Hi, I’m Yvon Prehn and this website exists to help YOU know, trust, and apply the Bible. In addition to these basics, I also created the FREE Bible805 Academy, to help you TEACH the Bible.
I named the ministry Bible805 because I believe that the Bible, Jesus, and the Christian faith are as real as the place I live in (area code 805)—Ventura, California.
Actually, that is only secondarily true.
When I decided I wanted to take my Bible teaching ministry into the digital world, I did it primarily for the younger people in my life, who were enjoying the 805 beer, which was quite popular at the time. I briefly toyed with the idea of naming the ministry, Bible805, better than the beer! But after some thought, I realized that might not be the best idea since I did want to reach and resource people of all ages and sensibilities.
I did, however, like the Bible805 name and, as I said, the reality of how it refers to our world, so that stuck.
Following is a bit more about who I am, my background, the scope of the ministry and how it can help you.
About Yvon Prehn, founder and primary content creator for Bible805
I am a writer and teacher for Jesus, and Bible805 is my latest adventure in expressing my life-long calling in doing that.
Through the many twists and turns my life has taken, from the time I started helping kindergartners in Sunday School class when I was in third grade, to working with youth groups, teaching adult Bible classes, and working as an associate professor of church history at a Jesuit University, along with many other income supporting jobs, being a writer and teacher for Jesus has been part of my life.
Along the way, I’ve read through the Bible many times, studied it deeply, and as a layperson, tried to share that the Bible is the source for truth, salvation, meaning, and purpose in life now and forever.
The podcasts, videos, blogs, and other parts of this site are my latest adventures in writing and teaching about the Bible. It’s a long way from the flannel graphs I used when I was teaching children over 50 years ago. I progressed from them to acetates and overhead projectors, then with projected PowerPoints, but always the goal has been the same, to share Jesus, His Word, and to help people grow as disciples. I’ve worked on this goal since I was in high school, when I felt the Lord gave me Acts 1:8 as the defining verse for my life, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
I asked Him, “How?” as that seemed a rather overwhelming command. He answered, “Through your writing.”
I pursued a career as a Christian writer and teacher, writing articles and books and teaching Bible classes. I produced a lot without thinking specifically about His past clear call. Then one day, I launched my first website. As I did that, I burst into tears realizing that my written words, shared digitally in a way I never could have imagined, were now witnessing to Jesus “to the ends of the earth.”
We never know what God is going to do with our dreams and His promises.
I didn’t stop at that point, doing what I felt God called me to do; it has motivated me to do even more.
I continue to love, deeply love teaching people about the Bible; I am driven to do that no matter what else is going on in my life. And I do it, no matter what the challenges, and there have been some big ones, but they don’t matter as I continuously affirm, “that none of these things move me” and what matters most is that “I finish my course with joy and the calling I’ve received.”
My approach as I press ahead seems to be helpful to people, and one (to me) of my favorite comments that people share with me about my teaching (and I’ve heard a similar comment expressed in a variety of ways) is ” you make hard stuff easy to understand.” I work hard to do that and spend many, many hours not only in research and study, but also in prayer, asking the Lord for guidance in what He wants me to share from His Word with His people. In whatever results, I do not claim any special inspiration or insights for the ministry or my teaching. The content in all is, as C.S. Lewis labeled himself, from a “mere Christian.”
About my educational and theological background
I hesitate to put this in, as there are few things I dislike more than extended talking about myself, but I know I want to know this information from anyone I read or learn from who teaches the Bible. None of what follows is a matter of debate or discussion, but for informational purposes only.
When I was growing up, we were a military family and moved constantly. I never started or finished a school year in the same school throughout grade school. But no matter where we were, we always went to church. My mother was Mennonite, my father was Catholic. Though we primarily attended Presbyterian churches when possible, I also attended both denominations with extended family and I cherish both traditions.
When I was in sixth grade we were stationed at Ft. Ord, CA, and were attending a little church in Marina, CA. From my earliest days, I knew about Jesus and was strongly influenced by a godly grandmother, but my faith had a large component of fear and I remember always praying, “Dear God, please let me go to heaven when I die and not to hell.” One summer at that little church, they had a Child Evangelism Club for a week and I remember the reality that Jesus came to save me forever finally made sense. I asked Jesus to be my Savior and never again did I worry about what would happen to me when I died. I knew I’d go to heaven to be with Jesus.
At that time I also started walking more intentionally with Him. I’d always loved the church and helped out whenever I could, but now I got my first very own little Sunday School class–more on that in a minute.
When my father retired from the military, we moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where we attended Ivywild Presbyterian church, which was a solid, Bible-teaching church. From 3rd grade on (when I started helping to teach kindergarteners), I always taught a Sunday School class, and when I was a sophomore in high school, our youth group leaders moved away and no one wanted to run the group. I said, “I think I can do that,” and went on to do youth ministry and teaching for many years.
I was heavily involved with the Navigator ministry in college as well as with InterVarsity Christian Ministry. The Navigator’s emphasis on studying the Bible, sharing your faith in practical ways, and integrating life and ministry had a tremendous influence on my life. Living in Colorado Springs, I had the privilege of learning from some of the founders of the ministry, LeRoy Eims, Jerry Bridges, Lorne Sanny, Jerry White, and others who spoke to and led our college group.
Educationally, I have degrees in English and education, plus an additional major in history. I have a master’s degree in History, focusing on church history. I’ve done additional graduate work in Communications and have attended seminary (Fuller Seminary). I taught at a Catholic high school and was briefly an associate professor of church history at a Jesuit university.
My husband Paul, who has since been called home to Jesus, was a bi-vocational pastor for many years, and we ministered at Baptist, non-denominational, and Presbyterian Churches. A number of these were Purpose-Driven churches. In these settings, I served as an adult Sunday School teacher, Bible class teacher, and did communications for our shared ministries.
At the same time, I started my church communications ministry, Effective Church Communications, and for over 20 years traveled all over North America teaching church communication seminars to every imaginable denomination. The seminars were sponsored by a secular company, but I had total control over the content of the seminars. They were advertised to the entire church audience wherever I taught, and a huge variety of churches showed up. In discussions, interactions, and looking at their materials, I got to know and love the wide variety of expressions in the Body of Christ. From this experience, I sometimes have referred to myself as a walking ecumenical council.
For those many years, when I would travel and teach church communication seminars all over North America during the week, I’d then come home and teach Bible classes on the weekend.
I no longer travel and am in the process of folding much of the timeless Effective Church Communication Ministry materials into formats that are useful overall in whatever ministry someone might be doing in the church. I am in the process of deciding what to do with much of the timeless and useful material from this ministry. However, I feel that the Lord’s clear leading for me currently is to focus on teaching the Bible in the various outlets of the Bible805 ministry.
I currently live in Ventura, California (the most wonderful place on earth) and am joyfully and busily involved in Community Presbyterian Church (a most loving and incredible ECO Presbyterian church).
About the Bible805.com ministry structure
This ministry is not sponsored by any church, organization, or other ministry. For better or worse, I’m responsible for all the content on this site and for the ministry overall.
Bible805.com is currently the hub of the ministry. It started out as a podcast associated with an adult Sunday School class. People asked for copies of the content I was teaching in the class, so I developed the website (www.Bible805.com) to share notes, links to the podcast that had developed into videos of the lessons, and additional Bible information. It has developed into a resource where people can come to learn about the Bible 24/7. There are lessons on the site on many Bible topics and lessons that go through the entire Bible.
The consistent comment I get about the site and the way materials are presented is that the teaching makes things simple and complex Biblical concepts easy to understand.
I then developed the Bible805 Academy to make the resources available for others to use in their own teaching. This sharing of my teaching resources started out with requests from friends of friends in my classes asking for notes, the PowerPoints, and other teaching materials so they could share them with their Bible classes. That proved useful and I realized they might be useful to a wider audience. I started the Bible805Academy with a special prayer that the resources on it go to under-resourced and majority-world churches who might not have the time and resources I’ve been blessed with to create the materials.
The response has been beyond anything I could have imagined, as people from all over the world have downloaded thousands of resources from it. Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, New Zealand, the Philippines, many places in Africa, Europe, and North America are among the many who download lesson resources that include editable PowerPoints, notes, discussion guides, infographics, plus ad-free videos and audio files. All these resources (except the infographics) are editable, can be used for free, and no attribution is required to use them. The only limitation is that I ask that they not be repurposed for sale, but free sharing is greatly encouraged.
Please go to the home page of www.Bible805.com (this site) for a listing and links to the various podcasts, videos, and other materials I have to enable you to know, trust, apply, and teach the Bible. I have recently started a series of podcasts that make my resources available in this popular platform. I also highly recommend my YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/Bible805. You can even listen to all the podcasts on the YouTube channel.
My assurance to you of my editorial independence
In addition to this site not being a mouthpiece or sponsored by anyone, also there are no financial sources controlling or guiding content.
The only products for sale mentioned on this site are ones I create, primarily my books, either eBooks or my various books on amazon.com. The Bible805 ministry and this site never have, and never will, take any advertising, in any way participate in affiliate or referral marketing, nor will it accept sponsorships of any kind. If I recommend something other than what I create, it is truly because I like it and not for any additional monetary reason.
If you are wondering how the site and ministry supports itself, I’m currently (as of 3-2026) trying to figure that out. You can click on the “Support” tab on the Bible805.com site for the latest updates on that.
For weekly updates on the Biblea805 ministry, please sign up for the newsletter: the Lions Voice, here: https://thelionsvoice.beehiiv.com/subscribe