It had to be something we would use ourselves - getting to read more of the Bible each day was really motivating.
Des Moines, Iowa (PRWEB) July 24, 2014
What if you could read the entire Bible, in less time than it takes you to read the New Testament right now? Better still, it doesn't involve a speed-reading course, or some skimming or scanning technique. You read at your normal pace and your brain teaches itself to read faster.
Earlier this year, three friends used advances developed for smart watches and applied them to Scripture reading. The average adult reads at 250 words per minute. Readers spend most of that time moving the eye from word to word and finding key letters, like you're doing right now. The founders of a startup called Spritz (http://www.spritzinc.com) recognized that if words could appear in the same location and have the key letter clearly indicated, it would dramatically increase reading speeds. A typical reading speed increase was 400% - enough to move a 250 wpm reader at the beginning of the week, to a 1,000 wpm reader by the end.
"We were inspired by the discoveries Spritz made and couldn't wait to use those concepts for reading the Bible," said Joshua Stewardson one of the creators of BusyBible.org, "it had to be something we would use ourselves - getting to read more of the Bible each day was really motivating."
Using some open-source tools that were based on the ideas from Spritz, the initial beta concept was able to be launched for BusyBible.org. On the site you can pick a book and chapter and start reading. On the homepage, a Bible-in-a-Year reading is updated daily for consistent users. The entire service is free, thanks to some open-source tools and the Crossway Bibles Web Service (http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/share/services/) that provides the desired ESV text.
The three creators, Joshua Stewardson, Michael Kochendorfer, and Kaylee Godley, met years prior in college. They attended LeTourneau University - one of the strongest science and engineering colleges in the nation - and after various careers found themselves working together running a web development company: Covenant Web Design (http://www.covenantdesign.com). Covenant has always been a virtual company with clients across the nation. Similarly, Joshua, Michael and Kaylee live across the country from each other but enjoy collaborating on projects. BusyBible.org came as the result of such a collaboration.
"There are times I want to linger and absorb each word of Scripture, but there are many times I want to hear the entire story - that's when I get excited to use our reader," Stewardson shared. "Often I get so caught up I am surprised to realize I read to the end of the book!"
