Have you heard about the tool that is going to change church services as we currently know them?
Most of you are familiar with YouVersion, but the Digerati at Life Church are taking it to a whole new level with YouVersion Live.
A couple of days ago I was invited to a private webinar to get a sneak peak of what’s around the corner for this latest release. Terry Storch presented, and It was a chance for those attending the to ask questions and offer feedback.
Funny part is, at The Chapel, we’ve been brainstorming a good way to interact with folks, via mobile, on the weekends. Now, we can focus on other projects. This is in the bag.
Here are four things that impress me about the new YouVersion Live.
1. Church services become a two-way conversation
The heart of YouVersion Live is mobile interaction that turns weekends into a conversation. It’s engaging to your attenders. Invite mobile interaction through: live feedback, message outlines and take notes, polls, live questions, prayer requests, and online giving.
2. Easy to customize
Drag and drop = EASY! You can set up your experience ahead of time, in the admin, and drag and drop the elements you wish to use during the service.
3. Replace the bulletin??
For those with more tech-advanced attenders, this could ultimately replace the weekly bulletin. If not a replacement, then at least bonus material. Interactive guides are the way to go if you can, plus folks can have access to it all week.
4. It’s all free!
As crazy as it sounds, it really is free. Terry explained their main focus is helping churches and advancing the Kingdom.
Here’s where you can see it
If you would like to get a sneak peek for yourself, YouVersion is having a public webinar next Wednesday, September 23rd, at 2pm CDT. Just go to http://youversion.com/live.
These kinds of things dont work in every single congregation. Many members are old or poor and they dont have access to tools like this or even know how to use them. Why cant Churches just focus on Christ? Why not just connect with digital people (members) by email, e-newsletters or facebook during the week and get rid of the media type things in worship services? Honestly…we need to get back to the basics and purpose of coming together as a congregation to focusing on Jesus, and on worshiping God, preaching the Scriptures, and using that time to teach the members how to apply the Bible to their lives to grow in the faith and become more godly, more like Christ, and to equip us to go into the world and reach the lost.
This is fantastic. I won’t be able to watch the webinar live - hopefully they will package it for streaming at a later time.
It may not work for the majority of congregations, but I imagine it will fit perfectly for many.
YouVersion Live is a very forward thinking product for the Church. Proliferation of mobile computing will eventually take care of the user adoption issue.
Personally, I am very excited t see this take off. It’s not for every church, but with some careful planning, I imagine you could make YouVersion Live a part of your weekend service without alienating those without capable mobile devices.
I think this is great. Like or not we live in a digital world. I am now 30 and use my iTouch all of time. My job requires me to give a lot of Bible studies, and to be able to carry multiple translations of the Bible with me (as I do with my various Bible apps, including youversion) it great. It allows me to study with people with whatever translation they have. And as the to idea the churches should just focus on Christ, that is what YouVersion is doing, by getting people to interact with the Bible. There may be a lot of older people, but I know people my age who have mobile devices, this will b great, to be able to instantly send off a prayer request. To be able to take sermon notes linked to Bible verses. I use technology to study my Bible all the time (Logos Bible Software got me thru seminary). I cannot wait for YouVersion Live to come out. I will probably be the one at my church to put it together. I think people who are afraid of technology, might want to remember that it has been technology that has led to the biggest spread of the Word. It took the Gutenberg press for mass Bible distribution, and now TV and Internet ministries can go where normal missionaries are blocked.
May God Bless, LifeChurch.tv for not only creating this but offering it for free. In this economy it will be a wonderful tool to offer people.