A partnership of eternal value

American Family Radio’s 2025 Truth For Youth (TFY) Bible Week concluded with a record-setting 65,105 copies of the Truth For Youth Bible requested. Parents, students, and grandparents responded to the initial goal of 65,000 copies by committing to give each one to an unsaved young person. This year marks the 25th anniversary of this annual partnership between Tim Todd of Revival Fires International (revivalfires.org), American Family Radio (AFR), and American Family Association (AFA).

The roots of that relationship reach far back to both ministries’ founders’ mutual commitment to the gospel.

Todd recalled, “My dad, Cecil Todd [founder of Revival Fires], was connected very closely with Don Wildmon [founder of AFA], in the 1960s, and they worked on several projects together,” he said. “Then 25 years ago, I approached Don and some of the leadership at AFA and let them know we had a Bible for young people that … we’d like to be able to give … away on a much larger scale.”

The concept of being involved in spreading God’s Word to teenagers resonated deeply with Wildmon, and the now 25-year relationship was off and running.

The format of the Truth For Youth Bible (revivalfires.org/truth) is uniquely designed for today’s students.

“It consists of the entire New Testament in the God’s Word Translation – a very accurate, easy-to-read translation – along with 100 pages of powerful comic stories that deal with the truth about moral issues that young people are confronted with on a regular basis,” Todd explained.

This unconventional approach was a good match for Wildmon, who was also known for thinking outside the box.

Eternal significance

Over the years, Revival Fires International has distributed some 2.5 million Truth For Youth Bibles. Of that number, over 1,365,000 have been shared by locking arms with AFA and AFR.

“God has truly blessed these campaigns,” said AFA President Tim Wildmon. “It’s evident that God has moved in the hearts of many AFR listeners over the years to provide these Bibles. We’re truly grateful for this partnership.”

Although only God knows exactly how many students have been saved after reading a Truth For Youth Bible, the number of students responding has been very encouraging.

“There’s a decision card in the Truth For Youth Bible they can fill out,” Todd said. “When they send it to our ministry, we connect them with a youth pastor of a local church where they live. That way, we can get them plugged in to a Bible-believing church.

“[We do know] we’ve had over 30,000 young people who have given their hearts to the Lord,” he added.

Eternal truth

In addition to the number of students who have received a Truth For Youth Bible, the collaboration with AFA and AFR has paid off in unexpected ways. One of those is a new comic feature, whose title came from writers of The Stand. It was a combined effort from the entire magazine department, but Todd’s team chose staff writer Jordan Chamblee’s idea for the title.

“In the next printing, we’ll have a brand-new comic story dealing with the truth about transgender ideology,” Todd revealed. “It’s called ‘Dangerous Confusion.’”

“We know God is going to use this to help a lot of young people who are confused about their identity,” he added.

“God wants this generation to know His truth,” said AFA Vice President Emeritus Buddy Smith. “I think this is one reason God has blessed our relationship with Revival Fires International. It’s not just about our teens but the generations they will impact.”

Todd shares that enthusiasm: “There’s a remnant of young people who are standing up for God on their school campuses. And this Joshua generation is taking back what the devil has stolen.”