The Story Of Amazing Facts – 60 Years of Miracles

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The Birth of the Ministry: 1965–1966

The story of Amazing Facts begins in early 1965, when a small group of faithful pastors gathered in Baltimore, Maryland, to discuss a problem that was heavy on their hearts: Their churches were stagnating, and traditional outreach efforts had become ineffective.

What could be done?

For the next few weeks, these men prayed earnestly for divine guidance. Then God answered their petitions with a surprising idea: a radio broadcast that would grab secular people’s attention. It seemed impractical. They had no equipment, no experience, and no money. But they knew God was leading, so they moved forward in faith.

Cyril Miller and Bill May took the lead in developing the new ministry. The first step was to find a host for the radio broadcast. They decided on Joe Crews, a successful pastor and evangelist. But Joe turned them down! He knew about pastoring and evangelism—but radio? That was out of his expertise.

However, Bill was sure that Joe was the man God wanted, so he didn’t give up. And in time, Joe caught the vision and came on board with the new ministry: Amazing Facts!

Joe went to work and developed the Amazing Facts 15-minute radio format. He would start with an interesting historical, cultural, or scientific fact to catch listeners’ attention and then follow it with a vital Bible message.

They were ready to begin, but they still had no recording or broadcasting equipment …

Again, they went to their knees and asked God to intervene. The Lord did not disappoint! A few days later, a local physician offered the use of his personal recording studio—absolutely free!

So, on March 7, 1966, the first Amazing Facts broadcast hit the airwaves on WBMD in Maryland. On that day, a car salesman in Essex happened to hear the broadcast. Convicted by the truth, he contacted Amazing Facts and was soon baptized. Ever since, untold thousands have been brought into God’s fold by the Holy Spirit’s work through Amazing Facts.

A Growing Ministry: 1967-1993

Along with that first broadcast in 1966, God blessed the ministry substantially, expanding its outreach efforts. While Joe Crews was sharing amazing facts on the airwaves, Bill May began writing a new series of Bible studies. Dubbed “Information Folders,” each study focused on a Bible doctrine. Intriguing titles and eye-catching designs enhanced the appeal of these life-changing studies.

The goal was to offer the Information Folders free of charge at the end of each radio program to encourage listeners to study God’s Word. Where could the young ministry come up with the $20,000 needed for initial development and printing?

God provided through the generosity of His people, just as He has for the past 60 years. A local camp meeting group raised the money in a matter of minutes. Within a few months, Joe was offering free Bible studies at the end of each broadcast.

In 1972, Amazing Facts launched its Bible School with a redesign of the Information Folders, now called Amazing Facts Study Guides. It quickly became one of Amazing Facts’ most important evangelistic endeavors.

Step by step, God opened more doors, and Amazing Facts expanded its literature ministry. It published dozens of pocket-sized books, including Joe’s “Library of Sermons.” In the late 1970s, Joe started training Bible workers to help with public evangelism.

Soon, the growing ministry needed more space. After a day of fasting and prayer, a generous supporter donated a large plot of land in Frederick, Maryland. Just a few months later, enough donations came in to construct a new building entirely debt-free.

In the mid-80s, Allen Hrenyk, an evangelistically minded young businessman, became the vice president of finances. He saw an opportunity in an area that Crews had been hesitant to tackle: television.

Again, God’s leading was clear as donations began pouring in for TV evangelism. By the fall of 1986, Amazing Facts became the first Sabbath-keeping ministry to record a full-length prophecy seminar and broadcast it on television.

God was expanding the story of Amazing Facts!

New Leader, Same Vision: 1993-1996

For nearly 30 years, Joe Crews prayerfully led the ministry of Amazing Facts. His innovative evangelism and visionary leadership grew the ministry from a single radio broadcast to a multimedia broadcasting and soul-winning powerhouse. Thousands of people met Jesus and gave their lives to Him through Joe’s loving ministry.

Then, in 1994, tragedy struck when Joe died suddenly. The ministry was in deep mourning.

Yet all was not lost. God had already led Joe to choose a successor with a likeminded passion for evangelism. Doug Batchelor was a senior pastor and evangelist with a big heart for media ministry. Together with his wife and partner in ministry, Karen, Pastor Doug had shown an unusual ability to communicate with both churchgoers and secular-minded skeptics.

Like his predecessor, Pastor Doug had never planned to lead a media ministry, and he and Karen initially turned down the invitation to join Amazing Facts. But after much prayer, they accepted the call for Pastor Doug to become the ministry’s next leader.

It didn’t take long for Pastor Doug to launch two new TV programs, The Everlasting Gospel and Central Study Hour. He also brought his energetic style to radio in 1995 with Bible Answers Live, a broadcast in which he’d answer Bible questions from callers live on the air—it has since become a hallmark of Amazing Facts programming in both radio and TV formats.

The television version began in 2021 and broadcasts on AFTV, YouTube, Good News Network, and various other private TV stations. The radio version is still heard on over 400 stations, including SiriusXM, LifeTalk, 3ABN Radio, Strong Tower, and Salem Radio Network.

Not long after Pastor Doug joined Amazing Facts, the church next to the ministry’s headquarters burned down, and the ministry needed to move. After much prayer, leadership voted to relocate Amazing Facts to Northern California in 1996.

To New York and to the World

Driven by a deep love of the gospel and bold evangelism, Pastor Doug began leading Amazing Facts’ expansion across multiple platforms—television, radio, the internet, outreach training, literature, and live evangelism.

In 1999, Pastor Doug was asked to go to New York City, his boyhood hometown, to host the Net ’99 evangelistic series to proclaim the everlasting gospel. Millennium of Prophecy was a broadcasting milestone. Uplinked by satellite and translated live into multiple languages, Millennium was seen around the globe and put Amazing Facts and the three angels’ messages on the map in a way never seen before.

Over the next 20 years, Pastor Doug and the Amazing Facts team traveled the world, visiting over 60 nations to preach the everlasting gospel. With Karen at his side, Pastor Doug has presented soul-reaping series in Washington, D.C., India, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, Australia, Africa, and Central and South America. Recent trips have taken him to New Zealand, Pakistan, and Cuba.

In 2022, Pastor Doug was visiting with Ted Wilson, General Conference president, and asked, “If you could choose anywhere in the world to host a series of meetings that would be broadcast around the world, where would it be?”

Without hesitation, Wilson said, “New York City.”

That conversation was the genesis of Prophecy Odyssey, Amazing Facts’ most recent evangelistic series broadcast to the world. Amazingly, God opened the doors for Amazing Facts to return to the same venue used in 1999, this time broadcasting via the internet and TV to a potential audience of billions. Utilizing advanced artificial intelligence for live translation and virtual reality graphics, Prophecy Odyssey presented timeless truth in an up-to-date format that any church can use to host their own evangelistic series.

AFCOE: Training Evangelists for the World

By the end of the 1990s, God had led Amazing Facts to become a recognized leader in worldwide evangelistic ministry for His remnant church. Many churches, conferences, and laypeople were coming to Amazing Facts asking how to do evangelism more effectively.

Amazing Facts staff prayed for God’s direction in meeting this growing need, and ministry leadership felt called to place the best resources into the hands of those seeking wide-ranging Bible knowledge. They sought out the best teachers and methods for achieving kingdom-growing results.

They soon designed a comprehensive curriculum that would not only transmit a wealth of biblical knowledge in a four-month program but would also teach how to share that truth with others. This new initiative was launched in 2000 as the Amazing Facts Center of Evangelism (AFCOE).

Over the past 25 years, AFCOE has trained thousands of students to become effective Bible workers who can lead people to Jesus. Many graduates have gone on to become full-time evangelists, Bible workers, missionaries, and pastors.

AFCOE Online was launched in 2018 so that people who cannot attend in-person classes can still gain the knowledge and skills needed to share Christ effectively.

God has also opened doors for AFCOE programs to launch around the world. AFCOE classes are now offered in Brazil, Africa, Indonesia, Oceania, Europe, and the Philippines. Dedicated local leaders teach students how to do evangelism in their unique cultural context, and students spend time in intensive Bible study. They even learn skills like natural health remedies and how to do children’s programs. Each student also holds evangelistic meetings in their communities.

Thousands have given their lives to Christ because of your enthusiastic support of our international AFCOE students.

The W.O.R.D. Center

When Amazing Facts headquarters moved from Maryland to California in 1996, an office was established in Roseville and video production took place at the Sacramento Central Church. While it was a workable setup, it was far from ideal in that it limited the ministry’s capacity to develop complex media projects to reach the world.

Pastor Doug and the Amazing Facts team began to dream of building a media-ready church and new ministry headquarters. God began the process in 2007 when Pastor Jëan Ross, vice president of evangelism, and others prayerfully planted a church in Granite Bay, a suburb of Sacramento. Shortly thereafter, Amazing Facts was miraculously able to acquire 75 acres of prime land for the future church and headquarters.

But while the team was eager to get started, obstacles delayed the project for a decade. All the same, through the generosity of faithful ministry donors, God provided ample funds so that Amazing Facts didn’t need to rely on loans, miss a payment on a bill, or stop broadcasting God’s truth.

Finally, God opened the doors to construction. The World Outreach, Revival, and Discipleship Center (W.O.R.D. Center) was specifically built for media ministry. Dedicated recording studios are located in the Amazing Facts building, and the church facility next door seats over 1,400 and is specially wired for recording and broadcasting seminars and church services.

Amazing Facts staff moved into their new offices in 2019, and the church held its first services in the new facility on October 22, 2020. Twenty years of prayer, planning, and sacrifice culminated in dedicating the new campus, debt-free, on April 2, 2022.

Ever since, the W.O.R.D. Center has hosted multiple summits and four evangelistic seminars. The Amazing Facts Youth Conference also began here in 2021, bringing together young people from around the world who are seeking the Lord. Every church service, outreach program, and evangelistic meeting has been recorded for broadcast, helping to spread the good news to all the world!

Glory to God: What He Has Done Through You!

Over the past 60 years, God has grown Amazing Facts into a dynamic, multifaceted evangelistic organization that is sharing truth all around the globe. But that growth would not have been possible without your dedication—our faithful co-laborer in evangelism.

Because God worked through you—Amazing Facts International now has offices in Canada, China, Indonesia, Africa, Europe, Australia, Brazil, and the Philippines.

Because God worked through you—Amazing Facts radio has reached millions since our first broadcast in 1966. Our flagship radio program, Bible Answers Live, broadcasts on over 400 stations, including SiriusXM, LifeTalk, 3ABN Radio, and the Salem Radio Network, while also having expanded to television.

Because God worked through you—Amazing Facts launched into television in 1986. Today, ministry programming can be found on cable, satellite, and streaming services around the world, reaching a potential audience of billions. Amazing Facts broadcasts on 17 TV stations in the USA, including History, TBN, 3ABN, and Hope Channel.

Because God worked through you—every Amazing Facts program ends with a free offer to help listeners learn more about God and His Word. Tens of thousands of hungry people contact us to receive these offers every year.

Because God worked through you—Amazing Facts launched its first website in 1998, allowing us to share the good news of the gospel online. Today, Amazing Facts hosts 57 websites that proclaim God’s truth in English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, and many other languages. 

Because God worked through you—over 600,000 prisoners have access to Amazing Facts’ truth-filled materials on the PANDO app, and thousands of inmates have made decisions for Christ.

Because God worked through you—Amazing Facts launched its first social media account in 2009. Today, our ten social accounts have hundreds of thousands of followers and serve as a key way to interact with people seeking hope in these last days.

Because God worked through you—our media and publishing departments have produced 13 sharing magazines, four full-length documentaries, the Amazing Facts Prophecy Study Bible, plus multiple Bible studies, books, and DVDs.

Because God worked through you—6.5 million individual Bible lessons have been sent to seekers over the past 60 years. More than 118,000 people have graduated from Amazing Facts’ internet and mail-based Bible Schools. Our staff and volunteers answer scores of Bible questions every day. The virtual mountain of mail we receive each week tells story after story of blessings in the lives of the students.

This testimony of Amazing Facts International proclaims the God who loves His children and is passionate about their salvation. It is the story of sacrifices made to hasten the return of Christ—and prayers answered for the cause of evangelism. It is the record of miracles touching millions of people around the globe. Thank you for being a part of the Amazing Facts story!