You’re standing in line at your favorite coffee shop and the conversation with the person in front of you turns to an interesting life topic. You want to provide some wisdom from the Bible but either it’s in the car or you’re hesitant to whip it out. Your mother-in-law is from Italy. Your Italian isn’t sufficient to accurately translate a bible verse you’d love to post to her Facebook page. It’s March and your goal of reading the Bible in a year has been in tatters since mid-January.

Innovation for implementation
YouVersion is a free Bible app for use on the web or to access through your smart phone. There are currently forty-one different translations in twenty-two languages with those numbers increasing monthly. Developed by LifeChurch.tv, YouVersion was launched to put the Bible into the hands and lives of the world. As they report, “We aren’t just building a tool to impact the world using innovative technology, more importantly, we are engaging people into relationships with God as they discover the relevance the Bible has for their lives.”

Ancient Wisdom for Modern Life
Last year, users of the free Bible app logged over four billion minutes reading the Bible with another billion minutes expected in just the first fifty days of 2011. At the start of this year, the Bible App had been installed on just over thirteen million unique devices and the app is one of the top apps listed by Apple for both the iPad and iPhone. The statistics are impressive but only as they represent the fulfillment of the goal of LifeChurch.tv “to consistently strive to demonstrate and teach people how God’s Word relates to everyone, no matter where they are in life. YouVersion and the Bible App are expanding the ways people engage with Scripture and each other.” For many who download the app, the YouVersion is the first Bible they’ve owned, let alone read. With the ability to follow a variety of reading plans, YouVersion provides a number of access points to the scriptures.

YouVersion is a First
YouVersion makes navigating the Bible possible for even those totally unfamiliar with its contents. Users are instantly a part of a community as large as all those who have accessed the app or as small as a couple of accountability partners they select to track their progress on a reading plan. Just as you are more likely to participate in an exercise program with a friend, with a mere click of their mouse or smart phone touch screen, users are able check off the day’s reading, catch-up with past readings or even share a comment or note on a verse.

Reversing the Tide
Studies have shown that Bible reading is on the decline nationally and internationally as Millennials are not inheriting their parents and grandparents Bible reading habits. Four years ago, the introduction of the King James Version of the Bible was published in the common language of the people; YouVersion aims to be the modern equivalent. With many of the next generation tied to their smart phone or laptop, YouVersion is bringing the Word of God to apply to everyday life.

Becoming Social
Anyone who has ever mistyped a Bible verse or chapter and verse location will be grateful for the ease with which you can post verses to your Facebook or Twitter accounts. Having the Bible’s words of direction and encouragement easily available allows for users to authentically reflect the impact and importance of the Bible in their daily lives.

For more on YouVersion or to download it free to your computer or any web-enabled phone, go to www.YouVersion.com