Our Story
The Community Bible Series story began with Loraine Tillman, who was a concert violinist and member of the Seattle Philharmonic Symphony, choir director, and violin teacher when, always a Bible student, she began Bible College. She became a Bible teacher and speaker, organized Bible classes, and wrote Bible study material. She then became an assistant to A. Wetherell Johnson, who wrote and organized Bible Study Fellowship. While Loraine was in that position, she received a telephone call from a group in Grants Pass, Oregon, who wanted to start a BSF class. Grants Pass was too small a city to have BSF at that time, so Loraine advised the group to begin praying for their own Bible study class. They prayed for two years, and Loraine and her husband Gus moved to Grants Pass in 1977. Loraine began a study for that group in Grants Pass, writing lessons for students to complete, organizing small group discussions, and giving a lecture each week. In 1982, Lorraine started another group using her lessons when she and her husband moved to Springfield, Oregon. Both groups are still going. The study materials became Community Bible Series, which has had study groups in as many as 72 places at one time. Pam Forster joined the Springfield study and led it from 1992 to 2022. In 2009, the now elderly and widowed Loraine Tillman gave Community Bible Series to Pam and her husband Skip. Since that time, Pam and Skip have been working to reformat, digitize, edit and expand both the study questions and syllabus. They have been serving groups in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho and are excited to see what the Lord does as they offer lessons to a broader audience of Bible students. Their daughter-in-law Sarah Forster has recently joined the team as the graphic artist and web master. Our goal at Community Bible Series is to make quality study materials available to as many hungry Bible students as we can as inexpensively as possible.
Statement of Faith
The basis of our faith is the Bible, God’s infallible written Word, the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments. We believe that it was uniquely, verbally, and wholly inspired by the Holy Spirit and written without error in the original manuscripts. It is the supreme and final authority in all matters on which it speaks. There is one true God, eternally existing in three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each Person possesses equally all the attributes of Deity. Jesus Christ is God the Son, the living Word. He was born of a virgin, conceived by the Holy Spirit. He is both fully human and fully divine. He lived a sinless life, atoned for our sins by dying on the cross, and provided salvation for all who trust in Him alone. Jesus Christ rose bodily to His place beside the Father in heaven where He now intercedes for us. He is coming again to establish His eternal kingdom. The Holy Spirit convicts and draws sinners to faith in Christ. He gives spiritual life, indwells, and seals all those who trust Jesus Christ to save them. He leads them as they seek to follow God’s will as explained in the Bible. We believe that God created the heavens and the earth and every living thing. Adam and Eve were created in the image of God. They sinned by disobeying God and were separated from God, the Source of all life. This put all humanity under a sentence of death because all sin. We all need to place our faith in Jesus Christ to save us from sin’s condemnation. Salvation is by God’s grace and not our works. No one can be good enough to earn their way to heaven. 16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.” John 3:16-18 NIV
Mission
Helping others to grow in the Word
Our mission at Community Bible Series is to provide affordable study materials to help you dig deeper into God's Word. Our studies aren't light. They offer you the opportunity to to do in-depth Bible Studies. Although designed to be used in a community with others, they are also excellent for personal study.
Meet the Team
Dedication. Delight. Passion.
"Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,
Who seek Him with the whole heart!" Psalm 119:2
Loraine Tillman
Founder, Lecturer, Author Emeretus
Loraine Tillman was a concert violinist and member of the Seattle Philharmonic Symphony, choir director, and violin teacher when, always a Bible student, she began Bible College. She became a Bible teacher and conference speaker, organized Bible classes and wrote Bible study material. She began writing Community Bible Series studies in 1977, eventually producing forty Lessons. She continued publishing the studies for various groups until her retirement in 2009.
Pam Forster
Author, Lecturer, Editor
Pam Forster trusted Christ to save her at age fourteen, and He has shown her that everything she does in life is meaningful because it affects eternity. She completed three years of Bible classes at the Institute of Biblical Studies while on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ from 1969-1975. She finished eight years of studies with Bible Study Fellowship. She led a Community Bible Series group for thirty years, giving verse-by-verse lectures each week. In 2009, Lorraine Tillman passed Community Bible Series on to Skip and Pam. While continuing to give lectures at her local women’s Community Bible Series group, Pam has also been rewriting the Lesson questions and revising the Syllabuses to make them even more in-depth and user friendly. Pam retired from lecturing in 2022 and now focuses her attention on making quality study materials available to more Bible students. She enjoys being with her family, cooking them special meals, and visiting with them around the table. It is a great blessing to her that her sons, their wives, and her grandchildren walk with the Lord. Third John 4 says, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."
Skip Forster
Product Manager, Technical Support, Manuscript Formatting, Shipping
Skip Forster was on staff with Campus Crusade from 1968 through 1975. He was a computer programmer there and for various organizations for forty years. He continues to minister online through Global Media Outreach. Since 2022, Skip and Pam have been working to make Community Bible Series Lessons readily available to more hungry Bible students. Skip likes to be busy working and enjoys woodworking, being a handyman, and jet skiing. He especially loves working alongside friends and family.
Sarah Forster
Graphic Artist, Web Master
Sarah is married to Pam and Skip's younger son, Dan. She loves the Lord, His Word, prayer, and all things literary and artistic. She came to know and put her trust in Jesus in college and has been loving getting to know Him more through His Word ever since. She has a passion for kids, teaching, spending time with her husband and kids, being in God's creation, having long conversations, and chocolate. At the heart of it all, she wants others to know not only the Lord's saving grace, but also all the amazing truths that He has to share about Himself in His Word. She finds it to be a privilege to get to use her love of art and design as a part of making in-depth Bible Studies accessible to more people!