The Gospel Coalition

The launch of The Gospel Project is just weeks away. Thousands of churches have purchased the materials, and it’s been exciting to see the initial response. (I love this picture of kids outside the Olympic stadium in London reminding us that we are the project!)

Every day, I get emails, phone calls, tweets, or blog comments thanking us for The Gospel Project. Some have worried about the adult materials currently being on back-order. Ed Stetzer (general editor) explains what happened:

Whenever we put out curriculum, we make projections as to how many people will want it, and how many pieces should be printed, when orders will come in, etc. Frankly, the response to The Gospel Project has taken us by surprise. It is selling nearly twice the original plan (and we planned high!). We are already rushing a second print run so we can accommodate the orders that continue to pour in. It looks like hundreds of thousands of people will have a TGP resource in their hands this fall.

There are several reasons I’m excited about how the resource is shaping up.

First, I’m blown away by the sheer number of people who will be using the curriculum. We like to say that the Gospel Project isn’t curriculum, but that we are God’s gospel project. The Spirit, through the power of the gospel, is working on us – making us more like Christ. By year’s end, it’s likely that a quarter of a million people will be using these materials. Knowing that we can have a small part in serving so many people is a humbling responsibility we hope to steward well.

Another reason is expressed by a church leader who recently told me, “Trevin, this is the most evangelistic children’s curriculum I have ever seen.” That has certainly been our agenda. We want to see Christ exalted in every children’s Bible story, and we present the plan of salvation every week. When I think of my two kids (8 and 4) working their way through this curriculum, my heart leaps for joy at the thought of them encountering Jesus in the pages of Scripture every time their group meets. He is the hero. We’re the ones in need of rescue.

I’m also excited about the new iPad App for adults. I’ve got to give props to The Gospel Project team who worked hard on making this a reality. There are a lot of cool things we can do in an app that we can’t do in a printed piece. I know of students who want to use the app as a supplement to their study. I know of leaders who want to teach from it. The app looks great, and I’m thankful to our team for making it happen. There’s also an iPhone App for students. These new resources represent a major step forward for us in how we can serve churches digitally.

I’m glad to see that digital resources for all ages, particularly the PDFs and RTFs, are now available. Especially for Kids’ ministry, going digital makes things convenient. We’re launching a new “Curriculum Manager” for churches that purchase the digital files, in order to keep things orderly and organized. From the songs to the coloring pages to the leader materials, giving easy digital access to teachers is the way to go.

All that to say, we’re encouraged by the response to The Gospel Project. All this makes us even more prayerful that the Lord will use this resource to grip our hearts with the beauty of Jesus Christ and propel our feet out on mission for His kingdom.