Back to the Bible
Encyclopedia
Back to the Bible is an international Christian ministry
Christian ministry
In Christianity, ministry is an activity carried out by Christians to express or spread their faith. 2003's Encyclopedia of Christianity defines it as "carrying forth Christ's mission in the world", indicating that it is "conferred on each Christian in baptism." It is performed by all Christians...
based in Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln, Nebraska
The City of Lincoln is the capital and the second-most populous city of the US state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln's 2010 Census population was 258,379....
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, using radio, the internet, television, and other media. Back to the Bible is non-denominational and describes itself as "sharing the Gospel message and helping Christians grow to spiritual maturity through Bible teaching and engagement ... dedicated to leading people into a dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ".
History
Begun in 1939 by Theodore H. Epp on radio station KFOR (AM)KFOR (AM)
KFOR is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format. Licensed to Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, the station serves the Lincoln area...
in Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln, Nebraska
The City of Lincoln is the capital and the second-most populous city of the US state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln's 2010 Census population was 258,379....
, Back to the Bible expanded by supporting missionaries
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
and broadcasting via shortwave radio to other countries. In 1954, the organization's first international Bible teaching ministry office opened in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. By the time of Epp's retirement in 1981, the Back to the Bible program was syndicated as a daily 30-minute broadcast on more than 800 radio stations worldwide.
Under Epp's direction, the broadcasts were also noted for music by the Back to the Bible Choir and quartet. Several popular phonograph recordings
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
were made by the choir in the 1940s and 1950s. Back to the Bible also had a weekly youth program on Saturdays, featuring a youth choir and serialized
Serial (radio and television)
Serials are series of television programs and radio programs that rely on a continuing plot that unfolds in a sequential episode by episode fashion. Serials typically follow main story arcs that span entire television seasons or even the full run of the series, which distinguishes them from...
adventures with a Christian theme, such as the Danny Orlis series
Danny Orlis Series
Danny Orlis is a Christian fiction series for youth by American author Bernard Palmer and published predominantly by Moody Press of Chicago. Created in 1954, for many years the series was a regular feature on the weekly Back to the Bible radio broadcasts for youth in the 1950s–1980s...
written by Bernard Palmer
Bernard Palmer
Bernard Alvin Palmer was the originator and author of over 165 books for Christian youth, as well as several books for adults. He created series such as the Danny Orlis series, Felicia Cartright series, and the Pioneer Girls series which he co-authored with his wife Marjorie...
. Both the music segments and youth program were discontinued in the 1980s. Warren W. Wiersbe
Warren W. Wiersbe
Warren Wendel Wiersbe is an American pastor, Bible teacher, conference speaker and a prolific writer of Christian literature and theological works. Born on May 16, 1929 in East Chicago, Indiana, Wiersbe is perhaps best known for his series of 50 books in the "BE" series: Be Real, Be Rich, Be...
, former pastor of Moody Church
Moody Church
The Moody Church is a historic Protestant church in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. right|thumb|270px|-Building:...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, served as leader of the Lincoln-based ministry between 1984–1989.
Currently
Woodrow M. Kroll
Woodrow Michael Kroll is the president and Bible teacher for the international Back to the Bible radio and television ministry. He is a former president of Davis College in Johnson City, New York, United States...
succeeded Wiersbe as the current president of Back to the Bible, inaugurated in 1990 as the third person to hold that office. Kroll serves as principal speaker on the ministry's daily worldwide broadcast on radio and television, which has grown to a listenership of millions around the world. Currently the ministry has offices in eleven different countries and broadcasts in twenty-five different languages. Back to the Bible now uses television as well as radio, broadcasting on the Inspirational Life Television (i-Lifetv
The Inspiration Networks
The Inspiration Networks, is a group of networks and related entities. The parent company is Inspiration Ministries, an international ministry and inspirational media company, based in Indian Land, South Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte....
) cable network in the U.S. along with video streaming of its daily program on the internet at the ministry's website. Beginning in 2008, recording of the daily program in front of a live audience began at the ministry's Lincoln studios.
In addition to its radio and television program, Back to the Bible offers numerous publications, both print and online, about the Bible and daily Christian living. Back to the Bible holds an annual conference at Willowbank Resort in Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
for interested radio listeners, where programs are recorded for future broadcasts. Woodrow Kroll has traveled in ministry to over 100 countries and also leads tours annually to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
Back to the Bible locations
- AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
- BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
- CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
- EcuadorEcuadorEcuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
- EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
- IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
- IndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
- JamaicaJamaicaJamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
- JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
- PhilippinesPhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
- PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
- Sri LankaSri LankaSri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...