Logos & CapMin Partner To Create Church-State Edition of World’s Leading Bible Software
Faithlife — Makers of Logos, the world’s leading Bible software, is partnering with Capitol Ministries to create a special Church-State edition that will offer its six million consumers and CapMin users a great new tool for more effective study and ministry.
Logos Bible Software is known for its exegetical agility—the ability to critically interpret Scripture. In addition, it’s extensive digital library includes tens of thousands of academic, theological, and pastoral books, among other data. Logos has become a trusted resource for seminary students, pastors, lay Bible teachers, home schoolers, and serious Bible scholars.
The Logos Bible Software Church-State Special Edition will offer the Bible studies and books that Ralph Drollinger, President and Founder of CapMin has authored over the course of 24 years in ministry in order to specifically meet the professional, personal, and spiritual needs of those in political office, as well as investigate current social issues through a timeless biblical lens.
All in one place, Bible students and Bible teachers across the world will now have the tools, resources, and insights that will enable them to better understand and teach about the biblical authority of civil government and roles the church, believers, and citizens alike play in it.
“Capitol Ministries Bible studies will benefit those people who want to know the Bible and what Christian theology teaches about the proper relationship between church and state,” said Brannon Ellis, director of original content for Faithlife — Makers of Logos Bible Software and publisher for Lexham Press.
“It’s for those who are committed to the authority of the Bible who also understand that the kingdom of God is also the kingdom of this world.”
For more than a year, Logos has partnered with CapMin to publish the Bible studies that Drollinger teaches weekly to members of the White House Cabinet, U.S. Senate, and House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. and are emailed to tens of thousands of people who request them around the world.
Capitol Ministries Bible studies and books will be offered by Logos alongside the works of historical theological giants and current learned Bible scholars to fill a gap in Logos’ church and state material, said Scott Lindsey, executive director of Faithlife.
“Capitol Ministries material is biblical and very gospel centered,” Lindsey said “We have tens of thousands of academic, theological, and pastoral books but we don’t have a lot of really solid content that speaks to the Bible and government, theologically engaging the culture, and tackling social issues.
“Partnering with Capitol Ministries fills those gaps that we have in our content offerings for our massive user base that I believe will be really, really well received. We are very excited about this relationship.”
Logos will also soon become the new publisher of Drollinger’s books including Rebuilding America; a Biblical Blueprint, (to be re-titled The Missing Mandate in Modern Missions), which is the manifesto of Capitol Ministries. This book exhaustively exegetes Scripture from Genesis to Revelations that specifically and redundantly relates to the priority God places on reaching political leaders with His Word. This book represents the essence of CapMin’s worldwide purpose and mission.
Logos will also take over the publishing of the four-book set Oaks in Office: Biblical Essays for Political Leaders which contains 52 of the most pertinent Bible studies Drollinger has written for public servants over decades of ministry. The previous, initiating publisher of the books was Nordskog Press.
Logos will expand Oaks in Office to include two additional volumes that Capitol Ministries is adding to the series. The 12-part series “The Basics of Christianity: Knowing Jesus,” and the 12-part series “Economics and Government” will become volumes 1 and 6 respectively, making Oaks in Office a 6-volume Logos publication that will be marketed through their networks.
These CapMin works are steeped in solid, conservative biblical theology and aim to serve believers in better understanding the biblical perspective of church and civil government and the respective role of believers, office holders, and citizens in general.
By way of comparison, Drollinger explained that, “the Reformation was steeped in exegetical soteriological discovery which created a strong basis, clarity, and conviction regarding the fact that salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone by His grace alone.
“This expositional prowess solidified the salvific convictions of many going forward from the Reformation,” he said.
“To the contrary, the American experiment in government (wherein the institution of Church and State are biblically speaking, to be institutionally separate) is not steeped in exegetical underpinnings!”
“Because the formation of the American system of civil government was not based in theological discovery, but rather, in pragmatic reactionism to a theocratic England, there remains to this day much confusion about the relationship of the church to the state, especially among secular journalists. This confusion continually plays out in the media.
“That is because the American experiment in government was not rooted in theological discovery. It follows that to this day, there needs to be more exegetically solid theology published on this issue! Therein is the only ultimate solution to the ongoing confusion. The new Logos Church-State Special Edition Software and library is a huge step in this direction.”
Logos’ scarcity of church-state theology material is not because there is no demand for it, but because so few pastors are creating it, said Ellis.
“This is something people care about,” he said. “This is one of those areas where, especially in modern America as things get more polarized, people are figuring out, ‘What do I actually believe and why do I believe it?’”
Drollinger said CapMin will make Logos Bible Software available to present and future ministry leaders around the world to help them achieve consistent Bible teaching as well as provide them immediate access to excellent research material which they need to write powerful, accurate Bible studies.
As an example, Drollinger explained that as a Bible teacher prepares a study, he must “parse” Greek verbs. This is a difficult and time consuming process, yet a necessary step in order for him to fully understand the Scripture, context, and meaning and to make a proper application of the timeless principles found in the passage.
To “parse” a Greek verb, five qualities need to be identified: the “person” which indicates the subject; the “number” which indicates singular or plural; the “tense” which indicates when the action happens; the “mood” which indicates real or hypothetical action; and “voice” which indicates the relationship between the action of the verb and the subject.
English verbs, generally speaking, are much more limited as to what they communicate. For example, there is no English equivalent for the Greek verb that indicates a past action which is complete yet has ongoing repercussions. In the Greek language this is known as the aorist verb tense.
Logos Software immediately informs the Bible teacher of this verbal form which shaves hours from research, and prevents possible misunderstandings in interpretation. Logos provides a Bible teacher with greatly added accuracy, clarity, and immediacy of better capturing the intent of the book’s author. This leads to better teaching of God’s immutable truths as His ambassador.
Additionally, the Logos Software will greatly benefit CapMin Bible teachers in third-world nations where theology books are often scarce or not available at all, said Jon Cassel, CapMin’s Africa Director.
While CapMin Bible teachers are learned and many hold seminary degrees, many do not have access to libraries, nor do they have a budget to buy theology books. Even if they did, shipping is not always reliable, and books are often stolen before they reach their destinations.
“Logos Bible Software will provide an exemplary library on the pastor’s own computer,” Cassel said. “This will be a tremendous asset for African ministry leaders.”
The Logos Church-State Special Edition Software will contain over 350 scholarly, conservative theology-related books.
Brian Hanson, CapMin’s Director for International Ministries said in visiting ministry leaders in foreign nations, he’s often been saddened by the sparsity of theological libraries he has seen in many offices.
“Their entire library might consist of five books and in some cases, no commentaries,” he said.
“An expository Bible teacher needs solid theological resources to draw upon. They need to understand the context of why a specific book of the Bible was written and how to make solid interpretations which leads to solid applications.”
Without this information, a Bible teacher may miss the author’s original intent and could mistakenly teach a lesson that is not supported by Scripture. This happens too often, especially in third world countries.
“Bible teachers need to read the works of solid theologians who have diligently and meticulously studied the same passage over the years,” Hanson said. “What a blessing this will be to our men who will have at their fingertips a 350-volume plus library that will enable them to be good expositors of the Word of God so that they can make disciples of people in the political arena around the world! God blesses His Word only when it is accurately taught!”
Securing trusted and reliable theological resources in the hands of ministry leaders in Latin America has also been a concern for Oscar Zamora, CapMin’s Latin America director.
“Serious Bible teachers rely on these resources to develop a deeper understanding of Scriptures and write Bible studies that are well rooted in the Word of God,” he said. “I am very excited to put this wonderful tool in the hands of our ministry leaders digitally and avoid the high cost of buying and distributing books.”
“I hope this tool will be available in every major language around the world because this is a serious need. Praise God for this tool and for CapMin which is always thinking of how to upgrade our teaching ministry throughout the world!”
Even though libraries are readily available in the United States, Dr. Dan DeShong, CapMin’s Sacramento director for Local Government Ministries, said Bible teachers who lead studies to city and county public servants will greatly benefit from the Logos Bible Software as well.
“Logos Software gives a brand-new ministry leader all the resources he could possibly need to equip himself to present the Word of God to all our local officials across our great nation.”
The partnership with Faithlife will also provide CapMin the opportunity to recruit ministry leaders from the software maker’s millions of users—serious Bible students world-wide. This will aid in furthering CapMin’s objective of planting discipleship Bible studies to leaders in 200 foreign nations, said Drollinger.
“I think you can see why we at Capitol Ministries are so excited about this partnership,” Drollinger said. “Not only will our Bible teachers around the world be empowered by the software and extensive digital library, but Logos users will benefit from the church and state material that Capitol Ministries has created specifically for serving and discipling political leaders. Please join us in praying for God’s topspin to all this: That God will draw Logos users into a strategic ministry of discipling political leaders as a result!
“Capitol Ministries is pleased to share what we’ve learned over the course of nearly a quarter century with Logos users whom God might be calling to team with us.”