Kay Arthur

Early years

Kay Lee Arthur was born on November 11, 1933, in Jackson, Michigan. She grew up in a home that honored God. Her family moved frequently, and in each new community they looked for a church home first, and then looked for a house to live in. Attending Tennessee Temple University, she began nursing school, and graduated in 1955 at age 21. She married her first husband, Frank Thomas Goetz, Jr., who suffered from a bipolar disorder and was manic depressive. She divorced him in 1961. He committed suicide several years later. Kay explained in 2008, "Sin will take you farther than you ever intended to go, it will cost you more than you ever expected to pay, and it will keep you longer than you ever intended to stay. Unfortunately, over the next few years, I sought comfort with several other men including a two-year relationship with a married man." One day she went down on her knees, a harlot, and she got up a saint. Afterwards, she moved on and met Jack Arthur (born March 14, 1926, in Chattanooga, Tennessee), at the same university she had attended, a decade prior. The couple were married on December 16, 1965 and they were both serving as missionaries in Mexico in the late 1960s when medical problems forced them to leave the mission field. Jack graduated from Tennessee Temple with a Th.G. in 1956. He began an adventure that would eventually take him to 70 countries, serving with The Pocket Testament League for 10 years. Kay and Jack returned to their home base in Chattanooga, Tennessee, confident that the Lord had further plans for them. Jack became the station manager of a local Christian radio station, and Kay taught the Bible to teens in their living room.

The number of teens attending Kay’s bible study group steadily grew, and a 32-acre farm was purchased to accommodate the expanding ministry, which was named Reach Out Ranch. The radio station was sold in 1972, and Jack became full-time administrator for Reach Out Ranch. The ministry’s name was eventually changed to Precept Ministries International (PMI), in order to more clearly communicate the organization’s focus of establishing people in God’s Word.

Arthur's husband of 51 years, Jack, who battled cancer, died from Alzheimer's disease in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on January 9, 2017, at age 90.

Precept Ministries International

Since co-founding Precept Ministries International, Kay has written more than 100 books and Bible studies, with over 11 million in print. Her inductive Bible studies are available in nearly 150 countries in approximately 70 languages. Precept Inductive Bible Study groups meet in all 50 states of the USA.

Kay is a conference speaker who speaks extensively, both nationally and internationally, teaching the Word of God and the Inductive Bible Study Method. She was awarded the NRB Hall of Fame Award at the 2011 National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) Convention & Exposition.“The paramount concern Kay Arthur has is for the sheep to follow the Good Shepherd,” said NRB President and CEO, Dr. Frank Wright. “Kay and Jack have dedicated four decades to equip Christians with the tools necessary to mine the Scriptures on their own.”

Precepts for Life

Kay hosts a daily radio, television and online (www.PreceptsForLife.com) Bible Study Teaching program called Precepts for Life, which walks listeners through the Bible, book-by-book and verse-by-verse, using the Inductive Bible Study Method. Precepts for Life has an audience reach of over 75 million households and broadcasts to over 30 countries. Precepts for Life was voted Best Television Teaching Program for 2004 and 2009 by the National Religious Broadcasters.

Transform Student Ministries

Kay Arthur is the founder of Transform Student Ministries www.TransformStudent.org, which is the generational equipping arm of Precept Ministries International. The mission for both Precept Ministries and Transform Student Ministries is to come alongside teens, college students, and leaders to root them in God’s Word. The ministries’ focus is three-fold: 1) to challenge youths to know God and walk obediently by instructing on how to study His Word inductively; 2) to train them to lead others in the power of the Holy Spirit; and 3) to provide biblical discipleship through Bible study materials, conferences, seminars, and camps.

Recent updates

Kay was awarded the NRB Hall of Fame Award at the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) Convention and Exposition in 2011. Kay Arthur, Lois Crawford, and Aimee Semple McPherson are the only female recipients of this prestigious award. Other Hall of Fame Award winners included: Billy Graham, Chuck Colson, William Bright, James Dobson, Larry Burkett and a host of additional Christians; all Christian communicators who have exhibited the highest standard of faithfulness in Christian service.

In 2007 and 2008, Kay Arthur, along with Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer, founded Deeper Still: The Event, a LifeWay weekend conference featuring the three women.

Kay received a Doctor of Humane Letters from Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 2007. She currently serves as Executive Vice President of Precept Ministries, and she and Jack share the office of CEO.

Kay is active in social media outreach and has currently more than 100,000 Facebook fans and builds community on Twitter.

Ecumenical relations

In November 2009, Arthur signed an ecumenical statement known as the Manhattan Declaration calling on evangelicals, Catholics and Orthodox not to comply with rules and laws permitting abortion, same-sex marriage and other matters that go against their religious consciences.

Selected works