In reality, we have a lot of people that download the app that are not Christians.
ChurchLeaders: Really? That’s interesting.
Bobby Gruenewald: [These people] are hurting or searching for some kind of answer or some kind of direction for whatever felt need or life challenge they’re going through.
And I guess the surprise is that they actually go to the App Store to look for answers or see if they could find a source for answers to whatever relationship problem they might be having, whatever addiction or challenge or anxiety they might be facing.
And the reason we can tell this is based on what people are searching for on the Bible app, as well as some of the key terms that people are responding to when they’re searching in the App Store, in terms of like an advertisement or how they’re coming into the app.
We obviously have people that are believers that are downloading the app to help them engage more with Scripture…but we definitely have people that download it that don’t know Jesus, and this is their first experience of the Bible.
And that’s part of the reason we’ve worked really hard to try to take away some of the intimidation factor of Scripture.
Because if you could imagine [that] you’re not a believer—even if you are a believer and you’re a new believer—opening the Bible and trying to figure out how to navigate it or understand it can be a bit intimidating for people.
So we’ve tried to create a lot of on-ramps for people that are searching for answers, looking for guidance, trying to look for truth in a world that they feel like maybe doesn’t have a lot of truth.
To me, that’s an exciting part of it. But it definitely was a surprise. Just logically, you kind of would have assumed that wouldn’t necessarily be the case, but it is.
Stories of Lives Changed Through the Bible App
ChurchLeaders: Do you have specific personal stories that you could share about how the app has impacted people, particularly in ways that wouldn’t have happened if the app didn’t exist?
Bobby Gruenewald: Sure, I’ll share a couple with you. Every week, our team sends out an update to me on Friday with a whole bunch of summaries of different initiatives we’re working on, but they always start every email with a story.
We get thousands, actually tens of thousands, of stories of people who have been impacted.
One is from a guy [who] wrote in and said that he had no hope and was ready to take his life. He wasn’t a Christian but downloaded the Bible app.
