This month on Faithlife TV, learn about ordinary people outside of the Bible who stepped out in faith and led extraordinary lives for Christ. Some—like Heidi Baker—have a vibrant ministry we can follow today.
’Twant me, ’twas the Lord. I always told him, “I trust to you. I don’t know where to go or what to do, but I expect you to lead me,” and he always did. — Harriet Tubman
Here are this week’s top deals, brought to you by Faithlife Ebooks. For more deals, visit our sale page or get our Free Book of the Month. Some of these deals are only good for a few days, so act fast to get these books at the sale price! [Read more…]
“Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.” — J. R. R. Tolkien
Bilbo’s first step out of The Shire, the Pevensies’ fall through the wardrobe, Princess Irene’s search of the castle—they all lead to lands, creatures, and adventures that are otherworldly and full of delight.
Few writers have captured the hearts and imaginations of millions like J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and George MacDonald have. They forged the way to fantastical worlds while teaching lessons about good and evil, selflessness and pride, bravery and cowardice.
John Bunyan’s famous Christian allegory is coming to theaters Easter weekend as an animated feature film. [Read more…]
As a church, your priority is to reach people, but you also want to be financially prudent.
So you may be wondering, “Does our church need an app, and is a church app worth the money?”
In this article, I compare the two in hopes to help you arrive at a decision you can feel confident about. [Read more…]
With how much of our interactions happen online now, more and more churches are using technology to encourage spiritual growth and fellowship throughout the week.
This is not to replace face-to-face teaching and fellowship, but to reinforce it, providing opportunities to learn and build relationships in addition to the few times a week people can get together. [Read more…]
When you walk into church this weekend, consider what it would be like without an administrator making sure everything works behind the scenes.
Who would make sure coffee was ready? Would the church building be clean? Would the bulletins be accurate?
Your church needs people gifted in administration, yet their work is easy to overlook. With that in mind, here are a few simple ways to encourage church admins as they faithfully serve the church: [Read more…]
Every year, Bellingham participates in Bike to Work Day. Last Friday, hundreds of people throughout the city celebrated alternative transportation together and bonded over snacks when they arrive at one of the 24 stations set up for anyone who biked, walked, carpooled, or took the bus to work. The event is open to anyone, whether you bike to work every day, or you’re just getting your rusty wheels out of the shed.
The annual community event is hosted by Whatcom Smart Trips—a partnership between local government, public agencies, employers, and schools to promote alternative transportation.
Local businesses rally together and set up stations throughout the city to encourage those who participate with treats and applause.
Glenn Gervais, a developer at Faithlife, has participated in Bike to Work Day since 2006. He usually bikes to work two or three times a week during the summer. Glenn races year round—from triathlons to cyclocross to mountain biking, there’s always something to do with a bike in Bellingham.
“I love that within a 5–10 minute ride from the core downtown area you can be on some world class trails at Galbraith, or on a county road with light traffic,” Glenn says.
Faithlife goes the extra mile to encourage healthy activities like biking. Glenn says, “I love how supportive Faithlife is of the biking community with our bike shop, indoor parking—it’s out of the rain and there’s no need to carry a lock—and gift cards for people who participate in Bike to Work Day.”
Jon Deviny, a Faithlife designer, participated in the official Bike to Work Day for the first time this year, though he usually bikes to work once or twice a week.
“It’s a fun way to redeem my commute for a little exercise and it’s fun to slow down and see things I normally pass by in a car,” he says.
Living in Bellingham, if you don’t bike regularly yourself, there’s always someone you know who does. Jon says, “Bellingham has the most active bike community I’ve ever experienced. There are bikes everywhere!”
Two brothers, Taylor and Jeromy Blomquist, rode the farthest of any Faithlife employees. The duo made a 12.6 mile trip together from Ferndale.
Jeromy says, “Every time we rode by a Bike to Work station, everyone got really excited and cheered. A guy even ran out and handed us a granola bar while we rode.”
Altogether, 40 Faithlife employees participated, and they rode over 60 miles in total.
The final stop for Faithlife employees was Faithlife’s freshly established food truck patio. The station was cohosted by the Pickford Film Center, Kulshan Cycles, and Faithlife.
Starting this week, this new space is reserved for local food trucks to serve up an assortment of delicious foods.
Want to be here for the next Bike to Work Day? Faithlife is hiring!
Growth is one of Faithlife’s company values; it’s even a job requirement to be growing personally. Here are some ways we grew as an organization in 2014:
In March, we created specialized base packages for Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Pentecostal and Charismatic, Reformed, and SDA churches to provide more useful tools for everyone.
In September, we changed our company name to Faithlife. Our mission hasn’t changed: to serve the church—and Logos Bible Software is a huge part of how we do that. But with so many offerings—Faithlife Groups, Biblia.com, Bible Study Magazine, Lexham Press, and more—it was time to separate the name of our primary product from the name of the company.
In October, we released Logos 6. We introduced brand-new tools like the Ancient Literature tool and our powerful visual tools.
In November, we released the Noet desktop app, making the technology behind Logos Bible Software available for use in studying the humanities.
In December, Glassdoor named Faithlife one of the Top 10 Best Places to Work. (The award was based on anonymous employee ratings and reviews). Faithlife employees love their jobs! Faithlife has received this honor two years in a row now.
On Christmas Eve, we sent a coupon to anyone who had ever purchased anything from Faithlife—even a free book—with a limited-time $20 promotional code to spend on any Logos resource before the new year. You make it possible for us to create new things, improve what we have, explore different directions, and win awards. This $20 gift was one of the many ways we wanted to say thank you to the people we love and serve.
We serve the church, and we love building Bible study tools and resources to help you study and teach the Word.
We look forward to serving you well in 2015!
When you need a break from work, there’s plenty to do around the Faithlife campus—foosball, spikeball, Super Smash Bros., and a whole lot more. For me, one particular activity rises above the rest—ping pong.
When I was hired as an intern a little over a year ago I spent many hours getting to know our flagship product, our company values, and the awesome people who make working at Faithlife so great.
It wasn’t until my internship was almost over that Art Pinney and Eric Vaniman invited me to play a game of ping pong.
One game quickly turned into two, and eventually ping pong became a daily occurrence. A fierce competition formed between us.
Over time our group of three was joined by several others and we started having regular tournaments.
Ping pong is not just popular among our group of six. It’s a big deal across campus—it’s not unusual to make the journey to building 3 only to find the table occupied.
Every department has a number of people who are skilled with the paddle, including development, design, marketing, customer service, sales, and others.
The sport is popular enough at Faithlife to justify reserving the table ahead of time, especially during the company wide tournament—the C.O.P.P.T.R (Corporate Ping Pong Tournament).
The C.O.P.P.T.R. is open to anyone at Faithlife—whether you’re a brand-new intern, or someone who’s been here over 20 years. Even Executive Vice President Dan Pritchett is on the ladder.
It’s no laughing matter. C.O.P.P.T.R. is governed by a lengthy set of rules similar to those listed on pongworld.com (with a couple of our “house rules”).
So many stellar players make the competition difficult. Pritchett himself is currently listed as the number two seat in the tournament.
From personal experience, I can tell you that Dan’s pong abilities rarely meet their match. In our first meeting, he kept me below 10 points in two out of three matches to 21.
We’ve played several times since then, and it wasn’t until the week before Faithlife launched Logos 6 that I finally beat him.
Ping pong is just a game. It has nothing to do with our companies products. But there are three traits shown through this simple game that reveal who we are and showcase what makes working at Faithlife so great:
Growth is one of our core values. We strive to do and be the best we can at everything we participate in. Naturally, this flows into a friendly game of ping-pong. It’s something we enjoy, so we practice and get better together. Just like the jobs we do every day.
While we enjoy good competition, we still value and respect our coworkers. The games always remain friendly and they end with a handshake or high-five followed by “good game.” Our company values are summed up by the four words, “Honor God. Love others.” This overflows into everything we do—whether it’s building the world’s best Bible software, or playing some ping pong.
Challenges present the opportunity to persevere. Perseverance is the goal of competition. When we compete and lose, it fuels our fire to perform better in the future.
These qualities transfer to our work. We work hard, and when we make a mistake we admit it. These experiences fuel our passion for creating better products and providing better service. We search for our faults, correct them and aim to perform better in the future. It’s part of who we are.
Want to be around for the next C.O.P.P.T.R.? We’re hiring! Apply today at Faithlife.com/careers.