About

Our Story

In the Spanish-speaking communities of the Chicago suburbs, a young pastor and his wife spent years planting Hispanic churches and nurturing believers. When their sons married, they began serving internationally. Equipping Evangelist* trained pastors in Central America, but many had little formal education, and his academic teaching methods weren’t connecting. At the same time, his wife longed to serve alongside him but wasn’t sure how.

Their answer came at a missions conference, where they discovered Orality and Chronological Bible Storytelling — teaching God’s truth through the narratives of Scripture. This approach opened doors for both of them to teach and for pastors of any background to grasp and share the Bible’s message.

As they practiced this storytelling method, their own faith deepened. They realized it was more than a teaching tool. Bible storytelling was a way to internalize Scripture and walk closely with God.

From that discovery, the concept of the Heart Bible was born. In 2022, the first Heart Bible church was planted in Venezuela. Today, more than 50 Heart Bible churches, ministries, and schools around the world are helping believers know, live, and share God’s Word—from the heart.

We are Blessed to Work with Partners in These Countries

Core values and convictions

BECOMING A WALKING BIBLE

The bread of life

The Word of God is our bread of life. Therefore, we believe it is necessary to meditate on God’s Word and that it abides within us to nourish the soul. (Deuteronomy 8:3; Joshua 1:8; Matthew 4:4; Col. 3:16)

Repeat the Word of God

One cannot really know a passage of Scripture unless they can restate it in their own words. (Deuteronomy 30:11–14)

Faithful to the Word of God

It is necessary to equip others to rightly handle the Word of Truth. Therefore, we don’t add or subtract important details when we tell Bible stories. Nor do we combine other passages into a composite story. (2 Timothy 2:15)

Meditation

Internalizing a Bible story in order to restate it naturally in one’s own words is essentially the discipline of meditation and Bible study. (Joshua 1:8)

Telling Bible stories is effective

The discipline of telling Bible stories is highly effective for evangelism, discipleship, equipping leaders and planting churches. (2 Tim. 2:2)

Discovering the Will of God

It’s usually preferable to allow students of the Bible to discover what God is saying through key questions of understanding and application.

Expressing the truth

Parables, stories and figures of speech communicate abstract truth effectively. It is how Jesus taught. (Matthew 13:3, 33–34)

Making the Word of God accessible

The practice of learning, telling and teaching Bible stories makes God’s Word more accessible to more people, including those who can’t read or write. (Acts 4:13)

Completely dependent upon the Word of God

The written Bible is the Word of God, and we are completely dependent upon it. If we neglect to put God’s Word on our hearts and in our mouths, we become spiritually weak and ineffective witnesses of Jesus Christ. (Deut. 30:11–14)

An oral Bible that can be passed on to others

It is necessary to tell Bible stories without commentary or explanations so that the hearer receives an oral Bible they can then pass on to others. (2 Tim. 1:13–14; Rev. 22:18–19)

The Bible is not a mere reference book

The Bible should not be used as merely a reference book, but that we must hide it in our hearts. (Psalm 119:11)

Bible stories are meant to be told

The stories of the Bible are meant to be told (not just read, studied and discussed) because in doing so they proclaim the good news of God’s active presence in our world.

Bible stories can turn upside down the world for Christ

The discipline of growing a heart Bible has the potential of turning the world upside down for Christ. (Acts 5:28; 17:6).

The Word of God speaks for itself

If we do not tell God’s stories, but leave them as print on the pages of the Bible, our silence tells the world they aren’t important. (Romans 1:16) The Word of God speaks for itself and is to be prominent above any interpretation or application of it.

We should be careful not to consider our interpretations

our trainings

Our trainings take place in four modules.

Each module is 15 hours and generally takes two-and-a-half days to complete.

FIRST MODULE

“Gateway” – What is a Heart Bible and why is it important?

We learn the meaning and value of growing a heart Bible as a spiritual discipline. We discover how to learn, tell and teach simple Bible stories. After the training, the participants will be required to learn, tell and teach a series of six stories from the Book of Mark in order to receive a certificate and continue in training with HBN.

SECOND MODULE

“Evangelism” – How do we evangelize using Bible stories?

We learn how to use Bible stories as a bridge to the good news. We practice with 15 Bible stories as examples. This module involves an evangelism outreach activity during the training.

THIRD MODULE

“The Big Story” – How do we grow a Heart Bible for the Nations?

We learn, tell and teach more difficult Bible stories.. After the training the participants will be required to learn, tell and teach a series of twenty-two stories from Genesis to the Ascension of Jesus in order to receive a certificate and continue with HBN training.

FOURTH MODULE

“The Power of God’s Stories” – How do we study Bible stories for preaching and teaching?

We learn principles and tools for studying narratives in order to discover their theological themes for the purpose of preaching and teaching.