An Important Update on the Leadership of Crossway
Crossway Board Announces Josh Dennis as New CEO, With Appreciation for the Crossway Publishing Ministry Founded by Lane and Ebeth Dennis
It is with great appreciation for the lives and ministry of Lane and Ebeth Dennis that the Crossway Board of Directors announces that Lane and Ebeth will be stepping down from their current positions as CEO and CoCEO, and that Josh Dennis will be confirmed as Crossway’s new President and CEO at the next Crossway Board Meeting on August 13, 2021.
Speaking on behalf of the Board of Directors, Dr. Paul House, Crossway Nominating Committee Chair, noted, “Throughout his nineteen-year tenure at Crossway, Josh Dennis has demonstrated outstanding leadership, creativity, fiscal responsibility, and humble collegiality.” Most importantly, Dr. House stated, “Josh exhibits Christian character in his conversations, demeanor, marriage, parenting, church life, and friendships. With his godly character, and his in-depth knowledge and extensive experience in publishing,” Dr. House noted further, “the Crossway Board is confident that Josh is the Lord’s choice to lead Crossway for the next generation.” Josh was previously appointed by the Board as Crossway President in summer of 2019. At the upcoming August Board Meeting, he will be confirmed as both President and CEO, marking the culmination of an extensive Nominating Committee process that was initiated more than three and a half years ago.
Although Lane and Ebeth will be stepping down as CEO and CoCEO this August, Lane will continue to serve as Chairman of the Crossway Board and as an Executive Advisor for the ESV Bible and Ministry, and Ebeth will continue to serve as a Crossway Board Member.
“I am so thankful for my parents,” Josh writes, “as they have given most of their adult lives in service of the Lord in Christian publishing ministry—more than fifty years for my father, including the forty-plus years of my parents working together since co-founding Crossway in 1978. Under their vision and leadership,” Josh notes, “we’ve seen God provide in ways we never could have imagined. For decades, they have sought to be faithful by doing the ‘Lord’s work in the Lord's way,’ seeking to do what is right before the Lord.”
As Dr. Lane Dennis emphasizes, “In the tragic turmoil of our times, the crucial thing at this moment is to remain faithful to the calling and vision that is at the heart of Crossway—that is, to be a living demonstration of the hope and truth and the beauty of the gospel throughout Crossway’s publishing ministry. Over this last decade in particular,” Lane noted, “it is remarkable to see how this vision and calling have flourished and expanded under Josh Dennis’s leadership of the Crossway executive team—with the global growth of the English Standard Version (ESV) Bible; with the massive digital footprint of the ESV Bible worldwide; and with the growth of print book publishing—increasing, for example, over thirty-six percent during this last Covid pandemic year. So it is with our great appreciation that Ebeth and I are deeply grateful to the Crossway Board of Directors for their confirmation and appointment of Josh Dennis as President and CEO of Crossway—to ‘transmit the treasure’ entrusted to Crossway for the next generation.”
Crossway is a not-for-profit publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Good News was founded by Josh’s grandparents, Clyde and Muriel Dennis, in 1938, with an emphasis on writing, designing, publishing, and distributing gospel tracts and other Christian literature. More than forty million gospel tracts were distributed annually in the mid-1940s. Envisioned as an extension of that ministry, Crossway was established by Lane and Ebeth Dennis in the fall of 1978. The first four Crossway titles, published in early 1979, included Knowing Man (by Dr. J. I. Packer), Heroes of the Faith (by Sherwood Wirt), A Christian Manifesto (by Dr. Francis Schaeffer), and Complete Works (also by Schaeffer, published in 1984).
Today, Crossway publishes over 1,000 book titles, in 100 languages worldwide, by more than 700 authors—all of which exemplifies Crossway’s commitment to reach the ends of the earth through “Gospel-Centered Publishing.” In addition, Crossway works with more than 270 ministry partners in over 180 countries to print and distribute gospel-centered resources around the world. Over twenty million copies of the ESV Bible are given away annually through ministry partners, and more than 250 million print Bibles have been published and distributed since the ESV was first published in 2001. Each year, nearly four billion chapters of the ESV Bible are accessed for free digitally around the world. Gospel tracts continue to be an important part of Crossway’s ministry, with an estimated twenty million tracts distributed annually.
Reflecting on the future of Crossway, Josh Dennis notes: “By God’s grace, Crossway has remained faithful to my grandparents’ and my parents’ original vision over the past eighty-three years to publish gospel-centered literature. This vision has expanded in remarkable ways through the publication of hundreds of authors and the ESV Bible. Our vision and calling now is to remain faithful to the ministry entrusted to us—in the words of our mission statement, to help people ‘understand the massive implications of the gospel and the truth of God’s word, for all of life, for all eternity, and for the glory of God alone.’”