Engaging Scripture Anywhere
I just finished a big experiment. Over the past year, I have been reading through the Bible using YouVersion on my iPod touch and my phone. Last night, I finished the One Year M’Cheyne reading plan. It was a little strange at first reading the Bible on a tiny screen, but it didn’t take long to adjust. I found myself reading the Bible at all different times of the day. Whenever I had a few minutes to spare, I could easily start the app and start reading. Whether I was waiting in the car, sitting at the Doctor’s office, or just hanging out at the house, my Bible was always in my pocket. I had the added benefit of being able to bookmark verses and add notes as I went.
The M’Cheyne reading plan gives you four passages each day. Each day has two passages from the Old Testament, one from the New Testament, and one from either the Psalms or the Gospels. In one year, you read the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms twice. I liked the plan, but at times it seemed a little strange reading four different stories at once. Next time I plan on using one of the chronological plans. As a church, we’re going to be using the NewThru30 plan starting January 1st to read through the New Testament in 30 days. I’m excited to see more people engage Scripture, and YouVersion is a great app to let you do just that.
Apparently, I’m not the only one reading the Bible on my phone, check out the following graphic from the YouVersion blog. As of November, the YouVersion app has been installed on 10 million devices. Next up, they want to see people spend 1 billion minutes reading Scripture in January of 2011. Are you up for the challenge?