Training Young Minds

Early Board focuses on reaching the world

In its first report to the Southern Baptist Convention in 1892, the fledgling Sunday School Board clearly expressed its heart for missions. “The work of the board is not simply in supplying Sunday-school literature to pay a revenue,” the report said. “...It is putting our missionaries and mission work upon the minds and the hearts of our young people. They are thus trained to the great work of missions—the work of all others on earth today.”

Inspiration From China

First book tells missionary’s story

Although the Southern Baptist Convention did not originally permit the Sunday School Board to publish books, a missionary’s story inspired James M. Frost to publish one anyway in 1898. The Story of Yates the Missionary was a biography of one of the first missionaries appointed by the Foreign Mission Board to serve in China. “It is really a wonderful book, stirring to the deepest depths with its mighty heart-beat, a glorious campaign volume for missions,” the Board told the SBC that year, noting that proceeds would be used for missions education.

Go and Tell

Scholarships help Lifeway employees share faith

In obedience to the Great Commission, Lifeway has helped to send its own employees to the mission field. The Lifeway Mission Fund provides scholarships to help employees take mission trips with their local church and to support church plants around the world. The program is funded through donations from employees and friends.

Global Response

Lifeway helps customers give to international needs

With a heart for worldwide ministry, Lifeway has helped its customers direct gifts to global needs. In 1997, Lifeway stores set up canisters at checkout for customers to donate their change to Baptist Global Response, a disaster relief and community development organization. Two decades later, Lifeway customers have given BGR more than $1.1 million.

Shoeboxes of Love

Gifts brighten Christmas for needy children worldwide

In 2003, Lifeway began a partnership with Samaritan’s Purse to promote Operation Christmas Child, which provides needy children worldwide with gift-filled shoeboxes. Lifeway stores became drop-off locations for filled shoeboxes.

In Every Tongue

Spanish is starting point for branching out

The Sunday School Board began publishing in Spanish in 1964 with La Fe Bautista (The Baptist Faith), an adult quarterly for Hispanic congregations in the United States and Puerto Rico. Other Sunday school materials were added in Spanish over the next two decades.

By 1994, Sunday school materials were available in Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, and for the deaf. In addition, the Board was distributing materials in French and Japanese.

Discipleship Around the Globe

MasterLife, Experiencing God reach new lands

Two discipleship courses dramatically expanded LifeWay’s reach into global ministry in the 1980s and 1990s.

MasterLife, first released in 1980, was described as “one of the most comprehensive discipleship courses the Baptist Sunday School Board has ever offered.” By 1988, MasterLife had been translated into 43 languages.

Experiencing God, a study by Henry Blackaby and Claude King, has been used in almost every denomination since its original publication in 1990. By 2005, it had been licensed in 62 languages. Nearly 30 years after its initial release, Experiencing God continues to be translated into more languages, including Mongolian, Chin, Bulgarian, Albanian, Kinyarwanda, and Urdu.

A Best-Seller in Translation

The Love Dare catches fire internationally

The Love Dare, a 40-day challenge for husbands and wives to understand and practice unconditional love, became a New York Times No. 1 best-seller and was a major plot device in the popular movie Fireproof. Originally published in 2008, The Love Dare was translated into 23 languages by 2010.

From Afrikaans to Urdu

Partners extend trustworthy content to the globe

Through licenses with international publishers, LifeWay’s B&H Publishing Group is able to make many resources available around the world. In 2017, B&H had licensed about 300 products in 40 non-English languages ranging from Afrikaans to Urdu.

New Name, Same Purpose

Draper’s vision: ‘Being the best worldwide’

Under the leadership of James T. Draper Jr., president from 1991 to 2006, the Sunday School Board adopted a new name—Lifeway Christian Resources—to reflect its broader scope and ministry diversity. The name change took effect in 1998.

Draper frequently expressed his vision for a global publishing agency. “This is what we ought to be about,” he said. “It’s not something we have an opportunity to do; it’s something we must do.”

Building a Future

Lifeway trains international leaders

By 1999, Lifeway had a 15-person international department and hosted its first international Hispanic trainers’ meeting, with participants from Puerto Rico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Guatemala, Venezuela, Mexico, Honduras, Spain, Peru, and Ecuador.

In 2004, Lifeway International conducted 579 workshops and trained 42,595 pastors and lay leaders in 4,337 churches in 28 countries.

Lifeway continues to train international leaders today, reaching pastors around the globe.

Explosive Growth

New global division aims to meet church needs

Lifeway Global launched in 2015 with a unified strategic vision to take Lifeway to the nations. The division has employees from more than a dozen nations, with offices or representatives in China, India, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, and Guatemala.

“There’s explosive growth in the church internationally, and they don’t have access to the resources they need,” said Craig Featherstone, director of Lifeway Global. “The gap demands a response.”

Pesos and Rupees

In Mexico and India, Lifeway goes local

By 2017, Lifeway established offices in Mexico and India, with catalogs of products priced in local currencies. Lifeway also opened an e-commerce website in India.

“For the first time in the history of LifeWay, we’re launching a transactional dot-com platform in another part of the world,” said Craig Featherstone, director of Lifeway Global.

Lifeway is also publishing content by indigenous authors, who can address the needs of churches and individual believers in their own countries.

Training in China

Church leaders study Lifeway resources

In China, where the government limits Bible distribution, Lifeway and its ministry partners focus on training. Experiencing God and Spiritual Leadership, two titles from LifeWay’s B&H Publishing Group, have been translated into Mandarin. Lifeway has had a formal presence in China since 2012, and LifeWay’s discipleship and church health specialist Claude King has traveled to China to train leaders.

Events for Women Worldwide

Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer draw international acclaim

International events featuring some of LifeWay’s top authors are helping to introduce Lifeway to the rest of the world.

Beth Moore’s popular “Living Proof Live” event for women has been held internationally, and as of 2016, her Bible studies have been translated into 17 languages. Her studies have reached more than 21 million women worldwide.

“Wonderfully Made,” a women’s event with Priscilla Shirer, drew about 12,000 people to Hyderabad Baptist Church in southern India in October 2016.

Events Go Digital

Simulcasts allow people to participate worldwide

In 2003, Lifeway delivered its first simulcast from a Beth Moore event at Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. Simulcasts are global events that allow thousands of people to join simultaneously from anywhere around the world. Churches, military bases, and missionaries from numerous countries participate every year. Since 2003, Lifeway simulcasts have reached more than a million people.

Evangelism Through Technology

Digital resources help Lifeway touch the globe

From simulcasts to digital books, Lifeway has used technology to extend the reach of the gospel to people around the world.

The Sunday School Board’s first digital resources were weekly updates to Sunday school lessons, called Sunday School Extra! They were distributed through SBCNet, a service the Board launched in 1991 on CompuServe/America Online.

By 2017, Lifeway was delivering digital content to more than 150 nations around the world.

Million-Dollar Dream

Cothen’s challenge inspires Bible publishing

In 1975, newly elected president Grady Cothen asked his leadership team: “If you could spend a million dollars on your work, what would you do?” James Clark, head of Broadman Publishing, said he would buy or develop a Bible publishing company. Cothen thought Clark’s dream was worth pursuing.

On April 30, 1979, the Sunday School Board purchased A.J. Holman & Co. of Philadelphia for $2.3 million and moved it to Nashville, where it would become Holman Bible Publishers, an imprint of B&H Publishing Group.

A New Translation

Scholars from 17 denominations contribute to HCSB

In 2004, Lifeway completed an all-new translation of the Bible directly from the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. The 20-year project involved an international team of 100 translators, editors, and biblical scholars representing 17 denominations.

Although there have been numerous revisions of existing translations of Scripture, new Bible translations are a rarity—so rare, in fact, there had been only seven new translations in the past 570 years.

The Holman Christian Standard Bible represented the first major English-language translation of the Bible in more than 30 years.

Sharing the Word

CSB aims to jump-start Bible reading

In 2017, Lifeway launched the Christian Standard Bible, a revision of the HCSB. The translation was designed to be easy to understand yet faithful to the original manuscripts, using the best of modern Bible translation methods.

Independent research from the Global Bible Initiative reported the CSB had the best combination of adherence to the original text and readability for a modern audience.

Former Lifeway President and CEO Thom S. Rainer called the launch of the CSB one of the most significant projects Lifeway has ever undertaken. “I believe it will engage more people in reading and sharing the truth of God’s Word with others,” he said.

Scriptures in Spanish

Biblia del Pescador focuses on evangelism

In 1985, B&H Publishing released its first Spanish Bible, a bilingual edition. In 2013, Lifeway released Biblia del Pescador (Fisher of Men Bible), a Spanish-language Bible focusing on evangelism, discipleship, and ministry. It uses the time-honored Reina-Valera 1960, the most beloved text among Spanish evangelical Christians. This Bible was then translated into Portuguese and English. Today, Lifeway publishes more Spanish Bibles than any other commercial publisher.

Outreach at the Olympics

Lifeway hands out Mandarin Bibles in China

Lifeway formed the Holman Bible Outreach International in 2005 to get low-cost Bibles into the hands of people around the world. By 2008, the new organization had completed a Mandarin-language translation of the New Testament. Chinese scholars worked cooperatively with Holman’s translation team to produce a readable contemporary Chinese Mandarin Bible that also is theologically accurate. Copies of the Gospel of John from the new translation were distributed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

South Asia Partnership

LifeWay, IMB share Scriptures in Hindi

In 2014, Lifeway worked in partnership with the International Mission Board to send more than 200,000 Hindi language Bibles to South Asia. A team from Lifeway participated personally, handing out Bibles while ministering in leprosy communities, walking through slums, and traveling to new areas to share the gospel.

Lifeway customers made the ministry possible by purchasing Bibles for $5 that would then be printed and distributed throughout South Asia in the people’s “heart language.” Lifeway surpassed the original goal of 100,000 and collected enough donations for 200,000 Bibles.

Reaching Brazil

Portuguese Bible opens new market and ministry

Lifeway in partnership with Brazilian publisher BV Books is releasing the BKJ 1611, a new Portuguese translation of the Bible with a traditional focus. This is LifeWay’s first venture into Bible publishing in Brazil, one of the largest Bible markets in the world.