MyStudyBible.com launch helps small church and bivocational pastors with online Bible study

Gary Mitchell has spent 20 years as a pastor in small, rural churches. Like many other church leaders across the country, Mitchell held a fulltime job to support his ministry work.

“I’ve been bivocational my whole life,” said Mitchell, who is 68 and “retired.” Now, he trains, networks with and equips the nearly 1,000 bivocational pastors in the Louisiana Baptist Convention.

“The vast majority of churches are led by a bivocational pastor,” said Mitchell. Nationwide, the Bivocational Small Church Leadership Network estimates there are about 37,000 smaller church pastors, most are bivocational, within the Southern Baptist Convention alone.

“Most bivocational pastors are looking for affordable study tools to assist them in their sermon preparation,” said Mitchell. “They are starved for information and resources. I constantly search for study materials that are easy to use and not overwhelming. Bivocational pastors have limited time and resources.”

One of the main tools that Mitchell tells pastors about is MyStudyBible.com, a robust, online Bible study tool launched in 2010 by Lifeway Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.

“I love the format of MyStudyBible.com,” said Mitchell.