Lifeway Christian Resources
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Lifeway Christian Resources, based in
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
, is the
Christian media Christian media refers to media that is Christian, or refers to various aspects of Christian demographic. As a genre its conventions originated in sermons, Christian literature, literature, and gospel music, and it has been adapted into Christ ...
publishing and distribution division of the
Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestant, and the second-largest Chr ...
and provider of church business services. Until the end of its physical retail presence in 2019 it was best known for its
brick and mortar Brick and mortar (or B&M) is an organization or business with a physical presence in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases retail shops, factory produc ...
LifeWay Christian Stores, one of the two major American retailers of Christian books and products (the other being Mardel Christian & Education). Lifeway produces curriculums and Bible studies used in Sunday schools and other church functions. Lifeway publishes the
Christian Standard Bible The Christian Standard Bible (CSB) is a translation of the Bible in contemporary English. Published by Holman Bible Publishers in 2017 as the successor to the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB), the CSB "incorporates advances in biblical s ...
(the successor to the
Holman Christian Standard Bible The Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) is a modern English Bible translation from Holman Bible Publishers. The New Testament was published in 1999, followed by the full Bible in March 2004. Beginnings The roots of the HCSB can be traced ...
), as well as Christian books and commentaries through B&H Publishing. Lifeway has a research division that studies Protestant trends and provides contract research services. In addition, it distributes many Christian resources created by outside parties. It distributes and sells many church products such as communion supplies and upholstery. Lifeway also provides church business services. While Lifeway is a non-profit and part of the
Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestant, and the second-largest Chr ...
, it receives no church funding through the SBC's cooperative program Instead, Lifeway is self-funded through the sales of its products. Lifeway operated World Changers until it was shut down in 2020 because of the
coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. In April 2020, Lifeway's board voted to put the Ridgecrest Conference Center up for sale.


History

In 1891 James Marion Frost, a 43-year-old pastor, founded "The Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention" after that year's annual meeting in
Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...
. In 1925, the Board began operating retail bookstores under the name "Baptist Book Store." According to Jeffrey Gros, the Sunday School Board was "one of the principal sources of literacy across the South." Around 1971, the Board began using the "LifeWay" imprint on some of its materials and as the name for retail stores in certain markets, reflecting an expansion of items sold which included items produced by others, some of whom were not Southern Baptist. From 1996 to 1998, the Board rebranded its stores under the LifeWay banner and officially changed its name. In 2002, LifeWay acquired Serendipity House, a publisher of Bible studies for small groups. In 2017, Lifeway staff moved out of the Draper Tower and the Sullivan Tower into new headquarters in the Capitol View, Nashville area. In 2021, it was announced the building would be sold in favor of a smaller office as the workforce continues the trend of remote working. In January 2019, Lifeway announced that it would cut staff and close some of its 170 stores, and two months later, it announced that it would be closing all of them and shift its focus to the
e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...
side of the business. In January 2021, Lifeway unveiled a new logo, which made its name's ''w''
lowercase Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (more formally '' minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing system ...
.


Divisions


Publishing

B&H is the primary publishing of Lifeway Christian Resources. B&H traces its publishing history to 1863, when the Sunday School Board was formed in 1863 at the
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in Louisville, Kentucky. The seminary was founded in 1859 in Greenville, South Carolina, where it was at first housed on the campus of Furman University. The s ...
in
Greenville, South Carolina Greenville ( ; ) is a city in Greenville County, South Carolina, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, sixth-most pop ...
. Some of its first leaders were
John Albert Broadus John Albert Broadus (January 24, 1827 – March 16, 1895) was an American Baptist pastor and President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Early life Born in 1827 in Culpeper County, Virginia, Broadus was educated at home and at a priva ...
and Basil Manly Jr. The first board and its publishing activities were absorbed by the Home Mission Board in 1873. The new Sunday School Board took over the publishing operations in 1891. By 1960, the board was using the Broadman imprint. In 1979, the Sunday School Board acquired bible publisher A. J. Holman from J. B. Lippincott & Co. Holman started by acquiring the publishing activities of the Sower family. In 1993, the Holman Bible Company and Broadman Press merged to become Broadman & Holman. Broadman & Holman name was shortened to B&H. B&H currently publishes under several imprints, including flagship B&H Books (also called B&H Publishing), B&H Academic, B&H Kids, B&H Español and Holman Bible Publishers. The CSB Bible as well as several commentaries are published under Holman Bible Publishers. B&H Academic develops textbooks, educational resources and market-oriented works of biblical scholars, theologians, and Christian academics.


Lifeway Research

Lifeway Research, the research division of Lifeway, conducts polls on trends with
Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
and
Evangelicalism Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
in North America. Lifeway partners with Outreach Magazine to produce the ''Outreach 100-'' a report publicizing the 100 largest churches by attendance and by growth in the United States. Lifeway Research conducts a variety of polls on surveys on topics such as church attendance, church member's behaviors, public opinion on social issues, pastoral trends and other issues of pertinence to Christianity's influence in North America. It published its research findings through their website and through collaboration with multiple partners. It also publishes ''Facts and Trends'', a publication highlighting research that specifically targets pastors and ministry leaders. Additionally, it publishes several books, podcasts and other resources disseminating their research finds. Lifeway Research offers custom research services for churches, parachurch organizations and ministries. Lifeway Research has also developed several assessments used by Southern Baptist churches and others that are designed to assess church members' spiritual growth, potential church revitalization efforts and church planting.


Former divisions


World Changers

World Changers was an organization that was an entity of LifeWay Student Ministries. It provided national youth work projects. During projects, students typically spent one week in repairing damaged homes. The missions agency for World Changers was the North American Mission Board until 2011, when LifeWay took over. The organization's first service projects began in the summer of 1990. The host city of the first project was
Briceville, Tennessee Briceville is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community in Anderson County, Tennessee. It is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The community is named for railroad tycoon and one-term Democr ...
. In 1992, World Changers expanded abroad with a project in Ciudad Victoria, Mexico.World Changers History
Retrieved on 2009-01-03
For each project, youth and adults provided labor at their own expense for substandard homes. All participants were divided into crews for the week. At each work site, crews usually painted, reroofed, or performed other light construction jobs. In January 2011, high school and college students volunteers of World Changers returned to
Rock Hill, South Carolina Rock Hill is the most populous city in York County, South Carolina, United States, and the List of municipalities in South Carolina, 5th-most populous city in the state. It is also the 4th-most populous city of the Charlotte metropolitan area, be ...
to continue to help by substantially improving homes in need throughout the city. World Changers planned to recruit as many as 350 volunteers and help as many as 33 homes in Rock Hill that year. In 2020, the
coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
caused World Changers to cease operations.


Sales policy

Although Lifeway sells products created by non-SBC persons and entities, its products generally feature Christian teachings from a conservative perspective (consistent with the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message). It will not sell, and will if needed discontinue selling, works by authors who disagree with its policies. For example, it pulled all works by author Jen Hatmaker in October 2016 after she had endorsed
same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...
. Lifeway's ministry on the subject of sexuality and gender expression sees non-heterosexual identities as sinful, which require church members to be "ready when homosexuality devastates." That is generally consistent with Article XVIII of the Baptist Faith & Message (the doctrinal statement of the
Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestant, and the second-largest Chr ...
, LifeWay's parent), but it does not specifically address topics of
gender expression Gender expression (or gender presentation) is a person's behavior, mannerisms, interests, and appearance that are associated with gender in a particular cultural context, typically understood in terms of masculinity and femininity. Gender expr ...
such as
transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...
and
non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...
gender identities.


Leadership

In February 2006, Thom Rainer became the president and CEO of LifeWay after he had served as dean of the Billy Graham School of Evangelism of the
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in Louisville, Kentucky. The seminary was founded in 1859 in Greenville, South Carolina, where it was at first housed on the campus of Furman University. The s ...
. He succeeded James T. Draper, Jr., of the
Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...
metro area, who had headed LifeWay from 1991 to 2006. On August 29, 2018, Rainer announced his retirement from LifeWay effective within one year or once his replacement had been identified, whichever occurred first. Rainer resigned earlier than anticipated, on February 28, 2019, and Brad Waggoner was named acting president. Ben Mandrell, a Southern Baptist pastor who had led churches in Tennessee and Colorado, was elected the 10th president and CEO of LifeWay in June, 2019.


Notes


References


Further reading

* ''Lifeway Legacy: A Personal History of LifeWay Christian Resources and the Sunday School board of the Southern Baptist Convention;'' James T. Draper, John Perry


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:LifeWay Christian Resources Christian mass media companies Southern Baptist Convention Companies based in Nashville, Tennessee Baptist organizations established in the 19th century Baptist Christianity in Tennessee 1891 establishments in Tennessee Publishing companies established in 1891 Retail companies established in 1891 Evangelical Christian publishing companies