce and his administrator both sensed God was suggesting $37,500—and submitting it as an offer on a $150,000 facility. The offer was accepted, a couple
“GOD SUPERNATURALLY BIRTHED THE MINISTRY WITH A BURNING VISION.”
In 2015, Walk Thru the Bible moved from its longtime facility in north Atlanta (left) to its new headquarters in Peachtree Corners, a few miles north of the city. 9
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Bruce Wilkinson
– Closer Walk, Tapestry, and • 1990s Stand Firm magazines are launched
– the Daily Walk Bible is • 1988 published
launched; Daily Walk, Family Walk, and YouthWalk magazines are launched
– 7 Laws of the Learner and • 1980s other teaching courses are developed and
• 1979 – the ministry moves to Atlanta
• 1976 – Walk Thru the Bible incorporates
the Bible
– Bruce and six other instructors of • 1976 his Bible overview courses start Walk Thru
local churches
– The popular, novel teaching • 1974-76 spreads from the seminary classroom to
Walk Thru the New Testament” as his master’s thesis
– Bruce Wilkinson develops • 1973-74 “Walk Thru the Old Testament” and “A
Walk Thru the Bible Timeline
Chip Ingram
Phil Tuttle
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– otLIVE, our Old Testament live • 2016 event for the next generation, is launched
– God’s Grand Story is • 2013-14 developed and launched
– the Biblical Character Series is • 2012 launched
• 2007 – Phil Tuttle becomes president
– initial planning and • 2002-03 development of small-group resources
– Living on the Edge radio • 2002-07 ministry
• 2002 – Chip Ingram becomes president
• 2002 – indeed magazine is launched
developed
– Walk Thru the Bible • 1994-95 international ministry is formally
– the five-year CoMission • 1991 partnership begins
donated exactly the right amount without knowing the specific need, and the ministry moved in. Two years later, the organization moved from Oregon to Atlanta, and God provided there too. The bills got larger, and sometimes the budget got tighter. There were disappointments— Bruce mentions one traumatic moment when God did not provide $50,000 to keep a free publication afloat—but they always came with redirection that would prove strategic for the future. “It’s often said that God’s work done in God’s way will have God’s resources,” Bruce says. “We always hung on to that.”
Why did Walk Thru the Bible take root and then take off? Publisher and longtime board member John van Diest explains it this way: “One of the rules of pedagogy is that when you teach a subject, you teach the big picture first and then go into detail. You don’t start with the details. But most formal Bible school education begins with the parts and assumes that the student will put those parts together. That’s also how most church members experience the Bible. Walk Thru the Old Testament starts with the big picture. You come away with a knowledge of how things happened and why. The teaching is more productive than other courses.”
“SOME PASTORS SAID THEY LEARNED MORE IN ONE DAY THAN THEY DID IN YEARS OF SEMINARY.”
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“Bruce had come up with a way of teaching the Bible that was fun and enjoyable,” says board chairman emeritus Paul Johnson, who, along with John, was on Walk Thru the Bible’s first board of directors. “It was easy to learn, and people would walk out saying it was fantastic. Some pastors and associate pastors said they learned more in one day than they did in years of seminary. It was really working.”
Of course, Walk Thru the Bible does much more than the Walk Thru the Old Testament and New Testament events, but they are still popular and have made an impact on millions of lives. The hand signs have been reduced from Bruce’s original number—well over 150—down to 77, and an even more condensed version that can be taught in a couple of hours to connect with today’s busier audiences is now in
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Our Values How does Walk Thru the Bible define its core values? These are some of the central attributes that have characterized our ministry over the years.
BIBLICAL
We believe that the Bible is God’s written revelation to man and is verbally inspired, authoritative, and without error in the original manuscripts. Walk Thru the Bible is focused on communicating the Word of God throughout the world by focusing on the essentials of our faith and what unites us as Christians.
CHARACTER
We are committed to maintaining integrity and high moral and ethical values; this commitment extends to our employees, partners, and instructors as well as to the resources we produce.
CATALYTIC
Everything we do is designed to ignite passion for God’s Word and provide a path to follow that passion, thus leading to lasting life-change.
GLOBAL
We follow the Great Commission by making our resources available globally, leading to worldwide discipleship; our goal is to help people everywhere live God’s Word.
REPRODUCIBLE/ TRANSFERABLE
We design our resources with the goal of global translation and distribution; our resources are specifically created to be impactful regardless of culture, language, or geography.
PARTNERSHIP
We realize that this journey is not an individual one. Therefore, in the spirit of 2 Timothy 2:2, we embrace strategic partnerships with individuals and organizations who are committed to our mission of helping people everywhere live God’s Word. 14
development. But the core has remained the same. The kinesthetic approach is entertaining, easy to understand, and very memorable. Even today, Walk Thru the Bible instructors experience the phenomenon of someone coming up to them and saying, “Oh yeah, I did that a long time ago,” and then launching into, “Creation, fall, flood, nations . . .” The story sticks.
One Seed, Many Kinds of Fruit
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nly a few years into Walk Thru the Bible’s early history, it became clear that other Bible-teaching tools were needed and could supplement the live teaching events. Bruce developed the concept for a devotional, at first simply for his own use. “My devotional life was not very satisfying,” he says. “I said to myself, If I had a guide to help me, I would want a chart and overview of what I was going to read, I’d want to learn an insight from the Bible every day, and I would want a practical application at the end.” So that’s the approach he took.
He began writing a few devotionals, eventually showed some to a mentor, who showed them to a publisher, and the Daily Walk magazine soon began production. Other ministries caught on to the idea; Navigators leaders said they had been planning something similar for years but had never actually developed it, and they customized a version of the magazine to distribute to thousands within their ministry. Other ministries and denominations did the same, using WTB-produced material with their covers and letters printed on a wrap, not only with Daily Walk but also with the many devotional resources that came later. These included Family Walk for families to do together, YouthWalk for students and their particular interests and issues, and more. Over the years, these have benefited not only Walk Thru the Bible constituents but also constituents of ministries like the Salvation Army, Focus on the Family, and several major denominations.
The publishing department began with devotional magazines but has grown to include Bibles (the Daily Walk Bible grew out of the magazine), devotional books, small group workbooks and discussion guides, and more. At times, these resources have gone beyond print publishing to audio and video resources. And in today’s world, various media are often effectively combined in a resource package that includes any combination of a live event, small group materials, and individual study resources, whether in print, audio/video formats, or online. Today our frontline resources include the Biblical Character Series and God’s Grand Story, a comprehensive campaign for churches that unites preaching, small groups, Sunday schools, and individual devotional material. Every member of a congregation goes through the biblical story together. Not only have these resources been widely used in North America; they are meeting specific needs around the world.
“GOD GOT A HOLD OF MY HEART AND WOULDN’T LET IT GO.”
Board members and Walk Thru the Bible leadership lay hands on the Tuttle family at Phil’s installation as president. 15
Into the Nations
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alk Thru the Bible did not prioritize international ministry for its first 15 years, except for training a few instructors in other Englishspeaking countries and fielding an occasional request from overseas for an American instructor to teach one of the two through-the-Bible events. An invitation to Bruce from Paul Eshleman, director of the Jesus Film Project, was the catalyst that changed that. The walls insulating the communist bloc from the rest of the world had just come down, and Russia was open. The government was asking Christian ministries for help in training educators to teach ethics to the country’s schools, and it was an open door to include the gospel. With some hesitation, Bruce accepted Paul’s initial invitation to visit Russia, and it expanded his vision. “God got a hold of my heart and wouldn’t let it go,” he says. “It was traumatic.” “This was an unprecedented opportunity,” says Paul Johnson, who was still chairman of the board throughout the ’90s and into the mid-2000s. “After 73 years of communist rule, the country was bankrupt—financially, morally, spiritually,
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ethically. It was hard to do business over there. And here they come and ask a few people in the U.S., ‘We’ve lost this generation, but can you come help us train the next generation so there might be some stability here?’ We told them that since we believe the basics of morals and ethics come from the Bible, we would have to teach about God, Jesus, and His Word too. They said, ‘Whatever, just come teach the course.’” A group of 80 Christian organizations banded together to form the CoMission for a fiveyear window of opportunity, and Bruce became chairman of the initiative. Every organization— including Campus Crusade (now Cru), the Navigators, Moody Bible Institute, and many more—contributed its strengths and funded its own activities. Walk Thru the Bible made most of the videos for training Russian teachers. “It really put us on the map and made a lot of people aware of Walk Thru the Bible,” Paul says. That was essentially the beginning of Walk Thru the Bible’s international ministry. “We got used to going overseas,” says Paul. “We saw that
Caption? Groups from around the world come together for training, planning, and fellowship.
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many of our Bible teaching methods were transferable into other cultures and languages.” Pastors from other countries found Walk Thru the Bible resources very helpful because many of them were only one notch ahead of their congregations theologically and in terms of training and education. They attended the ministry’s conferences to get sermon material and go back to their congregations and teach it—and train others to teach it. “If there’s ever a place for growth, it’s around the world in teaching the Bible to people after they come to know the Lord,” Paul says. “They need instruction, and they often don’t have it. So we teach the
teacher, and the teacher teaches the congregation.” Today Walk Thru the Bible is doing that in more than 140 countries, often in some of the world’s most difficult and dangerous places, and often outside the walls of the church in the business community, government agencies, and education systems. Whether in the area of Bible education, marriage and family needs, or leadership training, the ministry’s resources are designed to be transferable and culturally adaptable. Under-equipped pastors and leaders are receiving the tools and training they need to reach their churches and communities. The impact multiplies again and again as those who are trained in turn train others.
“OUR GLOBAL FOOTPRINT IS LARGER THAN IT EVER HAS BEEN.”
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Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
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he global reach of Walk Thru the Bible represents some of the most significant changes in the ministry over the last couple of decades, says president Phil Tuttle. “We were so much more focused on North America when I was trained as an instructor in 1988. Whenever we needed to do a training overseas, it meant sending someone from the U.S. Now we have 14 global partners we trust without hesitation. We can give them a resource and they can translate it, adapt it culturally where necessary, and produce and distribute it. It allows us to multiply much faster than we did before.” At first, the international ministry was highly centralized—something similar to a franchise model with international outposts doing whatever the headquarters said to do. Now the model of ministry works both ways, not only as resources flow from the U.S. to various regions but as international leaders give input and direction to resources from the beginning. “Everyone has a seat at the table,” Phil says. Atlanta is still the headquarters, but global partners generally initiate ministry in their areas according to the unique needs of their regions. The Atlanta office is much smaller than it was at its peak, at least in terms of full-time employees, having streamlined significantly in the last decade. That’s partly because of technology, which allows people to work in a virtual environment rather than always having to gather at a particular location. But it’s also due to the use of more independent contractors working on specific projects as needed. And the decentralization to global offices has reduced demands in Atlanta too. Even so, “our global footprint is larger than it ever has been,” says Phil. Events and resources are taught in or published in at least 60 languages in more than 140 countries in 23 of the world’s
24 time zones. The ministry trains thousands of pastors, teachers, and leaders each year; sells and distributes 2-3 million resources each year; teaches one and a half million people each year; and reaches a broadcast audience of 60-100 million each year. Over the years, Walk Thru the Bible has had three presidents: Bruce Wilkinson, Chip Ingram, and Phil Tuttle; developed more than 60 biblical resources; and reached an uncountable number of people with the truth of God’s Word. It has been through ups and downs—but mostly ups, with more on the way. So what has remained constant throughout the years? “What I loved about Walk Thru the Bible when I first came was that it made learning easy, fun, and lifechanging,” says Phil. “With all our changes, I pray that those things will always be true.” That approach to learning has always been part of Walk Thru the Bible’s “brand”—one of its core values. Another is the ministry’s commitment to letting the Bible speak for
“NOT MANY MINISTRIES HAVE A PLATFORM THAT CROSSES DENOMINATIONS LIKE OURS DOES.”
Bruce Wilkinson, Jo hn Hoover, and Phil Tuttle
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itself. “We focus on the primary things of Scripture and stay out of topics that tend to divide,” Phil says. “Not many ministries have a platform that crosses denominations like ours does.” A major milestone (like a 40th birthday) often prompts people to reevaluate where they are in life and consider whether they are really headed in the right direction. It’s a time to look back and to look ahead. The 40th anniversary this year has prompted similar reflection among Walk Thru the Bible’s leaders. “We celebrate where we have been and what we have done,” Phil says. “But we also have to acknowledge that some of the things that brought
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us here may not take us where we want to go. That can be a painful but exhilarating process.” Strategies and methods may change, but the dedication to teaching the Bible in innovative ways never will. The number one key to spiritual growth has always been consistently engaging with God through His Word. “Helping people encounter God will always be our mission. If that can be imprinted in our DNA in everything going forward, then we will be taking the best of our past into the future,” Phil says. And the future, from the testimonies we hear and the open doors in front of us, looks bright. .
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Into the Word w e e k l y
d e v o t i o n a l s
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BELIEVER’S MISSION
the
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alk Thru the Bible exists to ignite passion for God’s Word wherever we go and to provide the opportunities and resources for eternal truth to work its way into people’s hearts. One of the best ways for the truth of Scripture to sink in is to meditate on it daily. The following devotionals, adapted from indeed magazine, are a valuable tool to aid that process. One devotional is provided for each of the next 13 weeks. You can read the weekly reading any day during your week, but you may also want to revisit it every day of the week to make it a regular part of your time with God. If so, many have found this approach helpful: On Monday, read the devotional. Become generally familiar with the Bible verse, its original context, and the insights in the devotional reading. On Tuesday, look upward. How does this verse or passage apply to your relationship with God? What does it teach you about His will and His heart? What aspect of His character is He inviting you to experience and enjoy? On Wednesday, look inward. How does this truth apply to your heart
WEEK 1 October 3-7
Matthew 28:16-20
GO “Go and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:19) IN WORD Perhaps we’ve heard this so often that it’s lost its impact. Perhaps stories of missionaries and martyrs throughout the centuries have deadened us to the utterly astonishing nature of this command. Perhaps we just don’t care as much as we ought. We’ve lost the urgency. We’ve diverged from the plan.
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and your own spiritual growth? What does it teach you about yourself, your needs, or your goals in life? In what aspects of your personal life is God inviting you to grow and mature? On Thursday, look around. How does this truth apply to your relationship with others? What does it teach you about how to relate to them? What is God inviting you to do differently in your relationships? On Friday, look outward. How does this verse or passage apply to your ministry and mission in life—to your role in God’s kingdom, in society, and in the world? What does it teach you about God’s purposes? What part of His mission is He inviting you to participate in? On Saturday, look forward. How does this verse or passage apply to your future, both in this age and in eternity? What does it teach you about God’s plan for your life, now and forever? What aspect of eternity is God inviting you to participate in? This approach can help you look at God’s Word from every angle and incorporate its implications into your life. As you saturate yourself in Scripture, God will shape your heart to align with His own.
The fact is that roughly four millennia after God promised to bless all the nations of the earth through Abraham’s descendants, and nearly two millennia after the ascension of Jesus, huge pockets of people—massive populations, in fact—have never heard that there is a Savior from the awful devastation of sin and death. We are uncomfortable that thousands of children on other continents starve to death, but we are numb to the eternal hunger of billions. We grieve over the ravages of disease in impoverished places, especially when the diseases could have been easily treatable; but we casually hold the antidote for the sin epidemic in our hands and let the pathogen with eternal consequences consume its many victims unhindered. Isn’t God more urgent than this? Is His passion to save really this sluggish?
IN DEED The God who pursues has issued a directive. The disciples of the High Commander are ordered to pray for pursuers to rush into His harvest, and even to go. It’s an urgent appeal, and it’s comprehensive as well. We are called to do more than spread the Word verbally; we are called to live it everywhere. Like light that floods a dark room, salt that influences a whole meal, or leaven that raises an entire loaf, we are urged to follow in the footsteps of the One who came to save. Those footsteps take us to a selfdenying Cross for the benefit of others. It’s the kingdom way. Jesus’ command is comprehensive, compelling, and urgent. Give. Pray. Go. Die, if necessary. Fill the world with His glory.
WEEK 2
WEEK 3
WEEK 4
Acts 1:1-11
Acts 1:1-11
Acts 1:1-11
October 10-14
October 17-21
October 24-28
THE CASE FOR JESUS
A NEEDED DEPENDENCE
CHANGED EXPECTATIONS
You will be my witnesses. (Acts 1:8)
Wait for the gift my Father promised. (Acts 1:4)
IN WORD Jesus’ disciples had been asking Him about the Kingdom of God— when it was going to be established and when Israel was going to be restored to its former glory. It wasn’t the right question to ask, apparently, because Jesus answered in the way He often did: indirectly. They weren’t to be preoccupied with the times and dates of the Kingdom. They were to be preoccupied with the King. That’s probably how Jesus would respond to us too. We spend a lot of time speculating about the end—how it will happen, when it will happen, the signs that we should be looking for (or that we might have already missed). But our focus on the kingdom isn’t really about times and places, it’s about the King. Where does He reign in this world? What are we doing and how are we praying where His reign is not visible? Are we asking God that His will be done on earth as it is in heaven? Are we concerned with God’s agenda for pouring His mercy and healing into all areas of this wounded creation? Are we making the mistake of watching for His second coming instead of being evidence for His first coming? The disciples were focused on the end, and sometimes so are we. Jesus points all of us back to Himself. “You will be my witnesses,” He says. Is that a command, a prediction, or both? Regardless, it’s true. We are either good witnesses or bad ones, but if we have claimed the name of Christ, we are witnesses nonetheless. We are the primary evidence that He came.
IN WORD We might not realize it now, after two thousand years of Christian history behind us, but the thought of the Spirit of God dwelling within human hearts was amazing to Jesus’ disciples. They surely knew that some of the heroes of Old Testament times had been inspired by the Spirit—as needed. And perhaps they knew that John the Baptist had been filled with the Spirit from birth—as an exception. But the Spirit of God being so accessible as to occupy multiple hearts at once? Such an uncommon gift now so commonly available? That was earthshattering. Even so, Jesus had stressed this gift on the night before His crucifixion, and He stressed it on the day of His ascension. He made it clear that He was not speaking in parables, but that the actual Spirit of the living God was going to dwell in living people rather than in a stone temple. No longer would inquiring seekers from abroad need to come to Jerusalem, as the queen of Sheba had done, in order to meet God. God would be scattered throughout the world in a practical, powerful way through His people. The witnesses would be indwelt by the One to whom they witnessed. That makes a huge difference. When we point to Jesus as a historical fact, we have the same resources as the skeptic does. We’ve come to a different conclusion, but we’ve used the same historical evidence. But when we point to Jesus as a living reality, He is involved. We become intimately acquainted with the One about whom we speak. Our words can be used as His expression, because He inspires and empowers them. We are living witnesses of a living Lord.
Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6)
IN DEED Being a witness for Jesus is more than a calling; it’s an identity. He shows Himself to this world through the people who have called on Him as Savior. We may reflect Him well, or we may reflect Him poorly; either way, people often make their decision about Him based on what they see in those who follow Him. Be aware of that. Be an authentic witness, not only for your own sake, but also for His. Don’t just live for the Kingdom; live for the King.
IN DEED Pray daily that you would be filled with the gift. The Spirit’s coming was not a one-time event; Paul tells his readers to be filled continually (Ephesians 5:18). The apostles were filled repeatedly in the book of Acts. Your fellowship with God’s Spirit depends on your daily interaction with Him. In your life as a witness, never forget the gift.
IN WORD You’ve been waiting for God to restore your kingdom. That’s probably not how you understand your deepest longings, but that’s what they amount to, in a sense. You have desires for fruitful and satisfying work, deep and lasting relationships, peace and purpose in your heart, and fulfillment of your visions and dreams. Much of what you do in life is based on realizing these goals. You know deep down that you were built for fulfillment, and you are waiting for God to fulfill. In other words, you are longing for Him to restore the life you envision. Jesus’ answer to you will probably be as indirect as the one He gave the disciples. “It is not for you to know” (v. 7), He will say about whatever specifics fill your heart. What we are to know is that He is at work and we are His coworkers. We are to be about His agenda. The Kingdom is in His hands, and our fulfillment will come in its proper time. Meanwhile, by taking our eyes off our own agendas and fixing them on His, we find that He fulfills us anyway. That’s almost always the way of Jesus. That’s why He told His disciples to “lose” themselves in order to “find” true life. That’s how they can carry their cross of death and still truly live. The paradox is consistent throughout Scripture: those who abandon themselves to God find themselves completely embraced. IN DEED What kingdom have you been expecting? Whatever it is, stop striving for it. Live instead for the agenda of Jesus’ Kingdom. Be His witness, live in His Spirit, seek His will on earth as it is in heaven. One day down the road, you may notice a startling phenomenon. In abandoning your own idea of the kingdom for His, you’ll find that His includes everything you deeply desired anyway. That may be a long way down the road, or it may be soon. Either way, you’ll be satisfied. The real Kingdom will be much more fulfilling than your own.
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WEEK 5
WEEK 6
WEEK 7
Acts 1:1-11
Acts 1:1-11
Psalm 2
October 31–November 4
November 7-11
A SINGLE FOCUS
AN URGENT PURPOSE
Why do you stand here looking into the sky? (Acts 1:11)
This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. (Acts 1:11)
IN WORD Christians often have a dual focus. We want our dreams and the Kingdom of God. We plan our careers, marry our spouses, buy our land, build our houses, save for our futures, give our children the best, and establish ourselves in security as well as we can. Meanwhile, we devote ourselves to church and some form of personal ministry, reminding ourselves of the cross we bear and the sacrifices we make. Our two allegiances don’t always contradict—theoretically, it’s possible to have both—but they do frequently split our attention between them. We become halfhearted about one or the other. And often the one we become halfhearted about is the Kingdom. The disciples had a split focus too. They were standing there looking into the sky, amazed at the ascending Lord. They are perfect symbols of Christians who believe in the coming Kingdom but who aren’t busy investing in it. They believed this Jesus would come again, but they weren’t yet involved in His mission. They had forgotten the task at hand. God might well ask us the same question spoken by the angels: “Why do you stand here looking into the sky?” There’s work to be done, there’s a Kingdom in process, and there’s a commandment to obey. There’s an enormous difference between waiting for the Lord who will come and witnessing to the Lord who is now at work. The Christian life isn’t a gaze into the sky; it’s an activity in the world. IN DEED Which description fits your life better? Where has your focus been? Are you investing in the dream of temporal peace and material prosperity, or are you investing in the dream of eternal peace and ultimate prosperity? Or like most Christians, do you split your attention between them? Spend some time evaluating your focus. Let your life be marked with Kingdom purposes above all else. Those are the investments that last. When heaven asks you where you are looking, be able to answer well.
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IN WORD You have a mission in life. You may be conscious of it, or you may not, but it’s there. And you’ve spent years defining it. For some people, it’s a mission to get rich. For others, it’s a mission to solve humanity’s problems. It can show up as a drive to win a gold medal or as an obsession to fit in with the crowd. Regardless of the shape it takes or the level of awareness you have of it, it’s there. When Jesus ascended, He redefined the disciples’ mission for them. The mission was no longer about their personal agendas, it was about Him. And the angels’ words about His return put a period on the end of the mission; Jesus would be coming back at a particular point in time when the mission is done. There’s an ending. The situation is urgent. We’ve lost that sense of urgency over the years. Weeks turned into months, months turned into years, years turned into decades, then centuries, and then millennia. The ends of the earth were farther away and harder to reach than anyone had thought. The mission was going to be more than announcing the good news; it would be a matter of discipling people from every language and tribe. Sometime between the beginning of Acts and the fulfillment of Revelation, we set in for the long haul. IN DEED What can we do to get that sense of urgency back? Speculation about the time of Jesus’ return may help, but the real key is to understand the lostness of our world and the ends of it that have yet to be reached. As long as there are undiscipled pockets of people out there, the mission isn’t complete. Not only has your mission in life changed from what you first thought— Jesus has given all His followers the same ultimate purpose—your mission also has a designated time frame. We could be casual with an open-ended mission, but not with this one. Never forget that the situation is urgent.
November 14-18 HIS INHERITANCE—AND OURS “Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession.” (Psalm 2:8) IN WORD It’s an astounding promise. God, speaking to His Son, doesn’t just foretell that the nations will belong to the one true King. He urges the Son to ask for them, as though the giving is contingent on the request. But it’s a prayer that is certain to be answered. When the beloved Son, fully in line with the Father’s will, prays a prayer that the Father has promised to answer, it’s a sure thing. The nations will belong to the Son. That’s a wonderful truth, but what does it have to do with us? Well, before the Son ascended to the throne at the right hand of God, He gave His followers an assignment to make disciples of all nations—not just people among the nations, but entire “nations” or collective groupings of people as a whole. There is a social side of the mission that encompasses much more than each individual. And even though the Son could simply ask the Father, as the messianic promise assures Him, the mission is to include the followers of the Son. That transforms His prayer from “Lord, give Me the nations,” to “Lord, give us the nations.” That’s different. And much more encouraging. IN DEED Have you ever prayed with that kind of unity with the Son? Perhaps you’ve prayed for people of all nations to come to Christ, but have you prayed with Him that people of all nations—and whole nations themselves—would be given to “us”? He in us, we in Him, all in the mission together. That unity in prayer with the King Himself adds faith and power to our requests. We aren’t praying that we would win nations ourselves, or that God would give the Son the nations. We are praying along with Jesus that we, together with Him, would be inheritors of a kingdom full of vast nations. Let that shape your vision of where history is leading and fuel your prayers. In the Spirit, we are partners with God in taking territory for Jesus that, according to the prophecy, we will reign over with Him. There is no greater destiny than that.
WEEK 8
WEEK 9
WEEK 10
Jonah 4:5-11
2 Corinthians 5:11-21
2 Corinthians 5:11-21
November 21-25 UNDERSTANDING REDEMPTION “Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals.” (Jonah 4:11) IN WORD God has filled His creation with order and wisdom. He has spoken His Word, and the Word has clothed Himself in human flesh and dwelt among us. We’ve been taught right from wrong and truth from error. The intricacies of creation speak of God’s design, and the vastness of the heavens speak of His grandeur. And the majority of people in this world don’t understand any of it. Apparently, the ignorance of the godless masses didn’t grieve Jonah. Surprisingly, it doesn’t grieve many of God’s people today either. Our world is reeling, oblivious to the character and ways of its Creator, and relatively few people shed tears over its ignorance. We’re bothered by the attitudes of the world against us more than its unawareness of God Himself. We have to wake up to the contradiction: On one hand, billions of people have no idea which way is up; on the other hand, Jesus clearly told His followers to go and teach them. The book of Jonah is about God’s heart for the world. It’s a missionary book, a preview of the Great Commission. In God’s poignant explanation to an angry prophet, the salient fact about the Ninevites was not their brutal attacks on Israel or their enormous, self-exalting pride. God preoccupied Himself with another problem: They didn’t know right from wrong, and they needed to. They needed to come face to face with Him—in His mercy. IN DEED It’s easy to get mad about all the injustices in the world. It’s natural to be outraged at those who abuse and terrorize innocent people. But does God tell us in Scripture always to do what’s easy and natural? No, He puts His Spirit within us so we’ll know His character and have His heart. He wants us to focus on redemption, not vengeance, and on mercy, not judgment. Those aren’t easy goals, and they certainly aren’t natural. But they’re from God. He sees the devastation of the world as an opportunity to save. Seize that opportunity with Him.
November 28–December 2
December 5-9
A RECONCILING MISSION
A RECONCILING GOD
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18)
God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. (2 Corinthians 5:19)
IN WORD This world is fragmented. That wasn’t the case in Eden, when creation was new and complete. But sin has far-reaching effects, severing multiple relationships in multiple ways. It disconnected human beings from their Creator, it put enmity between man and woman, it created rivalries among siblings, and it made our relationship with the earth a matter of hard labor rather than joyful abundance. It even separated us from ourselves, causing the image of God and a heart of sin to dwell in the same body. The result is brokenness and fragmentation. We are a disunited world. The redemption offered by Jesus addresses this problem. In Christ, we are reconciled with God. In Christ, we become one body of believers. In Christ, the whole world that groans for its redemption gets a taste of it now. Whatever was broken in the Fall can be healed at the Cross and redeemed for a purpose. That’s what salvation is all about. Even so, Christians still struggle with the effects of broken relationships and a fragmented society. We aren’t always sure how to reconcile people alienated from God and at odds with one another. Conflict is still part of our lives. And what this week’s passage tells us is that such conflict is the stage for God’s redemption. This is the battleground where His mercy is seen.
IN WORD God made the world for His own glory. We’ve seen how tragically short of His glory we’ve fallen; there is much on this earth that is ugly and ungodly. God knew this would happen before He spoke light into darkness and crafted the heavens and the earth, and He made us anyway. Why? Because His glory can come out of the shame. We wonder how that might be possible. How can the depravity we’ve seen and participated in—the genocides and injustices, the crimes of society and of the human heart—how can any of it reflect well on God? That is where we see His mercy. We know the tender side of God through such tragedy. We’ve tasted the sweetness of forgiveness and watched the power of healing overcome the power of sin. We’ve seen ultimate mercy in a bloody Savior on a hill. Don’t let that thought pass too quickly. The purpose of all creation, it seems—the point of this horribly fallen world—is to demonstrate a God of reconciliation and grace. Our broken world highlights the compassions that are new every morning and the faithfulness that never sets with the sun. The God who reconciles isn’t clearly seen in His holiness and perfection, at least not until He reaches down in mercy. God becomes visible in the Cross.
IN DEED Do you see your mission as one of reconciliation? There are many sides of that: we help people get reconciled to God through Jesus, we assist reconciliation between warring parties, and we proclaim healing to whatever is broken in this world. But if we don’t see reconciliation as our primary purpose, we won’t be active in bringing it about. Learn to see the ministry of reconciliation as your God-given role. He has called us to apply His redemption everywhere we can. Our salvation isn’t just between us and Him; meant to reconnect a fragmented creation with its Creator and with itself.
IN DEED If the heart of God in this world revolves around redemption and reconciliation, we are at odds with Him if our hearts don’t do the same. God was reconciling the world to Himself in Jesus; He wasn’t counting sins against us because He was counting them against the Scapegoat sent from heaven. What we deserved, He bore. That speaks marvelous wonders about our Creator. That’s the heart of our mission— to speak marvelous wonders about our Creator. Reconciliation is the purpose for which we were created. Let it become your lifestyle.
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WEEK 11
WEEK 12
WEEK 13
2 Corinthians 5:11-21
2 Corinthians 5:11-21
2 Corinthians 5:11-21
December 12-16
December 19-23
December 26-30
A RECONCILING LOVE
A RECONCILING VIEW
A RECONCILING APPEAL
Christ’s love compels us. (2 Corinthians 5:14)
From now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. (2 Corinthians 5:16)
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. (2 Corinthians 5:20)
IN WORD Most of us don’t enjoy conflict. We don’t enjoy the distance that separates us from God when we’ve sinned, and we don’t enjoy the enmity between us and other people when our relationships are laden with misunderstandings and offenses. Most of us want to live at peace with those around us. Life is easier that way. In fact, an easy life is often our motivation. We want to be reconciled with so-and-so not because of our deep love for that person, but because life would be much more manageable if conflict with that person didn’t exist. That feeling that something is not quite right, that unsettled sensation that comes from discord, would go away and we would feel better. We are often driven to reconcile—or else to flee the relationship—by such discomfort. The mission of the believer is driven by a different motive. It’s the love of Christ that compels. The love of Jesus, when it is living and thriving within us, will not be content to let broken relationships remain broken. It will urge us to seek the other person’s benefit as well as our own. It will crave the wholeness that can only come through grace and forgiveness. IN DEED What governs your relationships? Do you flee from conflict and let it lie unresolved? Or do you seek reconciliation as a means to make life easier? There’s a better way. The love of Jesus—that love that prompted Him to leave the glories of heaven and live in a grossly corrupt world in order to reconcile it—is a love that we can build all of our relationships on. In fact, if we want to be a part of Jesus’ mission in this world, that’s a love we must build our relationships on. It’s what true reconciliation is all about. How do we get it? First, ask God for it. It’s a divine love, and it does not spring naturally from human hearts. It comes from His Spirit alone. Second, consciously apply such amazing love to your relationships. Substitute selfish motives with selfless ones. Seek the good of others above all else. That’s what Jesus did. If His love compels us, it’s what we will do too.
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IN WORD You size people up. We all do. We make snap judgments about people’s attitudes and personalities based on what they wear, the expression on their faces, the look in their eyes, the social groups they come from, or any other criteria we can get a handle on. Most of our efforts are aimed at putting people in categories we can easily understand. There’s no shame in that; it’s how our minds work. The problem is that our categories are not God’s. When we use our own judgments, we end up associating with people who are a lot like us in terms of cultural background, economic status, political opinions, religious views, and so on. We are most comfortable with similar people because we are most familiar with their characteristics. We have a lot in common with them—at least on the surface. But such associations don’t spring exclusively from the love of Christ. They don’t take us on an adventure of reconciliation. They don’t always lead us where God wants us to go. They see people in terms of the kingdom of this world, not in terms of the Kingdom of God. According to God, there are two kinds of people in the world: those who are in Christ, and those who are not. Those who are in Christ are one with us—no distinctions of language, economy, race, gender, or heritage. We are united in a common Savior. Those who are not in Christ are sought by God. And if they are sought by God, they ought to be sought by God’s ministers of reconciliation. IN DEED If you are a Christian, then you are a minister of reconciliation. It’s your calling to go to the people whom God seeks. There are no biblical distinctions between them; Jew, Greek, black, white, male, female, rich, poor—all are sought by God. You may be more effective among some, but all are potential believers. God wants reconciliation with everyone. And God’s point of view is to be ours.
IN WORD An ambassador is a bridge between two nations. He or she represents one country in the territory of another. It’s a difficult job, demanding sensitivity and tact. It requires a balance between respect for the host culture and allegiance to the home culture. By definition, an ambassador represents the agenda of his or her homeland. Though he or she lives in a foreign land, the interests of home are paramount. We live in a foreign land. We belong to another Kingdom, as the Bible makes clear; it calls us citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20) and members of a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9). But we are assigned a role in the land of our birth. Sometimes that land is hostile territory, and sometimes its familiarity lingers within us. Either way, our agenda is clear: we are to represent the interests of our King and to do so winsomely. Most of us are simply trying to get by from one day to the next in this life. We see ourselves more as survivors than as ambassadors. Nevertheless, we have a higher calling than survival. We are not simply saved out of this world, we are called to go back into it proclaiming the fullness of the coming Kingdom. We are to take the reconciliation of God into a dazed and confused generation. We are to live a holy lifestyle in the midst of an unholy culture. We are representatives of God. IN DEED If that doesn’t give purpose to your day, nothing will. Ambassadors are often people who are particularly special to the president or prime minister who appoints them. In our case, we are appointed by the Most High God. It is a sacred assignment with lives at stake. Immerse yourself in the values of the Kingdom of God, then make your appeal to your culture. Go to individuals, to governments, to social organizations, to economic entities—go everywhere. The task of an ambassador is broad, and the purpose is clear. Affect one kingdom for the sake of another. .
Step Into the Story
Walk Thru— the Next Generation What Does Our Future Look Like?
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orty years of ministry goes a long way toward reaching a generation with the truth, depth, and beauty of God’s Word. But God is always looking beyond one generation, and so is Walk Thru the Bible. And because times change—no generation is exactly like the ones that went before—looking into the future means seeing things differently. What does that mean for the future of Walk Thru the Bible? “Our target audience has changed,” says president Phil Tuttle. “We started purely as a
discipleship ministry with an audience who knew the Bible pretty well but maybe didn’t understand the order of the stories. But now it’s much more than that—not only for believers who have been collecting random facts and need to put them all together; it’s for those who are just curious. They want to know what the Bible is all about and how Christianity is different from other faiths.” To help Walk Thru the Bible’s leaders understand the unique needs and perspectives of the next generation, the ministry has created
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Step Into the Story
(Contd.)
a millennial advisory team of about 10 men and women in their 20s and early 30s. The team meets four times a year. “It’s exciting to me that there’s no doubt in their minds that our resources will work with them and their friends,” Phil says. “But the problem is that we’re not currently offering them anything in the places where they go to look for help in their spiritual lives. They are helping us identify what those places are, what format our resources need to be in, what prices they should be, and that kind of thing.” Phil says that millennials are very cause-oriented and passionate about fixing problems they have inherited from past generations. Social and humanitarian issues like sex-trafficking, clean water, and adequate food and housing are high on the list. But young Christians are also realizing that social reform is rarely sustainable without spiritual revival. The Word of God must be central, and Walk Thru the Bible is well positioned to help maintain that focus. But that may require some adjustments to the methods of the past. In practical terms, re-architecting the ministry to reach young generations will include transitioning more of our resources from print to digital. In addition, the schedules most people keep today make it difficult for them to spend five or six hours in a room for one of our events, so a prototype event that shortens our Walk Thru the Old Testament to a couple of hours is in development. Even the creation of that project is a sign of things to come. Whereas in the past, new initiatives
would begin in the U.S. and spread to other regions, today’s model for ministry looks more like partnership than parenthood. The condensed Old Testament event (to be called otLIVE) is being driven by a development team from the United Kingdom, India, and the Philippines, as well as the U.S. The organization is no longer a hub-andspokes wheel with Atlanta at the center. It’s a global network. The methodology may be changing, but the message remains the same. Walk Thru the Bible still emphasizes engaging in God’s Word as a key to life-change. When people of any age understand God’s Word and engage with Him often, they grow. And one of the best ways to grow closer to Him through His Word is by seeing the big picture. “Our resources are great evangelistic tools,” Phil says. “When Wycliffe missionaries go into a new tribe, they don’t begin with Jesus. They go back to the beginning of the story—creation, the fall, and then the story of God reaching out to rebuild His relationship with a rebellious people. That’s what we do when we teach the big picture. There’s no better way to grasp the heart of God than in the story of the Old and New Testaments. “I can’t tell you what Walk Thru the Bible will look like 40 years from now because I’m focused on the next decade,” Phil says. “But I really do believe this ministry was birthed and preserved for this time in history. It is needed now more than it ever has been. I believe God wants this to be a season of significant growth in every area of our ministry.” .
“THIS MINISTRY WAS BIRTHED AND PRESERVED FOR THIS TIME IN HISTORY.”
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Leader Profile
Helping People ‘Get It’ PAUL KEEYS, NATIONAL DIRECTOR FOR THE UNITED KINGDOM
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aul Keeys had no idea when he was running an overhead projector for his father that he would be leading the ministry one day. Nor did he see it coming as a math teacher much later, even though he had become a Walk Thru the Bible instructor by then. But when Cliff Keeys retired from leading the U.K. ministry in 2006, the ministry’s board thought Paul would be a good candidate to replace him. They wanted someone from inside—and no one had been as “inside” as Paul. “I just grew up with it,” Paul says of his early teen years when he would help out at his father’s Walk Thru the Old Testament events. “I would set up the overhead projector screen, clean off the glass, and do the slides.” After Paul married and moved back to northeastern England where he is originally from, he and his wife, Jane, went to a church where the minister was a Walk Thru the Bible instructor. He encouraged Paul to become one too. It seemed a natural fit, Paul says. “If you cut me in half, I look like hand signs.” But Paul wondered if it was a fit when the board called to discuss the open position his father had left. “I had no background in that,” he says. “I was a math teacher—not a boss, not a planner, just a teacher of secondary school kids. They took a risk with me.” The risk paid off. That was in 2006, and Paul has been leading ever since. He heads a ministry
that not only teaches Walk Thru the Bible events in churches of many denominations but also has adapted them for use in public schools. Religious education is a requirement in the U.K. for the final two years of primary school, as long as it’s objective and “non-conversionary.” Walk Through the Bible–UK (the official U.K. spelling) helps teachers fulfill the curriculum requirement for Judaism and Christianity—and in the process gives students, many of whom have never opened a Bible, a memorable and positive impression of what the Bible is all about. About 350 presenters take advantage of the opportunity to teach the Old and New Testaments in schools across the country. The ministry passed the 600,000-student mark earlier this year and is looking forward to celebrating a million. “There’s always that number element to it, which I have to admit appeals to me,” Paul says. “It gives you a sense of progress and encouragement to keep pushing on. But that’s not what we’re really about. We’re about the light turning on and people saying, ‘I get it.’” That desire to help people get it has also prompted Paul to hone the art of storytelling in his sermons and to lead tours two or three times a year to biblical sites in Israel and the Aegean region. “Walk Thru the Bible has always been about innovation and excitement,” Paul says. Those core values show up often in his ministry—and, after all these years, are still helping lights turn on across the U.K. .
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Donor Profile
Excited for What’s Next JOSH AND ABBEY GRIFFIN
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t would be hard to count (or sufficiently thank) the many donors who had a hand in Walk Thru the Bible’s first 40 years of fruitfulness. But it’s gratifying to know that another generation of donors is catching a vision for the ministry too. Josh and Abbey Griffin have known about Walk Thru the Bible most of their lives. Abbey’s grandmother, Betty King, has been involved with the ministry for years, and Josh’s parents, Scott and Connie Griffin, have also been longtime donors. After Josh and Abbey graduated from college and got married, they began to think about which ministries and kingdom work they wanted to support, and Walk Thru the Bible was an obvious choice. “We wanted to get involved because we love the mission, the way they reach all nations for Jesus—not only sharing the gospel, but teaching people how to live out the kingdom,” Abbey said. “We had just started earning money, and no one else had asked us yet to support their organization. My parents invited us to come along to a Live the Word conference, and we decided to get involved ourselves, even if it’s in a small way for now,” Josh explained. “We are especially interested in the international side of the ministry,” he said. “We love how Walk Thru has chosen to partner with ministries and individuals around the world. The goal isn’t to gain recognition, but to use partnerships to spread the Word of God. When I look at it purely from a
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numbers standpoint, the ministry is doing a lot of work for the kingdom because of the partnership approach they take to ministry.” “I feel like my money goes further with Walk Thru the Bible than any other ministry because the impact of their material multiplies itself,” Abbey said. “The testimonies we have heard from their global conferences are astounding because they are able to reach so many people worldwide.” Josh and Abbey say they are proud to support the ministry because they respect the ministry model. “Walk Thru the Bible is able to have immediate impact by strategically partnering with local leaders who are passionate about spreading the Word of God in their own countries,” Josh said. “I love seeing the posts on Instagram and Facebook about what is going on around the world!” Abbey said. “They pair great pictures with captions that tell you how to pray for their leaders right as the ministry is happening.” “Through our involvement, we’ve learned a lot about the huge need around the world for people to understand the Bible. A large part of our generation does not read and know the Bible, and that needs to change,” Josh explained. “I’ve been invited to serve on the millennial advisory team for Walk Thru as they plan and prepare to reach our generation better. It’s exciting to be part of a ministry with such depth of wisdom, humility, and history, and I’m excited for what’s next.” .
The Last Word
I
boarded a plane in July for a long flight to Nigeria with a team of videographers to capture stories. We went asking one question: Does it work? Walk Thru the Bible produces resources designed to cross cultures and be effective when translated into other languages. We send a team for an initial launch of a new resource and to train pastors and church leaders to use it. Those pastors and church leaders will then take the new resource back to their towns and villages to teach. In
April, Phil Tuttle launched Crucible, a series on the life of David, in Nigeria. We knew that the hundreds of pastors who came to hear Phil and experience this new resource would begin to use it immediately. I wanted to know what kind of difference it would make in a few short months, not in the lives of the pastors who heard Phil teach, but in the lives of church members whose pastors are now equipped with a new resource. So our team went asking questions and interviewing people. It didn’t take long before the answer was clear. Our resources are changing lives. We heard stories of marriages that were restored because of the biblical truth in our materials. People told us how their faith in God was renewed. We heard from people who are finding the courage to overco me significant challenges in their lives. I came home from that trip overwhelmingly convinced that our ministr y strategy and resources work. We are impacting countless lives—many that we will never know about—in significant ways. The reach of our resources is broader than we could ever imagine. By equipping pastors and leaders with transformational tools, Walk Thru the Bible’s impact is ever expanding. To those who partner with us financially, know that your investm ent is changing lives. Thank you for believing that God’s Word changes everything and standing with us to deliver life-transforming, biblically focused resources to people around the world. I will never forget some of the stories I heard in Nigeria, and in the coming months we will be able to share many of them with you. Thank you for helping write those stories by your friendship and partnership with us. Sincerely,
Michael Gunnin
Vice President for Advancement
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