What Hath God Wrought?

By Debi Pearl

May 15, 2015

(Or, What Have We Done in the Last 20 Years?)

It has been 20 years since the very first issue of the No Greater Joy magazine. I can still remember sitting at our kitchen table, hand-addressing each one! Twenty years is a long time, and so much has changed over that time—including us! But through it all, God has proved himself faithful. Like the first telegraph message by Samuel Morse, we can only look back in wonder and awe at “what God hath wrought.”

So what has happened over the past two decades? It all actually started before 1995…

1971

Mike and Debi Pearl married (August 22)

1988

Moved to Cane Creek

1994

To Train Up a Child published (August)—cost is $3.89 per book!
Tom & Kathy Slayman and daughters worked as volunteers in the office and mailroom

1995

Published first issue of No Greater Joy magazine—800 copies (May 1995)
Second issue of No Greater Joy—1,800 copies (June 1995)
Rebekah Pearl went to Papua New Guinea to translate the language
J. went to SE Asia (October 1995)

1997

Published No Greater Joy Volume 1
Published Rebekah’s Diary
Steve Schnell went on mission trip to Cambodia
Office buildings built

1998

Published By Divine Design
Hugh Godwin started work for NGJ (April 1998)

1999

Published No Greater Joy Volume 2
First nogreaterjoy.org website established (October 20, 1999)

2000

Published Repentance
Rebekah Pearl Married (July 3, 2000)
Tom & Kathy Slayman went to Bangkok, Thailand as missionaries (April 2000)

2001

Published No Greater Joy Volume 3
Published Romans Commentary
Published To Betroth or Not to Betroth
August-September issue of No Greater Joy magazine—cover printed in color for first time
Published Pornography: Road to Hell booklet
No Greater Joy Ministries, Inc.—initial filing with state of TN (March 29, 2001)
Hugh and accountant submit tax-exempt filing to IRS (Late 2001)
Russian orphans live with Mike and Debi for the next few summers
Nathan Pearl Married

2002

Published Spanish To Train Up a Child
Published Holy Sex
IRS approves NGJ tax-exempt status 501(c)(3) (March 18, 2002)
Shalom Pearl Married
Slaymans returned home from Thailand because Tom had cancer (October 2002)

2003

Published Baptism in Jesus’ Name
Mike’s first heart attack (February 14, 2003)
Hired Kathy Slayman—finally on payroll (November 2003)

2004

Published Debi’s first book, Created to Be His Help Meet
Shoshanna Pearl Married

2005

Back offices built—first expansion of warehouse
No Greater Joy printed on glossy paper for first time (September-October issue)

2006

Hired Mel Cohen (February 2006)
Published Good and Evil in English (black-and-white printing) (June 2006)
Published Eight Kingdoms
Produced Knife and Tomahawk Throwing for Fun DVD
Published Spanish Created to Be His Help Meet
Launched Distributorship Program (July 15)
New offices built

2007

Published Good and Evil in Spanish (black-and-white printing)
Published Jumping Ship
Published The Help Meet’s Journey
September-October issue of No Greater Joy printed in current 6″×10″ size
First Licensing Agreements established, for Good and Evil in Afrikaans and Tswana (October 2007)
Published Good and Evil Comics—6 in English and 5 in Spanish
Published Good and Evil Coloring Books

2008

Published Good and Evil in full color in both English and Spanish
Published Holy Sex in Spanish
Published The Gap Fact booklet
Hired Chuck Joyner (September 2008)
Mike’s second heart attack—treated at St. Thomas Hospital (February 10, 2008)

2009

Produced Jumping Ship DVD
Published The Vision
Published Listen to My Dream
Produced Movers and Shakers DVD
Produced The Balanced Patriarch DVD
Produced Child Training 101 DVD
Completed and printed many translations of Good and Evil, including: Afrikaans, Bahasa Malaysia, Bontoc (Finuntuk), Polish, Chichewa, Falam Chin, French, Maka, Norwegian, Hawa Naga, and Hindi

2010

Published Preparing to Be a Help Meet in English and Spanish
Published Samuel Learns to Yell & Tell and Sara Sue Learns to Yell & Tell
Mike’s arm pierced by 2×4 (October 20, 2010)
Completed and printed more translations of Good and Evil: Chinese (Simplified)(color), Japanese, Rawang, and Russian (color)

2011

Produced Preparing to Be a Help Meet Audio Book
Produced Fifty Questions/Fifty Answers DVD
Produced Becoming Tempered Steel DVD
Published Training Children to Be Strong in Spirit
More Good and Evil translations completed and printed: Czech, Punjabi, Tagalog, Tok Pisin, and Tswana

2012

Mike wins 2012 Knife Throwing World Championship
Big Texas Shindig (September 2012)
Published Created to Need a Help Meet
More Good and Evil translations completed and printed: Lahu, Kekchi, and Kyrgyz