BIBLE LITERACY BIBLE LITERACY FIGHTING FOR


DR. R. LAMAR VEST is the president of the American Bible Society, a former general overseer of the Church of God, and former president of Lee University. The following interview was conducted by KEN HORN, editor of the Pentecostal Evangel (Assemblies of God).


HORN: Tell us about your ministry in the Church of God.


VEST: I served 16 years on the Church of God General Executive Committee, and we saw some phenomenal growth. I think for me the most exciting thing was the revival that took place among the young people in those days. That’s what I long to see again.


HORN: How did God direct your personal journey in ministry?


VEST: I was born into the Church of God, fourth generation. My great-grandfather was one of the pioneers. I can’t remember ever not knowing that I was called to min- istry. It was something that I just grew up with. It’s been a lifetime journey.


HORN: You also served as the chair- man of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).


VEST: Yes. The National Association of Evangelicals brings together all of those churches who identify themselves as Evangelical. When I was chairman, we estimated there were about 20 million Evangelicals who were involved in some way with the NAE.


HORN: How did you get involved in the American Bible Society (ABS)?


10 EVANGEL • AUG 2010


VEST: I was elected to the board of trustees while I was serving as chairman of the National Association of Evangeli- cals, about 19 years ago, and have been involved with ABS ever since.


HORN: What is the American Bible Society?


VEST: It is one of the oldest Christian non- profit organizations in this country. It was founded in 1816 with a primary purpose of covering the earth with God’s Word. The history of the ABS is almost like reading early American history because so many of the founding fathers and those who were involved in shaping our nation were involved in it. For instance, Francis Scott Key, who wrote the national anthem, was involved in the ABS, as was John Quincy Adams, our sixth president, and several other U.S. presidents. So the American Bible Society is tightly con- nected with the formation and the foun- dation of this nation.


This screams out to those revisionists of history who want to tell us we were not really founded on Judeo-Christian principles. The American Bible Society was formed to help get Bibles printed and distributed throughout the United States, but now, around the world.


HORN: Are you concerned about Bible literacy in our nation?


VEST: Bible knowledge in this country is on a downward slide. I don’t think any of us realized that it was moving downward as quickly as it is. But, if you look at the statistics, Bible knowledge has almost been drained out of this culture in the past 50 years. There was a time when even our


educational system taught Scripture. There was prayer in schools; there was Bible read- ing. Now there’s none of that. And unfor- tunately, there is little Bible reading in many churches anymore. The World War II generation had about a 60 percent bibli- cal worldview. Today’s new generation, for the first time ever, may be in single digits of holding a biblical worldview. By the year 2040, the culture in which we live could be considered biblically illiterate.


HORN: So in the space of a little over half a century we’ve gone from where a biblical worldview predominates in a nation to where it’s virtually nonexistent.


VEST: Absolutely. And we’re asking ourselves, Why are we having so much crime? Why are we having such terrible conditions in our world? I think you can trace it to the loss of Bible knowledge.


HORN: We’re seeing Christians respond in recent years to a host of compassion needs. The American Bible Society has recently addressed this with the Poverty and Justice Bible. Could you talk about that?


VEST: The Poverty and Justice Bible was first produced in Great Britain by the British and Foreign Bible Society. We partnered with them and decided to do one here in the U.S.A. It’s very simple. We had scholars go through the Bible and highlight every scripture that speaks about poverty and jus- tice. There were more than 2,100 passages. A poll we conducted through Harris Interactive Survey presented scriptures that speak about poverty, caring for the poor, caring for the helpless. We asked,


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