The Strand Study Bible
Brad Strand, M.Ed., and Masters of Arts in Religion from Liberty University in 2001, is pastor of the Harvest Bible Church in Cash, Texas. He has labored relentlessly on THE STRAND STUDY BIBLE since the fall of 1977. Well over 30,000 hours have been spent putting this work together. It is a work of a lifetime, inspired by a love for the truth.
The beauty of THE STRAND STUDY BIBLE is that it was not written with any particular Christian denomination in mind. It was not compiled to appeal to a certain “clientele” within Christendom. This work was composed with one purpose in mind – to better help the reader understand who God is, why He created us, and what He expects from our life.
  1. To expound in all the Scriptures the things concerning the Messiah, thus pointing both sinner and saint back to Christ (Lk 24:27).
  2. To make the Scriptures more accessible and comprehensible (I Cor 2:13).
  3. To put an end to all the fighting that goes on amongst Christians concerning “non-Heaven and Hell” issues (i.e., “secondary doctrines”- Gen 1:2c), and to unify as many of them as possible to work towards one end –reaching the lost via the Gospel of Christ (Phil 1:18 and Lk 9:50).

What part of writing the book took the longest?
The cross-references. It took me over 10,000 hours to redo the entire cross-reference system within the Bible.

What part of writing the book was the quickest?
The information on the inside of the dust jacket of the Bible.

How many words did you write in your book?
I have written 1,257,000 words in the notes below the Scriptures. The total does not include the Intro to the Bible, the Exhaustive Chronological Orders for both the Old and New Testaments, Subject Heads, Cross-References, MINI Series, Prophetical Events, Between the Testaments, and Bible Helps,

What part of the book did you start with?
I started with the maps. I started out in 1977 trying to find every place in the Bible. It took me three and a half years and 1,100 pieces of paper, but I did it. Every place that could be located was placed upon an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper. I still have those maps.

What part of the book did you end with?
I ended with the maps. Every map (almost 500 inset maps) has been reworked using actual NASA satellite imagining.

What part of the book surprised you the most while writing the book?
The notes at the bottom of each page. All one million two hundred fifty-seven thousand of them.

What kept you motivated to finish writing your work for 30 years?
With all my heart -God. So often people, including my family, would beg me to write little booklets on various subjects, but I knew in my heart that I was called to write this reference work, whether it got published or not.

Ever thought about writing a motivation book for aspiring writers?
No, but I have started a couple of novels that I would like to finish.

When you started writing there were no computers, how did you keep track of your work?
I lugged it around for years and years in small fireproof metal file cabinets. I still have those cabinets.

Which author has influenced your work the most?
Without a doubt, Abbott Thomas Keating (Crisis of Faith).

I have read Crisis of Faith a number of times, and I actually have the book in a safe as a reminder of how precious the truths in this book are to me. Crisis of Faith is an invitation to Christian maturity. Few Christians ever seem to get there, even after being saved for years. My desire as a Christian has always been to learn to live, not live to learn. Crisis of Faith taught me better how to learn to live. I would recommend this book to anyone desiring to learn to live. One caution however: this book will not benefit Christians who only desire to live to learn.

Where did you do most of your writing?
In the privacy of my home. I always found the quietest room was the backroom of my house (where no one really wanted to go).

What is your favorite food? Chipotle (Mexican).

Did you ever get writer’s block and if so, how did you overcome it? Never. This work, though it took over thirty years to complete, always flowed for me. I guess you could call it a God thing.