Jerry Bruce Jenkins (born September 23, 1949) is an American writer. He is best known for the Left Behind series, written with Tim LaHaye. Jenkins has written more than 200 books, in multiple genres, such as biography, self-help, romance, mystery, and young adult fiction. Nineteen of his 130+ novels have explored eschatological themes and settings. In 2016, Jenkins was described as a dispensationalist Christian by The Washington Post. Early life Jenkins was born September 1949 to Harry Philip Jenkins and Bonita Grace Thompson of Kalamazoo, Michigan. In a 2008 interview with The Modesto Bee, Jenkins said his Christian faith was inspired by a Warner Sallman painting, guided by his mother. After graduating from Forest View High School, Jenkins attended Moody Bible Institute from 1967 to 1968, and Harper College from 1968 to 1970. Career After suffering an injury playing sports, Jenkins began work as a sports reporter while he was still in high school. Before he could drive, Jenkins covered high school sports for local newspapers. He was paid per inch. While attending Moody Bible Institute, Jenkins served as night news editor for the institute's flagship radio station, WMBI-FM. He served as Vice President of the Moody's publishing division from 1985 to 1988, and a writer-in-residence from 1988 onward. He was the managing editor of Moody Monthly from 1974 to 1979 and publisher from 1979 to 1981. Jenkins served as a member of Moody Bible Institute's Board of Trustees from 2001 to 2018. , Jenkins has written more than 200 books, including twenty-one New York Times bestsellers. His work has appeared in Time, Reader's Digest, Parade, and Guideposts. More than one hundred titles by Jenkins are young adult fiction, written in eleven series, including the forty-volume Left Behind: The Kids (1998–2003) series. From 2011 to 2017, Jenkins owned the Christian Writers Institute's Christian Market Writer's Guide. As co-writer Jenkins has written twenty as-told-to biographies and memoirs of prominent athletes and religious leaders, such as Hank Aaron, Bill Gaither, Walter Payton, Joe Gibbs, Mike Singletary, and Sammy Tippit. Jenkins called those titles his "sports personality" books. His credit as writer is given via an "as told to", "as told by", or "with Jerry B. Jenkins" attribution. In an interview with Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn podcast, Jenkins explained he does not co-write, saying "if my name is on [the book] … I wrote every word." For works credited with Chris