Reformation Revolution Ministries, Inc.

Ray Vallorani in front of the Reformation Monument in Geneva, Switzerland. The four Reformers depicted are Guillaume Farel, John Calvin, Theodore Beza, and John Knox.

Although Reformation Revolution Ministries was founded in 2009, it actually began one chilly day in the Fall of 2003. My son Brandon and I were studying the history of the Protestant Reformation and were shocked to discover that the Bible of the Protestant Reformation—the Geneva Bible—was out of print. Sure, we were able to find rare original editions or bulky facsimile copies available on the Internet for a small fortune. But the small middle-English letters made it almost impossible to read. A compact and readable version of the 1599 Geneva Bible was nowhere to be found. How could something so historically and theologically significant be so easily forgotten? We concluded that God was calling us to restore and republish the 1599 Geneva Bible. We wanted the Bible that inspired and comforted the Pilgrims on their journey across the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower to be available once again for all Americans to enjoy. This led to the founding of Tolle Lege Press and the beginning of an intensive 3-year restoration project.

By God’s grace, the first editions of the restored 1599 Geneva Bible began rolling off the presses and shipping to homes during the week of Thanksgiving, 2006. The first printing sold out even before they were unloaded into our warehouse. Volunteers packed and shipped thousands of Bibles as they were coming off the delivery truck and sent them back out the door onto the shipping truck. We’ll never forget the excitement we felt as God’s Word, preserved in this precious new edition, was being distributed all over the world.

As 2009 comes to a close, we look back with awe at what the Lord has accomplished. More than 50,000 copies of the restored 1599 Geneva Bible have been printed and distributed! But where do we go from here? Our desire is to influence the world for Christ, but we are limited in what we can do at Tolle Lege Press. The contemporary Church is in desperate need of reformation. It is, as they say, a mile wide and an inch deep. She has forgotten her theological heritage. Building on the popularity and the excitement generated by the 1599 Geneva Bible, we’ve decided that the time is right to start a non-profit ministry to tackle this problem head on. We’ve named this new organization, Reformation Revolution Ministries. The name is significant because we don’t want to merely encourage a nostalgic view of the Reformation. Just as the 16th and 17th century Reformers did, we want the Church to once again change the world. The Protestant Reformation ultimately led to the founding of America and the greatest missionary movement the world has ever seen. It is our goal to see (or begin to see) another Reformation in the Church that will Revolutionize the world for the Kingdom of Christ.