316 Day - Exciting New Bible Announcement!
Greetings and Happy 316th Day of 2019! As we continue our publishing journey, we are excited to unveil new projects to you today! In the next few months, we will be releasing new Bibles, Children’s products, journals, and boxed greeting cards as our three imprints, Steadfast Bibles, Green Egg Media, and Bella Paper continue to grow! Before we look ahead and share a very special announcement, we want to share a bit of the behind-the-scenes story of how our Bible division came to be. In 2017 our president attended the Shepherd’s Conference. Having grown up at Grace Community Church, the NASB was the Bible he knew and loved, yet among the many well respected evangelical publishers in the conference book tent, the translation was hard to find. There had also been some questions about a NASB update. Some publishers had told people they would no longer publish the 95 edition of the NASB, and were waiting for the updated translation, although the timeline was unclear when that would be. It seemed to many like the NASB 95 was on its way out. One thing seemed obvious to us — if the NASB 95 was going to stick around, something needed to change. Mark MacArthur too had a love for the NASB and the two men discussed how other publishers’ marketing power was overshadowing the NASB. It was obvious each publisher promoted their favorite translation.
- Zondervan has the NIV.
- Nelson has the NKJV.
- Crossway has the ESV.
- B&H has the CSB.
However, many pastors and Bible students were still deeply committed to using the NASB 95 because they considered it to be the most precise and literal translation of the original languages. Soon, the two men were in Mark’s dad’s office, discussing what, if anything could be done to help the NASB. During that discussion, Pastor MacArthur shared, “I’ve never really had the perfect preaching Bible.” At those words, the candle was lit. At the 2018 Shepherds' Conference, the original Preacher's Bible was released. While all the attendees were excited to receive their free copy, the NASB fans were especially grateful to see their favorite translation in a one-of-a-kind format for preaching. That same week we held a focus group of pastors who use the NASB. Two main requests came from that meeting--and work began on them right away. First, we created the NASB Children's Edition, released this past March. Second, we encouraged our friends at Literal Word to finish their free NASB 95 app. Both of these editions met a need in the market and were enthusiastically received! Then, just last month at the Grace to You Truth Matters Conference, we released our Steadfast Limited line of premium, cowhide NASBs. Being mostly an online company we enjoy the opportunity to interact with consumers at these events. We’ve also been greatly encouraged by the NASB fans expressing their appreciation for our work and for representing the Lockman Foundation at conferences. Looking back, we know God had a plan and we are grateful to be a part of getting people excited about the NASB 95 again. We are also excited that other publishers have revised their plans and decided to continue to support the NASB 95. We are especially grateful for the kindness of our friends at the Lockman Foundation, Pastor MacArthur for his input and encouragement along the journey, and his son Mark who has proven to be a faithful advisor. When we released the original Preacher’s Bible, we knew the paper Pastor MacArthur chose for it was special, but we also knew it would make for a heavy Bible. Almost immediately, people began to comment about their love for it, but they wanted a companion to it that was more portable. A steady stream of requests continued, and earlier this year we began working on a more portable companion to the Original Preacher’s Bible. After much thought and design, we are excited to announce The Preacher’s Bible - Handy Size.
Here are some of the details:
- NASB 95 text
- Typesetting by 2K Denmark
- French-milled paper
- 2 Sided Satin Ribbons by Berisfords
- Shamar Goatskin (TM)
- Binding by Royal Jongbloed
- Scripture text has the same line-by-line and page-by-page word order as the original