Manford Gutzke began his career as a teacher and in time began to prepare for law practice but soon found himself answering a call from God to give himself to the Gospel ministry. He is well qualified to speak from God's word as he is a graduate of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. He received his M.S. degree in psychology from S.M.U. and was awarded a D.D. degree from Austin College. Later he earned a Ph.D. at Teacher's College, Columbia University, New York.
Dr. Gutzke is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church, U.S. and professor emeritus of Columbia Theological Seminary. Since retiring from the Seminary he has devoted himself entirely to preaching and teaching the Word of God. That the Lord is blessing his work is seen through the growing number reporting that faith in Christ has become very real to them.
This sketch was used to introduce Dr. Gutzke (1896-1993) and his ministry while he was active with The Bible For You, Inc. Shortly after his 91st birthday Dr. Gutzke set aside this work. The Bible For You has ceased to exist as a legal entity, but continues to promote the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ through this web site. The material on this site is copyrighted by Dr. Manford George Gutzke. We request that the credit for authorship remain with him. To God belongs the Glory. With that in mind, all files are free to the public to download, print out, copy, or send electronically for non-profit educational purposes.
The beginning of the Bible For You organization was when recordings were made of Dr. Gutzke teaching the Monday Night Bible Class at North Avenue Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Georgia. At this time he was still teaching at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. One man who was not able to be at the classes himself, undertook to have tape recordings made so he could listen to them later. His name was Howard Cook. He began to share the tapes with friends who operated radio stations and they soon began to be broadcast on some local stations. After he retired from the seminary Dr. Gutzke labored full time with The Bible For You, Inc.
Over the years he continued to work with Mr. Cook to develop his skills as a Bible teacher using the radio as a medium. They produced hundreds of hours of audio Bible study material. It was once available on reel to reel tapes as well as cassettes. The Bible For You Radio Program was broadcast from over one hundred stations around the world. There was also a great deal of printed material, based on the radio program.
When Dr. Gutzke retired at the age of 91 his son Dr. Mark E. Gutzke served as chairman of the board until The Bible For You, Inc. was finally dissolved as a corporation. During this time it was pointed out to him the possibilities of using the Internet to make the Bible study materials available to the public free of charge. It was his desire that every book and pamphlet be made available. This was done by volunteers, most notably Dr. Gutzke's other son, John H. Gutzke, who spent countless hours scanning and proofreading and formatting the files on this site. Dr. Gutzke and his sons have now passed away. This web site is maintained by a grandson.