A rainbow formed 15 years ago in this one-time railroad community that is mostly known now for housing a federal penitentiary.
But the colors of that vision have spread around the globe.
El Reno, Okla., native Billy Hughey’s vision for a color-coded edition of Scripture has blossomed into a multimillion-dollar publishing house that has sold nearly 1.5 million Bibles in 40 nations.
“We feel very fortunate,” said Hughey, 49, who co-owns Rainbow Studies International with his wife, Janice. “It’s a business, but it’s a ministry. We do try to keep that in mind.”
Hughey took the concept that put Jesus Christ’s words in red letters and applied it to every verse in Scripture.
The copyrighted Rainbow Study Bible uses 12 colors to match verses in all 66 Old and New Testament books to a specific theme, such as family (yellow), prophecy (gold) and sin (black, of course).
“It’s so basic and simple — 12 colors, 12 themes,” said Jeff Koos, the company’s general manager and Mrs. Hughey’s twin brother. “It’s not anything that requires a scholar to understand.”
Or a scholar to develop, if you believe Hughey.
The former bank vice president humbly describes himself as a Bible student — not a scholar — who has read all the way through the Good Book at least 50 times.
However, he denies any amazement that he created a worldwide product endorsed by the likes of Zig Ziglar, Robert Schuller, Jerry Falwell and the late Tom Landry and Dale Evans Rogers.
“We’re never surprised,” said Hughey. “We serve a big God, and we expect much, much bigger things than what we’re experiencing right now.”
That’s not pride talking, say those who know Hughey. Rather, they say, it’s unflinching faith.
“I’ve just never met anybody who has a heart like he has for the Lord and for people,” said Mike Howard, who left a 30-year career in secular sales to become Rainbow Studies International’s vice president for sales and marketing.
“For him and Janice, it’s always been about their ministry, not about their sales.”
The story of the Rainbow Study Bible stretches back to Hughey’s childhood and early adult years, when baseball cards and cheap felt-tip pens helped plant the roots for future success.
Growing up, Hughey always loved words and organization, he said. When he wasn’t entering — and winning — vocabulary-building contests, he was shuffling baseball cards into ideal teams.
“I still get a charge out of that sort of thing,” said Hughey, a New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs fan who used baseball cards as collateral to help raise the down payment when he bought out his original partners.
At age 18, at the First Baptist Church of El Reno, Hughey gave his life to Jesus and suddenly felt a hunger for God’s Word.
“Even though my mother was a devout Christian, I had hardly ever cracked open a Bible,” he wrote in Guideposts in December 1987.
“Still, I’d always been a competitive, high-energy kid, and now I took my new faith seriously.
“So, in addition to the King James Version, I had a Living Bible and Good News for Modern Man,” Hughley wrote. “But between Genesis and Revelation lay so much sheer, forbidding volume. Words, words, more words. What seemed like acres and acres of grim, gray pages was enough to intimidate — no, numb — a beginner Christian.
“God’s truth lay in those pages, but how was I to extract it, make it a part of my new life?” he asked.
Later, Hughey noticed that his friends’ Bibles were crowded with notes and cross-references. The covers were falling off from hard use.
With a purple felt-tip pen, he started marking all the passages he could find directly related to God.
Soon, he bought more markers and added additional themes. Verses about love were colored green. Those about faith were orange. Blue became the color of salvation.
“I started to see that highlighting passages in color wasn’t only helping me organize my Bible study, it was also fun,” Hughey wrote.
Eventually, Hughey decided that the world needed its first totally color-coded Bible. As he pursued his publishing dream, he sold his red 1964 Mustang convertible for $5,500.
The Hugheys believe Carl Nick, the man who bought the car, was an answer to their prayers. They had begged God to lead somebody to them with the financial clout to publish the Rainbow Study Bible.
As it turned out, Nick and his oil-investor partner, Randy Mecklenburg, raised $600,000 to cover production costs, and in 1986 the first 50,000 Rainbow Study Bibles rolled off the press.
That first printing used the King James Version of the Bible, which had no copyright and therefore no royalty fees.
“We were a small publisher, and we felt like that was a very good Bible to start with,” Mrs. Hughey said.
Since that first printing, the company has produced a color-coded Living Bible, a New International Version and a Catholic edition, not to mention Spanish and Portuguese translations.
A Chinese company signed a licensing agreement to market Rainbow Study Bible software in that language. In addition, Rainbow Studies International has developed a growing line of Bible software, children’s books, gift items and motivational materials, all with the theme “Creating Colorful Treasures.”
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