By Jay R. Akkerman

With unemployment rising sharply and national budget deficits ballooning to their worst level since the Great Depression, many feared the country’s looming economic calamity. While this scenario seems fresh from today’s headlines, the setting was actually in 1982. And the futurist who thumbed his nose at pundits was John Naisbitt, author of the bestselling Megatrends, a business and leadership classic that was hailed for more than two decades as a roadmap into the 21st century. Naisbitt won acclaim for anticipating 10 far-reaching business and cultural trends. Today’s Christian leaders face new challenges in a world marked by economic, technological, and cultural changes. A growing number of women and men are responding to God’s leading with an eye to the future. But many who would have once been seminary-bound now find it increasingly difficult to pull up stakes.

Other more seasoned Christian leaders are also looking for new handles to strengthen their ministries in churches and communities that have morphed seemingly before their very eyes. What educational options are available for leaders who have no sense of release from their current ministry settings?

New learning models
When residential programs are impossible or the cost of travel, lodging, and time away from home and work make modular programs difficult, what learning models are available to burgeoning and established Christian leaders? In growing numbers today, online education is proving to be a helpful way for men and women to respond to God’s call and to engage their ministries in meaningful mission. Many today are surprised by the advantages of online education, which has evolved greatly from unaccredited correspondence courses to much more academically robust degree programs offered by accredited educational institutions. For many students today, online is “Face Time 2.0.” Prior to joining the faculty at Northwest Nazarene, I served for many years as lead pastor and staff member in several dynamic congregations. My ministry in these settings had been shaped in no small way by classroom educators at the college and seminary level who invested themselves in me personally. In 2002 while still in the pastorate, I was asked by NNU to teach a spiritual formation course as an online graduate adjunct.

To be honest, my knee-jerk reaction to the proposal was less than enthusiastic. Initially, online education seemed somehow less personal to me. It took me outside the comfort zone of the classroom encounters I had known as a student and into other venues where I had served as an instructor. Community is still important; I soon discovered two important lessons: first, I was not alone; and second, I was wrong about my perceptions. Like me, all of the adult students in my first course were also new to online education. As a theological educator with experience in both the classroom and online, I have found community to be an important megatrend for those in our fully online Master of Divinity and Master of Arts programs. While individualized correspondence courses are abundant on the Internet, NNU has made a commitment to ground student learning in a relational model: students progress through their programs together, one course at a time. Thriving as colleagues in their learning communities, my students are neither lone rangers nor competitors vying against each other in the classroom.  NNU’s learning communities model a formula Naisbitt called “high tech/high touch.” The author observed in Megatrends: “Whenever new technology is introduced into society, there must be a counter balancing human response — that is, high touch — or the technology is rejected. The more high tech, the more high touch.” In my experience, students in our online learning communities experience as much — and possibly even more — community as students in traditional residential-based seminaries. Given that so many seminaries must now offer block classes a day or two a week to accommodate busy student schedules, these traditional campuses often become commuter islands with little time available for the development of meaningful community between students and faculty. But consider three examples as alternatives:

Keegan is a gifted youth pastor in a large California megachurch. Shortly after entering our program, he and his wife were devastated when their infant son was diagnosed with cancer. “I began asking myself, ‘Can I continue on with this degree while dealing with the hospital and trying to work full-time?’ NNU’s staff and faculty were highly supportive, constantly sending me emails saying, ‘Our team lifted you up in prayer today.’ There was a lot of grace shown to me which enabled me to continue on in the program and finish on time.”

Despite the fact that Simon serves in ministry in Bangalore, India on the opposite side of the globe from most of his professors and fellow students, the asynchronous design of our programs enabled him to log in and participate in course-related dialogue at the time of day that fit his schedule.

Lane was seemingly in the latter chapters of his ministry when he entered our fully online program. He now reflects on how his online course work compressed the gap between theory and practice, noting that “the opportunity for fleshing out what I had learned was exciting.”

Today, I am continually reminded that my online students are so much more than mere words or even an image on my computer screen.

Dr. Jay Richard Akkerman is associate professor of preaching and missional theology at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, ID, where he also directs the university’s graduate theological online education programs.  www.nnu.edu/online

By Ronald E. Keener

Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion, IN, was formed last year from the former Indiana Wesleyan University — College of Graduate Studies in Ministry and has 250 students pursuing programs, including the Master’s Degree in Divinity. [ www.wesley.indwes.edu ] Like many graduate schools and seminaries, online education is a focal point for Wesley Seminary. Church Executive talked about how Wesley uses the online and social media revolution with Nathan Lamb, director of Admissions and Recruitment, for Wesley Seminary, himself in the class of 2013.

What are the trends in online education that enable pastors and business administrators to gain a graduate degree today?

The advances in online learning technology over the past few years have really closed the potential communication gap between classroom and online learning. Many seminaries are taking steps to begin offering at least a portion of a graduate degree online. The programs at Wesley Seminary were designed from the beginning to be offered in a flexible, primarily online format. We have pastors from all across the country and missionaries from around the world in our seminary, creating an educational environment that wouldn’t be possible at a more traditional seminary.

The trend in theological education is certainly moving toward more accessible degrees. Some seminaries have responded to this trend by creating shorter, more focused degrees as an alternative to the three-to-four year traditional M.Div. Other seminaries also have re-imagined the M.Div. to make it work for today’s pastors and leaders. For example, we have a two-year Master of Arts in Ministerial Leadership degree that has been an excellent option for leaders who don’t want, or need, an M.Div.

Do you have students who come from the business world?

One of our recent M.Div. students is an executive pastor at a large church in the Indianapolis area. He comes from the business world where he was the founder of a large company and was called to bring his administrative and entrepreneurial gifts to his local church. He joined our seminary to get seminary training with a practical application to his context. We also have a significant number of church planters in our program, several of who feel called to, and have the gifts and graces to, grow their congregations into large churches.

What is unique about the way Wesley takes its degree programs to the student?

Both our M.Div. and Master of Arts degrees are designed from the ground up as “in ministry” degrees. By offering degrees in primarily online formats, students from around the world can come together and benefit from each other’s unique ministry context. These students begin their program together and move through the sequence of courses as a group, which leads to a strong sense of community despite the geographical separation.

I understand that Wesley was created for the very purpose of empowering the local pastor to change the world. How does that play out in real life?

Students are trained to think critically and strategically about their personal mission as well as the mission of their local ministry. Typically pastors are well-trained in theology, scripture, etc., but are not equipped to actually put this training into practice. We focus on practical application so that students learn to carry what is in their hearts and heads into the world to make a difference for the Kingdom. Our students are already world changers, we simply help them to be more effective.

Social media and online education are changing every six months. Are there ways in which the seminary is working to keep apace and utilize these technologies?

We engage students at each stage of the admissions and enrollment process through Twitter (@WesleySeminary), Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, etc. One of the potential challenges that we face with our online programs is staying connected to students outside of the classroom. Social media certainly aids in that connection.

By Stan Jantz

On a recent Sunday morning at my church, I saw the future of content and publishing in the face of a woman named Laurie, one of the members of the adult Bible study I teach. At the end of our class time on this particular Sunday, Laurie approached me with her latest purchase, a sleek new Kindle 2, the popular electronic book reading device produced by Amazon.

Laurie’s face was glowing as she proceeded to give me a quick demonstration, explaining several of Kindle’s amazing features. Before I could utter a “gee whiz,” she went on to show me her iPhone, complete with the Kindle application that allows her to sync content between the two devices.

In less than five minutes, in the face of a woman named Laurie, I saw the future of content and publishing. It’s a future too that pastors with a “book in their head” had better heed.

The content revolution

As someone who ministers in a church, you have also seen the future of content. If you spend time communicating in front of an audience — whether it’s a congregation, a class or a small group — you are accustomed to seeing people use their mobile phones, iPods and Kindles right in front of you, often accessing information almost as fast as you can give it.

For most of the last 550 years — since the invention of the printing press — people have accessed content primarily by reading books, newspapers and magazines. In the last century, with the advent of motion pictures and broadcast media, people have also been able to access audio and visual content, but for real information — the kind you can trust — nothing has replaced the printed page.
Until now.

While traditional print publishing is still a behemoth — total book sales are projected to be just over $35 billion this year — the industry is declining in a way that will only accelerate in the coming years. The book may not be dead, but it’s now competing with other delivery formats that are changing the way we access and interact with content.

Whether it’s the woman in my Bible study gushing about her Kindle, or your high school kid texting messages faster than you can think, the evidence is all around us. There’s no question we are in the middle of a content revolution. And it’s affecting the pastor who wants to “get into print” with his idea of a book.

Driving the revolution

There are at least three factors driving this revolution. First, there’s technology — with the development of the Internet and the related software and hardware.

Second, there’s changing demographics — the millennials or Generation Y who have absolutely no loyalties to the printed page. If anything, they won’t even touch a book until they have first sampled the content electronically. Most wouldn’t be caught dead holding a newspaper.

The third factor driving the content revolution is social media. This fairly recent phenomenon is embodied by such Internet-enabled content vehicles as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn, not to mention the ubiquitous blog.

John Blossom, author of the book Content Nation, estimates there are now more than 100 million people around the world who use social media to influence others. “It’s not just that people are using social media more and more,” he writes. “It’s also that they’re generating more and more content that begins to challenge traditional publishers to get people’s attention.”

You can’t get rid of print because there will always be people who prefer the tactile nature of ink on paper. But you also can’t ignore new media, especially if you’re interested in reaching just about anybody under the age of 40. And that’s every church in the country.

Now you can publish

If you have ever aspired to write a book, you undoubtedly dream of someday seeing your book in print. Yet the costs of publishing a book in the traditional way — including editing, design, printing and distribution — make it almost cost-prohibitive. The only reason a publisher would be willing to take a chance on your book idea, no matter how compelling it seems, is if the publisher is reasonably certain your book will sell tens of thousands of copies in the first year. Short of that assurance, it’s unlikely that you will ever be published in the traditional sense.

Publishing has always been a tough, discouraging business for aspiring authors, mainly because the business model has been the same for hundreds of years. Thankfully, that model is breaking down, due to the three factors I’ve already mentioned. But there’s a fourth factor.

The fourth factor in the content revolution is Print on Demand (sometimes known as Publishing on Demand) or POD technology. As compared to “offset” printing, where the unit price of a book is determined by the number of copies printed, POD technology enables a publisher — which could be a company, a church or an individual — to print books only when an order is placed (thus the term, “on demand”).

The scalable economics of POD are achieved through technology that has been developed in just the last few years. The largest POD company in the world is Lightning Source Industries (LSI), located in Nashville, TN. Through a sophisticated data management system, combined with state-of-the-art print technology, LSI can produce a single copy of a book from digital file to completion in a single day. And the cost of printing one copy of an average-size book is less than five dollars.

Companies to check out

Companies like Xulon Press, an established company that helps authors self-publish, and Conversant Media Group, a new media publishing company linked to the content and social media Web site www.ConversantLife.com, are employing POD technology to help aspiring authors produce books for a limited audience.

For example Conversant recently partnered with media expert Phil Cooke to produce his latest book, The Last TV Evangelist. In just three months Conversant produced his book for a fraction of what it would have cost a traditional publisher. Cooke promotes the book on his Web site, and whenever he speaks he orders as many books as he needs for that occasion.

You don’t need thousands of people to buy your book to make it a success. Your circle of influence and the way you connect with people in your personal network can create a valuable and willing market for your best ideas, especially if you link your book to a personal Web site or a larger media site like www.ConversantLife.com.

I’ve seen the future of content, and so have you. It’s vertical and accessible and instant, and like all content informed by the truth of God and His word, it has the potential to change lives in ways that were unthinkable just a few years ago. CE

Stan Jantz is the co-founder of Conversant Media Group, Huntington Beach, CA. He has co-written, with Bruce Bickel, more than 50 books, including the popular Christianity 101 series for Harvest House Publishers. [www.conversantmediagroup.com]

• Conversant Media Group (www.conversantmediagroup.com)
• Xulon Press (www.xulonpress.com)
• Lightning Source Industries (www.lightningsource.com)
• WinePress Publishing (www.winepresspub.com)

By Ronald E. Keener

Cecil Murphey is known as “The Man Behind the Words” in his role as the author or co-author of 112 books, including the New York Times bestseller 90 Minutes in Heaven (with Don Piper), on that list since October 2006. His books have sold millions and have given hope and encouragement to readers around the world.

In May he was given the 2009 Extraordinary Service Award, which is a prestigious honor of the American Society of Journalists and Authors.  Murphey lives in Tucker, GA, with his wife, Shirley. [www.themanbehindthewords.com]

For pastors and others who might turn their hand to writing and getting published a book, article or curriculum, Church Executive asked Murphey a few questions:

What is the place where you do your best writing?

I have a home office. I don’t write anywhere else and I write five days a week. When I was a pastor and began my writing career, I came to the church office at least an hour before my secretary, turned off the phones and wrote. Throughout the day, I thought and edited material inside my head. The next morning as soon as I sat at my desk, I was primed to write.

How do you pull together the research you do on the books?

Because much of my career has been writing for other people, I tape every interview I conduct and have someone transcribe it for me. As much as possible, I put my research on my hard drive. I keep a file folder handy for anything I don’t have on my hard drive. I also try to read widely on a topic before I begin to write. I don’t want to duplicate what’s out there.

I recently finished a book on male sexual abuse. I used 12 books for resource and eight downloaded articles from Web sites. I carefully document everything.

How do you decide on getting started?

I get an idea for a book or article and I play around with it inside my head until the material seeps or explodes. I continue to play around with it until I have the opening sentence/paragraph clearly in my mind. I might edit that several times, but it tells me where I want to start and assures me that I’m ready to write.

For an article I do a rough outline. I write a full synopsis for a book. For books, the writing may change once I get into writing. That is, I may delete or shorten a chapter or I may decide to add material I hadn’t known of or previously thought about.

Does research come easy for you?

I do all my own research. In doing the research I learn and my final product is much richer. It often takes me in new directions in my thinking.

What cautions would you give first time pastor-authors?

Get rid of the preachy tone. It took me a long time to understand what that meant. Aim for a conversational style, a sharing, an attitude of “We” instead of “You.” In sermons, redundancy enriches listeners; in print, it bores readers.
What encouragements would you give?

Learn the principles of good writing. Take courses, read books, join or form an editing group. Get the guidelines (on the Internet) for any publishers to whom you want to submit and follow them closely.

What would you advise a pastor who remains in his pastorate while pursuing a writing side career?

That sounds wonderful for me. I was a pastor for 14 years and for 13 of those I wrote on the side. I wrote a weekly column for a throwaway weekly paper and tried to write at least two articles a month for magazines. During the 14th year, I had to decide if I was a preacher who wrote or a writer who preached.

Every church has stories of cancer among its members. “Cec” Murphey’s wife Shirley had it too 10 years ago, and he’s written a book for caregivers (pictured on opposite page) after finding out that little  exists for family and friends who wish to be helpful. Murphey’s reflections:

“In the days after the diagnosis and before her surgery, I went to a local bookstore and to the public library. I found dozens of accounts, usually by women, about their battle and survival. I pushed aside the novels that ended in a person’s death. A few books contained medical or technical information.

“I searched online and garnered useful information — but I found nothing that spoke to me on how to cope with the possible loss of the person I loved most in this world. I remember my pain and confusion during those days. That concerns me enough to reach out to others who also feel helpless as they watch a loved one face the serious diagnosis of cancer.

“That’s why I wrote When Someone You Love Has Cancer.” [Harvest House, 2009]

By Ronald E. Keener

Michael Leahy knows of what he speaks. He was addicted to pornography. On the first page of his introduction of his latest book, Porn @ Work: Exposing the Office’s #1 Addiction (Northfield Publishing, 2009), he notes that “70 percent of all online porn access occurs during the nine-five workday.”

Churches and pastors and Christians aren’t immune from porn. Steve Siler, director of Music for the Soul, a Nashville-based ministry, has released “Somebody’s Daughter: A Journey to Freedom from Pornography” in a DVD/CD multimedia compilation featuring a TV documentary detailing the lives of three men and one couple active in Christian ministry who struggled with and overcame addiction to pornography.

Church Executive asked Leahy to respond to some questions about porn and its pervasiveness even in the offices of pastors and church staff:

Can you cite evidence about the prevalence of porn being accessed by pastors?

The most commonly cited evidence came from an informal poll taken on pastors.com that cited somewhere around 40 percent of pastors surveyed responded that they had viewed Internet porn within the past couple of months. Based on my own personal experience talking with pastors and church leaders, it’s becoming a major problem thanks to the availability, affordability and anonymity of Internet porn.

Is prayer or self-control important in avoiding porn?

It’s an important part of an overall strategy for recovery, but I have yet to meet anyone in my past 10 years of recovery from sexual addiction who’s been “delivered” from this addiction simply on the basis of prayer alone. There’s always an aspect of repentance associated with being set free from this addiction or habitual sexual sin. Prayer coming from someone without a truly repentant heart is rarely effective.

How should pastors counsel church members using porn?

“Flee sexual immorality,” plain and simple. Turn and run. For those members who they suspect might be addicted, they should definitely refer them to a certified Christian counselor who has at least a 40 percent caseload of patients with sexual addiction. I’ve heard too many stories of people getting bad counsel from pastors and counselors who aren’t familiar with the unique challenges associated with this disease of the heart.

While there are individual success stories about overcoming porn, what hope can we have for eliminating porn in our culture?

Practically no hope. Pornography and sexual sin has been around since long before the time of Jesus. So while I believe it’s hopeless to imagine a world free of porn, there is hope for those Christ followers who have the courage and determination to resist sexual temptation.

How do you counsel people who say they can walk away from porn?

Usually people who say they can just walk away from porn whenever they want to are deeply involved with the material and have no intention of giving up their habit. In other words, they’ve never really tried to give it up. To them, I just say “good luck” and tell them that more than likely we’ll be talking again some day, perhaps after they’ve lost everything and want to get well.

What are the three major trends you say are converging to create a high-risk work environment?

Our hypersexual media, emerging and enabling technologies, and the pervasive sociosexual pathologies are all coming together to create a kind of “perfect storm” where disorders like sexual addiction are flourishing, both at home and in the workplace. It’s something we need to be talking about as a society; how we’re all becoming enablers of this cancer that’s spreading across our land.

How does a man approach his wife about being addicted to porn — and still keep his marriage intact?

Very carefully. This is a perfect example of where the benefits of an experienced, professional Christian counselor are invaluable. There’s definitely a right way and a wrong way to break the news to your spouse. Just unloading all your “stuff” at once so you feel better is a good example of what not to do.

Briefly, how does one recognize a sex addict at work?

It’s not easy, but there are definitely tell-tale signs that a person looking for such a thing will notice. I coach leaders and HR professionals as well as pastors to pay particular attention to an individual’s inappropriate sharing of their sexual beliefs. That’s a lot harder to pick up on in a church setting as compared to a secular business, where such sexual small talk may be more acceptable. But in both environs, there’s always a combination of symptoms that will show up as declining work performance, habitual lateness, missed meetings, large blocks of unaccounted for time, increased irritability, and the like.

What should a church do to counsel or help men overcome the porn problem?

To begin with they need to realize that it’s not just a problem that guys have. Women make up more than 40 percent of all new admissions to in-residence sexual addiction recovery programs. Of the 40 million daily visitors to pornographic Web sites, a third are women.

To offer real help, churches need to work at becoming a “safe place” for men and women to come forward and seek out help and resources. This doesn’t necessarily mean that every church should have a recovery group program or even have a counselor on staff. But they should know what churches in the area do have those resources, and they should be willing to refer their people and church attenders to those programs and individuals.

As for sermons that reach the whole church, we’ve had a lot of success by using an interview format where the pastor and I sit down together on stage before the congregation and he prompts me through the sharing of my story and the hope and help I found in Christ. We’ve used a similar style of casual but rehearsed conversation in our BraveHearts Men’s Conferences as a way to share the power of story.

Last January 10 churches in the Atlanta area promoted this one night conference as a father-son event, and we were all amazed as we noticed that among the 1,200 who attended, the group was pretty evenly split between men and boys. Several of the pastors later confided in me that while they were excited so many teens showed up, their strategy was to use this approach to reach the men who they knew needed to hear my message the most — and it worked marvelously.

How does porn change or confirm a man’s view of women?

It typically influences a man’s view of women (and a woman’s view of men) starting at a very early age — typically 12 or 13 for boys and 16 and over for girls — as they’re exposed to porn for the first time. When kids are exposed to porn they’re also exposed to a belief system that is highly sexualized and objectifying of both women and men. It’s definitely not the picture of relationships and healthy sexuality that one sees in God’s Word.

Do churches have any legal liability that comes from porn on their computers?

Absolutely, and that’s something the pastors I talk with seem to be unaware or unconcerned about: The risk of costly litigation due to claims of sexual harassment and/or harboring a hostile workplace environment. I think we’ve all seen how costly sexual sin can be when it hits the courtroom as we’ve watched the Catholic church grapple with a long history of pedophile priests. Even though they were and are an extremely small minority, its cost the church far more than the hundreds of millions of dollars we read about in the headlines. Its eroding the confidence and support of the faithful.

What do you mean in your last chapter: “Tackling the problem of sexual misbehavior at work is really about restoring respect for the individual.”

Those who willfully consume porn and commit sexual sins lack respect for themselves and others. They denigrate God and our very humanity through their disrespect and selfish consumption of that which doesn’t belong to them — the sexual essence of another. These are lessons we can start teaching our kids at a very young age.

What are we missing in this whole topic that you’d want to share?

Pornography and the issue of sexual sin is just a small part of a much larger issue, that of an enemy hell bent on doing whatever it takes to try to defraud God of the glory he deserves. While this area of sexual sin is unquestionably the biggest factor keeping men on the sidelines and out of the game God intended them to shine in, overcoming such lifelong sin habits can also equip our spiritual leaders with one of the most powerful personal testimonies a man can have. The sooner the church recognizes that fact and becomes a “safe place” for those who see their sin condition and want to get well, the sooner we’ll be able to turn the tide on this epidemic of sexual sin in the church.

PUSHING PORN AWAY
www.BraveHearts.net
www.SomebodysDaughter.org
www.MusicfortheSoul.org
www.NationalCoalition.org

Tyndale House Publishing has up to 30 percent of its business in the production and distribution of Bibles, in addition to its fiction and nonfiction books. The NLT Study Bible is now available after some nine years in its writing and researching. President Mark Taylor was asked by Church Executive about the newest study bible and about the many Bible translations on the market.

Why are there so many bible translations? What is the strategy of a publisher like Tyndale to do so many translations and formats?

There are a number of factors that drive the creation of English Bible translations. The most basic motive for developing a new translation is the concern that a large audience is not adequately served by existing translations. There are numerous translations available, but as time passes, older texts become more difficult to understand. In some cases, translations that use difficult technical language fail to communicate meaning to normal readers. As a result, revisions and new translations are made to ensure that people will be able to read God’s word for themselves.

Any other considerations for a Bible translation?

Other factors may involve the desire to preserve aspects of language or structure from the original Greek and Hebrew texts that other translations don’t preserve. Sometimes a denomination or scholars with a particular theological perspective might drive the creation of translation that they consider trustworthy.

But wouldn’t a single translation better advance the faith?

Some people wish we could have just one English translation so all Christians would have a common text to talk about. But since we have so many translations in English, there’s not much point wishing for this. It would be wiser to be thankful for the many excellent English Bible translations available to us, all with different strengths. By comparing multiple translations on any passage, we can get a window into many different facets of form and meaning that exist in the originals. No single translation can reflect all such facets in their entirety.

How is the NLT Study Bible an improvement? What niche does it fill?

The NLT Study Bible sets a new standard for clarity of explanation, faithfulness to the original text of Scripture, theological even-handedness, and focus on the message of the Bible text in its original historical context. Most study Bibles fall short in one or more of these dimensions. The NLT Study Bible is designed to meet the Bible study needs of the majority of contemporary readers and provide a complete biblical education in one volume. The feedback we have received to date is that we have exceeded the public’s expectations in fulfilling these goals.

Do I understand correctly that there had been an NLT translation for years, and the new part has been adding the study notes to that translation?

An edition of the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, has been available since 1996. Since many readers have struggled to understand the Bible, the goal was to produce a Bible text in natural English that conveyed the content of the original language texts with accuracy and clarity. The first edition was published in 1996 and many formats of this text were typeset.

The NLT quickly became a popular translation, and the translation committee decided that an additional investment in scholarly review could improve it, so a further process of refinement was undertaken. The resulting second edition was completed in 2004 and was again typeset in many different formats. Beginning in 2000, Tyndale House began the process of creating the content for the NLT Study Bible. The goal was to create features that would communicate the historical, geographical, and literary background for the Scriptures. These study features have been placed alongside the NLT text in the NLT Study Bible in order to deepen the understanding of any Bible reader. The NLT Study Bible is now the flagship for a whole armada of NLT Bibles.

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What gives longevity to a bible translation? Does a translation in anyway follow the cultural and social context of a nation?

The more contemporary and colloquial the language of a Bible translation, the more quickly it will become dated. Dynamic paraphrases (e.g., The Living Bible, The Message) will be the first to face this reality. The NLT, though contemporary, uses standard (instead of colloquial) English, which should give it a much longer life. The culture for which a translation is written should never change the message of a translation, though it is likely to affect the language that is used to convey that message.

The message of the original texts should not change. But the language used to convey that message must change to some degree from generation to generation in order to convey that message accurately. One example of this relates to gender-related language. In times past, masculine pronouns were used in common English to refer to humanity generally, including both males and females. Thus, masculine pronouns and nouns could be used inclusively with the expectation that readers would understand that both men and women were included. However, contemporary school texts and news writing tend to be more particular about gender terms, using masculine for masculine, feminine for feminine and general terms when both are to be included.

This changes the expectations of readers when they come to the Bible text. When contemporary readers hear the apostle Paul address the believers as “brothers,” the readers might assume he is addressing a group of men only. In many cases, however, Paul was clearly addressing both men and women, so in such cases the NLT renders this underlying Greek as “brothers and sisters” to ensure that the proper meaning is conveyed in English. Thus, the message of a contemporary translation doesn’t change. However, at times the way we convey the message needs to be altered due to the changing limitations of our readers’ use of language.

What is the company doing to appeal to young people in the design and distribution of Bibles?

Tyndale has always been a pioneer when it comes to making the Bible accessible to a younger audience. The Way, first published in 1972, was the first Bible that had photographs of people and was specifically targeted at a younger audience. That heartbeat has continued in the Bibles we produce today and the partners we find to help ensure that we are putting out the highest possible quality. In the past year Tyndale launched a new teen Bible, LIVE, in cooperation with Group Publishing. It is specifically designed to get teens to engage with the Scriptures, to participate, not just look for facts. We also create new covers which will appeal to teens, and we work to understand where teen culture is and where it’s going.

____________________________________________________________

ClearlyU Bible lets kids choose  their own Bible design

Zonderkidz, the children’s division of Zondervan, has announced the brand new ClearlyU Bible for kids. This new compact Bible with a fun and durable see-through cover material encourages kids ages 9-12 to express their faith and personality with their choice of cover inserts. Each compact Bible includes four inserts.

The ClearlyU Bible features the full text of the bestselling NIV translation and comes in clear, green and pink sparkle covers. Kids can also visit ClearlyUBible.com to print out additional inserts or to download a template and create their own unique design.

“Today’s product trends are all about personalization, so we’re taking that same idea to get kids excited about God’s word with the NIV ClearlyU Bibles,” says Alicia Mey, vice president of marketing for Zonderkidz. “Kids will be able to add photos, stickers, and their own designs in their favorite colors to the see-through covers.”