Everyone…Everywhere…Every Day by Bryan Craig
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:31-32 ESV
I just got back from an amazing event! You have heard of the “Bible App”, right? Yes it’s that app with the little brown Bible icon, that says “Holy Bible,” most likely downloaded on your phone. The official title of the app is “YouVersion,” but most people call it “The Bible App.” A man named Bobby Gruenewald, who was affiliated with Life.Church out of Edmond, OK had an idea that, perhaps, technology could help him become a better Bible reader. This was 2006, before the advent of Apps, so the original idea was attempted on a website, which they laughingly admit was a horrible failure.
But then, when the idea of “apps” came out by Steve Jobs and Apple, plans shifted to create an easy-to-use Bible app. The vision was birthed and then, God started guiding them, first, by sending a 19-year-old programmer to help them do the initial design. They stepped out in faith and God allowed their app to be one of the first 200 apps that were available for download on the day the App Store was launched. That first weekend, they had 83,000 downloads. They immediately saw they had created a tool which met a big need.
From that day, until now, the YouVersion Bible App has never looked back and never stopped evolving. The event we attended was the celebration of 1 Billion downloads of the Bible app in less than 20 years. The team behind this app have an unquenchable desire to bring God’s Word to “Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day” and even though they have reached 1 Billion, their heart aches for the other 7 Million who have yet to download it. They fully believe that spending time in God’s Word will transform a soul and help make a disciple. And because they have 1 Billionusers and great data, they can report that the use of the Bible is on the rise. They said 300 peopleper second open the Bible app and even in the past month, each week, they are setting records for how many people are interacting with the Bible app.
They are speaking to a trend which I have been reading about recently, and you, too, have probably seen and heard about. The hunger and curiosity for God and His Word is on the rise. The sale of print Bibles is up 22% in the U.S. and even growing rapidly in the U.K. 80% of Gen Z individuals are open to the Bible, based on a recent poll.
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.” Isaiah 9:2 ESV
We at Influencers have seen this hunger, as we have seen our small grassroots ministry continue to expand exponentially in places we never dreamed we would go. And as you know, we, too, have a deep belief that becoming a “self-feeder” on God’s Word is a pathway to becoming a disciple. As Jesus said in John 8:31… “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples.” This is Jesus, our Lord, whom John called The Word.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 ESV
So, as we interact with the Bible, God’s Word, we are interacting with Jesus, the Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Several years ago, a local ministry in Northwest Arkansas suggested to us that we should become a Content Partner with the Bible app. We did not even know what this was or that it was possible. We discovered that the Bible app has Bible reading plans to help people in their Bible reading and study. This resonated with us as a potential way to, perhaps, reach new people and expose them to our ministry. So, we applied and were accepted. We started submitting Reading plans from the many devotionals we have created through the years to help our constituency on their abiding journeys.
Would you believe that, as of this date:
• 1,387,099 people have subscribed to one of our Reading plans.
• 910,733 people completed a plan (this is a key data point to the YouVersion team because it shows commitment and desire.)
• 112 countries have been reached in 21 languages
And I will tell you that this has happened in the past 7 years without a lot of effort or focus. But it is becoming increasingly apparent that this is a powerful tool that our ministry needs to use to reach the world and make disciples of all nations. By the way, the Bible app is FREE. It always has been and always will be. AND they are so Kingdom-minded that they want to collaborate with other ministries to fan the flame of what God is doing around the world.
We will be praying and brainstorming on how to use the Bible app as we look at the opportunities we are being presented, as well as looking to the future. But for now, YOU CAN HELP US!
1. Go to our Page on the Bible app and then, share it with your friends. This will help bring exposure to our ministry.
https://www.bible.com/organizations/52275ada-fa36-4907-8acc-0b0c4758dd3d
2. Complete one of our Reading Plans to help us reach 1 Million in Plan completions. Our most recent plan is new. It is a 30 Day plan called “A Living Sacrifice” based on Romans 12:1-2.
SEE PLAN
3. Be praying with us about how God might use the Bible App to help us bring The Journey process to Billions!
