Bruce Wilkinson
Bruce Wilkinson is a Christian teacher and author. He was born in New Jersey and graduated from Northeastern Bible College (B.A. and Th. B.), Dallas Theological Seminary (Th. M.) and Western Conservative Baptist Seminary (D.D.). Early on, Bruce served as a college professor at Multnomah School of the Bible in Portland, Oregon.
He has given keynote addresses at major national and international events with stadium audiences of 80,000 or more. He has written more than 60 books that have been translated into 30 languages, including several books that reached the number one spot on the bestseller lists of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. Bruce's book, The Prayer of Jabez, remains the fastest-selling book in history, with worldwide sales exceeding 20 million.
Bruce has also served as the publisher and executive editor of ten monthly magazines, with more than 120 million copies distributed. He is the author of the outlines of the books of the Bible for the best-selling Open Bible, and has served as the executive editor of three Bibles.
In 1976, Bruce launched Walk Thru the Bible. He has trained 100,000 professional teachers in Teaching for Life Change and is a trainer of coaches in the Dream Giver methodology. He launched and led the global initiative WorldTeach, which has recruited and trained more than 30,000 indigenous leaders in 83 nations to conduct life skills courses. Bruce also produced a motion picture about AIDS called Beat the Drum, which has been seen in more than 100 nations and has garnered 30 international awards.
After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Wilkinson traveled to Russia to teach in conjunction with the presentation of the Jesus film. Wilkinson served five years as chairman of CoMission, an innovative education ministry in Russia.
In 2002, Bruce moved with his family to South Africa and started an organization called Dream For Africa. In that, Bruce launched Heart for Africa, which mobilized First World volunteers to plant more than 500,000 backyard vegetable gardens for orphans and the hungry. He also launched a movement to recruit more than 1,000 college students from 11 nations to conduct AIDS training in high schools. He led major tribal and racial and religious reconciliation conferences in Uganda, Namibia and South Africa.
Wilkinson founded Teach Every Nation (TEN) in 2013 as the culmination of four decades of 'best practices' learned from his teaching, training, and international leadership and ministry. TEN was formed to provide "innovative, practical and culturally relevant training" for pastors and leaders in the Global South (e.g. areas of Africa, Asia, and South/Central America). Training is provided through technology such as satellite simulcasts, as well as in-person courses on TEN's 2,500-acre training campus located on a wild animal reserve in the Waterberg Biosphere of northern South Africa. Tens of thousands of TEN students have been trained in 100 nations. Training is done in English, French, Portuguese, Arabic and Farsi languages.
Known for his expertise in fundraising principles as well as his public speaking skills, Wilkinson has raised over $300,000,000 for other ministries, including colleges, seminaries, mission groups, Bible distribution, evangelism, orphan work, food distribution and more. He serves as the Chairman of the Board of The Exponential Group.
Personal
Bruce and Darlene Wilkinson have three married children and ten grandchildren.
List of books
- Victory Over Temptation
- Walk through the Bible
- Youthwalk Again ISBN 0-310-54601-X
- The Wilkinson & Boa Bible Handbook ISBN 0-7852-4864-1, ISBN 0-7852-4903-6
- Talk Through The Bible ISBN 0-8407-5286-5
- Talk Through the Old Testament
- Talk Through the New Testament
- Talk Through Bible Personalities ISBN 0-9612142-0-1
- 7 Laws of the Learner ISBN 0-88070-464-0
- Almost Every Answer for Practically Any Teacher (Gold Medallion Winner) ISBN 0-88070-473-X
- Personal Holiness in Times of Temptation ISBN 1-56507-943-4
- Experiencing Spiritual Breakthroughs (based on his “The Three Chairs” seminar) ISBN 1-57673-536-2
- 30 Days to Spiritual Breakthroughs ISBN 1-57673-977-5
- The Prayer of Jabez (October 2000) ISBN 1-57673-733-0
- Living the Jabez Miracle
- The Prayer of Jabez for Young Hearts ISBN 0-613-96871-9
- The Prayer of Jabez for Little Ones (with Melody Carlson) ISBN 0-8499-7943-9
- The Prayer of Jabez for Kids (with Melody Carlson) ISBN 0-8499-7944-7
- Secrets of the Vine (October 2001) ISBN 1-57673-975-9
- Secrets of the Vine for Little Ones ISBN 1-4003-0052-5
- Secrets of the Vine for Kids ISBN 1-4003-0053-3
- Secrets of the Vine for Teens (March 2003) ISBN 1-57673-922-8
- A Life God Rewards (October 2002) ISBN 1-57673-976-7
- A Life God Rewards for Teens (October 2002) ISBN 1-59052-077-7
- A Life God Rewards for Kids ISBN 1-59052-095-5
- Set Apart ISBN 1-59052-071-8
- 30 Days to Discovering Personal Victory Through Holiness ISBN 1-59052-070-X
- The Dream Giver (October 2003) ISBN 1-59052-201-X
- The Dream Giver for Parents (September 2004) ISBN 1-59052-455-1
- Beyond Jabez ISBN 1-59052-367-9
- You Were Born for This (releasing September 15, 2009) - ISBN 978-1-60142-182-1
- The Freedom Factor
Wilkinson served on the overview committee for the New King James Version of the Bible, authored the Books of the Bible outlines and co-edited the Bible book introductions for The Open Bible. He is the executive editor of four best-selling Bibles including The Daily Walk Bible (NIV, NL, NKV, RSV), The Closer Walk New Testament (NIV), The Youth Walk Bible (NIV), and The Family Walk Bible (NIV).