The story of Footnote can be said to begin in 2014, when Eric Smith and I (Scott Booth) founded Pillar Seminary. Our focus was training students to read Scripture contextually, using the same methods that are used to understand other ancient literature.

Class was an unending stream of beautiful moments, as students were surprised by who the Lord is, what he cares about, and how he does things.

Shortly thereafter, Donnell Moore joined the faculty. In addition to becoming a good friend and mentor, he taught me the limits of my tradition and training. He showed me that training students to simply hear the word is not biblical, because the objective is accepting and living it. It was a sound and biblical critique of my training (after all, the problem in ancient Israel was not understanding the context, it was doing the word).

When we changed the objective from “reading Scripture contextually” to being transformed by that reading and living it in context, the effects were profound. Students were fed food that grew them and their communities.

Then a simple truth began to show itself: The best students were reliably those who were hungriest for the Lord (not the smartest, best pedigreed, or even those who had the most time to study). Very often these students were moms, with barely any margin. They simply wanted to walk closely with the Lord — because life is better that way— and they want their kids to have the same, and for their marriages to be life giving, to be life-giving to their friends, etc.

We encountered this consistently with students all over the world. They are the very people Christ talked about, the upside-down kingdom that Hannah sang about.

We strove to get better and more efficient at training, because they were due the best.

Over time, it became clear that the pew and pulpit worldwide were starving for good training, and that it was possible to give it to them directly. In January 2024, I left my academic position to pursue that goal. In a few short months, a team formed and has grown to include volunteers worldwide (China, Thailand, India, Kenya, Albania, France, and Jamaica).

It is an honor to take the training we have received and give it to those who want to walk with the Lord, to improve their quality of life and the lives of those around them.