Posted on

1 Billion Minutes: How You Can Take Part

During today’s special webcast, we shared exciting news about the Bible App’s recent milestones and about YouVersion’s future. So far, the Bible App has been downloaded more than 10 million times and people have used YouVersion to read the Bible for 3.5 billion minutes!

And as amazing as it is to see what God has done in the past 2.5 years, we’re confident that He wants to do much, much more to help people make the Bible a daily part of their lives. So today we introduced a crazy, God-sized goal:

1 billion minutes reading the Bible in 1 month

During January alone, we hope to see users spend at least 1 billion minutes reading the Bible. Because, after all, that’s really what YouVersion is all about: falling in love with God’s Word.

It’s only because of you, our user community, that YouVersion and the Bible app are where they are today. And we’ll need your help again to reach one billion minutes in one month. Here are just a few of the things you can do to help make it happen:

  • Rate us. If you haven’t done so already, please rate the YouVersion Bible app in iTunes (honestly, the sooner, the better).
  • Vote for us. Vote for us in the 4th Annual Mashable Awards.
  • Assist your friends. Help friends install the Bible app on their phones and other devices.
  • Share with your community. Mention @YouVersion in some tweets and Facebook status updates, and encourage your friends to download it to their devices. (It’s available for download on iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7, and webOS in their respective app stores and marketplaces.)
  • Write about us. If you have a blog, please consider writing at least one post to let your readers know what we’re doing and ask them to participate.
  • Share the Bible on Christmas Day. You’ll be hearing more about this soon, but it will be a great opportunity to point people to the birth of Christ.
  • Consider serving on the YouVersion team in one of the many different positions that are available: proofreading, user support, app testing, design, development, and more. Sign up here.

If you could focus your efforts between now and Christmas, that’s the window where we have the opportunity to make the biggest impact. Stay tuned to the YouVersion Facebook page or Twitter feed to keep up with the latest.

We can do this! But only together. Let’s see what can happen when a passionate community of users works together to help people everywhere spend more time than ever in God’s Word.

Posted on

10 Million Downloads!

If you didn’t know already, our very special webcast is happening right now! (As of this posting, anyway.) Come join us if you can. And let others know!

During the webcast, we are announcing that the YouVersion Bible App has been downloaded more than 10 million times! And we’re also very excited about this: so far, people have used the Bible App to read the Bible for more than 3.5 billion minutes. We are witnessing the Bible being read, engaged with and shared in new, inspiring ways.

While we are thrilled that we get to be a part of what God is doing, we also would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped make it all possible. It’s only through your passion, your commitment, and your help that we have reached these milestones!

THANK YOU!

To our partners and publishers: Thank you for providing the high-quality content that allows our users to enjoy so many great translations as they spend time in Scripture. Your partnership means lives are being changed around the world!

To our user community: It’s your passion for the Bible that put the Bible App on the map in the first place. It’s because you’re sharing your experience and your connection with God’s Word that more and more people are hearing about it, even now. Thank you!

To everyone who contributes financially: We appreciate your generosity in making it possible for people around the globe to engage with Scripture in unprecedented ways. Our ongoing commitment to you is that we will carefully steward these resources to extend the Bible’s reach as far as we can.

To our core group of volunteers: How can we thank you guys enough? We love you. Everything you do matters and makes a difference in getting the Scriptures into people’s lives.

To God: Thank you for the story of your love for us and the unparalleled connection we can have with you any time we open up the Bible. Please help us share your Word with the world.

10 million is just the beginning…millions more are ready for the Bible to become part of their everyday lives. More on that very soon!

Posted on

Reminder: Webcast THIS TUESDAY, Nov 16!

This is just a quick note to remind you about our very special webcast coming up:

THIS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, AT NOON CST (GMT-6)

If you haven’t added it to your calendar already, please visit http://www.youversion.com/webcast for details. We’d love for you to join us. And bring your questions! We’re allotting special time to hear from you and make sure you know what we’re up to.

Also, don’t forget to tell your friends…tweet and post to Facebook to enter our giveaway for one of three iPads!

Keep checking back. During the next few days, we’ll be sharing all kinds of exciting news about YouVersion and the Bible app, right here…

Posted on

Brand New: The YouVersion Facebook Bible App

By the time you read this, we will have already launched the all-new, from-scratch YouVersion Bible App for Facebook. From entirely within Facebook, the Bible App makes it easy to:

  • Read the Bible
  • Switch between different Bible translations
  • Jump directly to specific books, chapters, or verses
  • Select verses or passages and share them, publishing them to your Wall and to your Friends’ home pages

Here’s a quick look at what you can already do in the Bible App (click to enlarge):

We know many of you enjoy spending time in Facebook. And we’d be happy for you to spend even more, especially if that means you’re connecting with God’s Word—and sharing it with others. Eventually, we even hope to bring most of the same features inside our Facebook app that you’ve come to know and love on other platforms. Go check it out and let us know what you think!

Posted on

New Living Translation Now Available Offline…Free!

For many translations that we offer, YouVersion’s Bible app requires you to be connected to the Internet or to your service provider. But the list of free Bible versions we have available offline keeps growing. Today, we’re happy to announce the addition of the New Living Translation (NLT), available free for download for Bible App users on iPhone, iPad and Android. But don’t wait: This offer is only available until January 31, 2011!

Download the Bible App with NLT!

Downloading the NLT will give you constant access to it, even when you can’t get on your network. The last time the NLT was available offline, thousands of people downloaded it. Now that opportunity is back, and we hope the same thing happens again. We’d love for even more of you to have the NLT directly on your device, so you can engage with your Bible anytime, anywhere. You can learn more about the NLT on their website.

How to get it:
For iPhone or iPad: If you’re using the Bible app for iPhone, first go to the App Store and check Updates [link], and make sure you have the most current version. Then:

  1. Tap on Read, then the blue arrow to view available translations
  2. Scroll to the one you want and tap the green download button

That’s it! From that point on, when you view your translation list, your downloaded versions display with a unique gray arrow icon.

For Android: We recently added offline support to Android and you can read about it here. Downloading the NLT works the same as downloading any other Bible version.

We’re grateful to Tyndale House to be able to offer you this additional version for download for a limited time. Be sure you take advantage of this great opportunity to connect with God’s word!