2011 marks the 400th anniversary of the King James Version, a classic Bible that still outsells many of the most contemporary translations.

Recent technological advances are changing how businesses publish the Bible, how people consume the Bible, and how we share the Bible, says John Sawyer, former vice president of Bible marketing at Zondervan and current brand and marketing strategist for Somersault.

Sawyer told attendees of Religion Newswriters Association's conference yesterday that people are reading the Bible without historical context and reading the Bible in isolation as a result of many technological advances.

“Scripture has been packaged for a sound bite culture," Sawyer said. "Readers have lost the narrative arc of the Bible.” Technology is also changing how we share the Bible through tagging, Wiki, widgets, webinars, and other recent shifts on the Web.

Of course, one of the ways the Bible is transmitted is through Twitter's 140 characters. The top tweeted authors include RevRunWisdom, Rick Warren, and John Piper, though Piper's account has been inactive since March, probably due to his leave. Miley Cyrus was the most frequent recipient of Bible tweets (1,200 times), mostly encouraging her to keep her life in order.

Despite the print Bible's popularity, publishers have adjusted their approach towards more Web-based tools. For instance, Biblica is releasing a new Bible that strips away all the footnotes, red letters, chapters, verses, and columns, and rearranges the Bible chronologically (see the video below).

LifeWay (of the Southern Baptist Convention) will release a new Bible called the HSCB Bible and launch MyStudyBible.com in October.

Tyndale was the first publisher to simultaneously release a Bible in print and searchable online versions when it released the NLT Study Bible, Sawyer said.

Zondervan's eBibles represent more than 40 percent of their eBook revenues and sometimes outsell their print Bibles. The company's BibleGateway.com sees over 8 million users per month.

Consumers appear eager to purchase e-readers. The Magazine Publishers of America found that nearly 60 percent of Americans expect to purchase an e-reader or tablet (such as an iPad) in the next three years.

Sawyer also offered the other following data:

--1.6 billion Bibles have been distributed worldwide. More than 700 million Bibles and New Testaments were distributed in the last 10 years. About 80 million copies of the Bible were distributed last year.

--About 90 percent of American households own one or more Bibles, and those who do own Bibles tend to have over three Bibles in their homes.

--Approximately 25 to 26 million Bibles are sold annually. In 2009, Dan Brown's best-selling The Lost Symbol sold 5.5 million copies. The Bible offers $500 million in retail value.

--The latest numbers suggest that at least one book of the Bible has been translated into 2,500 of the 6,900 languages in the world.

--Classic translations still sell pretty well, according to the data. The King James Version and the New International Version account for over half of the Bibles sold in the U.S.

Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at September 24, 2010 4:54PM | Comments (3)

Vernon Grounds, chancellor of Denver Seminary and a prominent founder of the evangelical movement, died on September 12 in Wichita, Kansas. He was 96.

Denver Seminary, where Grounds served for more than 60 years, offers a biography and this tribute:

Considered one of the foremost leaders and thinkers in the founding of the evangelical Christian movement, Dr. Grounds remained central in its development over the past 60 years. He was known for his lifelong commitment to social action, concern and care for the needs of the poor and under-represented, and a mentor to local, regional, national and international leaders. Dr. Grounds will be deeply missed by the seminary family and countless friends around the world who were influenced by his kind words, wise counsel, and godly leadership and example.

Gordon MacDonald, popular Christian author and an alumnus of the seminary, offered this tribute to CT's sister publication, Leadership.

Posted by Jeremy Weber at September 22, 2010 4:47PM | Comments (3)

Regent University has taken issue with the following Gleanings item published in CT’s September issue:

Regent U. struggles to stay afloat
Despite a $95 million booster shot from the Christian Broadcasting Network, Pat Robertson's Regent University is struggling for financial stability. Moody's Investors Service predicts that the Virginia Beach school will "continue to experience deficit operating performance" that will "deplete or, at least hamper, financial resource growth" for the foreseeable future. New Regent president Carlos Campo is more optimistic but admitted to the Chronicle of Higher Education that "some fiscal challenges remain."

The item summarized a June article from the Chronicle of Higher Education, "Regent U. Gets a Bailout From Founder's TV Network, but Moody's Outlook Remains Negative," which in turn summarized the most recent Moody’s Investors Service assessment of Regent’s financial health, Rating Update: Moody’s Affirms Baa2 Rating on Regent University’s Series 2006 Revenue Bonds; Outlook Remains Negative.

Regent president Carlos Campo submitted this response to CT readers:

“We are grateful to have the opportunity to contextualize the recent Chronicle of Higher Education article on Moody's Investors Service credit rating update for Regent University, which Christianity Today republished this week. The article did not fairly represent the university’s financial state, nor a recent shift in endowment fund classification. In fact, Moody’s report clearly reflects the fact that the university has taken appropriate, positive steps to create a sustainable budget model for Regent University’s future. While we, like all universities, have felt the negative effects of the recent economic downturn, the fiscal outlook for Regent University is quite strong overall.”

Campo’s complete response, in which he highlights the financial strengths of Regent, can be found below.

Rusty Leonard, chairman and CEO of Stewardship Partners, offered his take to CT:

“I would agree that the $95 million gift [reclassification from restricted to unrestricted] from CBN means that Regent is no longer struggling to stay afloat. Bankruptcy is not an issue at the moment. It still has operating deficits to contend with, but much progress has already been made here and the [reclassification] greatly aided the balance sheet and gives the university considerable time to take the further corrective actions necessary to bring their finances in better balance. I think it is fair to assume they will find a way to make the needed changes and will be around for many years to come.”

Readers interested in assessing how accurately the Chronicle and CT items summarized the Moody’s report can look at the report themselves.

Campo’s letter in full is after the jump:

Dear CT Readers,

We are grateful to have the opportunity to contextualize the recent Chronicle of Higher Education article on Moody's Investors Service credit rating update for Regent University, which Christianity Today republished this week. The article did not fairly represent the university’s financial state, nor a recent shift in endowment fund classification. In fact, Moody’s report clearly reflects the fact that the university has taken appropriate, positive steps to create a sustainable budget model for Regent University’s future. While we, like all universities, have felt the negative effects of the recent economic downturn, the fiscal outlook for Regent University is quite strong overall.

In particular, we would like to clarify that:

Our ability to deliver outstanding academic programs has not been diminished, and not a single academic program has been eliminated due to budget issues at Regent University.

Moody's Investors Service credit rating was unchanged from their last report; Regent University’s credit rating was not downgraded in any way.

Regent University, after a comprehensive financial and academic review, was awarded reaffirmation of accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) in 2009.

The article failed to mention the following “strengths” (among others) Moody’s report cited for Regent University:

1) "Increases in undergraduate enrollment...are still strong. The University had 3,923 full-time equivalent students in fall 2009, up 7.4 percent from the previous year. Net tuition revenue grew almost 10 percent in fiscal year 2010, aided by growth in undergraduate revenue."

2) "Considerable financial resource base relative to similarly rated peers, with total financial resources of $163 million at the end of FY 2009, or $41,663 per student."

The university would like to affirm that we have not received any kind of a “bailout” from the Christian Broadcasting Network, in fact, the word “bailout” never appears in the original report. Like other Christian colleges and universities, Regent believes that we are truly partnering with God—and many devoted friends, advocates, alums, donors and others—to advance His kingdom through our important educational calling. We take financial stewardship very seriously, and assure CT readers (some of our dearest friends and supporters) that, with God’s grace and favor, we will continue to deliver an outstanding, Christ-centered educational experience for students who are called to excellence and Christian leadership.

Dr. Carlos Campo
President
Regent University

Posted by Jeremy Weber at September 8, 2010 5:06PM

(RNS) A Baptist minister from Oregon who was killed in Afghanistan on August 30 is the first Army chaplain to die in combat since Vietnam, according to the Army.

Capt. Dale Allen Goetz, 43, died in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan's Arghandab River Valley. He had been in Afghanistan less than a month. Four other Fort Carson, Colo., soldiers were also killed in the attack.

Goetz is the 124th service member with strong ties to Oregon to die in Afghanistan or Iraq. But as a chaplain, he was a noncombatant and unarmed.

The more than 400 Army chaplains in Iraq or Afghanistan are military officers. Their job is to reach soldiers on the battlefield, to provide religious support and to perform services or rites, said Lt. Col.
Carleton Birch, a spokesman for the Army Chief of Chaplains.

An armed chaplain's assistant travels with each. The first assistant to die in the wars was killed in Afghanistan last month, Birch said.

Goetz attended Maranatha Baptist Bible College in Watertown, Wis. He completed his Master of Divinity degree in 2000 at Central Baptist Theological Seminary, an independent Baptist seminary in Minnesota. He was pastor of a church in White, S.D., until he joined the Army and began his work toward chaplaincy in 2000.

He served with the infantry at Fort Lewis, Wash., then three years in Okinawa, Japan, until he was transferred to Colorado in January. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Carson. He served 11 months in Iraq in 2004-05.

Survivors include his wife and three children ages 10, 8, and 1. Funeral services are planned in Colorado Springs, Colo., with burial at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the seminary Goetz attended. He completed his Master of Divinity degree at Central Baptist Theological Seminary, an independent Baptist seminary in Minnesota.

Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at September 2, 2010 4:18PM | Comments (10)

At least 50 children were sexually and physically abused at a boarding school in Senegal, Africa, in the 1980s, according to a new report.

The report estimates that 22 to 27 children whose parents were missionaries for Florida-based New Tribes Mission were sexually abused while 35 were physically and emotionally abused.

New Tribes had retained Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE) to conduct the study and acknowledged that there was abuse. The report says children were not allowed to complain about the school's conditions.

"They were repeatedly told by those in authority at Fanda that such complaints would hinder their parents' work and result in Africans going to hell," the report said. "In some cases, their letters were censored of all bad news in the name of the Lord's work. The authority of Fanda dorm parents over the children was allowed to trump that even of the parents in their children's lives."

The GRACE report said "no documented efforts were taken to notify local or US authorities regarding criminal actions found in the study."

New Tribes spokeswoman Nita Zelenak said that no one was charged criminally for the allegations. “Because these abuses happened overseas, when we reported them in the United States, we were told that they couldn’t be prosecuted in the U.S.,” she told CT.

She said that New Tribes employees would report the names of offenders and would describe what happened. “In each case, it was explained that because it happened overseas, they could not act on it,” she said.

Some of the alleged abusers named in the GRACE report are still with New Tribes, Zelenak said, noting that the report mentioned new names the organization was not aware of.

New Tribes issued a statement on its website, stating it began implementing recommendations made by GRACE in its report.

GRACE recommended that New Tribes establish a standing fund of $1 million for victims.
It recommends that the organization terminate membership for those still affiliated with New Tribes.

Zelenak said that New Tribes has not paid damages to any children related to the abuse allegations but she said the organization has paid for counseling and other expenses.

"We are deeply saddened by the extent of the abuse reported by GRACE," New Tribes said in a statement. "Individuals in our organization abused children. People in leadership at the time were culpable through inadequate screening and training, creating an atmosphere of legalism and autocracy, and not addressing the abuse properly. This means that we as an organization are responsible and have sinned against these students."

Scott Moreau, professor of missions at Wheaton College, says that on one hand, when this comes up in missions, "it makes a huge splash."

"On the other, it feels to me like it comes up roughly once a decade or so, so it's not 'common' considering how many agencies and missionaries there are around the world," he said. "As expected, it is devastating to the individuals, the organizations, and even the accused."

The Orlando Sentinel first reported the story today.

Earlier this year, Wess Stafford, president of Compassion International, wrote of his childhood abuse in a West Africa boarding school and CT has covered earlier allegations.

Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at September 2, 2010 11:36AM | Comments (51)