Previous Releases of Generations
In January, our original 100 Characters grew to 450 with Generations—and it’s expanding again.
100 characters was a good start, but clearly not enough. Generations contents 500 characters across three simple time divisions. These characters are story-specific, focusing on the active participants in almost every story of the Bible. Put another way: If they’re involved in a Bible story in any major way, you can almost certainly find them here! (Have you ever put together a lesson and been frustrated finding specific people? And even if you did, they didn’t match? Generations solves those problems!)
Quality illustration
You may know that, back in 2001, a teenage Brian began the original CTR product (and soon after, the original “Who People”) in Microsoft Paint! … Yes, it’s come a long way since then. While those illustrations blessed many classrooms and brought the text to vibrant life for many people, the demands of the digital age have grown, and CTR has kept up.
Vector illustrations make shrinking and enlarging characters possible without losing any of the quality or creating any blurriness or pixelation. Imagine a bulletin board with a life-size Bible character—how eye-catching and attention-grabbing that would be for a child! Our new Generations Packs have been created with the highest quality images to enable projects like this.
First release (2016): “Characters” (100)
If you already own the original product, don’t worry! You’ll always have digital access and online support for the original 100 characters you already purchased. (However, the old pack of 100 is no longer available for purchase in that form.)
Second release (January 2020): “Generations”
The original 100 characters were integrated chronologically into the Generations Pack, which was available as a bundle (at a discount) OR split into three smaller packs based on general time period. (This purchase option has been discontinued.)
Newest release (July 2020):
“Generations Expansion”
The 452 characters from January are again integrated chronologically with bonus characters for 500 total, and a “New Only” folder is available in Dropbox for those who have already printed the January release.
As before, Generations is divided into three parts (A/B/C) to give simple organization to so many characters. (We’ll use this chronological “shorthand” to bring more CTR collections to life in the future.)
Pack A: “The Nation” (168 characters): All significant characters from creation to the judges.
Pack B: “The Kingdom” (173 characters): All significant characters from the United Kingdom through the end of the Old Testament.
Pack C: “The Church” (159 characters): All significant New Testament characters, from John and Jesus’ parents to the authors of the epistles.
JPG & clipart versions are included with all versions for class lessons and other design integration options.
The star
Years ago, Brian collaborated with the phenomenal Our Spiritual Heritage curriculum to create the “Who People” pack of 300 from his original artwork. On specific cards, you can see a star in the corner, marking every character in the lineage of Christ. This visual nod to Christ’s birth was also a subtle reminder to students that, as we glean details and lessons from the lives of very different people across generations, the entire story of the Bible leads to Jesus! His mission is the focus from the very beginning of Scripture, and the generations that came before and after are worth understanding. (We certainly believe that grasping our spiritual connection to Him at an early age is just as important as learning his earthly ancestry that came before.)
Who People with Christ’s lineage stars (Our Spiritual Heritage collaboration, from 2003 artwork)
As Brian’s passion for Bible illustrations grew and he began a Creation to Revelation rebrand, he chose the star as his company’s new logo with that same mindset. All our products and all our illustrations are intended to point eyes and hearts to Jesus.
As you enjoy Generations, we hope you take special notice of the cards with the star in the corner. When asked why certain characters have a star, please use that opportunity as the wise men did in Matthew chapter 1:
“... ‘For we saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him’ … When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy!”
Curious about what’s included in Generations? Get the free index of all 500 names. You’ll also see their time periods, OSH divisions, CTR division (A/B/C), whether or not they were included in the 2016 Characters Pack or OSH’s Who People, and more.