Latest / Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews / 1 Billion Downloads Later: How YouVersion Is Fueling a Global Hunger for God’s Word

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1 Billion Downloads Later: How YouVersion Is Fueling a Global Hunger for God’s Word · Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hey, Greg, thanks for joining me. Hey, thank
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: you Michael. It's so good to join you.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Greg Hall, who is chief operating and growth officer for
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: You Version, the world's most popular Bible app. And you
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: guys recently passed an incredible milestone one billion installs over
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: your history.
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  Speaker 1: I believe you've been in this edition for a little
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: over two years. Greg.
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  Speaker 2: For those who don't know much about you version, though,
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  Speaker 2: what is you version's history? And secondly, what is the
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  Speaker 2: significance of this one billion install milestone?
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  Speaker 1: You bet?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and thank you. I love to tell this story.
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  Speaker 3: You version started about seventeen years ago. Our founder Bobby
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  Speaker 3: Greenwald was in the Chicago O'Hare airport and he just
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: had a question, I wonder if God could use technology
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  Speaker 3: to help me read the Bible. And since that time
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  Speaker 3: we have heard a resounding answer is yes, Yes, God
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  Speaker 3: can use technology for people to engage with the Bible.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: So we've reached a billion downloads, the version has been
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  Speaker 3: installed in every country on Earth, and we see that.
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  Speaker 1: Momentum just continuing to grow.
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  Speaker 3: And so from the heart of a question of a
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  Speaker 3: leader that just says, can technology help me, we've seen
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  Speaker 3: an entire global movement. Answer the question that people love
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  Speaker 3: engaging with God's word right there in the Bible.
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  Speaker 2: App What is the significance of this milestone, because one
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  Speaker 2: billion installs. I think if a company, a secular company
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  Speaker 2: reached one billion, if anything, they with two three on horn.
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  Speaker 2: But I think you guys are wanting to toot somebody
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  Speaker 2: else's horn. Go ahead and tell me about that. Go
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  Speaker 2: ahead and tell me about that.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, because it is so there's a couple of there's
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  Speaker 3: a couple of pieces to it, which is one. We
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  Speaker 3: really are excited about the fact that God's word is alive.
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  Speaker 3: So as we celebrate a billion, one we're really celebrating
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  Speaker 3: is a global movement, a hunger that we see from
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  Speaker 3: people seeking God's word more than they ever have. So
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  Speaker 3: we just get to be such a proud voice. We
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  Speaker 3: get to trump at the fact that Jesus came to
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  Speaker 3: earth and his word is alive and people are seeking
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  Speaker 3: it more than ever. And so we are excited about
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  Speaker 3: the first billion that we've experienced.
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  Speaker 1: But we're excited more for what we see God doing
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  Speaker 1: around the world.
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  Speaker 2: The next billion is I guess the goal now, because
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  Speaker 2: the next billion means that's one more billion people who
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  Speaker 2: will read God's word. I heard the founder talk the
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  Speaker 2: other day about the acceleration of this world and how
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  Speaker 2: the first billion was you know, you guys, I guess
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  Speaker 2: it took seventeen years since the iPhone came out to
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  Speaker 2: reach that one first billion. How fast can you guys
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  Speaker 2: reach that second billion if you continue this space?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we feel the momentum right now. We actually think
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  Speaker 3: the second billion is possible in five years, and the
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  Speaker 3: third billion is possible in three years. So this idea
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  Speaker 3: that in another eight years we can triple what we
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  Speaker 3: see God doing is exciting but actually very possible.
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  Speaker 2: Let's talk about the growth this year. You guys are
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  Speaker 2: growing this year, and that's one thing that I was fascinating.
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  Speaker 2: That's a switch subject to my own subject. But one
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  Speaker 2: thing I was fascinated by is that you guys had
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  Speaker 2: really intended to have this one bit in celebration a
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  Speaker 2: couple of years down the road, right, that's right, and
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  Speaker 2: then you moved it up, and then you moved it
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  Speaker 2: up again. Do you remember the dates there of when
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  Speaker 2: aw that happened?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah?
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  Speaker 3: So, I, like you said, I've been here about two
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  Speaker 3: and a half years, and when I was first starting
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  Speaker 3: in the spring of twenty twenty three, Bobby and I
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  Speaker 3: were just looking at the momentum and looking at some numbers,
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  Speaker 3: and this billion looked like middle of twenty twenty seven,
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  Speaker 3: so we began to plan for that. What we saw
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  Speaker 3: is there was momentum, and as we exited twenty twenty three,
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  Speaker 3: we're like, hey, this is like this could be possible
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  Speaker 3: in twenty twenty six. Then as we got through twenty
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  Speaker 3: twenty four, we're like, man, God is just doing something
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  Speaker 3: special here. And so to celebrate on November seventeenth, twenty
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  Speaker 3: twenty five, reaching a billion installs, it is a testament
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  Speaker 3: to the momentum. We have gone further and faster than
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  Speaker 3: we thought. We're not doing it alone, and we just
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  Speaker 3: are celebrating what God is doing.
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  Speaker 2: I'm curious just about the logistics of a celebration. Did
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  Speaker 2: you guys begin I mean on January the first of
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  Speaker 2: this year. Did you look to November and say that's
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  Speaker 2: the date or did you guys continually have to move
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  Speaker 2: it around?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah?
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  Speaker 3: So there it was a really fun. We don't do this.
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  Speaker 3: We build apps. We build apps and engage with God's word.
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  Speaker 3: We're not event people. So we've had some real experts
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  Speaker 3: in that help us just create that space. It looked
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  Speaker 3: the milestone looked like it was late October or mid November,
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  Speaker 3: and we were really excited. I think it's an unlikely
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  Speaker 3: story that this app would be started right.
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  Speaker 1: Here in Oklahoma City.
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  Speaker 3: Coming from the outside, I'm a business person, you would
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  Speaker 3: think this app would have been started in Silicon Valley,
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  Speaker 3: or maybe it would be started in Manhattan. But God
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  Speaker 3: had to start right here at a local church, life
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  Speaker 3: church in Oklahoma City. So we wanted to celebrate here
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  Speaker 3: in our local community, with our community. So we celebrated
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  Speaker 3: here at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. So we
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  Speaker 3: worked with them to get the dates scheduled. Wanted to
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  Speaker 3: make sure that it worked well, begin to work with
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  Speaker 3: some incredible talent to come and just celebrate, and so
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  Speaker 3: the logistics weren't that difficult. When you begin to share
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  Speaker 3: with people what God is doing. Would you come and
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  Speaker 3: just bring your voice to the testament, to the testimony
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  Speaker 3: of God's faithfulness and the power of God's word. So
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  Speaker 3: we were really excited with the willingness and excitement of
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  Speaker 3: so many to come celebrate with us.
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  Speaker 2: I was going to ask you, what do you think
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  Speaker 2: is driving this growth. You kind of mentioned it earlier,
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  Speaker 2: do you sinks just to hunger for God's word around
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  Speaker 2: the world and in our own nation.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I think there's two things, Michael, that I see right now.
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  Speaker 3: I think right now people are seeking truth more than
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  Speaker 3: ever so at a time when I don't know when
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  Speaker 3: I look at a video whether it's real or not.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know if when I read a story, if
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  Speaker 3: it's real or not. I think we have an entire
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  Speaker 3: generations of people going what is truth? And I will
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  Speaker 3: tell you God's word stands alone that it is truth.
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  Speaker 3: And so what we see when people look for something
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  Speaker 3: they can trust, and what we are saying is God's
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  Speaker 3: word is trustworthy. God loves you, he knows you, He
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  Speaker 3: has written this with you in mind, and.
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  Speaker 1: That's what we see.
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  Speaker 3: We see people seeking truth at a time when we
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  Speaker 3: don't know what truth is. And so that's the first thing.
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  Speaker 3: The other thing that we really see is we have
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  Speaker 3: some of the best partners in the world, so we
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  Speaker 3: get to be the ones that build the apps to
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  Speaker 3: helping create an incredible experience for you users. But behind that,
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  Speaker 3: we have the Bible societies. We have over thirty five
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  Speaker 3: hundred Bible versions in over twenty three hundred languages. That
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  Speaker 3: wouldn't happen if it weren't for the Bible societies. It's
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  Speaker 3: also we see content creators. We have over eighty thousand
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  Speaker 3: Bible plans and that comes from incredible content creators. We
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  Speaker 3: have churches that create profile pages, and so what we
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  Speaker 3: see is a group of partners that help us get
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  Speaker 3: to tell the story of God's Word. And people love it,
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  Speaker 3: and people are seeking it, and people are coming back
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  Speaker 3: day after day.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: For those who don't know, the U Version app is
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  Speaker 2: more than just Bibles. It's more than versions of the Bible.
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  Speaker 2: There's reading plans in there. I know that my own church,
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  Speaker 2: the pastor puts his notes in there, and so I
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  Speaker 2: don't know what else you want to add to that.
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  Speaker 2: But it's so much more than just a Bible app.
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  Speaker 2: So it's worth the downloading and checking out. What led
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  Speaker 2: you to you Version? How to Your background is in business?
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  Speaker 2: What sparked your interest in wanting to join this team?
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  Speaker 1: You bet.
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  Speaker 3: My career was in marketing and merchandising, and I love
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  Speaker 3: understanding consumer behavior and why people make decisions, and I
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  Speaker 3: was growing in my career In late twenty twenty two.
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  Speaker 3: I'm in Winston Salem, North Carolina, and I'm reading a book.
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  Speaker 3: It's actually David Green's leadership, not by the book. And
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  Speaker 3: as you know, the Hobby Lobby story and the Greens
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  Speaker 3: are such great partners of ours. David Green talked about
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  Speaker 3: Bobby Greenwald talked about the U Version team and how
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  Speaker 3: proud he was of the work they were doing.
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  Speaker 1: Well.
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  Speaker 3: Bobby and I had gone to the same undergrad hadn't
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  Speaker 3: seen each other for years.
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  Speaker 1: I just sent him a.
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  Speaker 3: Text and just checking with him, how's he doing, tell
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  Speaker 3: him how I was proud of him well. Over the
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  Speaker 3: course of that afternoon, he and I begin to have
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  Speaker 3: a texting conversation, and what Bobby shared is that you
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  Speaker 3: Version had just reached five hundred million installs. Yet he
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  Speaker 3: felt a stirring in his heart that God was calling
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  Speaker 3: us to go further, that there was momentum, but he
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  Speaker 3: was looking to build just a team of leaders and
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  Speaker 3: ask if I knew anybody I might recommend, And I
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  Speaker 3: will tell you at that point, I didn't have a
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  Speaker 3: plan to come work at a Bible out, but I
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  Speaker 3: felt God stirring.
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  Speaker 1: Greg.
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  Speaker 3: It's you, He's talking about you, and so I just
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  Speaker 3: I answered that text, Hey Bobby, maybe it's me and listen.
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  Speaker 3: Bobby Greenwald is an activator, and I don't know that
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  Speaker 3: I understood that. About ten days later, my wife and
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  Speaker 3: I are at Edmund, Oklahoma talking to him about an
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  Speaker 3: opportunity to join the team, and we said yes. And
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  Speaker 3: it is been the best decision ever because I now
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  Speaker 3: get to help Steward. I think one of the most
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  Speaker 3: instrumental pieces of technology that we get to steward God's words.
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  Speaker 3: But we're really talking about changing lives. So that thing
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  Speaker 3: I love to do, Michael. I love thinking about how
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  Speaker 3: a brand, how an experience can change lives. I now
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  Speaker 3: get to I got to get to see so many stories.
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  Speaker 3: We had a chance just last week to meet a
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  Speaker 3: lady named Dia from India. She'd really, I'll tell you
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  Speaker 3: you look at her on the surface, her life is
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  Speaker 3: put together, but what she said is underneath she was
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: suffering with crippling depression. Somehow she had downloaded the Bible app.
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  Speaker 3: She's shopping and just feeling like literally asking maybe it's
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  Speaker 3: not worth it, maybe I am a waste. But she
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  Speaker 3: opened up the Bible app and you talked about there's
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  Speaker 3: more than just the Bible. We have a Discover screen
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  Speaker 3: that has different felt needs, and one of the things
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  Speaker 3: that she saw was overwhelmed.
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  Speaker 1: So it's like, if you're feeling overwhelmed, just click this button.
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  Speaker 1: And she said that described her.
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  Speaker 3: She clicked on overwhelmed, and a verse popped up Isaiah
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  Speaker 3: fifty four to ten. The mountains and hills may crumble,
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  Speaker 3: but my love for you will never end. I will
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  Speaker 3: keep forever my promise of peace, so says the Lord
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  Speaker 3: who loves you. And at that moment, she said that
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  Speaker 3: just erased all of the lies of Satan. So I
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  Speaker 3: get to hear thousands of those stories, Michael, I get
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  Speaker 3: to hear the story of God's word changing people's life.
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  Speaker 1: I get to be a part of the team doing that.
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  Speaker 3: So I will tell you the decision to join the
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  Speaker 3: U version team has been the best decision I've ever made.
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  Speaker 2: Amen to that, and I think that's the young woman
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  Speaker 2: who gave her testimony at the celebration. So if folks
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  Speaker 2: want to hear that, they can google a new Version
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  Speaker 2: one billion celebration. And she gave her testimony in that
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  Speaker 2: in that celebration. I failed to mentioned earlier that you
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  Speaker 2: guys have increased or that U version installs have increased
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  Speaker 2: twelve percent this year. Daily usage is up eighteen percent.
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  Speaker 2: So that's a great and the most amazing part of
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: it is that the record days were two random days
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: in November.
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  Speaker 1: Is that right? That's exactly right.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we talk about the record days of all time,
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  Speaker 3: right are the most recent days, Like literally we are
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: living in the best days, the highest.
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  Speaker 1: Days of the record days.
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  Speaker 3: And so the first two days of November are just
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: normal days other than the fact that we've started Global
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: Bible Month, other than the fact that there's some great momentum.
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: We just see God's favor right now. We talked about
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: people are seeking truth and these days are some of
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: our highest momentum days right now.
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  Speaker 2: Not East or not New Year's Day, but just too random.
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  Speaker 2: I think Sunday's two random Sundays and to be random Sundays,
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  Speaker 2: that's exactly And I remember, let's close it up by
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  Speaker 2: talking about the future of YOU version. What do you
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  Speaker 2: want people to know about the next few years of
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: YOU Version?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we actually believe when we look at a billion,
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  Speaker 3: we feel like we're just getting started. We feel like
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  Speaker 3: we're at the tip of the iceberg. So the first
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  Speaker 3: billion of billions, So what are we focused on. We
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: are focused on a more personal experience inside the app,
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  Speaker 3: Like we want you to open up our family of
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: apps and feel like it was made for you. That Michael,
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: we know you and and experiences for you. So you
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: should expect to see a more personal experience inside the apps.
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  Speaker 1: Partners.
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  Speaker 3: We are building a deeper relationship with our partners. Like
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: we just talked about more content, more content from around
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: the world, the team is really seeing through a development
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: of global hubs and key markets and key languages around
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: the world. We're actually growing our content in non English
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  Speaker 3: language faster than we are in the English language. So
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: you're going to see more content, more content in people's
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: hard languages around the world. And then finally, we really
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: do feel called like I was just talking about, to
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  Speaker 3: go into the end, to.
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  Speaker 1: Go into all nations.
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  Speaker 3: And so we see us even though we are already
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: a global ministry, we see the death of our content growing.
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  Speaker 3: So we're going to grow our global hubs, We're going
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: to grow our global content, We're going to grow in.
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  Speaker 1: Languages, and so that's really where I see us going.
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  Speaker 3: So there's momentum, But there's momentum one because people are
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  Speaker 3: seeking truth.
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  Speaker 1: We represent God's word, but to a personal more partners
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  Speaker 1: more content, a more global experience. That's what's going to
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: help drive us Hi. Greg, thanks so much, You're brat.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: If you like today's episode, please subscribe and leave a
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: five star review. That's how we help more people just
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: like you find the show. A big thanks to the
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: the podcast. If you go to lifeaudio dot com, you
• 14:39
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• 14:44
  Speaker 1: See you next time.