Early Leaders Reach Out

Partnering with church and state leaders to grow Sunday schools

LifeWay’s early leaders believed that expanding Sunday schools in churches was the key to growing the church and eventually growing every other church program. Promoting the Sunday school was a major motivation for early presidents James M. Frost and T. P. Bell in the first years of the Sunday School Board. Frost and Bell traveled extensively to meet with state leaders to promote Sunday school work and help church leaders grow their Bible study programs.

Equipping Church Leaders

Isaac Jacob Van Ness champions resources for training youth workers

In 1900, Isaac J. Van Ness was hired to focus energy and attention on developing the workers and church leaders of the rising Baptist Young People’s Unions. His travels to churches and Baptist state organizations across the country led early Sunday School Board leaders to recruit dedicated field workers who would travel to churches throughout the country and provide help for Sunday school leaders. The Young People’s Leader Monthly was an early Sunday School Board publication focused on helping churches develop leaders.

“The Sunday School Man”

Spilman travels 12,000 miles in first seven months

Bernard Washington Spilman was hired in 1901 as the Sunday School Board’s first field secretary. Dedicated to traveling the country promoting Sunday school and training church leaders, he lived up to his nickname— the “Sunday School Man.” Rather than moving to Nashville, Spilman worked out of Raleigh, North Carolina. It was symbolically significant that the field secretary was located away from the Nashville home office since his work was with the churches and state leaders in the field. He traveled 12,000 miles in his first seven months.

Workshops Provide New Ideas

Normal Studies for Sunday School Workers stays in print for 25 years

Bernard Washington Spilman, the Sunday School Board’s first field secretary, believed effective teaching was a key element. He’d already been successfully holding teacher training workshops and promoting summer training assemblies before coming to the Board. In 1909, Spilman wrote Normal Studies for Sunday School Workers, which sold for 25 cents each and taught methodology and learner needs. It stayed in print for more than 25 years. Spilman began a legacy of field consultants that continued through the next 100 years.

Dedicated Workers Travel to Churches

Ernest Eugene Lee travels 2.5 million miles

In 1908, the Sunday School Board recruited Ernest Eugene Lee to help in a new, emerging work—training leaders on the field. Traveling more than 2.5 million miles by train and car during his tenure, Lee gave more than 21,000 speeches and helped popularize the summer camps for training leaders. This set the stage for teams of dedicated and talented field workers who traveled throughout the United States to hold conferences, train teachers, and help churches grow their ministries.

Flake’s Formula for
Growing a Sunday School

Former department store owner revolutionizes Sunday school work

Arthur Flake joined the Sunday School Board in 1912 to help develop training materials for teachers. Flake developed a five-step formula for building and growing a Sunday school that still works today, 100 years later. Whether a church calls it Sunday school, Bible study, or something else, most small-group ministries use some variation of these steps today.

Conference Centers

Ridgecrest and Glorieta draw enthusiastic crowds

Creating places where church leaders could meet for leader training events was a natural next step for the Sunday School Board. Ridgecrest Conference Center, on 1,300 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, hosted its first event in the summer of 1909 and has been the site for thousands of training events for church leaders for more than 100 years. In 1949, to serve the churches in the western region of the country, the Board opened a second conference center in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of Glorieta, New Mexico. More than 1,400 people came from 18 states, slept in tents and campers, ate at an outdoor chuck wagon, and listened to inspiring, camp-style teaching when Glorieta held its first event, Pioneer Week, in 1952.

Sending Workers to Train Others

250 Sunday school workers attend first institute

In addition to training events at Ridgecrest and Glorieta, the Sunday School Board hosted training opportunities around the country. The first institute for Sunday school teachers in 1906 was a week-long training event at First Baptist Church in Nashville with 250 in attendance. These training events sparked the growing commitment to fieldwork and leader development. Today, Lifeway hosts dozens of conferences designed to equip those who lead in women’s ministry, kids ministry, worship, Vacation Bible School, student ministry, and many of the ministry areas that are important to the church.

Developing leaders for every ministry

Music that inspires the church

The Sunday School Board recognized the need to help churches develop leaders in specialized areas that extended beyond the programs of Sunday school and work with children and students. Church music was a ministry of great importance and impact for the church. Working with church leaders from across the country, the Board helped to offer solutions to the question the church still seeks to answer today: “What should church music sound like—the classic hymns of the past or the cutting-edge songs of today?” For LifeWay, the answer has been both. From its earliest days of music publishing more than 100 years ago, Lifeway has balanced tradition and innovation. In the process, Lifeway has helped bring new styles of worship to churches across America.

B.B. McKinney and Church Music

One composer’s impact on Baptist hymnody

In 1935, the Sunday School Board hired its first music editor, B.B. McKinney, who laid the groundwork for Lifeway Worship today. Under his leadership, the Sunday School Board inaugurated an annual Church Music Week at the Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly (1940), created the Church Music department (1941), developed the Church Music Training Course (1946), and began the publication of the Church Musician (1950).

Throughout his career, McKinney led music in revivals and conferences and taught in schools of church music conducted by churches. McKinney was the author of the words and music of 149 hymns and songs, and he composed the music for 114 texts by other authors.

Broadman Hymnal, Baptist Hymnal

Music, songs, and worship for the ages

Music composer B.B. McKinney edited and published the Broadman Hymnal in 1940 and wrote several of its hymns, including “The Nail-Scarred Hand,” “Let Others See Jesus in You,” and “Wherever He Leads I’ll Go.” Though more than 75 years old, the Broadman Hymnal is still in print today. Since then, Lifeway has published the Baptist Hymnal, with editions in 1956, 1975, 1991, and 2008. The 1991 version was perhaps the best-selling hymnal of all time, with more than 2 million copies sold.

Lifeway Worship Today

"The hymnal with no back cover." — Mike Harland

Today, Lifeway has a digital hymnal with more than 4,000 titles available at LifeWayWorship.com. The digital collection showcases praise choruses and contemporary worship songs alongside traditional hymns. From publishing original songs, choral anthems, and orchestrations to hosting training events and conferences, Lifeway Worship provides comprehensive music resources for churches.

Church Architecture

Creating space for church growth

The Sunday School Board recognized that churches would have to adapt their buildings in order to expand Sunday school. In 1917, Prince Emmanuel Burroughs helped launch Church Architecture to provide resources, information, and training for churches looking to design and construct buildings that would meet their growing ministry needs. Church Architecture published books and blueprints and provided field workers who traveled to local churches across the country to help leaders develop plans and expertise.

Church Recreation

Engaging family and community

The Sunday School Board launched the Church Recreation Service in 1954 to provide leadership, research, plans, and materials to help churches organize and lead programs for their members and communities. The Church Recreation magazine was published a few years later. In 1979, Centrifuge and other summer programs for kids were developed to meet the needs of the entire family while parents were in training sessions at conference centers.

Church Administration

Lifeline of support for pastors, deacons, and staff

With the rapid growth of church ministries and programs for every age and stage of life, the Sunday School Board responded to the need to provide resources and help for pastors, deacons, and ministry leaders in search of ways to lead more effectively. The Church Administration department was formed to design and facilitate workshops and seminars for church staff, publish resources, and provide personal and professional support. Church Administration created a hotline for pastors and in 1996 launched LeaderCare to address the growing concern of pastor burnout. Deacon and Church Administration were magazines that focused on providing up-to-date information and solutions for these ministry leaders. Today, Lifeway continues to support church leaders through Lifeway Leadership, Lifeway Research, as well as training events for different ministry areas.

Church Media Library

Putting media and resources in the hands of the people

The Sunday School Board created the Church Media Library Department to help churches plan, develop, and operate libraries of books, media, materials, and resources for people. Experts provided library workers and leaders with timely information and resources through magazines, events, and conferences. Before digital technology gave church members access to resources at their fingertips, churches catered to their members by providing resources through their libraries.

Making Access Easier and Better

From satellite to digital solutions

LifeWay’s focus on using the best methods available to deliver training resources and experiences has resulted a dynamic growth of ideas, approaches, platforms, and technologies in every generation. Lifeway continues to work closely with pastors and ministry leaders to research, discover, and incorporate the best methodologies, tools, and systems for connecting churches with development opportunities for their leaders and workers.

In the 1980s, the Sunday School Board launched a nationwide Baptist Television Network (BTN) to help churches develop leaders via satellite programming. Aimed at teacher training and Sunday school lesson preparation, the goal was to bring Ridgecrest and Glorieta to the people at home. Today, online training through Ministry Grid represents LifeWay’s digital solution to provide church leadership training for a diverse and wide range of church needs.

Ministry Grid Launches

Thousands of video-enhanced lessons

Ministry Grid, LifeWay’s online training, was introduced in 2013 and features more than 3,000 video-enhanced lessons to train volunteers in a variety of roles—from the parking lot to the pulpit—anytime, anywhere. Ministry Grid allows churches to turn content on and off, upload their own content, build their own training tracks, and even customize the site with their own URL, church logo, color palette—all in just a few clicks. This one-of-a-kind management tool lets the church assign training, assess giftedness, and track the progress of volunteers, workers, teachers, and leaders at a glance.

Leadership Pipeline

Pathways to help people grow and serve well

Lifeway Leadership, launched in 2013, offers training and leader development in numerous categories, all accessible via internet and mobile devices. Combining the latest technology with time-tested principles and methods, Lifeway Leadership provides tools, resources, access to expertise, and a path that any church can implement to equip people to grow and serve well—from volunteer to senior leadership. Featuring podcasts, webinars, interviews with leading ministry experts, and practical, hands-on application, Lifeway Leadership provides churches with a framework for moving forward in their commitment to develop leaders for their ministry and service through the church. The one-day PIPELINE conference launched in 2016.

Podcasts Feature Ministry Experts

Taking leader expertise to global churches

From LifeWay's earliest days, its leaders have been passionate about finding and employing the best means for connecting churches with ideas, information, tools, and expertise to develop people to serve effectively within the church. Today, Lifeway ministry experts still travel to churches and conference sites to facilitate seminars, workshops, and provide practical, hands-on coaching. In addition, through the technology of podcasts, Lifeway is able to offer churches all over the world timely and ready access to ministry expertise. Podcasts feature thought-provoking interviews that encourage, challenge, and help churches build and keep strong teams. Church leaders can subscribe to podcasts such as 5 Leadership Questions, New Churches, and Group Answers on iTunes, Android, by email and via RSS.