In 2005, Jim Falkenberg accepted an
invitation to join the staff of Reaching Souls
International. Jim serves in a development role as
Special Assistant to the President, representing Reaching Souls to
individual donors, churches, foundations, and
businesses.
Jim Falkenberg was formerly the president
of Bible Literature International (BLI). The Ohio
native grew up as an insider in the organization, which
was founded in Columbus in 1923 by his grandfather, Dr.
Don Falkenberg, as The Midwest Businessmen's Council of
the Pocket Testament League. The name was changed to
the Bible Meditation League (BML) in 1941 and revised
again in 1967 to Bible Literature International (BLI) to
reflect the international focus of the ministry.
Jim studied at Asbury College (Kentucky),
The Ohio State University, and Otterbein College (Ohio),
from which he received a B.A. degree in Education in
1968. A high school teacher and coach for eight years
in three Ohio public school systems, Jim joined the
staff of BLI in 1976 and served for six years as BLI's
first Director of Development. In 1982 he was elected
by the Board of Directors to serve as International
President of BLI, succeeding his father, John M.
Falkenberg. As President of BLI, he worked with
hundreds of missionaries, missions organizations, and
nationals to provide, without charge, Bibles, Scripture
portions, Gospel tracts, and other materials related to
evangelism, discipleship, leadership training, and
church planting to spiritually hungry people around the
world. BLI partnered with over 500 ministries in
virtually every nation, placing Bibles and Christian
literature in people's hands, and helping to introduce
countless millions of individuals to the person of Jesus
Christ.
Jim and his wife Anne have two grown
children: David and Shelly (Barr). David, a graduate of
Taylor University in Upland, Indiana, is a District
Sales Manager and recruiter for Family Heritage
Insurance Company. He and his wife Breann are based in
Flora, Indiana, and are the proud parents of Noah, born
in August of 2004. Shelly, having concluded ten years
with the Bank One corporate headquarters in Columbus,
has become a fulltime, stay-at-home mom. She and her
husband Dustin live in the Columbus area with their son
Ashton (age 5) and daughter Kya (age 2½).
