Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Walk Thru the Bible


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. Overall consensus is to Keep, The sources kindly provided by meet GNG so wrapping it up as Keep (non-admin closure) – Davey 2010 Talk 00:43, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

Walk Thru the Bible

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Questionably notable and improvable as the best I found was only this and this. This has also existed since August 2006 with not much better change and actually simply more unhelpful changes. Pinging past users, , , and and also users interested with this subject , ,  and. SwisterTwister  talk  07:55, 2 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Organizations-related deletion discussions.  SwisterTwister   talk  07:59, 2 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Christianity-related deletion discussions.  SwisterTwister   talk  07:59, 2 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Georgia (U.S. state)-related deletion discussions.  SwisterTwister   talk  07:59, 2 November 2015 (UTC)


 * Delete Churches are not inherently notable. Poorly sourced. One press release, a self-source, and an article that's actually about another subject. That's not significant nor independent. DarkAudit (talk) 10:05, 2 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Delete. Not a church, exactly, but a non-notable provider of educational services.  DGG ( talk ) 03:10, 3 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Keep Presentism is a common problem in the looks noms and editors take as they work through the long lists of articles up for AFD. It is true that a quick search on, say, news google (here:, seems to indicate that this is a non-notable organization.  The tip-off that induced me to look deeper is the 5th item in that search, an article from Christianity Today indicating that the guy who started this organization/movement stepped down from his subsequent mission in 2006, this, to me, indicated the need to look further back than news google or the first few pages of searchs.  I logged into Proquest Newspapers and up popped  Hundreds of article in reputable daily papers about a movement/program of Bible study that appears ot have been in its heyday 20-30 years ago.  The topic is patently notable; the article needs improvement.E.M.Gregory (talk) 21:00, 5 November 2015 (UTC)
 * No objections to delete. I lasted edited the page 9 years ago. DFH (talk) 14:40, 6 November 2015 (UTC)
 * I object. The organization was significant in the late 20th century, and WP:NOTTEMPORARY.E.M.Gregory (talk) 17:36, 6 November 2015 (UTC)


 * Weak keep. I have added some citations; these make more than passing mention of the subject, but (so far) are not primarily about it. – Fayenatic  L ondon 14:54, 12 November 2015 (UTC)

Keep per the significant coverage in reliable sources.  The article notes: "Several other North Carolina churches offered Walk Thru programs this fall, including First Christian Church in Kernersville and Pinedale Christian Church in Winston-Salem. Walk Thru the Bible Ministries offers programs on the New Testament, marriage, managing finances and general Bible study. The Old Testament course is the most popular because many people struggle to memorize its vast group of characters and events, said Kevin Keene, a Walk Thru Ministries spokesman."  The article notes: "A Walk Thru the Bible is a history class without note taking. It's a global excursion in one day and a geography lesson with ancient rivers and valleys mapped out in church gyms. Most of all, according to its proponents, the seminars are memory retention exercises that imprint some 77 biblical events on the minds of participants. ...  Hall explained that Bible scholar Bruce Wilkinson started the education ministry 15 years ago to provide an effective, entertaining and interactive way to teach the Old and New Testaments.  As many as 3,000 seminars will be held next year in more than 20 countries, including Russia, said Wilkinson."  The article notes: "[Jim] Hall's organization [Walk Thru the Bible Ministries], popular in local churches for its Walk Thru the Old and New Testament seminars, is bringing a new product to Lancaster - a seminar called 'A Biblical Portrait of Marriage.' ... As in its other seminars, Walk Thru the Bible's new program will provide a workbook for participants, and its presentation methods will include group interaction. Wilkinson founded Walk Thru the Bible Ministries in 1976. Headquartered in Atlanta and Fort Mill, S.C., the ministry has earned wide recognition for its lively seminars that help people learn the names, places and events of Bible times.  On Saturday, Walk Thru's 10,000th seminar will be given in Bethlehem.  Wilkinson's organization publishes a family of devotional magazines, and he has edited numerous publications."  The article notes: "Late on a Saturday afternoon at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, men, women and children stood and, while wiping their lips, flailing their arms and pointing this way and that, recited the major events of the New Testament in one minute and 51 seconds. In the `Walk Thru the Bible' system developed by Bruce Wilkinson, participants learn a code word and a hand motion for each major event in the New Testament. This sign is the symbol for tabernacle. ... Wilkinson developed the seminars 'by accident' while working on a master's thesis as a graduate student at Dallas Theological Seminary. ...  His fellow students enjoyed the word and motion presentation, and the program's popularity grew. When the invitations proved more than he could handle on his own, he trained his friends to conduct the seminars. As students graduated, they booked seminars for the churches they pastored and word spread further. When Wilkinson himself graduated from the seminary in 1974, he took a teaching position at the non-denominational Multnomah School of the Bible in Portland, Ore., and continued the seminars, mostly as a hobby. By 1976, however, Wilkinson, still in his 20s, realized he had a full-time ministry in the seminars. He and four other men resigned their full-time jobs and formed the nucleus of the organization." The article also provides detailed coverage of the organization's history, products, and reach: "In 1978, the organization moved to Atlanta. He has been pleased with the city. 'Atlanta turned out to be just what we hoped it would be.' With an annual budget in excess of $7 million, 70 instructors in the United States and 20 overseas, the ministry has reached some 730,000 people in churches from Assembly of God to United Methodist. New seminars are on the drawing board. Three magazines for adults are being published and a fourth, especially for teenagers, is on the launching pad."  The article notes: "Bruce Wilkinson, the Atlanta author catapulted to international best-sellerdom by 'The Prayer of Jabez,' is leaving Walk Thru the Bible, the ministry he founded 25 years ago to teach laymen the Scriptures. ...Walk Thru the Bible claims to be the world's largest Bible teaching seminar organization. The nondenominational ministry was host to more than 2,500 seminars last year in the United States, helping the people in the pews memorize the structure of the Bible through word association and gestures. Its international division reaches more than 50 countries. The ministry also produces books, devotional publications and magazines."</li> <li> The article notes: "'Anyone with the desire can master the major events, the people, the places of the entire Old Testament in just one day,' Bruce H. Wilkinson, founder and president, said in a promotional video. Wilkinson was a Bible teacher in Portland, Ore., when he began developing his Old Testament seminar in 1972. Walk Thru the Bible was incorporated in 1976 and now is taught in more than two dozen languages."</li> </ol>There is sufficient coverage in reliable sources to allow Walk Thru the Bible to pass Notability, which requires "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject". Cunard (talk) 05:59, 14 November 2015 (UTC) </li></ul> <div class="xfd_relist" style="border-top: 1px solid #AAA; border-bottom: 1px solid #AAA; padding: 0px 25px;"> Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks,  Sandstein   12:20, 14 November 2015 (UTC) <div class="xfd_relist" style="border-top: 1px solid #AAA; border-bottom: 1px solid #AAA; padding: 0px 25px;"> Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, — UY Scuti <sup style="color:green; font-family:Times;">Talk  19:02, 21 November 2015 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.