Today, we want to take the opportunity to spotlight a ministry that we have grown particularly fond of. Some of you may be familiar with this ministry, while this will be an introduction to many others. The name of this ministry is Thru the Bible Radio with J. Vernon McGee. In our look at this ministry, we want to present you with a short biography of Dr. McGee and an overview of this radio ministry, which he affectionately called "the Bible Bus."
Dr. J. Vernon McGee
Early Years and Education
He was born in Hillsboro, Texas. He graduated with his B.Div. from Columbia Theological Seminary and his Th.M. and Th.D. from Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas. He served Presbyterian churches in Decatur, Georgia; Nashville, Tennessee; and Cleburne, Texas before he moved with his wife to Pasadena, California, where he accepted a position at the Lincoln Avenue Presbyterian Church.
He moved from Pasadena to Los Angeles and became the pastor of the Church of the Open Door in 1949, where he continued as pastor until 1970. McGee also served as the chair of the Bible department at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (currently Biola University) and as a visiting lecturer at Dallas Theological Seminary.
Thru The Bible
In 1967, he began the Thru the Bible Radio Network program. In a systematic study of each book of the Bible, Dr. McGee took his listeners from Genesis to Revelation in a two and one-half year "Bible bus trip," as he called it. After retiring from the pastorate in January, 1970, and realizing that two and a half years was not enough time to teach the Bible, McGee completed another study of the entire Bible in a five year period.
Death
Dr. McGee continued many speaking engagements after he retired, refusing to be slowed by a bout of cancer from which he fully recovered. However, a heart problem surgically corrected in 1965 resurfaced, and he died in his sleep in 1988. After his death, the five-year program of Thru the Bible continues to air on over 400 radio stations in North America, and is heard in more than 100 languages and is broadcast worldwide via radio, shortwave, and the internet.
J. Vernon McGee. (2009, September 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 04:33, October 8, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=J._Vernon_McGee&oldid=316781089
About Thru the Bible Radio
Dr. J. Vernon McGee was an active participant in this radio ministry for 47 exciting years. When his health began to fail, plans were made in advance to decide how the Bible study program would continue in the event of his homegoing. The message would remain the same and the "voice" of Thru the Bible Radio would continue to be Dr. McGee, through the use of the taped 5-year program.
After our Savior called Dr. McGee home in December of 1988, the program's reach continued to grow. Today, Thru the Bible is a worldwide ministry airing on over 800 stations in the U.S. and Canada, and heard in more than 100 languages and dialects around the world. Our mission is simple and the same one Dr. McGee himself embraced: To take the whole Word to the whole world.
The continued success of this ministry, even after the death of its founder, gives testimony to God's abundant blessings. The work is supported entirely by the fervent prayers and faithful giving of our wonderful listeners, and we plan to keep sending the Word out as long as God allows. Our theme verse is Revelation 3:8–"I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name." We pray now more than ever that God will continue to guide us through those open doors until the Lord Jesus comes!
"One day I switched on my radio and, all of a sudden, I heard your program. It moved my heart to believe that God exists...." (from a Hindi listener in India)
God has not put most of us in an exotic, faraway place. Perhaps, like Moses, you don't even feel able to speak about the Bible within your own familiar surroundings. Radio and Internet broadcasting can give you a voice as you tell others about Thru the Bible. It can leap across the sea, over high mountains, into the midst of troubled nations. It can go into the quiet of a house church in China or into the most remote areas of Africa and India where whole villages listen together. We have the privilege of being missionaries together–using the powerful tools of radio and Internet.
About Thru the Bible text: By Dr. J. Vernon McGee © Thru the Bible Radio Network, www.ttb.org.
More Information
To find out more information about Dr. J. Vernon McGee or Thru the Bible Radio, check out their website @ www.ttb.org. Once there, you can join the Bible Bus and download a wealth of free resources. Or, you can always just click the link to Thru the Bible at the bottom of our website. We at Trailblazin Ministries highly recommend that you subscribe to the podcast and listen daily!