Recently, a young woman contacted Kristin Schmucker, the founder of The Daily Grace Company and current online student at Westminster Theological Seminary, to share how she had come to saving faith through one of The Daily Grace Company’s Bible studies. The young woman had grown up in a nominally Christian family but never truly understood what the gospel was—until a family friend invited her to study the Bible with the aid of their study material. It was through this study that the Holy Spirit convicted the woman, displaying the reality of her unbelief and need for salvation. “She never understood what the gospel was,” Kristin explained, “and it never gets old receiving an email from someone who has come to faith through our resources.”
When asked whether she would be interested in an interview about WTS, Kristin Schmucker responded emphatically, “Of course! Our family loves Westminster.” Kristin and Jeremy, who also attended WTS, are the husband-and-wife team behind The Daily Grace Company whose main goal is to “create Bible study resources to help disciples know and love God’s word.” The Daily Grace Company began as a single Bible study in an Etsy shop and was created in a season of suffering. Kristin shared that when she was 37 weeks pregnant, she and her husband lost their second daughter to stillbirth. Kristin said that “Everything that we thought was going to be was very much turned upside down…. It was during this season of deep suffering that we were reminded, in a fresh way, what a gift God’s Word is for his people.” In light of this, Jeremy challenged Kristin to consider how God might be working in the midst of their pain and calling them to steward suffering well. Seeing the disparity between those who suffered with the foundation of God’s Word and those who didn’t, they hoped to provide a resource that would enable believers to suffer with hope, dependent on God’s Word.
Subsequently their Etsy shop was created and their first resource was devised. Kristin commented that “Our very first devotional was taken from the pages of my journal, as I studied God’s Word in the weeks after we lost our daughter.” Thinking that maybe her mother and mother-in-law would buy the resource out of pity, Kristin was surprised to find that she sold several hundred copies. In six years, The Daily Grace Company has transformed from just Kristin and Jeremy, printing shipping labels on their seminary housing stove and packing boxes at their kitchen table, to thirty employees, a warehouse, thousands of followers on social media, and many resources that seek to equip “disciples in the Word.” Kristin remarked that they "now ship hundreds of thousands of Bible studies around the world each year.” The Lord has been faithful.
In recalling this history, Kristin is quick to give the glory to God alone and acknowledge the power of Scripture rightly studied: “Jeremy and I have said this so many times, we feel like God has given us a front row seat to see what he is doing in the church and in theological education.”
If you visited their website, you would find hundreds of resources, ranging from Bible studies and art prints to a blog and podcast. They offer such a range of material so that they can provide resources for “every believer” that are “both theological rich and accessible.” Indeed, their studies present truths in an accessible way without excluding and diminishing theological terminology and difficult truths. Because of this, concepts that may have seemed daunting or off-limits to Christians uninterested in a theological education become understandable and even applicable to their daily lives. Kristin remarked that teaching God’s word requires first being “a student of God’s word” and therefore “doing the hard work of study.” Without immersing oneself in and gleaning from Scripture one will not be able to rightly teach the truths of Scripture. With a view to this, their studies are focused on the careful study of Scripture. It is these particular features of the study materials that have contributed to the success of The Daily Grace Company.
Without immersing oneself in and gleaning from Scripture one will not be able to rightly teach the truths of Scripture.
Despite the success of The Daily Grace Company and prior theological training, Kristin and Jeremy were still drawn to apply to and attend Westminster. In explaining why, Kristin said that they were especially keen on the “emphasis on Christological interpretation and biblical theology.” The fruit of her time at Westminster is manifest especially in her love for God’s word and biblical theology, which has only continued to grow, and also in her persistent belief that all of Scripture points to Christ. It was particularly Dr. Iain Duguid that had a profound influence on they view the Old Testament. Kristin remarked that Dr. Duguid instilled “a love in his students for the Old Testament” and that they still “regularly reference those classes.” Kristin continued saying that they have “been so blessed by Westminster” since they learned “how to better teach God’s word and how to better train our team to teach God’s word; our whole team is now better equipped to teach God’s word.”
The stories that could be shared about The Daily Grace Company’s effect in the lives of believers are countless. As they take theological truths, such as those learned in Dr. Duguid’s classroom, and teach them through their studies, they’ve encouraged many Christians to better know and love the word of God. Just recently, Kristin received an email from one reader who was ready to take what she had learned in one of their Bible studies and apply it to even more Scripture passages. Not only had the reader learned well through the Bible study, but she learned how to study Scripture well. She was ecstatic and could not help but share that The Daily Grace Company’s Bible study had given her tools to study the Bible, tools that she never had before. It is these types of stories that display the good work that Kristin, Jeremy, and their team are doing for the sake of the gospel and Christ’s church.
You can find The Daily Grace Company, which includes several resources from Westminster students and alumni, here.