From Calling to Community
The Share Bibles App was built through prayer and global collaboration
When Rob Wiebe came face to face with a problem hindering his ministry, he felt challenged to take on a project that seemed impossible for him. He had a vision for a new technology, but he didn’t have any technical training. He was called to be a missionary, not a computer programmer! As he looked to God for direction, God led him to community in an unexpected way.
At the time, Rob was serving with YWAM in Thailand, going house to house handing out Bibles. Aiming to give a Bible to someone in every home in the country, the team quickly realized that they needed a way to track which homes had received a Bible and which hadn’t. Since each member of the team always carried a phone, creating an app seemed like an obvious solution. That way they could track the data and make sure that no home was missed.
“So the practical step for me, because I don’t know how to build apps, was to find someone who could. And I was seeking God like, what do I do?” Rob reflects, “And what came to my mind was the building of the tabernacle. It says Moses built the tabernacle but actually he had two anointed people that God had called, who were skilled in their craft to do it for him.”
Rob clearly felt God saying that this was the way He intended to build the app. As he searched for those skilled people to help him, Rob connected with Sean and Scott, who are part of the FaithTech community.
FaithTech helps mobilize Christians in tech to meet real world needs with tech solutions, finding exciting ways to use their skills to glorify God. For organizations like Rob’s — where cost and expertise can be challenges — FaithTech’s dedicated volunteers turned an impossible project into a practical reality.
“Really, like, the only gap between him and doing the thing he needed was developers who could help him.” says Scott, lead developer on the app. “I don’t know a whole lot about how you distribute bibles or evangelize, but I know how to build websites, build apps, and so together we can build this thing.”
From Community to the World
With these connections in place, the stage was set to create the app Rob felt called to. In the journey of building the Share Bibles app, the team didn’t just work together, they developed deep and lasting friendships.
“Ultimately this is FaithTech’s mission statement in a story,” James Kelly shares. He’s the founder of FaithTech. “You have people from around the world that have come together, got to know each other deeply. And have built a useful product that’s going to advance the name and fame of Jesus Christ.”
Today, the Share Bibles App is being used to record Bible distribution all over the world, “enabling strategic collaboration in geographic distribution campaigns.” To date, teams have recorded over 84,000 bibles distributed and almost 100,000 locations visited across 17 different countries.
“Every pin is an encounter with Jesus,” Rob beams.
Are you someone in tech looking for a meaningful place to use your talents? FaithTech is the community where you can apply your tech skills and gifts to Kingdom-minded projects that will have real world impact.
Sean, the designer on the Share Bibles project, asserts, “We are given gifts, we have different talents, and we’re called to use them. Get involved. Reach out. God has something for you, and you have a part to play.”
Beth Round has been involved with FaithTech since its very beginning. She joined FaithTech’s first ever hackathon and found herself on the www.howtokillyourself.org team that has gone on to help thousands of people battling with thoughts of suicide. She is the Director of Operations & Communications for FaithTech. Read more …
Join us! Learn more about FaithTech at faithtech.com.
Want to join the movement? Start here.
