EDMOND ― A former Fb govt is amongst three leaders with Fortune 500 firm expertise set to affix the crew behind Edmond-based Life.Church’s YouVersion Bible App.
Bobby Gruenewald, YouVersion founder and chief govt officer, stated the favored free Bible app has employed Nona Jones, former head of worldwide religion partnerships at Meta, the corporate previously referred to as Fb. Jones has been employed as YouVersion Bible App’s new chief content material and partnerships officer. Greg Corridor, who grew up in Owasso, has been employed as chief working and progress officer, whereas James Chung will probably be chief know-how officer.
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With the Bible app already a worldwide phenomenon, Life.Church is signaling a brand new day with the hiring of the trio of senior stage professionals. Gruenewald stated the leaders will assist YouVersion Bible App broaden its attain.
“All of them deliver a wealth of expertise to our crew and I feel actually set us up effectively for the expansion that we’re experiencing, and for the long run,” Gruenewald stated.
Life.Church, based by the Rev. Craig Groeschel, has headquarters at 4600 E Second St. The church, with a number of satellite tv for pc websites throughout Oklahoma and different states, launched the YouVersion Bible App on the primary day of the Apple App Retailer in July 2008.
Gruenewald stated the brand new hires and different developments are indications of a promising begin to the brand new yr because the Bible App’s fifteenth anniversary approaches in July.
“We undoubtedly are privileged to steward simply an unimaginable factor that God’s achieved over the past 15 years,” he stated.
Gruenewald identified that Jones, Corridor and Chung have every stepped away from their company roles to affix YouVersion.
“They’ve chosen to step away from these these very large and generally profitable jobs that they’ve to come back and be part of full time ministry and dealing on our crew right here with the Bible app,” he stated.
Chung beforehand labored at Intuit, Apple and eBay/PayPal. Most not too long ago, the California resident served as senior vp of technical operations at Globality. Corridor, who lives in North Carolina, most not too long ago served as chief shopper officer of Hanesbrands Inc. He held a number of senior advertising and marketing and merchandising management positions for Walmart for greater than 14 years and likewise led model administration at PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay division. Of the three, Jones already has been in ministry management over time. She and her husband, the Rev. Tim Jones, lead Open Door Church in Gainesville, Florida. She has additionally served as a YouVersion instructing accomplice and shared devotional content material for the Bible app.
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In the meantime, Gruenewald stated YouVersion started making some vital hiring adjustments earlier than including the three senior stage leaders. He stated YouVersion employed 50 individuals to the crew final yr, bringing the entire to 165 individuals who work solely on YouVersion. He stated he envisions hiring to maybe double and even triple sooner or later because the Bible app’s attain continues to develop.
New tech and different developments
The testing of latest methods and know-how instruments additionally has prompted pleasure amongst YouVersion crew members. Gruenewald stated in fall 2022, YouVersion launched a brand new app designed to achieve extra individuals in Africa. He stated the Bible app is rising quickly in there, together with Southeast Asia and Latin America.
Gruenewald stated the brand new take a look at app, developed utilizing Bible App infrastructure, was designed to fight a few of the connectivity challenges customers in that a part of the world expertise. Bible app customers additionally had been having issues protecting the Bible app on their gadgets due to its measurement, however the brand new app was designed to alleviate that.
He stated the newly developed app already has been deemed a hit. It had 1 million installs in its first few months, and since Jan. 1, there have been 375,000 installs with a mean progress charge of 26,000 installs per day.
The ministry chief stated the app is at the moment within the prime 25 apps within the Google Play Retailer in 17 nations, together with Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria.
In different developments, the Bible app debuted a brand new characteristic referred to as Day by day Refresh that additionally has been effectively acquired.
Gruenewald stated the brand new characteristic was launched in December and is already serving to app customers create extra constant time with the Bible. He stated Day by day Refresh is obtainable in 42 language and combines three app options — Verse of the Day, Verse of the Day Tales and Guided Prayer — to assist individuals develop of their intimacy with the Lord.
