The Lockman Foundation is a Christian publishing organization most famous for producing the New American Standard translation of the Bible. Biola president Samuel Sutherland was a past president of the foundation.

History

Founders

F. Dewey Lockman, a citrus farmer, started the Lockman Foundation with money from the sale of farmland in 1942. Lockman had experienced what he called "a miraculous conversion" at a tent revival sponsored by the First Baptist Church of Garden Grove in 1927. In 1931, Lockman experienced what he called, "his second conversion in the matter of stewardship."

Dewey (d. 1974) and his wife Minna (d. 1971) became ardent tithers, eventually giving 40 percent of their income to God. The citrus ranch was a success, and he sold 90 percent of his land (located in the La Habra Valley) to start the foundation. Its purpose was to promote Christian evangelism, education, and benevolence. The Lockmans and the original Board of Directors set forth a doctrinal statement which the Foundation strictly follows to this day.

Service Endeavors

The Lockman Foundation's first project was a Bible study program for servicemen during World War II stationed at nearby El Toro Marine Base. They provided free soft drinks, tracts, and Bibles for military men. The Christian Service Organization operated for 35 months, serving over half a million people.

A second project was a summer Bible school program, staffed by female students at Biola. From 1944-46, the women traveled throughout California, holding summer Bible schools at various churches that requested them. Out of this program grew the Christian Time Released Education, which originated in Anaheim and eventually expanded to other cities in Orange County cities. The program allowed schoolchildren to be released from the classroom for one period each week for religious instruction. In one year alone, 2,432 from first grade through high school studied the Bible in classes sponsored by the Foundation. The program reached more than 20,000 students.

Christian Publishing

In 1945, the Lockmans purchased Foundation Press so they could more readily print tracts, gospels and Christian literature. The Foundation developed numerous tracts, including "4 Reasons for Tithing," "How to have a Happy Home," and "Principles of Stewardship." Eventually, the publishing focus turned toward Bible translation.

The first project began in 1954 with the Amplified Gospel of John and culminated in 1958 with the Amplified New Testament. More Amplified translations emerged, including Japanese, Spanish, Italian, and Braille. The Amplified translations used synonyms and definitions after key words to offer a more precise translation of the original text.

In 1959, Mr. Lockman sought to develop a translation that was both highly readable and true to the original languages. He assembled a group of scholars and pastors to the create the New American Standard Bible, incorporating new information taken from the Dead Sea Scrolls. The New American Standard New Testament was first published in 1963; the complete version was dedicated in 1971. In 1977, it was recorded by the Christian Bookseller's Association as the No. 1 best-selling Bible translation.

More Translations

Following Dewey Lockman's death in 1974, Dr. Samuel H. Sutherland, president emeritus of Biola University, became president of the Foundation. Sutherland led it to more foreign language translations, including the Korean Standard Bible, the New Chinese Bible (Mandarin/Cantonese), the New Chinese Bible (mainland simplified script), the New Hindi Bible (India), and La Biblia de las Américas (Spanish).

/Other innovative projects followed. A special publication, the Gospel of John, with a brief explanation of the plan of salvation, entitled, The Plan of Life (also available in Spanish as Plan De La Vida), was prepared and made available for use as an evangelism tool. The New Standard for Living Radio program, with Dr. Charles R. Swindoll, and later Dr. Charles L. Feinberg, serving as host and Bible teacher, began in the late 70s. The radio series encouraged listeners to read through the New American Standard Bible in one year by reading Bible passages for approximately 15 minutes a day. Listeners of the program who were on the mailing list received copies of teaching notes before the program aired, allowing them to follow along with the host. Over the relatively short intervening months, the ministry quadrupled with stations in more than 25 states that carried the Monday through Friday half-hour program.

After leading the Foundation through several successful projects, Dr. Sutherland retired in the spring of 1979, and Robert G. Lambeth began his current tenure as president.