Hi, I’m Yvon Prehn and this website exists to help YOU know, trust, and apply the Bible.
And now, with the addition of the FREE Bible805 Academy, to help you TEACH the Bible.
The name Bible 805 comes from my belief that the Bible, Jesus, and the Christian faith are as real as the place I live in (area code 805)—Ventura, California.
First a few words about who this site is for.
I’m doing this site for Three Groups
Audience Number One, for people who believe in Jesus
Because believing doesn’t mean all spiritual doubts are removed or that you have any idea that Jesus is more than a way to avoid eternal suffering.
First, about the doubts—they are OK. They should serve as motivators to study, explore, and learn all you can about your faith. I believe if you do, not only will you not be disappointed, but your Christian life will be energized.
I think many Christians live in unconscious fear of what I call the “gotcha” questions. Ones like these: “Why do you say Christianity is the only way to God?” “Why is your Bible different than any other holy book?” “Aren’t all good people going to end up at the same place?” Finding answers to questions like these can be energizing and exciting. Though this is not an apologetic site primarily (one that argues for the faith), once you learn your Bible well, you’ll know the answers to the big questions. Not only to answer the questions of others but to answer the doubts in your heart in the dark night of the soul we all experience from time to time.
Second, and this is the primary reason the podcast, videos, and the site overall are organized the way they are, is that many Christians don’t know their Bibles in any way other than having a few favorite go-to passages when life gets tough or verses whey claim when they want something from God. Your Christian life will be so much richer and more obedient to our Lord if you KNOW the Bible—the whole Bible. The best way to do that is to read it cover to cover in chronological, historical order. CLICK HERE for a free eBook and schedules to get started.
If you’ve never done this before, I promise it will change your life, and if you have, the riches in God’s Word are so deep, I pray you will gain new insights and grow in your love and obedience as a Christ-follower if you do it again and again. I’ve made going through the Bible in chronological order my primary spiritual disciple for many decades and it has made a huge difference in my life.
Audience Number Two, for believers in Jesus who want to teach the Bible
There are many resources out there to help you teach the Bible but I believe that the Lord delights in great variety in many areas of His Creation and in the area of teaching the Bible, I feel He wants me to share what I’ve learned in the unique ways He has taught me.
I’ve seen the content of what I teach and how my husband and I teach in ministries and small groups transform lives and so I am making my current teaching materials available to others. Many resources I have are free and can be used to teach others including podcasts, videos, transcripts, and notes with the individual lessons. All of these are available here on the Bible805 site. To receive updates on when new materials are posted CLICK HERE to sign up for the Bible805 newsletter.
In addition, I’ve also created the Bible805 Academy, where for FREE or PWYW (pay what you want) and I FREE is just fine, a year you can download and freely use and reproduce videos, PowerPoint Presentations (including original, editable files), notes, questions, associated charts, and PR materials to advertise the classes to your church. This website and the Bible805 YouTube channel are a preview of what is available in the Bible805 Academy. The additions in the Bible805 Academy are that you have videos without YouTube advertisements and can modify and make the PowerPoints, notes, and other materials your own. You can even take my name off them–I give you TOTAL freedom to use them however you want to teach others the Word of God.
Audience Number Three, for people who don’t believe in Jesus
Many people seem to have the idea that religion isn’t part of the real world, but a nice addition to a decent life as in “I’m a spiritual person.” I want to share with you how the Christian faith is a worthy area for spiritual exploration.
I have friends in this group and I’m not always the best at explaining what I believe in person-to-person conversation. I do better in writing and in planned speaking or teaching, now primarily in digital formats and this site is my expression in those ways of what is most important to me. In addition to my personal communication inadequacies, the Christian faith is somewhat complex if you take it seriously and I want to give you a complete picture of what it is all about–again, something I feel I can do best in writing and digital communication. Also, I want to respect your will and time to explore the faith before you make a commitment to follow it.
To check out what it means to be a Christian, please check out this section of podcasts, videos, and blogs: https://bible805.com/category/the-gospel-what-it-means-to-trust-jesus-as-savior-and-grow-as-his-disciple/
About Yvon Prehn, content creator for Bible805
I am a writer and teacher for Jesus and Bible805 is my latest adventure in expressing that identity.
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, being 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 for Jesus. It’s a long way from the flannelgraphs I used when I was teaching children over 50 years ago. When I was in college, I felt the Lord gave me Acts 1:8 as a defining verse in 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’ve tried to be His witness in teaching and writing and with the internet, it literally goes to the ends of the earth.
About Bible805.com
Bible805.com is currently the hub of my Bible-teaching ministry. It started out as a podcast and an adult Sunday School class. In doing both I needed a blog to go with them, and so I developed the website (www.Bible805.com) to share notes and additional Bible information.
I totally stopped doing anything on the podcast and website after teaching through the entire Bible for a year because of major surgery and some difficulties surrounding it. I felt like going through the Bible in chronological order was one of the best things any Christian could do—it changed my life as a believer in Jesus. I had recommended it throughout the years of teaching that’s what I taught for the past year.
Though the podcasts and live classes seemed useful and the feedback was positive, I wanted to do more, to continue teaching this topic and this way. But I was exhausted, the surgery overwhelming, and I didn’t even look at the podcast or site for months.
When I did, I was astounded. My podcast audience had grown tremendously. So had hits on the website. A lady called and asked about a lesson I had made a mistake in and asked me to redo it. I did, sort of in a daze that someone was using the lessons to teach others. A few people were even donating to support the podcast. I had not done a thing for many months—nothing. Nada. But I was getting a greater response than when I had worked hard on sites and promotion on them.
I’d been praying about what to do about the Bible805 ministry before I even looked at the site and dense person that I can be, I felt the Lord was telling me to do what I’d always wanted to do—to take the massive amount of material I had on going through the Bible in chronological order and share it. In addition, I had other topics I wanted to share from the Adult Bible teaching classes I’ve done and continue to do.
I also have a church communication ministry (www.effectivechurchcom.com) and one of the things I frequently tell church communicators is that to reach people today they must put their material in as many media formats as they can. If I was going to get serious about doing Bible805 I knew I needed to do that. The result of that time was adding additional sections to the site that now consist of the following parts to the Bible805 ministry, all with the purpose helping you know, trust, and apply the Bible. All are created by me, Yvon Prehn.
My new name for all these areas collectively (also including my ministry for church communicators) is the Bibleverse, wherein my goal is to help you get God’s Word into all of life. Here are the Bible805 parts of the Bibleverse.
Bible805.com website
Obviously, this is where you are now. This is the hub for all materials related to helping you know, trust, and apply the Bible. Whenever I do a lesson, I put in links to the podcast, video, notes, and other materials related to it. Blogs, notices about eBooks, and related projects that I share in the following areas, as much as possible will have links to them and explanations of them on this site. For a newsletter that will let you know about new materials, CLICK HERE.
Bible805 podcast
Available through all major podcast channels, this podcast by Yvon Prehn is a teaching podcast that goes through the Bible and also does topical studies. CLICK HERE to go to the podcast episodes and links to the various podcast channels including iTunes and Spotify.
Bible805 Videos
These videos expand the content of the Bible805 Podcasts and are freely available on YouTube HERE. Links to handouts and additional materials related to the topics are in the video descriptions and on the Bible805 website. In addition to the full lessons, I’ve added videos of the podcasts and shorter, inspirational and motivational videos. PLEASE Subscribe and click the notification bell so you’ll be notified when new videos are posted.
Bible805 Academy
Though you can view all the lessons from Bible805 for free on the above YouTube channel, you cannot download them legally (a YouTube rule, though I retain all rights to them). I created the lessons for you to be able to use them for Sunday School Classes, Small Groups, Homeschooling, and Bible School classes and though YouTube is a great resource it can be distracting.
To be able to have a source where you can download the lessons, without any advertising, and completely legally, I created the Bible805 Academy. In addition to the videos that are available in 1080p, I also created PDFs of Notes and Discussion Questions that go along with each lesson. Some of the lessons also have associated eBooks and charts that expand or illustrate the content of the lesson. In addition, each lesson module has two images that can be used to promote the classes. ALL the material on the Academy is either FREE (and I greatly encourage you to take it for free) or if you have resources PWYW (pay what you want). I am doing this anyone, anywhere, particularly those in smaller churches, churches with few resources, can have access to in-depth Bible teaching without concern about the cost. To go to the Bible805 Academy, click the following link: www.Bible805Academy.com.
Bible805 Images
This is a collection of Bible verses and positive sayings that can be downloaded and reproduced in 12 formats from social media images through office printing sizes to large poster formats all in resolutions suitable for both in-office and professional printing. New images are continuously added as well as periodic free downloads. CLICK HERE to go to Bible805 Images. These are also all FREE or PWYW (pay-what-you-want).
Bibleverse t-shirts and mug shop
During our time when everyone broadcasts their beliefs and causes on their t-shirts, here is an opportunity to share positive sayings and Bible verses. You can also be encouraged by Bible verses and positive sayings in our mug collection. I recently added baseball caps to the collections. The profits from this shop and the printables shop both support the Bible805 ministry. CLICK HERE to go to the t-shirts and more shop.
My assurance to you of my editorial independence
As always, please know the only products mentioned on this site are ones I create (eBooks, Printables, Items in the Bibleverse Shop) to help you get the Bible into all your life and for the support of this site. This site never has and never will take any advertising, in any way, participate in affiliate or referral marketing, nor will it be accepting 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.
About my educational and theological background
I hesitate to put this in as there are few things I dislike more than 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.
My mother was Mennonite, my father was Catholic. I attended both churches with extended family for many years and I cherish both traditions. 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 through all of grade school.
No matter where we were, we always went to church and when I was in sixth grade and we were stationed at Ft. Ord, CA, we 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 the 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.
Though we always attended church, it was more a matter of what was convenient than what was theologically preferred in those years. When my father retired from the military we moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado where we attended the Presbyterian church, which was a solid, Bible-teaching church. From 3rd grade on (when I started teaching 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 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 an associate professor teaching church history at a Jesuit university.
My husband 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 and did communications and other supporting ministries for my husband’s work.
At the same time, I started my church communications ministry, Effective Church Communications and for over 20 years traveled all over North America (I do it all online now) 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 broad variety of expressions in the Body of Christ. From this experience, I sometimes have referred to myself as a walking ecumenical council.
We live in Ventura, California, and attend a non-denominational church where I teach an adult Bible Study on an ongoing basis.