On October 1, 2023, I became the senior pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church, only the third senior pastor in our church’s 53-year history. To say I was humbled would be an understatement. I came on staff in 2001 as the middle school minister. I never dreamed that one day I would become the senior pastor. As overwhelming as that moment was spiritually and emotionally, I knew exactly what my first significant initiative would be as senior pastor: In my first full year we were going to read and preach through the entire Bible as a church chronologically, from Genesis to Revelation.
Before becoming the senior pastor, I served as the campus and teaching pastor of The Church at Station Hill, the first of what has become a nine-campus family of congregations. In 2020, to encourage spiritual growth, we decided to take our campus through a Bible reading plan. We had no idea that 2020 would include a worldwide pandemic, but it was an unexpected bonus. During that time, approximately six hundred people (about half our congregation) consistently read, asked questions, and led Bible Reading Groups in their homes, in socially distanced gatherings around fire pits, and in study groups seated in lawn chairs on driveways and decks. We used George Guthrie’s Chronological reading plan because it had several accompanying resources. As our staff guided our church through an adventure into the whole counsel of Scripture, there were several benefits that repeatedly emerged.
A Bible reading plan brings people of all ages into the pages of the Bible every day. Many in our congregation read devotionals, participated in Bible study groups and classes, and heard numerous sermons, but fewer had read the Bible in its entirety. Even older members of our church admitted they had been in church their entire lives and had overlooked, ignored, or neglected much of the Bible.
A Bible reading plan creates churchwide synergy around biblical principles and truths. I discovered this by the change in my email inbox. I started receiving good questions from participants grappling with how to apply all Scripture to their lives (See 2 Timothy 3:16-17).
A Bible reading plan introduces people to the “big story” of Scripture. As a pastor, I had consistently preached the “metanarrative” of the Bible to our people for years. By using a chronological reading plan, the readers experienced this journey firsthand.
A Bible reading plan gives room for the Word to do its work. I watched our Bible reading plan intersect our people at their exact point of need. People were convicted and repented of sin as we read Romans. Marriages were healed and strengthened by reading Ephesians. People surrendered to God’s call on their lives as we walked with the early church who boldly followed the guidance of the Spirit in the book of Acts.
A Bible reading plan shows people are truly hungry for the Bible. We assume people are biblically literate, but most are not. It’s not our job to complain or bemoan that reality; it’s our job as shepherds to do something about it—by challenging people, equipping them with the right Bible study tools, and committing to walk with them. When you challenge people, equip them with the right Bible study tools, and commit to walk with them. I tell our congregation often: I cannot feed you in thirty minutes a week, but I can make you hungrier. A Bible reading plan teaches your people to be self-feeders!
In October 2023, we announced that the whole church was going to study and preach through the whole storyline of Scripture during 2024. We partnered with Lifeway to sell Chronological Reading Bibles. I thought we’d sell a few hundred. We ended up selling close to 6,000 Bibles! We created digital platforms, a weekly podcast (search “Sermon Notes”), and complementary Next Gen content for families. It’s created massive momentum in my first year as senior pastor and it’s fun to watch people show up to church on Sunday mornings eager for you to preach because they’ve already read that section of Scripture the week before. It’s even more fun to get stopped in restaurants and grocery stores with Bible questions. People aren’t asking me about the weather or sports; they want to better understand the Bible!
Charles Spurgeon once compared the gospel to a lion--all you have to do is let it out of its cage and it will roar, because that’s what it was created to do. We’re letting the lion of Scripture out of the cage--and we’re excited to let it roar!
In the beginning, God created. He created the foundations for all that is and will be. He made sky, sea, and land and filled them with abundant creations and creatures—chief among them, human beings made in God’s image to reflect His glory in the world. But those image-bearers sinned, rejecting God’s way, as have all their descendants. Humanity cannot restore this broken relationship, but God can. He started by calling one man into a covenant with Himself, and that man believed God would bring blessing to the world through his descendant, whom we know as Jesus. Faith in God’s plan and ways has never been easy, but God’s faithfulness to His promises and His people has never wavered and never will.
The CSB Day-by-Day Chronological Bible features a narrative approach to the Bible, arranging the full text into a clear chronological reading plan with daily readings guided by Dr. George Guthrie. In this unique plan, the books, chapters, and verses of the Bible are organized for readers in three main acts to track the story of Scripture from beginning to end. This format is designed to draw readers into the biblical narrative, helping them apply it in their own lives. Unlike most other chronological Bibles, this arrangement is not date-specific (e.g. “January 1”), so you can jump into the plan at any point in the calendar year.