A white lighthouse on a rocky cliff under a starry night sky, its lamp glowing gold across calm water, with a crescent moon and one bright star above.

His Lightkeepers Publishing Presents

I Was There. A Children's Book Series.

Jesus Christ is the light. The people of the scriptures kept it then. Your children can keep it now.

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Why these books exist

Each Story told in the perspective of those who lived it. 

His Lightkeepers

His Light Is for Everyone

Stories of faith, now reaching children around the world.

One message. Many languages. His light for every child.

A giving initiative by His Lightkeepers

A Meal, A Friend, and A Book

It started with a stranger's gift to a little girl who never forgot it.

Every book you buy helps place a story and a meal into the hands of a child who has neither — and puts a beautiful book into your own family's hands at the same time.

Buy a book, send a book How it works

Books and meals reaching children in Guatemala

Thousands of books and meals placed so far

  • 500+ Books placed in children's handsand counting
  • 500+ Meals providedand counting
  • 3 Community projects supportedand counting
  • 11 Languages in translation

Impact figures are being confirmed and will be updated.

Turn the pages

Peek inside the books

I Was There - When Jesus Was Born – Told by Those Who Watched, Waited, and Welcomed Him
I Was There - When Jesus Was Born – Told by Those Who Watched, Waited, and Welcomed Him

Every spread is fully illustrated — warm, hand-painted scenes your children will want to return to again and again.

Better together

Give the whole story at once

The sets are how most families start, and how most gifts are given.

See every book and set

From families reading them

What families say

  • Beautiful pictures and stories! My children love this book, and I love the lessons they are learning through reading it. I highly recommend!

    J. Foote

  • By presenting these stories through the perspectives of the men who lived them, “I Was There” not only educates but also inspires children to develop their own relationship with God.

    T. James

  • Some books entertain, some educate, and then there are those rare books that reach into your soul and change the way you see yourself. I Was There is one of those rare treasures.

    M. West

How these books are made

Written in rhyme. Illustrated thoroughly.

Every story is written in rhyme for children to follow along, and stays with the child long after the book is closed.

The illustrations are the author's own reading of how these moments looked and felt: warm and alive for a child, and careful never to drift from what the scripture actually says.

  • Written in rhyme, for easy following along.
  • Painted as the author sees them, warm, kind faces.
  • Every scene stays true to the scripture it comes from.
Look inside the books

Three ways in

Where would you like to start?

Whether you are reading with your own children, giving books away, or stocking a shelf, there is a door for you.

For families

Shop the Collection

Seven first-person stories, coloring companions and bundles, ready to read together tonight.

For churches and groups

Bring Books to Children

Sponsor or host a giving event, and put a book and a meal into the hands of a child who has neither.

For booksellers

Carry the Series in Your Store

Wholesale pricing, trim sizes, page counts and ISBNs for the full series, in English and Spanish.

Be a Lightkeeper

The light they kept is the light your family can keep.

Start with one story tonight.

Shop the Collection