Faith News Network

A new Bible app, ToYouBible, is revolutionizing the way Bible readers experience the Bible. ToYouBible instantly populates thousands of applicable Bible passages with the user’s name and also customizes them to read according to the user’s gender. A version of the app also allows the user to input their spouse’s name, if married, and then instantly customizes all relevant biblical passages on marriage with both spouses’ names. For instance, John 3:16 for a woman named Susan would read this way:

“For God so loved Susan, that he gave his one and only Son, that Susan believing in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

The popularity of Bible reading using mobile device applications has been demonstrated by the success of the YouVersion Bible app which currently has over 100 million users worldwide. This trend piggybacks on the increasing popularity of smartphones and the busy and active lifestyles of many users who are people of faith.

The ToYouBible app also caters to the popularity of personalized merchandise and gifts. The creators of the ToYouBible App, believe that use of mobile devices and as well as the added value of personalization could help make Bible reading more meaningful and relevant to readers.

One of the creators, Gregory Ijiwola, Ph.D., an evangelical pastor and a Moody Theological Seminary alumnus, said his desire is to foster a more intimate experience in reading God’s word.

“We believe the Bible is God’s letter to humanity on his love and plans for us and it contains the answer to all of life’s questions. However, when people read it, the words and promises of the Bible oftentimes seem distant and meant for people who lived thousands of years ago.”

Ijiwola asserts that people of faith are taught to memorize and meditate on scriptures by speaking them. He believes the ToYouBible app can encourage this practice. “While using sound hermeneutical principles and staying true to the original text, we want to use this app to liven up Bible reading by making it read like a letter to the individual with their names directly in it,” he said.

The ToYouBible App, tagged ‘The Bible That Reads in Your Name’ is currently available in the iOS and android version on the Apple Appstore and Google Play store respectively. According to the creators, it already has “hundreds of steadily increasing downloads” a day after its launch.

The creators can be reached by emailing toyoubibleapp@gmail.com.

(Source: Christian Newswire

The second most expensive Gospel Book ever sold at public auction after the Gospels of Henry the Lion in 1983 went under the hammer today at Christie’s in London. The Carolingian “Gospels of Queen Theutberga” written in c. 825-850 was bought by Les Enluminures Ltd. for just over three million dollars for The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Representing Les Enluminures in the rooms, Dr. Christopher de Hamel, who oversaw the sale of the Gospels of Henry the Lion at Sotheby’s more than three decades ago, has known this Carolingian manuscript since 1975. Dr. de Hamel remarks that the present manuscript is in “unbelievable condition and of noble provenance; it is difficult to imagine finding another ninth-century manuscript in such a flawless state.”

This fall, North Park University’s School of Business and Nonprofit Management will offer an online seven-week graduate course in collaboration with Christianity Today’s Church Law & Tax Team. The class is two graduate credit hours and will start this fall, lasting seven weeks. Topics are designed specifically for the professional development of church leaders and church business administrators and will include:
• volunteer management
• finances
• fundraising
• strategic planning
• risk management
• government regulations
• legal and tax issues
• pastoral/staff compensation and benefits
• servant leadership

Every Christ-follower can have a deeper and more abiding relationship with God, according to a new television series called “The Presence.”

An ebook authored by Avé Murray will be released this year on September 8 in honor of International Literacy Day. It is now available for pre-order at major online retailers including iBooks, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.

North Central Theological Seminary (NCTS) announces a three-month, intensive course of study in Old Testament Hebrew. Sections will be 45-minutes long, twice a week, and will be available in the mornings, afternoons and evenings. The sections will be live videoconferencing, with time at the end of each study for questions and answers. According to Prof. Brink, “Enrollees will not be getting bogged down in a lot of details of grammar, but will enjoy learning the names and sounds of the Hebrew alphabet so as to read and pronounce Hebrew words. The sections will focus on key words and phrases from the Old Testament: names for God, the concepts and teachings about the glory of the Lord, atonement, covenant, righteousness, sin and holiness.”