Verse By Verse Ministry International (VBVMI) was founded in 2003 and began as a simple way of distributing recorded teachings taken from the Bible studies of Stephen Armstrong, a Sunday school teacher and internet preacher. As Stephen taught the Bible in churches, homes, and neighborhood clubhouses around San Antonio, attendance and interest grew—both in his teaching and on the ministry website. Soon, other men and women with a similar love for God's Word joined in the work, and Verse By Verse Ministry began to take shape.

By 2005, the ministry began to receive requests from churches around the country to hear Stephen teach, while the online audience began requesting more content than the existing website could support. With the help of a website developer, Stephen began work on a new version of the website, and by Fall 2005 the first major update to the VBVMI website launched. Almost immediately, the site experienced a surge in traffic and a regular pattern of donations.

The increase in financial giving led to the establishment of a formal nonprofit organization, Verse By Verse Ministry of San Antonio, and the appointment of a Board of Directors to provide oversight and accountability. In the years that followed, the ministry grew steadily by God's grace, both in reach and resources.

In 2008, the ministry began producing written studies. By 2009, the VBVMI website was receiving over 1 million hits and distributing nearly 50,000 Bible lessons each month. To accommodate the growing demand, the ministry designed and launched a new website in July 2009—a major undertaking that contributed to an accelerated expansion of VBVMI’s reach to Bible students around the world.

In January 2011, the ministry launched a third-generation website to better serve our growing audience. The new site incorporated better navigation and a topical index. Also, it was deployed on a new, robust database infrastructure to handle substantial increases in traffic and to offer more kinds of content.

In the three years that followed, the ministry began a period of sustained and dramatic growth, doubling in audience every 6-8 months. By the end of January 2013, the website was taking over 2.5 million hits and distributing over 150,000 audio lessons per month. The ministry's growing international audience prompted the Board to change the ministry's name to Verse By Verse Ministry International to reflect its worldwide reach. Also at that time the ministry launched its first smartphone app and a ministry Facebook page, which further increased growth.

The rapid growth soon placed new demands on the site, prompting another redesign and new database architecture. In 2014, VBVMI launched a new version of its website, introducing improved navigation, a more visually appealing interface, enhanced search functionality, a video library, and a redesigned audio player. That same year, the Board approved an expansion into live Bible conferences, held annually each October in San Antonio, Texas. In 2015, the ministry also began producing small group curriculum and short video series to expand its teaching library.

Once again, VBVMI began a major website rebuild to meet the growing traffic and enhance the user experience. The redesigned site launched in early 2018 with several new capabilities, including a reorganized topical structure, making it easier for students to explore key themes and dive deeply into the Word of God.

VBVMI continued to grow, hosting live events for students, pastors, teachers, and ministry leaders across North America, Europe, Africa, Central America, and Asia. The international demand for in-depth, verse-by-verse teaching continued to drive new initiatives and global outreach efforts.

In 2024, Verse By Verse Ministry International began focusing on translating the website and its materials into Spanish. A team of translators—using a combination of technology and human review—took on the challenge of bringing VBVMI’s resources to Spanish-speaking audiences. The ministry invited bilingual volunteers to assist in this mission of expansion.

We will continue to add volunteers, select paid staff and Bible teachers to assist in the development and presentation of new curriculum and written study materials. Though the ministry is growing and adapting to meet many needs, the primary goal of the ministry remains unchanged:to teach God's Word clearly and boldly until all 66 books of the Bible have been proclaimed verse-by-verse and made available online for free.