Bear Grylls, Gwen Stefani, Kevin James, Lauren Daigle, Jonathan Roumie, and Francis Chan are among the luminaries contributing to this year’s Advent Pray25 Prayer Challenge on the Hallow app.
“The theme of this year’s challenge is ‘For God So Loved the World,’ from John 3:16,” announced Hallow on its blog. “We’ll dive deep into the real meaning behind this verse and how it brings to life so beautifully the depth of God’s love for us—a love so heartbreakingly deep that He gives us, at Christmas, His only Son, knowing the life He was leading Him to.”
Hallow App Announces 2024 Advent Prayer Challenge
CEO and co-founder Alex Jones helped launch Hallow, a Catholic prayer and meditation app, at the end of 2018. Jones says that he grew up Catholic, fell away from his faith, and later returned to his roots, “learning about the Church’s beautiful tradition of prayer & meditation.” These traditions include “deep and transformative contemplative and meditative prayer techniques.”
Jones and his fellow co-founders, Erich Kerekes and Alessandro DiSanto, created the Hallow app as an alternative to the “secular meditation, mindfulness apps and yoga” attracting many of their friends.
The app regularly partners with celebrities, including Jonathan Roumie, Mark Wahlberg and Jim Caviezel. In 2022, Hallow partnered with members of “The Chosen” cast for that year’s Advent prayer challenge.
RELATED: Fans Can Pray With ‘The Chosen’ Cast Members by Joining Advent Challenge on the Hallow App
Hallow drew controversy last year for partnering with acclaimed actor Liam Neeson for its 2023 Advent prayer challenge. Neeson, whose acting credits include voicing the character of Aslan in “The Chronicles of Narnia” movies, has previously advocated for abortion rights.
Jones has written a lengthy blog post on the Hallow website explaining the app’s partnership philosophy. One of its partnership categories is that of “spiritual leaders.” Partners who fall into this category are those whose beliefs must align with those of the Catholic church.
Noting that this group is “small,” Jones said, “We place an incredible amount of trust in these partners to be in-line with Church teaching.” He listed names including Fr. Mike Schmitz, Sr. Miriam James Heidland, Jeff Cavins, and Bishop Barron.
“We stand behind what these folks say, trust them to lead us in reflection and prayer, and allow them to guide conversations or interviews how they think best,” Jones said.
The next cateogry of partners with whom Hallow works are “content partners.” Jones said, “These are the partners who act as voice actors reading scripts, musicians performing in bands, or individuals sharing their own personal testimonies on the app.”
