Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

The Keller Family discusses The Global Reach Project

October 22, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The Keller family never set out to build a global media operation. When Tim Keller planted Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan in 1989, it was a mom-and-pop startup—his wife Kathy handed out bulletins, his sons bought groceries for hospitality, and one son famously grabbed garlic-and-onion matzah for communion because that was all that was left. But something unusual happened: skeptical New Yorkers kept coming, kept bringing their non-Christian friends, and kept being changed. The family now believes that the same dynamic can scale to reach nearly 70 percent of the world’s population, if they can faithfully translate 500 of Keller’s sermons into 30 languages. That is the Global Reach Project.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:01) **Opening Hook & Project Vision** - The episode opens with a signature Keller quote about the gospel, then introduces the Global Reach Project: translating 500 sermons into 30 languages to reach 70% of the global population.
2 (02:35) **Family Introduction & Early Memories** - Kathy Keller and their three sons (Michael, Jonathan, David) join the conversation, sharing nostalgic stories from Redeemer's early days as a "mom and pop" church plant.
3 (04:40) **Keller's First Translation: From Christianese to Normal Speech** - The family explains that Tim Keller's core gift was translating the gospel out of church jargon into language anyone could understand.
4 (06:06) **Incarnation as the Model for Translation** - The sons connect the translation project to the core Christian doctrine of the incarnation: God making himself intelligible in human form.
5 (08:28) **Scale of the Global Reach Project** - The family breaks down the project's scope: 500 sermons × 30 languages = 15,000 individual translated sermons, each with its own expert team.
6 (09:52) **The Problem with Rogue Translations** - A key section explaining why rigorous translation matters and what can go wrong with amateur efforts.
7 (10:44) **The "Platinum Product" Standard** - The family describes the five-to-ten-year, $15 million process required to produce trustworthy translations.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Tim Keller Kathy Keller

Show Notes

Gospel in Life recently launched The Global Reach Project (https://theglobalreachproject.com), which is an initiative to translate 500 of Tim Keller’s most foundational sermons into 30 of the world’s most spoken languages. This project is something Kathy Keller and her family are truly excited about, and we brought them together to talk about what they think of it and what they hope God will accomplish through it.

We hope this episode of Kathy, David, Michael and Jonathan discussing the project gives you a deeper understanding of why we think this project is so important and why we hope you will …

- be praying regularly for our teams that are doing the translation work
- consider making a special gift in support of the project
- share the translated sermons as they become available with people you know who speak one of the target languages

We know the gospel can change anyone, and we are grateful for the ways you are partnering with us to bring the message of the gospel to more people all over the world.

Visit https://theglobalreachproject.com to support and learn more about the initiative.

Translated Tim Keller sermons are currently available in our first 5 languages through https://gospelinlife.com and via podcast (links below):
- Spanish Weekly Podcast: https://ginl-spanish.podbean.com/
- French Weekly Podcast: https://ginl-french.podbean.com/
- Portuguese Weekly Podcast: https://ginl-portuguese.podbean.com/
- Indonesian Weekly Podcast: https://ginl-indonesian.podbean.com/
- Mandarin Weekly Podcast: https://ginl-mandarin.podbean.com/