About Us: Our History Timeline

My husband Jack and I ran this ministry together for 16 years until the Lord called him home in the fall of 2015. We became missionaries in Mexico 6 years after starting, and I’m now continuing our outreach work and carrying on Jack’s legacy.

Jack was a Bible teacher for over 30 years. He had a special gift of making the Word of God clear and easy to understand. He simplified complex topics, and had an amazing ability to communicate the heart of God for His people. Jack was truly beloved by his students.

As you’ll see in the timeline below, we began simply by following the Lord’s promptings, first little by little, and then on a much larger scale as both our faith, and our relationship with Him grew.

Millions have come to know the Lord more through this website, and tens of thousands have been blessed through our outreach work.

Here is an overview of our ministry so far.

May the Lord richly bless you,

Samantha Kelley

 

Click the arrow on each section below to expand and read the whole entry.

  • He never had a speaking fee or asked to be compensated for his travel expenses or time. We believed that as we followed the Lord’s direction, the Lord would take care of all the expenses. And He did, faithfully! Jack is successful as a business consultant and travels every week, serving his clients during the day and leading Bible Studies at night.

  • He never asked for money and told the Lord only of their needs. And he waited faithfully for the Lord to provide. We now feel prompted to do more. If we step out in faith beyond Jack’s regular Bible studies, would the Lord be there for us? Could we bless even more people with His help?

    Jack agrees to let me start a website for his Bible studies. We’ll run the ministry by prayer and faith, modeling it after Muller’s.

    We choose the name Grace thru Faith, based on Ephesians 2:8-9:

    For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

    It’s a reminder to us, and to all who would visit the website, that we’ve done nothing to earn our salvation. Every good work we do going forward will be out of gratitude to the Lord for what He’s already done for us, not to earn any rank or position with Him. The site goes live In September.

  • All of our website expenses are now taken care of. Jack adds to his published articles on the site and continues his in-person Bible studies as well.

    We begin recording Jack’s in-person Bible studies and offer them on the site. At first we mail out cassette tapes and later CDs. We do this for free and we pay for the materials and the postage – to dozens of countries across the globe. And the Lord continues to prove He’s faithful.

  • Visitors are coming from all over the world. Pastors use Jack’s articles for their sermons, churches use them in their Sunday school, and individuals use them for their personal Bible studies. People who haven’t been to church in years rekindle their relationship with the Lord through the pages of our site. And the Lord continues to provide.

    The website is looking a little dated, so I undertake a complete redesign. The new site is easier to use and runs a lot faster. Maybe the biggest ‘improvement’ comes from a suggestion by our supporters. They have to remind us that making it easy for them to donate is not the same as asking for donations. So we add a ‘DONATE’ button to the site.

  • And just like with the audio studies, we offer copies of the book, for free, to all who ask – anywhere in the world. The Lord responds by prompting more and more people to give.

    Jack publishes his first book, Children’s Stories of the Bible for Adults. The publisher lists it on Amazon and at other retailers. All the money we receive from book sales go to the ministry to be used for His glory.

    As we communicate more and more with our readers, we become exposed to the needs of so many people in the world. Addressing such an overwhelming need can be intimidating. We pray and ask the Lord to send us the means to help. We start by giving small amounts. The Lord faithfully restores us. We soon discover that the more we give to those in need, the more the Lord gives us to give away. Giving becomes the highlight of our lives.

    Toward the end of the year the Lord puts it on our hearts to leave our home and go to “a land I will show you” (Gen. 12:1). The message is unmistakable. We hear this verse in sermons and in phone conversations. We read it in books. We even see it on a billboard. We tell the Lord we will go wherever He sends us.

    As soon as we commit, requests from all over the world start pouring in. Many of the ministries we support write to say they are asking the Lord to send us to them. In one month we receive requests from South America, the Middle East, and Asia.

    We’re excited (and a little scared). Time for us to fast and pray.

  • We continue to see Genesis 12 everywhere. We’re feeling a lot like Abraham, but we’re still attached to our lives in the States. The Lord has told us to go, but we’ve never considered this would be a long term plan. We think He’s sending Jack on a sabbatical. You know, six months of ‘away time’ so Jack can focus on his Bible studies and his next book. Ha! The Lord often gives us small pieces of His will so we can follow Him step by step and align our hearts with His purpose.

    Soon, we both begin to sense that Mexico is where we’re supposed to be. A little odd because we don’t know anyone in Mexico and no one there has invited us. Still, we begin to investigate the possibilities and try to figure out what the Lord has in mind.

    Jack reminds me of his favorite verse, Psalm 37:4:

    Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

    We ask the Lord to make His will our heart’s desire.
    Things begin to happen – circumstances that could only have come from the Lord. Okay, now we’re certain Mexico is the place to be.

    To fully commit, we take a huge leap of faith. We put our home on the market. Of course we know we can just buy another when we get back. A week later we have a cash offer – for more than our asking price. The Lord is so generous! We close, bank the proceeds and get ready for our trip south of the border.

    We get to Mexico on Labor Day weekend. We find a small local church and show up for the Sunday service. The pastor delivers a great sermon on Genesis 12:1. Jack and I smile at each other. We know we’re in the right place.

  • We see great need, both physical and spiritual. Several months in and we realize we’re supposed to stay longer, and that the Lord had brought us here to do far more than write Bible studies.

    We’re so happy we have money in the bank. So we look for a place to stay and calculate how long before we have to return to the States.

    As we our calculating our ability, the Lord is very blunt with us. He simply tells us to give our money away. Every penny.

    How then shall we live, Lord? He assures us He’ll take care of everything, just like the Bible says. We have to go all in. Major trust decision here.

    Just a little scared? You bet! But we look back on how far we’ve come with the Lord. He’s never left us. He’s never forsaken us. The more we’ve trusted in Him and stepped out in faith, the more He’s blessed us. Just like the Bible says!

    This is the defining moment for our lives and our ministry. This is the point in time where we step from the realm of self-sufficiency to relying totally on God for all our needs. In a flash, the cares of this world vanish. We begin to experience a joy we couldn’t have imagined beforehand.

    We prove to ourselves that we really do trust the Lord. And we prove to ourselves that our God is living, He cares for us. He hears and answers our prayers.

    We never again worry about provision, either for us personally, or for the ministry. Instead of wondering where our daily bread will come from, we now try to figure out how quickly we can give away what the Lord sends us.

    Our readership grows exponentially. It’s not like we did anything to make this happen. We’re now living proof of Matthew 6:33 and Luke 6:38: But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

    In April we add a new feature to the website – Ask a Bible Teacher. Jack commits to answering every Bible question he receives and he publishes three Q&As every day. It quickly becomes the most popular part of the site.

  • We apply for and receive 501(c)3 non-profit status from the IRS to satisfy a request by our supporters.

    Readership continues to grow and our giving grows as well. With such great need around us, we turn to James 1:27 as our guide. We will set widows and the fatherless as our priorities. We support orphanages in several countries, provide food and clothing and other necessities to the poor, and support other missionaries as well.

  • As we talk it over, Jack and I know the Lord is prompting us to help. We step out in faith again, and commit to send the money to fully pay for the first outreach.

    Violent persecution of Christians took place before our first outreach. Over 50,000 were left homeless after mobs burned down homes, churches and businesses. Christians were told to convert to Hinduism or be tortured and killed. In the aftermath of the attack, those who survived and were able, fled the area, leaving mostly seniors and children.

    After much prayer, we all agree we are to go forward with the outreach. The people there need the love and provision of the Lord more now then ever! This outreach lasts ten days straight and we provide Bible lessons and food the whole time. This will become a regular tradition!

  • 2011: Jack publishes The 7 Things You Have to Know to Understand End Times Prophecy. We continue the ministry by faith and prayer. Our readership grows and so does our giving.

    We launch the next generation site design. Much more elegant in both appearance and function. Navigation is friendlier, search results more accurate and pages load a lot faster. Hooray!

    The Ask a Bible Teacher section is still the most popular on the site. Jack now gets hundreds of questions each week and can no longer promise to answer them all. He does try though!

    We celebrate our 5th year in Mexico! It’s an honor and a privilege to serve the living God.

  • And so, as always, we ask the Lord only to provide the means. That same week we receive the largest donation we’ve ever received: $10,000. We’re overjoyed. The Lord is so good!

    This is the start of our housing ministry! We choose a few projects and hire a small crew. The Lord’s hand in all this becomes so obvious. Everything just falls into place. The $10k will cover materials and labor for four projects. We repair two roofs, build a ramp for an elderly couple and build an addition onto the one-room house of a widow and her children. We fast and pray the Lord will continue to bless this part of our ministry!

    2013: Jack publishes his last book, The Redeemer. And we launch our Spanish site! Our amazing translator, Walter, has been donating his services for several years. Before, we published these articles in a separate category on the main site. Now we have the site duplicated in Spanish, including ebooks and Q&A.

    We continue to see more extreme poverty up close than ever before. Jack and I visit each potential project site, but sometimes things are so bad he asks me to stay outside. He worries that I won’t be able to handle what I see. Jack returns wrecked with compassion and visibly shaken by what he’s seen. What we deal with goes far beyond what any third world documentary would dare to show. We pray to be strengthened and for the continued ability to help.

    Every time we finish a project, the Lord provides for another. We are humbled and so grateful to be used for His glory. And we do all this while still providing food, clothing and other necessities as well as supporting other ministries and missionaries.  There is no limit to the Lord’s resources.

  • So we start posting some of the projects we are able to do. We keep Matthew 6:3 in mind, and are careful to protect the privacy of those we serve. Many of the projects are for people in such desperate situations, they want to be kept private. But some of the people we help are just so excited to share what the Lord is doing for them! The Lord is the general contractor on these projects, He brings in the best craftsmen. Before the housing market crashed in 2008, our workers were busy building second homes for wealthy Americans. So we’re blessed to have these highly skilled workers. And they’re blessed because many have gone for years without steady work. When the Lord is in charge, everyone wins.

    The Lord has supported and blessed this ministry beyond anything we could hope for or imagine! Our home building and other ministry projects are still going strong and we delight in our work for the Lord.

  • In September we celebrate 10 years as missionaries in Mexico! We’re now busier than ever. Jack has written over 9,000 articles and Q&A posts for this site. He’s answered countless other questions privately. Our local missions work and homeschooling our son take up the rest of our time. It’s a full and satisfying life and we’re so grateful. We’re awed and humbled by what the Lord has done here.

    It’s October. Jack’s birthday is right around the corner and he’s just wrapped up a teaching series on supernatural healing. Almost overnight Jack becomes ill. At first he’s thinking it’s only dehydration, but the next day we’re on our way to a San Diego hospital.

    The doctors there are befuddled. Tests show Jack has advanced stage cancer and assume he’s been in a deteriorating condition for years. But no. Just as the Lord kept Paul going strong for so many years despite the severe physical punishment he took, He also kept the cancer at bay until Jack had completed his work for the Lord.

    Jack and I expect a miraculous recovery. It makes perfect sense. This started with his series on supernatural healing, then Jack becomes gravely ill. It only makes sense that through faith, the Lord will supernaturally heal him. What an amazing and faith building experience for our readers. Events are unfolding very quickly. No other outcome comes to mind.

    I begin a fast and ask our readers for prayer. Tens of thousands respond.

    The hospice team arrives and begins to talk about how little time is left. A different reality begins to set in. Jack tells the hospice workers what he said to the Lord – that he’d love to stay a while longer and go in the rapture with his family. And if that’s not possible, he’d just like to spend his last days with family.

    Jack reminds me that our ministry has thrived all these years because of faith and prayer. No matter the outcome, that will always be. He tells me the Lord has used our gifts together for His glory. Jack’s gift of teaching has always been obvious. I’ve never really been sure of mine. He tells me I have the gifts of faith and giving. I pray he’s right. I also pray I’ll have enough faith to get through this.

    Seven days after arriving in the States, Jack goes Home to be with the Lord forever.

    There simply are no words to describe how it feels to lose your love, your partner and your best friend. I remain strong in the Lord and I hold tightly to the promise that Jack and I will embrace each other once again. Still, there’s this emptiness, this feeling of profound loss, that ebbs and flows through my days.

    Our son has been active in every aspect of our ministry since he was young. He knows well the Lord’s concern for the widows and the fatherless. When we arrive home in Mexico, just the two of us, he grabs my hand, cries and asks, “Mom, how does it feel now that you’re the widow and I’m the fatherless?” I stumble blindly for a proper response. On the one hand I feel everything. Then again, I feel nothing. I recall the many times King David cried out to the Lord in the Psalms. I can feel his anguish and his despair.

    But I also sense the guiding hand of a loving Father. The people we’ve served here in Mexico the past 10 years rally around us. They bring food and share hugs. They sit and listen. We feel the love of God in them. Many more from around the world, whom we’ve served for 16 years and have never met, respond in similar ways. Their message is clear  – you continue to do the Lord’s work and we will continue to support you.

    We finish the year broken, but secure in the palm of His hand. We receive multiple confirmations from the Lord that we should continue our outreach work and keep the site up. New visitors are arriving daily and even those who’ve been with us since the beginning are finding new insights through Jack’s timeless articles.

  • It all comes together better than we could have imagined. The harvest is plentiful. Some weeks we harvest every day just to keep up. The whole community is overjoyed. Planting, waiting, and harvesting make those Bible verses about sowing and reaping come alive like never before. (Matt 13:24, 2 Cor 9:6, Psalm 126:5)

    We’re able to continue the home ministry as well as all the other areas of giving. We continue to walk by faith, keeping our needs in front of the Lord.

    A new site design is in the works. It’s something Jack and I had been brainstorming for a year prior to his passing. The site has always been my ‘baby’ while Jack worked on Bible studies and getting reader questions answered.

    But I’m finding this redesign a real challenge. It’s not for lack of knowledge or resources. It’s for lack of my Jack. I’m missing his words of encouragement, his thoughtful comments and just the warmth of his presence. Those feelings of emptiness still churn below the surface and strike without warning.

    I go to fasting and prayer. It’s up to my Rock now. I can’t do this myself. The site begins to come together and I can see the Lord’s blessing in it. He helps me get through another day.

    And here we are, now 17 years into our ministry. The Lord’s faithfulness has sustained us each day as we built homes for the homeless, provide for widows and the fatherless, give food to the hungry, support other ministries and missionaries and share the love and provision of the Living God with the poor.

    We’ve helped literally millions of people know the Lord and His Word through this site: to know that He is good, that He cares for us, that He answers our prayers and as the author of Hebrews 4:16 tells us: that we can boldly approach His throne to find help in our time of need.

    There is still so much need, both spiritual and physical, here in our community and around the world. And I will continue, by faith and prayer, to use the resources the Lord sends for both.

    We have over 9,000 Bible resources on the site. Join me in using them to know the Lord and His Word more and more each day.