Systematic Book of Mormon studies began when Hugh W. Nibley (1910 – 2005) and M. Wells Jakeman (1910 – 1998) joined Sydney B. Sperry (1895 – 1977) on the BYU faculty in the 1940’s. The University Archaeological Society (UAS) which became the Society for Early Historic Archaeology (SEHA) provided conference and publication venues. John L. Sorenson in the 1950’s became a leading New World scholar interpreting the work of Gareth W. Lowe (1922 – 2004) who directed the BYU New World Archaeological Foundation (NWAF). In the 1960’s Robert K. Thomas (1918 – 1998) and Truman G. Madsen (1926 – 2009) analyzed the Book of Mormon as sacred literature. BYU Studies became an important journal beginning in 1959; it was in this journal that John W. (Jack) Welch published his blockbuster “Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon” in 1969.

The BYU Religion Department created the Religious Studies Center (RSC) in 1975. Modern Book of Mormon studies took shape when John L. Sorenson, Kirk Magleby, and John W. Welch began working together at the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) in 1980. The decades of the ‘80’s and ‘90’s saw a fluorescence of quality Book of Mormon scholarship that began tapering off when FARMS merged into BYU in 2002. FARMS was formally dissolved in 2006 after it became part of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship (MI). Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR Mormon) and Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum (BMAF) began holding annual conferences in 1997 and 2004, and Interpreter commenced publishing in 2012.

Meanwhile, the world changed. Information, much of it unreliable and faith-destroying, became instantly available over the internet. Social media became a powerful force, especially among the rising generation. Books ceded influence to web surfing, PowerPoint presentations, and YouTube videos.

An instructor at the Stanford Latter-day Saint Institute of Religion, Lynne H. Wilson, noticed a disturbing trend. Some of the best and brightest Latter-day Saint youth were entering Stanford as believing freshmen and then leaving the Church without ever seriously engaging the Book of Mormon. Part of the problem was they did not know where to go for reliable Book of Mormon material. Another part of the problem was they expected information to be presented in a modern social media-savvy way. At an academic conference in November, 2014, Lynne and Jack Welch spoke about the need for creating an organization able to communicate the wonder of the Nephite text to a wide audience. In April, 2015, generous donors came forward and Book of Mormon Central (BMC) was born under the direction of John W. Welch and Kirk Magleby. The first employees were hired in August, 2015 and KnoWhy publication began on January 1, 2016.

BMC Chairman, Jack Welch, founded FARMS in 1979 and led BYU Studies from 1991 - 2018. BMC is allied with BYU Studies, BYU RSC, More Good Foundation, Interpreter Foundation, FAIR Mormon, LDS Perspectives Podcast, John A. Widtsoe Foundation, and others. In April, 2016, BMAF merged into BMC. Book of Mormon Central has in its genetic makeup much of the significant Book of Mormon scholarship that has been done since the 1940’s. On the other hand, it is as modern as Twitter and Instagram. Some milestone accomplishments:

• 2016 BMC’s KnoWhy mobile app debuted at BYU Education Week.
• 2016 annual user interactions (reads, views, listens, shares, likes) surpassed 5 million.
• 2016 BMC received the first license from the Church to re-publish the LDS scriptures.
• 2017 BMC began publishing content in Spanish.
• 2017 A single piece of content (3D Jerusalem) drew more than 560,000 views.
• 2017 Followers on Facebook surpassed 50,000 in English and 60,000 in Spanish.
• 2017 ChurchofJesusChrist.org linked to bookofmormoncentral.org
• 2017 BMC co-produced a “Chiasmus Jubilee” celebration that drew 1,400 attendees.
• 2017 BMC’s first book was published by Covenant, a division of Deseret Book.
• 2017 BMC produced the first-ever Spanish Book of Mormon Conference in Mexico City.
• 2017 A BMC delegation was hosted by Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC.
• 2017 annual user interactions (reads, views, listens, shares, likes) surpassed 15 million.
• 2018 A BMC delegation was hosted by a Google executive at Google headquarters.
• 2018 Feedspot.com ranked Book of Mormon Central #6 in its Mormon blog category.
• 2018 The total number of BMC Youtube video views surpassed 2 million.
• 2018 BMC produced an “Experience the Book of Mormon” Conference that drew 570 attendees.
• 2018 BMC began publishing on the WhatsApp social media network favored in Latin America.
• 2018 BMC co-sponsored the first Book of Mormon pageant put on by refugees.
• 2018 The most popular individual BMC YouTube videos surpassed 100,000 views.
• 2018 BMC sponsored the first Face to Face Lamanita with over 300 participants from 13 countries.
• 2018 The BMC Archive grew to more than 5,000 items.
• 2018 The third annual BMC art contest attracted 73 submissions.
• 2018 The more than 490 KnoWhys became world’s largest publication on the Book of Mormon.
• 2018 Unique site visitors to our websites surpassed 1 million.
• 2019 Google gave BMC an ad grant to promote the Book of Mormon.
• 2019 Church News ran several articles describing BMC projects.
• 2019 The Apple version of ScripturePlus went live.
• 2019 Pearl of Great Price Central begin publishing.
• 2019 An ad for ScripturePlus ran on KSL TV during October General Conference.
• 2020 The Android version of ScripturePlus went live.
• 2020 The Church Missionary Department began sending service missionaries to work at BMC.
• 2020 Total user interactions (views, listens, likes, shares, downloads, launches, posts, etc. surpassed 100 million.
• 2020 The Amazon Kindle version of ScripturePlus went live.
• 2020 Messages of Christ officially became part of Book of Mormon Central
• 2020 Evidence Central came online to critical and popular acclaim.

BMC is unprecedented. It is a one-stop open source for faithful, reliable material about the Book of Mormon and other restoration scripture published frequently in attractively packaged and well-illustrated essays, posts, videos, podcasts, and memes across a dozen social media channels. A ground-breaking scripture study app has over 150,000 downloads and 3 million launches. We invite you to become part of its rich history and promising future.

Authored or edited over 200 scholarly publications and books. Jack was the featured speaker at Hugh Nibley’s funeral. He is widely considered the leading Book of Mormon scholar of this generation.

Dr. Lynne Hilton Wilson earned her Ph.D. in Theology and American Religious History from Marquette University. She specializes in the study of the Holy Spirit or Pneumatology. Her dissertation compared Joseph Smith’s understanding of the Spirit with his contemporaries. Her master’s degree focused on New Testament studies and her undergraduate major was Nursing. An accomplished cellist, Lynne played with the BYU Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestra. She returned to BYU and taught religion as an adjunct professor. Dr. Wilson has also served in the Church Educational System for the past thirty years in France, Belgium, Wisconsin, and, most recently, California.

Dr. Wilson is a popular presenter at BYU Education Week, the Society of Biblical Literature, Mormon History Association, F.A.I.R, Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology, BYU Sperry Symposium, Silicon Valley Educational Conference, and Stanford Friday Forums.

Dr. Wilson and her husband, Dow R. Wilson, live in Palo Alto, California. They have seven children, all with red hair, and three grandchildren, with blond, ginger and brown hair.

Some of her publications include

Relationship of Book of Mormon Central to BYU

Book of Mormon Central (BMC) in an independent non-profit organization with an office in Springville, Utah. Some of its executives are on the BYU faculty, and BMC occasionally makes use of BYU infrastructure. For example, BMC sometimes holds meetings and events on campus. An introduction to BMC was a popular class at 2016 BYU Education Week. BYU faculty members sometimes consult on BMC projects. BMC has an arms-length affiliate relationship with two BYU entities:

• BYU Studies. Jack Welch chairs BMC. He was editor-in-chief of BYU Studies for 27 years.
• Religious Studies Center (RSC).

Other affiliated organizations also have BYU connections, including:

• Book of Mormon Onomasticon, on the Harold B. Lee Library web site.
• Chiasmus Archive, housed in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections.
• Scripture Citation Index, created by BYU faculty Stephen Liddle and Richard Galbraith.

Affiliation means there is some project coordination to avoid duplication of effort and leverage resources. For example, RSC sponsors a student research paper contest each year, and BMC awards a modest cash prize to the student who authored the best Book of Mormon paper.

BMC benefits from a certain proximity to BYU, but the university does not limit or control BMC in any way. Nor does BMC limit or control BYU in any way, as each are free to vigorously pursue their missions.

Relationship of Book of Mormon Central to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

All BMC executives, board members, and employees are active, faithful, believing members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Some of our volunteers are members of Community of Christ or Restoration Branch congregations. BMC receives no funds directly from the Church, only via the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Foundation, and is not controlled in any way by the Church. The semi-official Church News ran an article about BMC in January, 2016. Most of our readership are Latter-day Saints. Church departments have met with us to understand precisely what we are doing. ChurchofJesusChrist.org links to bookofmormoncentral.org and we anticipate more links in the future. Some full-time CES employees volunteer with us. The Church has begun licensing the LDS 2013 edition of the scriptures to outside entities, and BMC received the first such license. We re-publish these sacred texts with engaging enrichment material such as art, music, explanatory notes, etc. in our ScripturePlus mobile app. We held our 2016 Moroni Day celebration in the Joseph Smith Building on Temple Square. The Church has sent some of their experts to consult with us and help us improve certain technical skills.

BMC is not officially endorsed by the Church, although we are a trusted independent organization. Members of the Twelve and the Seventy have keynoted BMC events. Church leaders and employees work with us both as private individuals and occasionally in official capacities. We hope our efforts help all of the religious organizations within the Restoration Movement who cherish the Book of Mormon. We hope our materials prove useful to missionaries working with investigators. We hope our approach helps many people stay in the boat as Elder Ballard taught in his October, 2014 & October, 2016 General Conference addresses. Our publications ultimately depend on research. Research is inherently exploratory and uncertain. Being completely independent empowers BMC to take calculated risks which the official Church would not be comfortable undertaking. If we are successful, the Church benefits. If we are not successful, the Church is not embarrassed. We support the Church’s mission to help more of God’s children feast upon the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon.

Yes. Book of Mormon Central (BMC) is a dba of Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum, Inc., a Utah non-profit corporation organized in 2004. Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum, Inc. (BMAF) is a 501 (c)(3) public charity whose final determination letter from the IRS was received in 2007. Copy available upon request. BMAF files an annual Form 990 with the IRS. Both BMAF and BMC maintain current registrations with the Utah Division of Corporations. BMAF also has a current charitable solicitations permit issued by the Utah Department of Commerce. Copy available upon request. 

Book of Mormon Central (BMC), as of December 5, 2020, has 18 full-time employees, 12 part-time employees, 4 part-time freelancers, and dozens of part-time volunteers working in various aspects of its operations. It maintains an office in Springville, Utah. The organization is managed by four volunteer executives:

• Jack Welch, retired after 40 years on the BYU Law faculty.
• Kirk Magleby, owner of Nuvek, LLC.
• Taylor Halverson, BYU Marriott School faculty.
• Ruth Schmidt, retired attorney.

None of these individuals receives any compensation for their work with BMC.

The executives are advised by volunteer board members:

• Scott Petersen, executive with RevRoad.
• Bob Babcock, practicing attorney with Babcock Scott & Babcock.
• Tyler Perry, executive with Perry Homes & Perry Commercial.
• Lynne Wilson, instructor, Stanford Institute of Religion
• Harris Leck, retired executive/attorney with Chevron Corp.
• Dan  Galorath, founder of Galorath Inc.
• Dave Jenkins, founder of Conservice, LLC.
• Scott Gordon, Shasta College faculty.

None of these individuals receives any compensation for their work with BMC. 

To streamline operations and reduce overhead, BMC outsources financial services such as payroll and accounts payable to Nuvek, LLC.

This low-overhead, lean management style means BMC donor dollars fund Book of Mormon project deliverables rather than management salaries. It is only possible because the executives and board members have an extraordinary level of commitment to BMC’s mission. 

We track user interactions. We publish in a dozen social media channels and measure reads, views, listens, opens, downloads, comments, likes, shares, visits, pins, posts, tweets, etc. Affiliates such as Meridian Magazine, LDS Living, Másfe, etc. share our content and we count those co-published user interactions as well. In 2016 we had just over 5 million user interactions. In 2017 that number rose to 15 million. In 2018 we reached 25 million. In 2019 we rose to 40 million. As we achieve our "Flood the Earth with the Book of Mormon" campaign goal, user interactions will increase to 100 and 200 million per year. Inception to date costs have decreased by a factor of 9 from $.36 per user interaction in 2016 to $.04 per user interaction today. 

We measure unique visitors to our websites and translate that number into a market penetration rate among Latter-day Saints. Currently we have over 3.3 million unique visitors which equates to about 19% of Church members. As we reach our campaign goal, that market penetration rate will increase to 40%.

We gather anecdotal evidence of impact via user feedback. Several new converts have joined the Church and many lapsed members become more active after engaging our material. We expect many more.

BMC's current monthly expenditure averages $125,000 per month. No executive salaries or fundraising expenses are included in that amount. All BMC executives (Jack Welch, Kirk Magleby, Taylor Halverson, Ruth Schmidt, Bob Babcock, Scott Petersen, Tyler Perry, Lynne Wilson, Harris Leck, Dan Galorath, Dave Jenkins, Scott Gordon) serve as volunteers. BMC's Director of Development, Nathan Bryant, has his salary and expenses completely paid as an in-kind private donation by Kirk Magleby's company, Nuvek, LLC. BMC occupies 5 suites in the office building at 330 East 400 South in Springville, Utah, but only pays rent on 2 1/2 of those suites. The other 2 1/2 are in-kind private donations from the owners. Much of BMC's furniture and fixtures come from second hand sources such as the monthly BYU surplus sale. We take full advantage of non-profit discounts offered by technology suppliers such as Microsoft, Adobe, and Salesforce. These strategies keep BMC's overhead remarkably low. Nearly 90% of our budget goes to pay 18 full-time employees, 12 part-time employees, and 4 part-time freelancers whose work is leveraged by dozens of dedicated volunteers. 

Major donors ($10,000 or more) to Book of Mormon Central include:

• Acahand Foundation
• Anonymous (4)
• Dan & Wendi Asay
• Alan & Karen Ashton
• Ashton Family Foundation
• Bart & Virginia Blair
• Dale & Brenda Bradford
• Tad R. & Kathryn Callister
• Charis Legacy Foundation
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Foundation
• Covenant Communications
• Allyson Egbert
• Brett and Sandy Folkman
• Galorath Foundation
• Bryson & Jan Garbett
• Howard & Debbie Goodman
• Google Ad Grants
• Ivy Academy
• Johnny & Verlanne Johnson
• Jack & Kimberly Kane
• KSM Family LLC
• KSP Investments
• Chris & Erlynn Lansing
• David & Bianca Lisonbee
• LPL Financial
• Arlo & Jackie Luke
• Kirk & Shannon Magleby
• Max Connect Marketing
• Gail Miller & Kim Wilson
• Alan C. Miner
• More Good Foundation
• Nuvek, LLC
• Bill & Linda Perry
• Scott & Marilyn Petersen
• Howard & Marianne Reichman
• Tom Sederberg
• Duane & Marci Shaw Foundation
• David & Tonya Shuley
• Stephanie Sorensen Charitable Fund
• Sorenson Legacy Foundation
• Marilyn Victor
• Weidman Family Charitable Fund 
• John S. & Unita Welch
• John W. & Jeannie Welch
• John A. Widtsoe Foundation
• Susan Ileene Wirthlin Foundation
• Workboots Foundation

When we reach our “Flood the Earth with the Book of Mormon” campaign funding goal of $8.9 million, we will have an additional $90k per month for operations. This will allow us to add 3 full-time employees: a scriptwriter, a search engine optimization (SEO) auditor/manager, and a digital marketer. We will also add about 15 college-age interns working in several aspects of our organization. With this targeted manpower and a healthy budget for marketing, we will dramatically grow our user engagements (reads, views, listens, likes, shares, etc.) from the current 100 million per year to 150 and 200 million per year. When we reach 200 million user engagements per year, we will have a 40% market penetration rate among Latter-day Saints and many not of our faith will engage our content before they choose to meet with the missionaries.

Deliverables with increased manpower:

Yes. Squire & Company audits our books and publishes an annual audit report. BMC maintains a number of internal controls that inspire donor confidence.

BMC outsources its payroll, payables, receivables, cash receipts, fixed assets management, and general ledger reporting to a larger private firm, Nuvek, LLC, that has been well-managed since its founding in 2002. This gives BMC employees access to good health insurance, a company matched 401k plan, and other appreciated benefits. BMC financials are reviewed quarterly and annually by the CPA firm Larry Cox and Associates of Lehi, Utah. BMC maintains its own donor records in Salesforce that are reconciled monthly with the bank statement and Nuvek’s accounting records. Nuvek is paymaster for BMC who makes a single payment each month to Nuvek. The detailed invoice behind that payment itemizes every expenditure with generally accepted levels of documentation (vendor invoices, receipts, contracts, etc.). No BMC employees have company credit cards. They expend personal funds per company policy and submit for reimbursement. Each reimbursement request is reviewed by BMC management for accuracy, adequate documentation, and compliance with budgetary limits. The BMC budget is approved annually by the Board of Directors. BMC financials tie out monthly to the bank statement, investment brokerage account statement, fixed asset depreciation register, accounts payable register, and accounts receivable register. BMC management looks over the monthly invoice from Nuvek and approves it for payment. If there were ever anything untoward, it would not get reimbursed. Nuvek then circulates BMC financial statements to the BMC board of directors on a need to know basis. Larry Cox and Associates files an annual Form 990 with the IRS with numbers that tie out to BMC financials. The BMC 990 becomes a matter of public record. Copies are available upon request.  

For any other question, you are welcome to contact: