Eden: Thank you so much for joining us today and being willing to interview with us. I’d love to know a couple of things that bring you joy.
Tim Wildsmith: Things that bring me joy? Right now, my wife and my dog. We adopted a dog a little less than a year ago. That has been a really fun adventure of having a different—literally—animal in the house. And I’m currently in a new habit where I’m getting up in the mornings early and walking the dog. I’m doing a prayer walk with the dog around my neighborhood. That has been something that’s been special for me recently that’s a new rhythm in my life, for sure.
And travel. We’re actually planning a couple of trips right now with our families for next year (2025), big vacations. My parents are celebrating a big anniversary, so we’re going to do a big family trip with them. Becca’s (my wife’s) family is doing something similar. We love to travel. We love to explore. So those are definitely a couple of joy-giving things for me for sure.
Eden: Yes, totally. And what kind of dog is your dog? Is it a “he” or a “she”?
Tim Wildsmith: It’s a “he”. His name is Louie. He’s incredible. He is—we didn’t really know. My wife has learned that they do doggy DNA tests to find out what the breed is. So we did this thing where they had a blood test taken at the vet and they sent it off and he came back half golden doodle, half black lab. So he’s like this beautiful black dog, but he kind of looks like a golden retriever if it was black. So yeah. He’s awesome.
Eden: Neat! Very fun! Well, we praise God that Louie is a source of joy in your life.
So you review Bibles online.
Tim Wildsmith: I do!
Eden: You have a wonderful YouTube channel and I would love to hear about that. But first, I’d love to hear how you came to know Jesus and what your testimony is.
Tim Wildsmith: Yeah, absolutely. I have the blessing of being born and raised in a Christian home. And for as long as I can remember, I was going to churches with our family. I have an older sister who’s three and a half years older than me. My dad was a corporate executive, so we bounced around a little bit for his career, but my parents always made it (church) a priority. Whenever we moved somewhere new, they wanted to find a local church where, I remember them saying, “We want the pastor to preach the Word, and we want there to be great ministries for our kids.” It’s kind of interesting: we were Baptists in one place we lived, we were Presbyterian in another place we lived, we went to a nondenominational church in another place we lived. But we were always rooted in the local church. And my parent’s faith was so important to them.
And so I became a follower of Christ at a Baptist church, Northside Baptist Church, outside of Indianapolis, when I was about eight years old, I got baptized and continued to grow in my faith through children’s ministry, AWANA, youth group, and things like that. So really, I’ve been part of a family of faith my whole life but had that conversion experience when I was a kid. I think I probably truly started to make my faith my own when I was a college student as a young man out on my own.
Eden: Wow. That’s wonderful. I’ve heard it said that whether you’re eight or 18 or 80, we all come to Jesus by the miracle of the Holy Spirit opening our eyes to see the glory of Jesus and changing us. And I know that for people, myself included, who grew up in church and who had parents that followed Jesus, it’s easy to feel like maybe our transformation wasn’t as miraculous. But you think about how just as God might pursue someone that’s never heard of him, he also pursues us through our parents or the people that were ministering to us as little kids. And God still broke through a sinful heart and changed it and made it his own.
But you mentioned that you work at Belmont University, but you also have this YouTube channel where you review Bibles. So tell us a little bit about how you began doing that. What inspired that and what does your ministry online look like?
Tim Wildsmith: Sure, yeah. So I’ll take you back a few years to the spring of 2020. I’m sure most of your listeners can remember about the middle of March 2020 we had this little thing called the global pandemic. And I was in a season where I had been a youth pastor for several years, and I was in this in-between phase where I had gone full time to seminary. I went to Fuller Theological Seminary. I started my career as a worship leader, got into pastoral ministry, decided to go to seminary a little bit later in my 30s. So it’s spring of 2020. I’m in my last semester at Fuller. Everything is online, and my parents sent me a message and said, “Hey, we want to buy you a really nice Bible for graduation.”
And so while everybody else was—I think I do remember it was The Tiger King, the show on Netflix, that everybody was talking about—the world was going crazy about all this stuff that was going viral during Covid, I was that guy who discovered the world of premium Bibles (nice Bibles out there from all these different publishers). And so I was just going on a deep dive every day finding these different publishers and seeing what Bibles they had to offer. And it became something that during those first few weeks of Covid, I kind of got obsessed with. I really found it fascinating. I sent a couple of things to my parents, but then I ordered a couple of Bibles for myself because I got so excited about it, and they showed up. And through that searching, I had found some Facebook groups that were about Bibles, and I had found a couple guys on YouTube who did these little Bible reviews. I got one of these Bibles and I couldn’t find anything about it online. I decided to make a little video and share it on YouTube. It’s probably—I’ll be honest with you, Eden—it’s probably a little bit of the dopamine effect, because that video got viewed a couple thousand times pretty fast. And I was like, oh, this is fun! And a couple people shared it in those Facebook groups.
And so that started this little journey where I started making a video every couple weeks. And then within a year, I was making one video a week, and then I started making a couple videos a week, and then publishers started sending me Bibles and saying, “hey, can you review this for us?” And it started to grow. I just recently surpassed 100,000 subscribers on YouTube, which is wild.
I tell people my goal is I want to help people find a Bible that’s right for them. So a lot of Christian bookstores, like brick-and-mortar stores, don’t exist anymore. So most people are buying online. So I think to myself, if I can show this Bible and show what it looks like on the inside and the outside and give people a good feel for it, that will help them make an informed decision.
There’s so many different types of Bibles. People don’t even know that that there’s lots of different styles and study Bibles and devotional Bibles and reference Bibles and so it’s fun to show different things. And then that has led to me diving into the world of Bible translations and exploring the differences between those and writing a book about that that’s coming out later this year. So it’s just been a lot of fun to see it slowly grow. But yeah, I still do pretty standard Bible reviews and unboxing videos, and then I try to branch out and make some other fun Bible-related content on my channel. But it’s been fun to watch it grow. The community has really, really been awesome.
Eden: Neat. Okay, I have like five questions on my mind after hearing that.
Tim Wildsmith: I love it.
Eden: But okay, I think I’ll start with—so let’s say that I am not someone who grew up in church and I’m listening to you. I’m wondering, if there are so many types of Bibles out there, is the Bible trustworthy? If it can be put into all these versions…I guess as a newer believer or maybe someone that isn’t familiar with the difference in Bibles, they would be like, “How are they all God’s Word? I’m a little confused.” How would you answer someone with that kind of qualm?
Tim Wildsmith: Absolutely. So, I’ve got a book coming out later this year. It’s called Bible Translations for Everyone. And like my channel is trying to help people find a Bible, the book is really trying to help people understand Bible translations. And I researched it in a very academic way, but I wrote it in a way—it’s called Bible Translations for Everyone because it’s not like a dense, overly academic book. It’s really easy.
But in that book, before I talk through individual translations, I explain how we go from the ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek manuscripts of the Bible into English translations. Part of that process is looking at the textual history of the Bible and the ancient manuscripts that we have access to, and how historians and biblical scholars catalog all of these different Hebrew manuscripts and everything from little Greek fragments of papyri to codexes of the entire New Testament. They catalog all of that. They study it. They compare and contrast it. There are some studies out there that have shown that we have way more certainty of the Bible because there’s so many copies of it that have been made that are ancient than we do with a lot of Greek literature and famous philosophy and things like that. And so we talk through the book about how the Bible really is trustworthy because of this process that’s happened for the last couple of centuries, in particular, of understanding and researching the texts. And then these very, very scholarly editions of the Hebrew, the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew, and the Greek New Testament are produced. And so that’s the basis—it’s called the Textual Basis—that a translation team, let’s say, take a translation of the Bible, like the NIV, the New International Version—their scholars then take these versions of the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, and they study that so they can translate it into English. And so we do have a lot of transparency and a lot of credibility in the ancient texts that we do have, and how we organize them to make them as faithful as we can when we’re translating into English.
Eden: Okay, that is so helpful and, correct me if I’m wrong, but when you talk about different “kinds” of Bibles, you’re talking about, number one, a difference in translation, which, according to my understanding, usually has to do with a difference in readability or how close the translation stays to the original format and language. But then you’re also talking about not necessarily that there are different interpretations of the Bible in terms of “kinds,” but that they’re organized differently or include different content. How would you add to that? So if someone says, “When you talk about all these different “kinds” of Bibles you’re reviewing, what do you mean beyond just translation differences?”
Tim Wildsmith: That’s a great question. So I think about it in terms as simple as, there is a classic. When I think of a Bible in my head, I think of my grandmother’s King James Bible that had two columns of text in a very old-school typeface. Often there’s a center column that has really, really tiny cross-references in it, and that’s what the Bible looked like.
And there are still Bibles like that. But there are also Bibles that are, what we would call, single column Bibles, where instead of the two columns, it’s a single column. It looks more like a book that we would read today, and that’s a different reading experience. So you have the style of the typesetting is one of the things when I’m talking about different types of Bibles. Single column versus two column.
Some Bibles don’t have cross-references, and for a lot of people, they don’t even know how to use cross-references. So if you don’t know how to use them very well, you should either learn or you should get a Bible that doesn’t have them if you’re not going to use them all the time.
I think everybody needs a great study Bible. A study Bible is a Bible that, usually about half the page is the words of Scripture, and then the bottom half is curated notes that are sharing historical and literary context about what you’re reading. So you read something, and you go, “I don’t really understand what that’s about.” Well, then you hop down and the notes are explanatory notes that explain it to you. There are devotional Bibles where there’s going to be thoughtfully written devotionals interspersed with the text of Scripture that connects to what you’re reading, so you can think about applying it to your life in that way.
There are so many different kinds of Bibles. And then you go into things like giant print, personal size, all of these different shapes and sizes of Bibles.
So that’s what I’m talking about is—I’ll do a video where I say, “Here’s my top five favorite personal size Bibles that are easy to carry with you on the go.” Or I’ll do, “These are my top five favorite giant print Bibles for those of you who can’t stand how small the words in Bibles are typically.” There’s just so many different shapes and sizes, and we have a lot of different publishers who are doing really great jobs of producing unique, high-quality editions of the Bible in a lot of different formats. When I’m talking about types of Bibles, I’m usually talking about a format or a type setting. And then yes, translation is something on top of that that makes them unique. And there may be different translations that have similar formats. It’s very fun. It’s a wide world. You’d be surprised at how many new Bibles are published every year that are taking a different approach for one of those things that I just mentioned.
Eden: Yes. That is so helpful. What would you say to someone who’s overwhelmed by the options of Bibles? Like, there’s so many, how do I pick the right one?
Tim Wildsmith: I hear questions from people all the time. I get messages, emails, direct messages on social media from my viewers saying, “Okay, I’ve watched 76 videos and I’m stuck. I don’t know which Bible to get.” And at that point I just say, “Hey, you need to go with your gut and narrow down the translation you’re looking for.” That’s why I wrote the book—because so many people, the first place that they’re trying to narrow down the translation. So I say narrow it down to a translation and then think about the style of the Bible that—like I said, single column, two columns, does it have references? You can slowly start to narrow it down, and usually you can narrow it down to 2 or 3 different Bibles that you really like, that you’re going to choose between if you start to take it in steps like that. So that’s what I try to help people do, is narrow it down. Okay, take this one out. Take that one out. What’s your budget? Because there are Bibles that are very affordable, and there are Bibles that are expensive because they’re made with nicer leather or nicer paper, those sorts of things. So then you can continue to narrow it down.
Eden: Yes. I’ve had, in my own experience, times where I don’t have the Bible with me that’s my favorite. And I am really sentimental. So I feel more attached to that Bible. Maybe I’m on a trip and I didn’t bring that one along, and I always come back to whatever Bible is in my lap is still God’s Word given to me out of his love. And he can speak to me through that book. Sometimes I have found that different translations, actually having multiple of them, like a KJV (King James Version), and an NLT (New Living Translation), and an ESV (English Standard Version), can actually help your understanding or freshen what you read in the Word. Because maybe a verse is put a certain way in one translation that it’s not put in a different translation, and one is especially beautiful or especially helpful. So I think all Bibles are God’s Word and will impact us because we know that the Word is alive and powerful (Hebrews 4:12). But yeah, that’s a really helpful word of advice on when someone feels overwhelmed. Think about the price. Think about whittling down the options. Get rid of the ones you don’t really want.
So I know that most of your time is spent on Bibles, but we also like to ask if there is a book that has transformed your walk with Jesus outside of the Bible. Because just as we want to introduce people to the Bible and get them excited about reading God’s Word, we also want to equip them with resources that will help them in their walk with Jesus, and also that will direct them back to the Bible. So is there a book that’s been transformational in your own walk with the Lord?
Tim Wildsmith: Yes. The first that comes to mind is a book called The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard. That’s a book that I read 2 or 3 times in my life and is one that I reference a lot whenever I’m preaching or speaking. Willard talks about, what does it really mean to apply the principles of the Bible to our lives and for them to shape the way we live? That’s been a really important book for me, where I have quotes from that book going around in my mind all the time.
And then another that I recently returned to is maybe one of the most famous books in Christianity, C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. I read that as a young man and that was very—he’s deeply philosophical. And I remember being like 19 or 20 and reading that book for the first time. And it really messing me up in a good way, you know, so to speak. And I actually recently led a book discussion group where I read it again and was blown away by how much it meant to me and how it struck me in different ways reading it from the phase of life that I’m in now. There are so many times where I was just highlighting it and writing notes in the pages, the margins of the book, because he was saying things that definitely impacted me. So The Spirit of the Disciplines and Mere Christianity are two that have definitely shaped me in a big way.
Eden: Awesome. Very helpful. And your own book on Bible translation, when about does that come out?
Tim Wildsmith: Release date is November 19th, 2024. It’s called Bible Translations for Everyone, and it’s being published by Zondervan. And so it’s actually available now for pre-order on Amazon, Christianbook.com, and Barnes and Noble and all those places. Yeah, it’ll be out this fall.
Eden: Okay, wonderful. Well, thank you for your time, Tim. Thank you for sharing with us about the ministry God has you involved in and what he’s done in your life. I’m really hoping that anyone who watches this will be inspired to go look at, first of all, your YouTube channel and then go exploring and find the Bible that’s right for them. So thank you for your time today.
Tim Wildsmith: Thank you Eden.
Eden: Thank you so much for listening to our podcast today. If you enjoyed our conversation, I would encourage you to like or subscribe to our podcast so that you can hear the next conversation. And if something that you heard today spoke to your heart or got you thinking, I would encourage you to not let the day go by without talking to God about what’s on your mind. We believe that he loves you and that he’s pursuing you today out of that love.