“The retreat was amazing! I learned so much, and my faith was built up!”
This encouraging feedback came from a high school student who had been struggling in her faith. After hearing one of our ABR staff speak at a youth retreat, she went home and told her mother that her trust in the truth of God’s Word had been renewed.
This is the real-world impact of ABR’s focus on reaching the next generation for Jesus by demonstrating the historical reliability of the Bible. Our goal is to remove intellectual barriers to Christianity that often exist in the minds of today’s youth who are growing up in a world that treats the Bible as merely a collection of myths and legends. In order to continue to communicate effectively with younger generations, ABR has begun making short videos designed for easy viewing on cellphones using popular social media apps like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, platforms that are most frequently used by today’s teens. In addition, two of our staff – Abigail Van Huss and Bryan Windle – have written children’s books about biblical archaeology that will soon be published. Moreover, we have plans to begin a new section in our magazine, Bible & Spade, specifically geared towards younger readers.
Of course, we continue to reach out to adults as well. March 18th will mark the eighth anniversary of the airing of the first episode of our TV show, Digging for Truth. Since then, we’ve produced over 280 episodes. Our top ten most popular episodes alone have over 2.5 million views combined! In addition, Mark Hassler, the new editor of Bible & Spade, is rejuvenating our magazine and getting publication back on track.
One of the things that makes ABR a unique apologetics ministry is that we are actively engaged in archaeological fieldwork. Lord willing, 2026 will mark our eighth excavation season at Shiloh. We hope to continue uncovering the monumental building (the tabernacle?), the Late Bronze Age favissa, and the gate complex. We also hope to soon publish Volume One of the final excavation report from Khirbet el-Maqatir, which focuses on the Bronze and Iron Age remains. While there are always risks associated with excavations in the Middle East, we trust that the Lord will bring peace to the region in time for our scheduled excavation at Shiloh in May.
As this work moves forward, we invite you to partner with us in demonstrating the historical reliability of the Bible through archaeological and biblical research. Please pray for the ABR leadership team as we seek God’s wisdom in guiding the future of the ministry. Please consider financially supporting our important and distinctive work. We pray that ABR continues to be a blessing to you and to many others around the world for years to come.
Sincerely,
Daniel J. Mearns, President
