Thirdmill was envisioned by Janie Pillow as she came to realize that Christian leaders around the world needed to be trained in their own lands. With the help of Dr. Richard Pratt and a number of others who shared her vision, Thirdmill was launched in 1997 to create a multimedia curriculum for Christian leaders everywhere. Today Thirdmill employs a team of more than 50 full-time and part-time employees, as well as translators all over the world. The curriculum is produced in over 20 languages.

Thirdmill is a non-profit evangelical Christian ministry in the Protestant tradition. Its mission is to prepare Christian leaders to lead a transformation of the world into God’s kingdom by providing free biblical education to the world. Thirdmill works toward this goal by providing free curriculum to everyone who wants it. Their efforts reach millions of pastors and church leaders, and they have already taught more than one million students. Many others in the world also use the curriculum independently or through other ministries. Moreover, the longer the efforts of Thirdmill continue, the more education they can bring to church leaders and to others.

 In order to accomplish their distribution goals, Thirdmill has forged strategic relationships with many different churches, denominations, agencies, missionaries, seminaries, Bible schools, and other groups. These relationships have already resulted in the distribution of many millions of video lessons to indigenous pastors and seminary students. Thirdmill’s website also serves as an avenue of distribution and provides additional materials to supplement the core curriculum.