Faithlife Blog

By   |   Leave a Comment

Last Chance: Get the ESV for Free!

Faithlife_Blog-Header

All summer long, we’ve been partnering with Crossway and Creationfest to offer texts and experiences that help you connect to the Word. Now, for just a few more days, you can get the ESV free when you download the official study Bible app of Creationfest: the Faithlife Study Bible app.

Hurry—get it free while there’s still time!

More than a translation

The English Standard Version has become one of the most universally trusted English translations, earning praise from many of the same Christian leaders who contributed to study notes in the FSB.

More than a music festival

Each year, thousands of students make the pilgrimage to either Mt. Union, PA, or Enumclaw, WA, for a week-long celebration of the Creator. The Creationfest stage hosts artists like Lecrae, Citizens, Matt Maher, David Crowder, and Toby Mac. This year, for the first time, Creationfest attendees enjoyed an exclusive Faithlife reading group, plus Proclaim Signals from the main stage.

More than a Bible app

With powerful study notes designed to supplement a wide variety of translations, the FSB makes a great companion to the popular ESV; what’s more, the digital faith community at Faithlife.com ensures that you’ll never have to learn alone.

Download the Faithlife Study Bible now to get the ESV for free!

 

By   |   Leave a Comment

Save on Christian eBooks at Vyrso.com

vyrso-logo-400pxOur sister site, Vyrso.com is running a number of specials at Vyrso.com/deals that you won’t want to miss.

Readers will love the Vyrso Voice blog, which features guest posts from prominent Christian authors and leaders like Aaron Smith, founder of HusbandRevolution.com and Cynthia Ruchi, author of Ragged Hope.

Vyrso specializes in Christian ebooks made available at deep discounts over their print counterparts. The free Vyrso app makes it possible to read all of your books on any mobile device where you have it installed. You can find the best Vyrso deals each month at Vyrso.com/deals.

Sign up for the Vyrso newsletter to be among the first to learn about freebies, giveaways, and updates.

 

By   |   Leave a Comment

A Brief History of the ESV

ESV-logoThe English Standard Version Bible (ESV) is the revised and edited version of the Revised Standard Version, which many consider to be the twentieth century’s best translation. Led by Dr. Lane T. Dennis in the early 1990s, hundreds of people assisted in translating the ESV, with oversight from the National Council of Churches.

The ESV combines the specific wording of the original text with current English grammar, syntax, and idiom, allowing you to more easily relate to the text while maintaining the fullest accuracy. Using a word-for-word translation approach instead of a thought-for-thought method, the ESV is an “essentially literal” translation that captures both the precise wording of the text and the personal style of each Bible writer (ESVBible.org).

The ESV retains several classic theological terms—including “sanctification,” “justification,” “redemption,” “regeneration,” “propitiation,” and “reconciliation”—that, due to their importance in Christian doctrine, cannot be eliminated without loss of meaning. The version includes section headings, called pericopes, which guide you toward important themes.

The ESV translators worked with a high degree of scholarly integrity, which resulted in as close to perfect work as anyone could expect.

We know that no Bible translation is perfect or final; but we also know that God uses imperfect and inadequate things to his honor and praise. So to our triune God and to his people we offer what we have done, with our prayers that it may prove useful, with gratitude for much help given, and with ongoing wonder that our God should ever have entrusted to us so momentous a task.
—ESVBible.org

A number of today’s leading Christian authors and pastors recognize the excellence and clarity of the English Standard Version.

Join some of the most prominent Christian leaders in enriching your understanding of God’s Word: download the Faithlife Study Bible and receive a free copy of the ESV. Get it now!

By   |   Leave a Comment

Announcing: ESV Giveaway

Faithlife_Blog-Header

Through August 10, when you download the Faithlife Study Bible for iOS, Android, or Kindle Fire, you’ll get the ESV—free!

Thanks to a partnership with Crossway Books, the ESV will be included with all new downloads of the FSB between July 24 and August 10.

Now you can apply the FSB’s study power and convenience to one of the most universally loved modern English translations, free. Download the FSB right now to get started!

What if I already have the FSB?

Current FSB users can get the ESV, too. Just open your app sometime between July 24 and August 10 and it’ll be unlocked for you. (There may be a slight delay on downloading; we ask for your patience.) If you can’t download the ESV after more than 24 hours, give us a call. We don’t want you to miss out!

What if I already have the ESV?

If you own a Logos base package or you’ve purchased the ESV independently, you’ve already been enjoying this translation for some time now. So help your friends get their free copies! Use the share buttons at the top of this post to tell everyone you know about the ESV giveaway.

By   |   Leave a Comment

Love Faithlife? Write a Review.

user-reviews

The Faithlife Study Bible is all about community—Community Notes and reading plans are better when more people use them. That means that the more people find the FSB, the better it’ll be for you. And app stores like Google Play, iTunes, and Amazon give precedence to apps with positive reviews.

So if you love the Faithlife Study Bible, write a review to tell the world. Be specific, and be honest. If we can improve on something, we want to hear about it, but if you love the Faithlife Study Bible, help others discover it by writing a positive review.

Help more people find Faithlife—take a minute to go review the Faithlife Study Bible: Google Play | iTunes | Amazon

By   |   Leave a Comment

Scholarship Allows Young Family to Adopt

mark.alison

Several years ago, Mark Abbot and his wife, Alyson, were given the most heartbreaking news of their lives: their doctor informed them that they were unable to bear children. “When we first got that news, it was like our world, hopes, and dreams had crumbled,” wrote Mark. “I’ve spoken about the sovereignty of God, sung songs about it, even preached a time or two about it, but this time God was asking me if I was really going to believe it.”

Although the news was devastating at the time, God shaped a new dream out of this hardship for Mark and Alyson’s family—to adopt.

At the same time, Mark felt God was calling him to attend seminary to pursue his Doctor of Ministry. Although Mark and Alyson were passionate about both pursuits, the cost of adopting a child in the United States is well beyond what most families can afford; add to that the expense of pursuing a seminary degree and you may very well sink yourself into decades of debt.

But Mark’s faith was never shaken. “I know that no matter what happens to me in this life, God has a way of taking the bad things that happen and using them for good,” he wrote. And he couldn’t have been more right. Mark was recently awarded the Leith Anderson Scholarship—an $18,000 scholarship that will allow Mark to earn his DMin for free from Knox Theological Seminary.

Mark was shocked when he heard the news. “This was a gift from God,” he wrote. “It was the opportunity of a lifetime to earn my doctorate for free.” With this scholarship, Mark and his wife can follow through with their adoption plans without the additional financial burden of paying for seminary.

Knox’s DMin program also allows Mark to earn his degree at his own pace, while staying with his current church and job—things that many seminary students have to sacrifice while attending school.

In addition to preparing for his new educational journey, Mark and his wife are now in the final stages of the adoption process and are on the waiting list for a child to be placed in their home. “I’ve stopped asking ‘why,’” wrote Mark. “His plan is better than any plan that I could come up with on my own.”

Learn how you can earn your Doctor of Ministry or master’s degree with Knox and Logos.

 

By   |   1 Comment

The Official Bible App of CreationFest

creation-fest-stage

Each summer, students gather in opposite corners of the United States and pay tribute to the Creator at Creation. This year, Faithlife will be there, too.

Creation is an important time of spiritual awakening. Last year, more than 4,700 responded to the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives; 450 were baptized. The Word of God is preached at Creation every day, and this year, you can follow along on your Faithlife Study Bible app with signals from the main stage. And before you arrive, you can get inspired by Scripture with Faithlife’s official Creation Reading Plan.

If you’re attending Creation (or wish you were), get your heart ready for what God plans to teach you this year—visit FaithlifeBible.com/Creation to join the Creation Reading Plan!

By   |   9 Comments

Introducing the Read-Along Feature

audiobook2_0You may have noticed an update last week to the Faithlife app on your iOS device. It was a big one. For a long time, we’ve been working on a read-along feature that allows you to listen to Scripture as well as read it through the Faithlife app. It works with the Lexham English Bible New Testament, and we plan to enable it for additional resources in the future.

How to unlock audio on Faithlife

It’s easy. If you don’t have the app yet, download it. If you do, update through the app store. Then, while you’re at it, tell a friend. They’ll thank you!

How to find the read-along feature

  1. Open the Faithlife app.
  2. Open the Lexham English Bible.
  3. In Read mode, swipe down on the New Testament text to reveal the toolbar.
  4. Tap the speaker icon in the top right corner.
  5. Lean back and enjoy!

Android users and Logos desktop users should see the same update coming very soon. We’d love to hear from you about how you plan to use the read-along feature. Let us know in comments.

By   |   4 Comments

A Media-Rich Study Bible

You already know about the Faithlife Study Bible’s expanding scholarship. We recently announced 58 new articles (more than 150,000 words) in the Lexham Bible Dictionary, which you can access through the Faithlife app—but did you know that the Faithlife Study Bible also includes a huge collection of media resources?

Infographics, maps, photos, and video from the Holy Land help you to visualize biblical settings and understand complex ideas. As you flip through your FSB in the popular two-pane layout, keep your eye out for small thumbnails like the one below—they indicate that there’s an infographic associated with the passage you’re reading.

infographic-thumbnail
 When you see them, don’t hesitate to tap. You’re sure to learn something new.
infographic

By   |   3 Comments

Take Better Sermon Notes with Faithlife

Note-taking has many benefits. It helps you focus your attention. Studies have shown that note-takers retain more of what they hear. If you’re still using pen and paper and you want fewer ink stains on your clothes, we have good news for you: Faithlife notes are just as powerful and elegant as Logos notes.

Here’s a rundown of what they can do.

Connect to a selection or reference

Long-press in your mobile app to highlight a portion of text—you’ll have the option to either highlight or make a note. You’ll never run out of space, which can’t be said of taking notes in the margins of your paper Bible. Write as much as you like, and then connect your notes to a reference or Scripture selection. If your note pertains to more than a single verse or defies normal chapter/verse divisions, you’ll likely want to use the selection option.

faithlife-notes1

Easy sharing

You can choose to keep your notes private, or share them with the Faithlife community so everyone can benefit from your study. After all, we learn best when we learn together. (Click to tweet)

Stored on the cloud

Your notes are kept safely in your own corner of our server, so they’re available on all your devices, all the time. Even if you made a note on your computer using Logos, it’s visible on your mobile device in the Faithlife app. No downloading required. You can see all your notes in one place at Documents.Logos.com.

If you’re using a reading plan or a prayer list on Faithlife.com, it’ll also appear at Documents.Logos.com, and you can search through all of it using the search box at the top of the page.

Organize into documents

To keep myself a bit more organized, I’ve organized my notes by book of the Bible. You might choose to organize your notes another way—perhaps by subject (notes about forgiveness) or venue (notes from church.)

documents.logos.com

Export & print

Using Logos 5, you can quickly export or print an entire document of notes. This is especially helpful if you’re preparing to preach or teach. Make notes in your app as you read throughout the week; when you sit down for more focused study, your notes are all together. You could conceivably write your own commentary using Logos’ notes feature. If you do that, call us. We want to hear about it.

If you’d like to learn more about Logos’ notes, check out some of these posts.