FCBH works with technology from the Proclaimer (seen here)
to the Samsung Smart TV App.
(Photo by Faith Comes by Hearing)
Int’l (FCBH/MNN) – Faith Comes By Hearing® (FCBH) has Scripture recordings in 780 languages, with the goal of providing free access to these recordings through as many methods as possible.
Bill Lohr of Faith Comes by Hearing says of their work in many arenas of techonology, “We look for any way that we can take advantage of technology, and we really truly believe that God has given us that technology. But we’re finding how we can utilize it to get our audio recordings, or in the case of the deaf: sign-language video recordings, and get those on to devices. Anyway that we can, we want to get God’s Word [out there]. Really, it’s God’s Word everywhere, for everyone.”
FCBH released the Bible.is® app in 2010, the Deaf Bible™ app in 2012, and they have the largest Audio Bible store in iTunes where over 48 million podcasts have been downloaded.
Over the last year, FCBH expanded into Internet radio and has seen over 39 million streams through iTunes Radio, Spotify, Rhapsody, and other outlets that provide 24/7 access to their Audio Bibles.
More recently, the ministry partnered with SAT-7, the largest Christian satellite broadcaster in the Middle East and North Africa, to launch the first dedicated Arabic Audio Bible channel. Joining this expanding list of digital distribution outlets is the first Bible app specifically made for Samsung Smart TVs.
The Bible.is Radio Network™ is now available as a Samsung Smart TV app, which allows users to stream digital quality Audio Bible recordings through their TV in over 700 languages. In this fast-growing market where some experts say “85 percent of all flat-panel TVs will be internet-connected Smart TVs by 2016,” this is a very logical next step for a ministry committed to leading-edge technology and digital distribution.
For the people who will find this app available, Lohr says, “The reason that it’s able to really draw in people in those areas is their language is going to be available.”
While FCBH provides the Bible for free in formats as simple as a recording, this new app will reach a different sort of people that can be often overlooked. “Obviously you’re talking about ‘first world’ folks that are having this in their homes, that have this internet connectivity. But you look at people all around the country, in America, that [are] not necessarily listening to the Bible on a regular basis. But maybe they go into the store and they see this availability, and they download that app, and they know that they have it on their TV.”
As is the case with all of FCBH apps and other digital expressions, their app for Samsung is powered by the Digital Bible Platform, an expansive collection of digital Bible content that is also made freely available to developers and ministry partners through an application programming interface (API).
As a result of their open API, more than 140 developers have been given access to the Digital Bible Platform and the bountiful Bible content available there. Examples include Kolo Africa, Divinely, and the John Ankerberg Web site, with more than 40 translator and national Bible Society partner apps currently active as well.
In addition, hundreds of radio partners around the world are enjoying the open access that gives them rich, dramatized quality Audio Bible recordings to broadcast over their airways as they reach their listening audience with the Gospel in their own language.
“It’s truly humbling to be just a small part of the huge expanse of God’s Word covering the whole world,” says Troy Carl, FCBH vice president and architect of the Digital Bible Platform. “I’ve always dreamed that the Bible would one day be available at anytime, anywhere for everyone. In other words, it would just ‘be.’ And now that dream is coming true.”
To get involved, click here. Carl explains that there are many platforms and areas that FCBH is working on and out of right now. Your help could be invaluable.
Pray that this app, along with their other Gospel outreach platforms, would be successful in bringing many lost to Christ.
Established in 1972, Faith Comes By Hearing currently provides Scripture recordings in 780 languages that are spoken by over 5.7 billion people globally. Through the Digital Bible Platform, FCBH offers free access to this digital collection of Scripture via podcasts, Internet radio, satellite TV, and the Bible.is and Deaf Bible apps.
