Church Network 'Launches' Sermon-Packed Bible

By Eric Young, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, February 03, 2009

The Second Billion Network has "launched" a Bible featuring sermons from some of the world's best expository preachers alongside each of the Holy Book's 1,189 chapters.

As announced last month during the North American Conference on Biblical Preaching, the overarching goal of the "Global Preaching Bible" is to give new pastors the means to a Bible-based preaching ministry, and to provide pastors everywhere the ability to preach through the entire Bible and apply rock-solid principles to their congregations.

"Today's preachers need a strong foundational framework to build biblically-sound messages on a weekly basis," says James O. Davis, co-chair of Global Networking for the Second Billion Network and founder and president of Cutting Edge International.

"As the global Church passes the leadership baton to the next generation of preachers, we must also raise the standard of biblical exposition," adds Kenneth C. Ulmer, president of Kings Seminar and senior pastor of Faithful Central Bible Church.

Leaders involved in the "Global Preaching Bible" believe it will train pastors how to preach through the Scripture and will help set a new standard in preaching.

For the effort, the Second Billion Network invited some of the best expository preachers to invest ten of their best messages into a collection that will result in a biblically-sound, expository sermon for each of the 1,189 chapters of the Bible.

Spearheading the development of the soon-to-be-released Bible has been Walter Kaiser, former president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary who many consider one of the top theologians in the world.

"This Global Bible will contain an expository sermon for each chapter of the Bible, which will be available online for pastors worldwide," said Kaiser.

In addition, the Bible will reportedly feature tools to build biblically-sound messages on a weekly basis, weekly sermon updates to help with societal transformation, and search functions by contributor, topic and scripture reference.

Since its inception, the Second Billion movement has centered around pastors and local churches. Though the network labels itself as inclusive – calling on "every church, regardless of size, and every Christian, whether known or unknown" – it has so far received most of its support from Pentecostal and Charismatic leaders.

The movement has received endorsements from Sunday Adelaja, charismatic founder and pastor of what is believed to be the largest church in Europe; retired televangelist Robert H. Schuller, founder of Crystal Cathedral in California; George O. Wood, head of the Pentecostal denomination Assemblies of God; and controversial preacher and "faith healer" Reinhard Bonnke.