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About
The Lockman Foundation
The Lockman Foundation is a nonprofit,
interdenominational ministry dedicated to the translation, publication,
and
distribution of the New American Standard Bible, Amplified Bible, La
Biblia de las Américas, Nueva Biblia de los Hispanos, and other Biblical
resources.
Mission
Statement
The
primary purpose of The Lockman Foundation is to foster and promote Christian
charitable and educational enterprises.
This organization is a non-profit, interdenominational
ministry dedicated to the translation and distribution of the Scriptures.
The Foundation enlists the assistance of
educators from recognized evangelical institutions and pastors from mainstream
conservative denominations in the implementation of these translation projects.
The Lockman Foundation strictly adheres
to the fourfold aim that guides all of its translation work:
1. These publications shall
be true to the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
2. They shall be grammatically correct.
3. They shall be understandable.
4. They shall give the Lord Jesus Christ His proper place, the place
which the Word gives Him; therefore, no work will ever be personalized.
Doctrinal
Statement
We
believe that the entire Bible is the inspired and inerrant word of God; the
only infallible rule of faith and practice.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is
the only Begotten Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin
Mary.
We believe in the sacrificial and vicarious
death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross and that He thereby made perfect
substitutionary atonement for the sin of the world. We believe in His literal
physical resurrection from the dead,
We believe in the literal, bodily, physical,
and Premillenial return of Jesus Christ.
We believe that all men are sinners and
in an eternally lost condition apart from the saving grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
We believe that acceptance into the family
of God and eternal salvation can only be secured by believing in and by faith
accepting and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Sin–bearer, Lord
and Savior.
How
It All Began
The Lockman
Foundation began in 1942 when F. Dewey Lockman and his wife Minna put their
hearts, minds, and financial resources to the task of promoting Christian evangelism
and education. Their first project was the development of a Bible study program
for servicemen at El Toro Marine Base in Southern California.
The Lockmans
were also concerned about the needs of the children in the community. They established
summer Bible schools at many Orange County churches and Released Time Christian
Education in local public schools.
An emphasis
on development of Christian literature followed and by 1958, the Amplified
New Testament was produced by The Lockman Foundation. This Bible takes
key words and shows the many facets and shades of meaning from the original
Greek word within the body of the text.
Many opportunities to spread the gospel through the
work of The Lockman Foundation were now evident. Dewey Lockman saw the need
for a translation of the Bible that would be clearly readable in current English
language, but without sacrificing ANY accuracy in the translation from Hebrew,
Greek, and Aramaic. To this end, he organized a group of scholars and pastors
in 1959, who would, by 1971, complete the translation from the original languages
into the New American Standard Bible, modeled after the scholarship
and accuracy of the American Standard Version published in 1901.
After a few years of preparation and a few months of
preliminary work, Dewey formed a committee of four to begin the work. The committee,
composed of two Bible scholars to insure accuracy and two pastors to insure
communicative effectiveness, launched their work in 1960. Three more members
were added in 1961. Subsequently, others joined the work with the result that
more than forty-five pastors and scholars had helped in the work by the time
the New American Standard Bible, as it came to be called, was completed.
Dewey Lockman's vision began to become
a reality with the publication of the NASB New Testament in 1963 and was fully
realized with the complete Bible in 1971. He viewed the work as a "symphony,"
that is, the result of the combined efforts of many, and not as a solo.
The Lockman Foundation did not slow
its pace after the NASB was finished. It was determined that an
exhaustive concordance to the NASB was needed. Since a Bible concordance
is an alphabetical listing of words found in the Bible, together with references
to verses in which they occur, it is useful for pastors, students, and lay-readers
who want to study the Bible in depth. Having already begun work on the concordance
in 1970, The Foundation increased its staff, and the efforts of many people
brought about publication of the New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance
in early 1981.
Although Dewey and Minna Lockman passed away in the
early 1970s, their legacy continues. Dewey Lockman's dream was that
the whole world have access to God's Word in its original form, though translated
into many languages. Many of these translation works initiated by the
Lockmans have been completed, and others begun. These projects include the
translation
of the New American Standard Bible into Japanese, Mandarin Chinese,
mainland Chinese, Hindi, and Korean.
Other projects followed. The New Standard for Living
read-through-the-Bible reading guide was begun to encourage people to read through
the New American Standard Bible in one year. The New Standard for Living
radio program was initially hosted by Dr. Charles Swindoll, and later, by Dr.
Charles Feinberg, as Bible teacher.
In addition, other long-range projects are in process
or in the preliminary stages of development.
The Lockman
Foundation maintains its offices in Mr. Lockman's former homestead in La Habra,
California. Dr. Robert G. Lambeth is president.
Dr.
Robert G. Lambeth
President (1979-present)
BIOGRAPHY
Since accepting
Christ at the age of 11, Dr. Robert Lambeth has been actively dedicated to the
Christian community and has been a faithful servant in many various capacities.
Succeeding
Dr. Sutherland as President of The Lockman Foundation, Lambeth has been part
of The Lockman Foundation since the late 1950s when he first met founder, Dewey
Lockman and his wife, Minna, at the First Baptist Church in Anaheim, California
where they shared membership.
He attended
the University of Southern California on a football scholarship, and earned
a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting. After graduation, Bob became a Certified
Public Accountant. He used his management skills to further the work of Lockman
Bible Ministries while he was also developing his own CPA and business management
firm in Anaheim. Elected to the Board of Directors in 1975, he later assumed
the duties of president in 1979.
Under Mr.
Lambeth's leadership, guidance, and supervision, The Lockman Foundation continues
to promote the vision of Dewey Lockman: to translate, publish, and distribute
the Bible throughout the world.
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