YouVersion Announces 21-Day Challenge Winners of iPad minis, Prize Packs

On January 21, we invited everyone to join us for the 21-Day Challenge. Registered YouVersion community users who completed at least one day, every day, of an eligible Reading Plan from January 21 through February 10 had their names entered into a random drawing. The prizes were five iPad minis and 21 YouVersion prize packs. (Refer to original blog post for full contest rules.) The results are in, the custom 2013 badges are on their way to your inboxes, and we’re excited to announce the prize winners!*

iPad minis (Don’t forget to put the Bible App on your new iPad mini, first thing!)

Laura O.  –  John F.  –  Jim S.  –  Orlando H.  –  Abner S.

YouVersion T-Shirt and Sticker Pack. Congratulations to these 21 users:

Chad F. (United States) Manda H. (United States)
Elisangela M. (Brazil) Amy T. (Canada)
Seth D. (Canada) Emmanuel E. (Uganda)
Lindsay C. (United States) Daniela H. (Germany)
Keith H. (United States) Lisa M. (Great Britain)
Matthew C. (United States) Eddie B. (Netherlands)
Chanell B. (United States) Jennifer G. (United States)
Paul P. (Canada) Caitlin L. (United States)
Arteida M. (Bahamas) Liliana G. (Argentina)
Kymberly K. (United States) Carla M. (United States)
Suzanne B. (United States)

 

We hope that joining us for the challenge during these last 3 weeks helped you firmly establish your own daily Bible reading habit. But even more important, we hope this time brought you closer to God as you enjoyed spending time with Him each day in His Word. And now, even though the challenge is over, there’s no reason to stop! With more than 350 Reading Plans, your next plan is already waiting for you…Thank you, everyone! Besides our lucky winners, we’d like to thank everyone else who participated in the 21-Day Challenge! If it hasn’t already, your special 21-Day Challenge badge should show up on your YouVersion profile sometime during the next week.



*Winners can expect to receive prizes within the next 7–10 business days. Any correspondence with YouVersion must take place through the email address you used when you registered your free YouVersion account.

21-Day Challenge 2013: Win 1 of 5 iPad minis, Other Prizes

If you’ve never read your Bible consistently before, it can be hard to get started. Research indicates it takes 21 to 28 days to establish a new habit. That’s why YouVersion started the 21-Day Challenge.

The 21-Day Challenge is designed to inspire you to try — and stick to — using Reading Plans to help you connect with God’s Word. All you have to do is complete the daily reading selection for any Reading Plan for 21 days, from Monday, January 21 through Sunday, February 10. You’ll get a special 21-Day Challenge badge on your YouVersion profile, and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win one of five iPad minis or one of 21 YouVersion prize packs! (See official rules below.)

Reading Plans are a proven tool to help you read more of the Bible, more often. And once you’ve read the Bible for 21 days in a row, you’ll have all the momentum you need to keep going. With over 360 Reading Plans and counting, you’re sure to find the plan that’s just right for you. Thanks to YouVersion’s incredible worldwide community of translation volunteers, you can even choose from plans in any of 29 languages.

Tell your friends… and keep reading!



Official Rules:

  • If you don’t already have a free YouVersion account, sign up for one.
  • Complete at least one scheduled day of any YouVersion Reading Plan every day, from Monday, January 21 through Sunday, February 10.
  • Even if you’re subscribed to more than one Reading Plan, you only have to complete a day’s reading for one of them each day.
  • Listening to audio versions counts — as long as you make sure the reading for the day is checked off.
  • Whether you read, listen, or sign up to receive your plan by email, be sure that every passage for each day’s reading is checked off as completed.
  • Don’t miss or skip any days!
  • 26 prizes in total will be distributed to winners selected through a random drawing from the pool of eligible participants. Due to certain international customs fees and regulations, certain prizes may only be available for distribution to winners living in the United States. In such cases, winners living outside the United States will receive alternate prizes.

Pick a Great Reading Plan from YouVersion

Yesterday we shared why it’s so important that we engage with God’s Word every day. The Bible App makes it easy, with hundreds of Reading Plans, ranging in length from just a few days to a whole year. To find your next plan, browse through the convenient categories, or use Search to find something specific.

If you’re still looking for ideas for your next Reading Plan, here are a few you might try:

Brand New Plans Just Added:

NIV Once-A-Day With six new devotionals, make the Bible a daily habit as you read short devotionals that fit into the pace of life. From Zondervan. various lengths

Made to Crave: 21 Day Challenge Bridge the gap between your desire to live a healthy lifestyle and the spiritual strength you need for lasting change. From Lysa TerKeurst. 21 days

God’s Glory and Your Purpose: Devotions with John Piper In this five-day video devotional, John Piper explains what the Bible teaches about the glory of God, and how it impacts our daily lives. From Desiring God. 5 days

Lead Like Jesus: 21 Days of Leadership Bible-based leadership principles for the effective development of people whose heart’s desire to lead as Jesus did. From Ken Blanchard. 21 days

One: A Marriage Devotional by Jimmy Evans Develop a thriving relationship with your spouse through this marriage-building devotional from Jimmy Evans and Marriage Today. 52 Days

Browse even more new plans…

Tried and True “Classic” Plans:

The One Year® Bible The most popular plan on YouVersion, experience the joy of reading the entire Bible with as little as 15 minutes of reading each day. From Tyndale. 1 year

Right From the Heart 1-Minute Devotions A daily injection of truth, reminding you what matters most in life – a relationship with Jesus Christ. Basically, we cut the fluff and get right to the point. From Bryant Wright and RFTH Ministries. 1 year

The Essential 100 A favorite around the world, the E100 guides you through 50 Old Testament and 50 New Testament passages, helping you see the big picture of God’s Word. From Scripture Union. 100 days

Soul Detox Use this plan to identify what’s been chipping away at your soul, and to cleanse your spirit, as you step into the person God created you to be. From LifeChurch.tv. 35 days

Psalms and Proverbs in 31 Days Encounter God and find comfort, strength, solace, and encouragement that covers the breadth of the human experience. From YouVersion. 31 days

Browse all plans…

The new year offers us a great time to get back to basics on the things that matter most in our lives. The first step may be the hardest, but it’s also the one that has the most power to change your life!

Hear God’s Voice in Your Everyday Life

What’s the most important voice in your life? You can probably picture a specific person’s face, even hear their voice in your head. That relationship didn’t “just happen.” You work on it. You value it.

That’s the kind of relationship God wants with you as his adopted child. And what in your life could be more important than that? He wants you to talk to him, and he wants to talk to you—through his Word. Starting a new year is the perfect time to freshen relationships and renew dreams. What might your 2013 look like — if you leave space to hear from him?

YouVersion’s Bible Plans make it easy to connect daily with God. People in the worldwide YouVersion community constantly share how much it means to make God’s Word a part of their everyday lives. The key is to just get started. Here we’ve made a short list to help you turn engaging with the Bible into a daily habit:

  1. If you haven’t already, download the Bible App to your device. (Read more…)
  2. Get your free YouVersion account.
  3. Sign up for a Reading Plan. (Read more…)
  4. Then just start reading God’s Word—or listening to it—a little each day. It really is that simple!

To help you stick with it, invite your friends! It’s easy to connect to Facebook and Twitter and let them know what you’re reading.

If you’re still having a hard time picking a plan, check back here tomorrow. We’ll share highlights from some exciting, brand-new Reading Plans, as well as some proven favorites!

Bible App for iOS Adds More Offline Features, Thai Language Support

The new version of the Bible App™ for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch — version 4.2 — is available now in the iTunes App Store. Since many of you use the Bible App during times when you don’t have a mobile signal or Internet connection, one of the most frequent requests from the YouVersion community has been to make more of our features available offline. We think you’ll find a lot to love in this latest update:

Enhanced Offline Experience. We’ve added offline capabilities to most of your favorite features, like Reading Plans, Notes, and even your customized Today view! We’ve also improved the display of your list of downloaded Bible Versions when you’re offline. Now the Bible App for iOS stores information for all of these things locally on your device, only syncing with your online account in the background once you’re connected again. Add new Notes and keep up on your Reading Plans, anytime, anywhere — even when you can’t get a signal!

Better Bookmarking. Bookmarks still work the way you’re used to. Just tap a verse or passage you want to share, memorize, or study to Bookmark it. But we’ve added the ability to edit your Bookmarks, so you can keep them organized just how you like.

In-App Password Change. You’ve always been able to sign in and out from inside the Bible App, but if you wanted to update your password, you had to visit YouVersion.com. Not anymore! Now, for the first time ever, you can change your password directly from the Bible App on your device.

Thai Language Support. You probably know that YouVersion offers Bible versions in more than 200 languages. But did you know that, thanks to an awesome worldwide community of YouVersion translation volunteers, you can also set the Bible App’s interface on your Apple device—menus, buttons, and controls—to display in any of 31 languages? Simply go to Settings, General, and pick your favorite, or change the default language for your device. Thai is a brand new addition to YouVersion’s interface language offerings, available first on iOS in this release (and coming soon to more platforms)!

Bug Fixes and Performance Enhancements. As always, for each new release of the Bible App for iOS, we take the opportunity to make several improvements and adjustments. While our community lets us know about issues through our Support website, our own testing and development often reveal things we can do to make your overall YouVersion experience better.

Be sure to let your friends know about this latest update to the Bible App for iOS, especially if they speak Thai! And come see us on Facebook and Twitter. We love hearing from you!


For users interested in understanding our strategy in regards to iPhone 5, please read this blog post

Get Your Bible App Update Now:

If you already have the Bible App installed:

  1. On your Apple device, tap the App Store icon.
  2. When the App Store opens, tap the Updates icon.
  3. Tap Update for the Bible App.
    OR
    Tap Update All.

If this is your first time installing the Bible App:

  1. On your Apple device, tap the App Store icon.
  2. When the App Store opens, tap the Search icon.
  3. Search for “Bible”.
  4. Tap the Bible App from LifeChurch.tv.
  5. Tap the FREE button.