The Back to the Bible Radio Archive: Complete Guide
Most sermon archives are one voice. Back to the Bible is several. The daily radio teaching programme has run out of Lincoln, Nebraska since 1939, passing from its founder Theodore Epp to Warren Wiersbe to Woodrow Kroll and on to later teachers, which makes its archive an unusual thing: a continuous broadcast identity that survived multiple changes of preacher. This guide covers what the archive holds, where to listen, and what a multi-generational radio ministry can teach a church about outlasting its own pulpit.
Maintained by
Back to the Bible
Span
1939–present
Scale
Eight decades of daily broadcasting
Formats
Audio · Some text
What Is the Back to the Bible Radio Archive?
Theodore Epp launched Back to the Bible on a Lincoln, Nebraska station in 1939 with a straightforward format: open the Bible, teach it passage by passage, daily. The programme spread across American radio and eventually into international broadcasting, and Epp taught on it for roughly four decades. Warren Wiersbe, the pastor and prolific commentator, took over the teaching role in the 1980s, and Woodrow Kroll led the ministry through the 1990s and 2000s. Later teachers have continued the broadcast.
That handover is the interesting part. Radio ministries built entirely around a single voice usually end with that voice; Back to the Bible was built around a slot and a method instead, which let the audience stay while the teacher changed. The ministry's form and emphasis have shifted over the decades, so check backtothebible.org for its current programming and organisational arrangements rather than relying on older accounts.
What's Inside the Archive
The archive is primarily audio, and it is layered by era. Which teacher you are looking for matters more here than in a single-preacher collection, because the same programme name covers very different voices.
- Daily radio teaching episodes spanning decades of broadcast, working sequentially through books of the Bible
- Material from Theodore Epp's long tenure as founder and original teacher
- Warren Wiersbe's teaching from his years leading the programme, adjacent to his written Bible commentaries
- Woodrow Kroll's era, including topical series and Bible literacy campaigns
- Devotional writing, study guides and booklets produced alongside the broadcasts
How to Access the Back to the Bible Archive
The ministry publishes its current programming free and maintains an on-demand library. Older era-specific material is less uniformly available online, so treat the official site as the authority on what survives in public.
backtothebible.org
The official site, with current programming, devotionals and the on-demand audio library.
Radio stations and networks
The daily programme has been carried on Christian radio for more than eighty years; station listings are published by the ministry.
Podcast feeds
Recent programming is distributed through podcast apps, which is the easiest way to follow a series episode by episode.
Official site: backtothebible.org · Rights: © Back to the Bible — free to stream for personal study
Want a Transcript of a Sermon from This Archive?
This archive is primarily audio, and the older material especially so. If you are researching how a passage was taught in a particular era, or tracing Wiersbe's spoken teaching against his written commentaries, a transcript is what makes the comparison practical. Check the ministry's site for text availability before assuming a programme exists only as audio.
Upload a recording you have rights to use to our free transcription tool for searchable, time-stamped text in minutes. Keep transcripts of copyrighted broadcasts for personal study.
Two neighbouring radio archives are worth reading alongside this one: the Thru the Bible archive covers J. Vernon McGee's five-year Bible programme, and the Lutheran Hour archive covers the longest-running Christian radio broadcast in the country.
Transcribe sermon audio freeHow Back to the Bible's Approach Can Inspire Your Church's Archive
A ministry that changed its teacher three times and kept its audience has something specific to teach churches facing a pastoral transition.
1.Build the slot, not the celebrity
Listeners kept the habit because the programme kept its time, its name and its method. If your church's teaching is published as a named, predictable series rather than as one person's brand, it survives a change of preacher.
2.Label the era on every file
An archive with several teachers is useless if you cannot tell who is speaking. Put the teacher's name and the date in the file title, not just in a database field someone will lose.
3.Sequential teaching ages better than topical
Episodes that walk through a book of the Bible stay useful for decades. Episodes tied to a news cycle do not. Weight your archive accordingly.
For the full step-by-step playbook, read our guides on building searchable sermon archives and publishing a searchable sermon archive in 30 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Back to the Bible free?
The daily broadcast is free to hear on radio and free to stream on backtothebible.org and through podcast apps. The ministry also produces devotional and study resources, some of which are sold or offered for a donation. The programmes remain under the ministry's copyright.
Who founded Back to the Bible?
Theodore Epp, who launched the programme on radio in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1939 and taught on it for around four decades. Warren Wiersbe took over the teaching role in the 1980s, Woodrow Kroll led the ministry through the 1990s and 2000s, and later teachers have continued it since.
Is Back to the Bible still on radio?
The ministry has continued producing daily Bible teaching content, distributed on radio and through digital channels. Its programming and organisational form have changed over the decades, so check backtothebible.org for current station listings rather than assuming an older schedule still holds.
Where can I hear Back to the Bible?
On Christian radio stations that carry the programme, on backtothebible.org, and through the ministry's podcast feeds. The site is the best place to find both the live schedule and the on-demand library.
Is Warren Wiersbe's Back to the Bible teaching still available?
Some of it is, though availability of older era-specific material varies and is not guaranteed to be complete online. Wiersbe's written Bible commentaries remain widely in print and cover much of the same ground as his broadcast teaching.
How is Back to the Bible different from Thru the Bible?
Both are long-running daily radio Bible teaching programmes, but Thru the Bible is J. Vernon McGee's single-voice journey through the whole Bible on a fixed five-year cycle, still aired from his recordings after his death. Back to the Bible kept the slot and changed the teacher, so its archive contains several different voices across eight decades.
Your church is building an archive too
Every Sunday recording is a future archive entry. Transcribe it in about five minutes, publish it as searchable text, and your congregation's preaching starts compounding the way these collections did.
More Sermon Archives
The Billy Graham Sermon Archives
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association · 70+ years of crusades
The Tim Keller Sermon Archive
Gospel in Life (Redeemer) · Thousands of sermons & talks
The Grace to You Sermon Archives
Grace to You (John MacArthur) · 3,500+ sermons
The Spurgeon Archive
Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · 3,563 sermons · 63 volumes
The Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive
Love Worth Finding Ministries · Decades of messages
The John MacArthur Sermon Archive
Grace to You / Grace Community Church · 3,500+ sermons
The Dr. David Jeremiah Radio Archives
Turning Point for God · 40+ years of broadcasts
The Lutheran Hour Sermon Archives
Lutheran Hour Ministries · 90+ years of weekly broadcasts
The Desiring God Sermon Archive
Desiring God (John Piper) · Four decades of preaching
The Harvest Christian Fellowship Sermon Archive
Harvest Christian Fellowship / Harvest Ministries · Five decades in one pulpit
The Grace to You Broadcast Archive
Grace to You (John MacArthur) · 3,500+ sermons, all in text
The Love Worth Finding Sermon Archive
Love Worth Finding Ministries · Decades of messages, still airing
The Turning Point Broadcast Archive
Turning Point Ministries (David Jeremiah) · Four decades of broadcasting
The Truth For Life Sermon Archive
Truth For Life (Alistair Begg) · Four decades of expository preaching
The In Touch Ministries Sermon Archive
In Touch Ministries · Five decades of preaching, still airing
The North Point Community Church Message Archive
North Point Ministries · Three decades of message series
The Thru the Bible Radio Archive
Thru the Bible Radio Network · The whole Bible in five years, on repeat
The Moody Church Sermon Archive
The Moody Church / Moody Church Media · More than 150 years of preaching
The Calvary Chapel Sermon Archive
Calvary Chapel movement · The whole Bible, twice over
The Saddleback Church Sermon Archive
Saddleback Church / Pastor Rick's Daily Hope · Four decades of weekend messages
Preaching this week? Get your own sermon transcribed free — upload the MP3, M4A or MP4 and get the transcript back in about 5 minutes. First sermon free, up to 90 minutes, no card.
Transcribe my sermon