Longtime Bible professor makes his life’s work available on new online resource center
Since 1972, Dr. Harold Willmington, Liberty University’s longest-serving faculty member, has been instructing students from God’s textbook for life — the Bible. The devoted educator is a best-selling author whose extensive studies on God’s Word have been distributed worldwide. Now, he is leaving a legacy at Liberty, passing his love of Scripture to future generations by making his personal collection available for free to the public through the new Liberty University Bible Resource Center.
The center launched in January and is a worldwide online resource — Liberty.edu/BibleResourceCenter — that includes Willmington’s S.W.O.R.D. project (Scripture Wisdom Organized and Rightly Divided) and contributions from other faculty and friends of Liberty. Up to 1,000 of Willmington’s articles are included, with information gleaned from some of his most popular works, such as “Willmington’s Guide to the Bible.”
Willmington played an important role in Liberty’s history. In 1976, he helped launch the home correspondence course Liberty Home Bible Institute, which became the world’s largest correspondence diploma program on the Bible and positioned Liberty to be a pioneer in distance education.
“My goal is, and always has been since I came here, to raise the level of Bible knowledge among God’s people,” Willmington said. “That’s where revival begins — when God’s people go back to the Bible. That’s the legacy I want to leave.”
The new center was first announced by President Jerry Falwell in the Jan. 24 Convocation, where he recognized Willmington as a great teacher of the Bible who was dedicated to the progress at Liberty.
“He really is an unsung hero here and was a key component of making Liberty University what it is today,” Falwell said.
Liberty Provost Dr. Ron Hawkins supervised the project, with support from Falwell and assistance from the university’s IT and Marketing departments, as well as the Jerry Falwell Library.
“We have long dreamed of making Liberty’s biblical materials available to pastors and Bible students on a global level for free; the internet now makes this possible,” Hawkins said. “Dr. Willmington’s materials will serve as the foundation for a global initiative flowing from Liberty University to every corner of the globe to better equip the church for the work God has called them to do.”
