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Archive for January, 2015

Your Next Bible Will Be a Hologram

Friday, January 23rd, 2015

Or, how Microsoft may have just invented the future of intensive Bible study.

Microsoft this week unveiled HoloLens, an augmented-reality headset that overlays text and images on the real world and, in particular, anchors them to precise locations in space, as if they were real objects. Here’s one of Microsoft’s promotional shots to give you an idea of what wearing HoloLens is like:

A man is wearing HoloLens in his kitchen.

In this image, the man is apparently so obsessed with going to Maui that he maintains a Sims-like vacation paradise on his counter. The TV, “Recipes” button, Maui simulation, and to-do list are all virtual—using the device on his head, only he can see whether his Sims manage find a staircase to the beach or if instead they simply leap the fifteen feet off the cliff to the sand.

At this year’s BibleTech conference, I’m going to discuss why the idea of the “digital library” doesn’t appeal to certain kinds of people, and one aspect of the discussion involves the tension between print books and digital ones, each of which has advantages and disadvantages. Microsoft’s holographic technology (I recognize that one, they’re not really holograms, and two, what I’m describing here may go beyond what’s possible in the first devices) presents an intriguing way to bridge the physical and digital worlds of Bible study.

Certain kinds of people prefer to study from print Bibles, and for them digital resources serve as study augmentations: parallel Bibles and commentaries feature prominently in this kind of study practice. The melding of physical and digital has always been awkward for this type of person, although tablet computers have eased this awkwardness somewhat. Still, the main limitation of digital resources for this person is space; small screens (compared to the size of a desk) don’t provide enough room to look at very many resources simultaneously, forcing them to toggle between resources. Edward Tufte calls this phenomenon being “stacked in time” rather than “adjacent in space,” saying that the latter is generally preferable.

Holograms remove this space limitation by expanding your working area to your entire physical desktop:

An open Bible appears in the middle of a desk with holographic text around it.

In this image, only the physical Bible and the desk are actually there. The rest of the text appears to float on top of the desk, providing enough room to engage in the kind of deep study that you might crave. Here I imagine that you, wearing holographic goggles, have tapped Psalm 27:1 in your print Bible. The goggles recognize the gesture, draw a box around the text in your Bible, and provide all sorts of supplementary material in which you’ve previously expressed interest: photos for some sort of illustration, various commentary and exegetical helps, and cross-references. The digital resources displayed on the desk are interactive, letting you tap and scroll much as you would on a tablet computer. It’s a tablet without a tablet.

Of course, if you have a whole lot of material, there’s no need to limit supplementary material to a desktop; the whole room is available to you:

Holographic text appears on the walls of a room.

This image limits content to walls, but Microsoft’s HoloLens demo shows that the content could just as easily exist as three-dimensional objects in the middle of the room. And while I focus on low-density information displays here, there could easily be hundreds of information cards. Do you want to conduct a keyword search with hundreds of results? You can see all of them at once, all around you, rather than paging through them a few at a time.

Further, holograms give you the opportunity to merge print and digital resources in new ways. Suppose you’re studying Psalm 27:1, as above, and vaguely remember something you read once in one of your books. If you look over at your bookshelves, you might see something like this:

Bookshelves appear behind holographic text showing search results from three books on the shelves.

Here the holographic goggles have identified relevant books for you and show you where they are on your bookshelves, in addition to providing relevant excerpts for you to peruse. (The goggles know the page numbers either because you own the same volume digitally or because you originally read the book with your goggles on, and the goggles remember everything you read, even if you don’t; it’s like a super-Evernote.) The goggles surface passages related to the verse you’re reading and even remember passages you’ve highlighted (the yellow lines in the image). You can interact further with the holograms, looking through more search results, perhaps, or you can pull one of the books off the shelf and physically peruse it.

Finally, and most obviously, holograms push the 3D models, timelines, and maps that are now study-Bible staples into new dimensions of interactivity. They can literally pop off the page and expand into space, letting you manipulate them in ways that are impossible in the 2D space of a screen.

Holographic technology neatly sidesteps several limitations of current digital Bible study and could potentially usher widespread, transformative, digitally assisted Bible study. Or they may be just too geeky-looking. We’ll have to see.

Photo credits: endyk, Hc_07, 4thglryofgod, worshipbackgrounds, listentothemountains, coloneljohnbritt, 4thglryofgod, titobalangue, quoteseverlasting, steven_jamesP, nlcwood, netzanette, and williamhook on Flickr. The terrible Photoshopping is all my fault, not theirs.

Study of the Religious Landscape on Twitter

Saturday, January 17th, 2015

A recent study looks at the U.S. religious landscape on Twitter. The researchers analyzed nearly 100 million tweets across 250,000 Twitter accounts to identify similarities and differences among self-identified followers of Christianity, Atheism, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. Christians comprise the largest number of accounts, at just over 200,000, and I’ll focus on them here.

A word cloud shows the most-relevant accounts to follow for each religion.

This word cloud shows the accounts that adherents to each religion are more likely to follow than people of other religions. Green is Christian, gray is atheist, orange is Jewish, pink is Muslim, yellow is Buddhist, and blue is Hindu. This figure is reproduced from the original paper.

According to the paper, here are the most-popular Twitter accounts that Christians tend to follow more than followers of other religions:

  1. RickWarren
  2. CSLewisDaily
  3. TimTebow
  4. JohnPiper
  5. PastorMark
  6. lecrae
  7. JoyceMeyer
  8. MaxLucado
  9. christomlin
  10. louiegiglio
  11. MattChandler74
  12. JohnCMaxwell
  13. AndyStanley
  14. BethMooreLPM
  15. karijobe

(I’m estimating from the above word cloud, so the exact order may be off.)

And, again according to the paper, here are the words that Christians most-commonly use in tweets compared to followers of other religions–in other words, these words serve as statistical markers of Christianity: if you use them a lot, you’re probably a Christian or hang out with Christians.

  1. Jesus
  2. Christ
  3. God
  4. Church
  5. Lord
  6. Christian
  7. Bible
  8. Prayer
  9. Pray
  10. Worship
  11. Grace
  12. Blessed
  13. Faith
  14. Praise
  15. Pastor

(Again, I’m eyeballing the order from the word cloud included in the paper.)

Most-popular Christian leaders on Twitter?

In March 2014, I wondered if it would be possible to identify and cluster the most-popular “Christian” Twitter accounts. Starting with a list of 100 Christian leaders on Twitter, I wrote a program to work through their friend lists (and then the friends of those friends, and so on), seeing who Christian leaders most tended to follow. After crunching the numbers for 13,316 users, I took the top 200 (using a PageRank algorithm) you see below.

The list contains 149 men, 23 women (by my count, all but nine–Christine Caine, Joyce Meyer, Bobbie Houston, Beth Moore, Lysa TerKeurst, Jen Hatmaker, Ann Voskamp, Sheila Walsh, and Anne Lamott–are artists or wives of prominent Christian men; the remainder are speakers or writers), 22 organizations, and 6 quote accounts (two for C.S. Lewis and one each for Tim Keller, A.W. Tozer, Charles Spurgeon, and Henri Nouwen).

Originally I wanted to cluster them (pastors, artists, etc.), but the math didn’t produce strong clusters except to identify the spam accounts (most of them spouting random Bible verses).

Here are the top 200 “Christian Twitterati” in March 2014, along with their descriptions as they appeared at that time.

Rank Account Name Type Description (March 2014)
1. RickWarren Rick Warren male No socks. Loves Jesus & people.Mentors young leaders. Helps the poor, sick & lost thru P.E.A.C.E. Plan. Serves Saddleback. Encourages pastors. Wrote some books
2. louiegiglio Louie Giglio male Happy to be a door holder.
3. MattChandler74 Matt Chandler male Grace addict, husband to @laurenchandler, father of three, Lead Pastor @villagechurchtx, President @Acts29 Church Planting Network
4. joelhouston Joel Timothy Houston male Gracious fury, written in my saviours scars; Mercy Mercy, now engraved upon my heart. ZION – 26 • 2 • 13
5. shelleygiglio shelley giglio female part of the 268generation…
6. lecrae Lecrae male Booking: Mike infocmg@wmeentertainment.com Larry larryshields@theagencygroup.com
7. timkellernyc Timothy Keller male This is Timothy Keller. Sometimes my son and others post here as well. Founder of Redeemer Presbyterian Church and City to City. Husband to Kathy.
8. BrianCHouston Brian Houston male My wife and I are pastors and founders of a church called Hillsong. We are pretty passionate about our family, the Church, & helping people any way we can!
9. DarleneZschech Darlene Zschech female Married 2 Mark, Mum 2 Amy& Andrew, Chloe & Zoe, Grammie 2 Ava Pearl, Roman Emmanuel & Ruthie Feather,committed 2 serving Christ & worshipping Him with all I am.
10. christynockels Christy Nockels female Wife! Mother, singer, poet, songwriter
11. ChristineCaine Christine Caine female Follower of Jesus Christ.
12. CTmagazine Christianity Today organization Christianity Today is the source for those eager to engage the world for Christ and curious about the people, events, and trends shaping the church and culture.
13. CSLewisDaily C. S. Lewis quotes C. S. Lewis Quotes – Everyday
14. christomlin Chris Tomlin male husband, father, songwriter
15. MaxLucado Max Lucado male i played tuba in the High School marching band. been trying to stay in step with the music ever since.
16. drmoore Russell Moore male President, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
17. PastorMark Mark Driscoll male A nobody trying to tell everybody about Somebody.
18. edstetzer Ed Stetzer male Christian, hubby, #DadOf3Girls, pres of @LifeWayResearch, missiologist, @GoGraceChurch pastor. Too loud. Fast talker. Sry I can’t read/reply to all msgs & DMs.
19. passion268 Passion Conferences organization A student movement inspiring a generation to live for what matters most. [Isa. 26:8]
20. bradlomenick Brad Lomenick male leading the charge on CATALYST (@CatalystLeader), a movement of young leaders
21. craiggroeschel Craig Groeschel male Husband, Dad, Pastor of LifeChurch.tv
22. mattmahermusic Matt Maher male newfoundland to phoenix to nashville to ________
23. AndyStanley AndyStanley male Do more. Give more. Be Rich.
24. crowdermusic David Crowder male
25. matt_redman Matt Redman male Husband, Father, Songwriter
26. israelhoughton israelhoughton male Husband, Father, Friend of God.
27. bubbawatson bubba watson male Christian. Husband. Daddy. Pro Golfer. Check out BubbaGolf on iTunes! #bubbagolf #urwelcome
28. judahsmith Judah Smith male Lead Pastor at @thecitychurch, husband, father, and golfer. http://t.co/2xyMToSx6q
29. BillHybels Bill Hybels male Sr. Pastor of Willow Creek, convener of The Global Leadership Summit, passionate about the local church, author, speaker, sailor, and grandfather to Henry & Mac
30. reuben_morgan Reuben Morgan male writer+believer. thankful to be here now on a mission with people I love
31. JohnPiper John Piper male Founder-Teacher, Desiring God, Chancellor, BCS. Spreading a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.
32. carllentzNYC carl lentz male HILLSONGNYC..if you don’t know, now you know…
33. JoyceMeyer Joyce Meyer female Sharing Christ – Loving People
34. jdgreear J.D. Greear male Lead Pastor of the Summit Church. Husband to Veronica, dad of Kharis, Allie, Ryah and Adon. Author of ‘Gospel.’ Not ‘the’ gospel, but a book about it. Rom 1:16.
35. kpstanfill Kristian Stanfill male #Passion2014 // Atlanta Jan 17-18 // Houston Feb 14-15 // two cities…one heartbeat.
36. bobbiehouston Bobbie Houston female Wife of Brian, mum of Joel/Esther/Ben/Luc/Laura/Pete, Grammie of Sav, Lexi,Bailey, Willow,Jack,ZIon. Grateful follower of Christ!
37. stevenfurtick Steven Furtick male Pastor of Elevation Church. New book – CRASH THE CHATTERBOX – now available
38. donaldmiller Donald Miller male Founder of StoryBrand, a process that helps companies speak clearly to their customers. Husband to @queenboots.
39. Jentezen Jentezen Franklin male
40. DailyKeller Tim Keller Wisdom quotes Fan Promo Site for Tim Keller @timkellernyc. Tweeting all things Keller and Gospel related – Books, Quotes, News, Blogs, Updates, and Kindle Deals Daily.
41. LisaBevere Lisa Bevere female A woman w/a weapon who wants to be sure every girl has a sword. Author-Advocate & Speaker. Wife of John Bevere-mother of 4 sons-Gmama of 2+.
42. BethMooreLPM Beth Moore female Crazy about Jesus. Saved my life. Want to see people know Him and love Him.
43. nickygumbel Nicky Gumbel male Husband of @pippagumbel, Vicar of @htbchurch & pioneer of @alphacourse. Pippa & I write a daily Bible commentary http://t.co/y7xmCjzhta #BiOY #Alpha #TryAlpha
44. davidnasser David Nasser male Husband,father, author, speaker, pastor…
45. darrinpatrick Darrin Patrick male Son, Husband, Father, Pastor, Chaplain to the St Louis Cardinals – Author of The Dude’s Guide to Manhood
46. TGC The Gospel Coalition organization TGC exists to promote gospel-centered ministry for the next generation.
47. LigonDuncan Ligon Duncan male Chancellor/CEO of the Reformed Theological Seminary system @ReformTheoSem and John E. Richards Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology
48. JohnCMaxwell John C Maxwell male Bestselling author & speaker on leadership. Christian. Blogger. Trainer. Coach. Assisted by Stephanie Wetzel (SW).
49. DaveRamsey Dave Ramsey male New York Times best-selling author and host of The Dave Ramsey Show. Follow the rest of my team at @RamseyShow, @DaveRamseyLIVE, and @EntreLeadership
50. michaelwsmith Michael W. Smith male New single YOU WON’T LET GO now available EVERYWHERE! From the new Michael W. Smith album, SOVEREIGN available everywhere May 13, 2014!
51. HarrisJosh Joshua Harris male Pastor @Covenantlife. In love with Shannon. Three awesome kids. Learning to be a disciple of Jesus day by day. Written some books.
52. TimTebow Tim Tebow male Blessed
53. TripLee116 Trip Lee male Rapper, Author. Living by faith in a good God. The Good Life Album and Book are in stores now
54. Chris_Hodges Chris Hodges male Follower of Jesus, husband, dad, senior pastor of Church of the Highlands, author of Fresh Air.
55. rayortlund Ray Ortlund male
56. greglaurie Greg Laurie male Pastor and Evangelist :: Knowing God and Making Him Known :: Maintained by Pastor Greg and the Harvest Web Team
57. perrynoble Perry Noble male Senior Pastor of @NewSpring. Author of Unleash! and Overwhelmed.
58. EdYoung Ed Young male I’m Ed Young, husband, father of four and the senior pastor of Fellowship Church, located in Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX; Miami, FL; Columbia, SC; and London, England.
59. PaulTripp Paul David Tripp male Pastor. Author. Conference Speaker. Connecting the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life.
60. MarkBatterson Mark Batterson male Lead Pastor, National Community Church in Washington DC. Author, The Circle Maker, All In, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, Wild Goose Chase, Soulprint…
61. hillsongunited Hillsong United organization White Album avalaible for pre purchase – http://t.co/tOkODeCkb7
62. karijobe Kari Jobe female Worshipper. Girly-girl. Longboard skateboard-er. World traveller. Random tweeter. Songwriter. I love life and Jesus. MAJESTIC CD/DVD will release March 25!
63. BishopJakes TD Jakes male Official Twitter for Bishop T. D. Jakes
64. albertmohler albertmohler male President @sbts; author; broadcaster; theologian
65. TozerAW A W Tozer quotes Inspiring, encouraging and challenging quotes from the new works of AW Tozer–including My Daily Pursuit–and a few of his classic quotes.
66. CSLewisU C. S. Lewis quotes Daily Thoughts and ideas from CS Lewis
67. JudWilhite Jud Wilhite male Senior Pastor at @centralonline. Married to @Lori_Wilhite with 2 kids. New York Times Best-Selling author. Espresso addict & Dallas Cowboys fan.
68. PriscillaShirer Priscilla Shirer female Just a girl….with a Sword
69. jamesmacdonald James MacDonald male Revelation 1:2 – For the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ
70. ScottyWardSmith Scotty Smith male Founding Pastor of Christ Community Church. Husband, dad, granddad, lover of the gospel, photographer, fisherman, and so blessed
71. dinorizzo Dino Rizzo male Husband to DeLynn, father to three awesome kids, and author of the book Servolution.
72. plattdavid David Platt male Husband to Heather. Dad to Caleb, Joshua, Mara Ruth, & Isaiah. Pastor of The Church at Brook Hills.
73. JosephPrince Joseph Prince male It’s my passion to share God’s grace radically & see lives gloriously transformed!
74. between2worlds BetweenTwoWorlds male Justin Taylor: Christian, husband, father, elder, acquisitions editor, blogger
75. desiringgod Desiring God organization We want people everywhere to understand and embrace the truth that *God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him*
76. MarkDever Mark Dever male
77. CJMahaney C.J. Mahaney male Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love; Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.
78. RevKevDeYoung Kevin DeYoung male Senior Pastor, University Reformed Church. Married to Trisha. Five children. Christian.
79. ThabitiAnyabwil Thabiti Anyabwile male Foreknown, predestined, called, justified, glorified. Hubby to Kristie, daddy to 3, Pastor of FBC, satisfied in Christ.
80. GabeLyons Gabe Lyons male
81. JeffersonBethke Jefferson Bethke male I like to drink coffee, create stuff, & sleep. Husband to @alyssajoybethke & Co-Founder of @clarocandles. Author of this — http://t.co/wLOFZhkjh1
82. jackngraham Jack Graham male Husband to Deb. Dad to Jason, Kelly, Josh. Dad in love 2 Toby, Kaytie. Grandad to Ian, Dylan, Levi. Pastor Prestonwood.
83. bobgoff Bob Goff male Author of Love Does. President and Founder, Restore International
84. CatalystLeader Catalyst organization A Convergence of Next Generation Leaders
85. KayWarren1 Kay Warren female Mom of 3,Grammy of 5, pastor’s wife, speaker, author,& advocate for those living with HIV, mental illness & 4 orphans. Determined 2 say yes to God, 2 choose joy
86. TonyDungy Tony Dungy male Husband to @LaurenDungy, father of nine, author (http://t.co/mOupp6iBLw), retired NFL coach, National Spokesman for @AllProDad. Live by Mark 8:36
87. mandisaofficial Mandisa female Jesus-follower. Contemporary Christian recording artist. Author. American Idol Season 5 finalist. Picture of health wrapped in a not-so-perfect tent…for now!
88. macpowell Mac Powell male Lead Singer of Third Day. Solo Country Project now available!
89. JohnBevere John Bevere male Husband of Lisa. Father to Addison & Juli, Austin, Alec, & Arden + G-Daddy to Asher & Baby Sophia! Author & Ambassador of Jesus Christ.
90. pwilson Pete Wilson male Pastor of @crosspoint_tv in Nashville, author of #LetHopeIn, husband, and father of 3 boys.
91. richwilkersonjr Rich Wilkerson Jr. male Married to the greatest lady in the world. Young adult pastor of The Vous (http://t.co/P23VgE2sqM)
92. laurenchandler Lauren Chandler female wife to matt. mother to audrey, reid + norah. lover of God. singer of songs. writer of stuff.
93. AndyMineo Andy Mineo male -|| Artist | Unashamed | #116 | Never Land EP & Heroes For Sale out now! ||- Booking (WME): http://t.co/0B2UdfwgWx
94. Spurgeon_ Charles Spurgeon quotes
95. theResurgence Resurgence organization Resurgence serves the church on mission by creating tools, training believers & connecting leaders. Sign up for our Resurgence conference http://t.co/A8kt1gsbwW
96. RealJohnGray John Gray male Aventer’s husband. John IV and Theory’s dad. Alice’s son. God’s Servant. Associate Teaching Pastor, Lakewood Church.
97. stovallweems Stovall Weems male
98. drtonyevans Tony Evans male Serving my Savior and my King. #KingdomMan #KingdomAgenda
99. JustinHolcomb Justin Holcomb male Episcopal priest, professor, & author
100. MatthewBarnett Matthew Barnett male Pastor of The Dream Center & Angelus Temple. Pre-order my new book “God’s Dream For You” -http://t.co/tCqS3DA2wT – Follow me on Instagram http://t.co/8SovoK95h3
101. TheA21Campaign The A21 Campaign organization We abolish human trafficking in the 21st century.
102. kevingerald Kevin Gerald male Leader, wife-lover, Jesus follower. http://t.co/sYxprXXCKS
103. randyalcorn Randy Alcorn male Author of over forty books, founder of Eternal Perspective Ministries; love Jesus, my wife Nanci, daughters, sons and five grandsons!
104. collinhansen Collin Hansen male Editorial Director for The Gospel Coalition, Author of ‘A God-Sized Vision’ and ‘Young, Restless, Reformed’
105. jonathanfalwell Jonathan Falwell male Pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA.
106. RealEricGeiger Eric Geiger male Vice President LifeWay Christian Resources. I follow Jesus and serve His Church, love my wife and kids, and want to play more basketball.
107. enditmovement ❌ END IT organization Shine A Light on Slavery.
108. kirkfranklin Kirk Franklin male The Official Kirk Franklin
109. NatalieGrant Natalie Grant female Jesus girl. Family girl. Singer girl. Freedom fighter.
110. PastorTullian Tullian Tchividjian male Pastor of @coralridgepc. Founder of @liberatenet. Grandson of @BillyGraham. Learning everyday that Jesus + Nothing = Everything.
111. PhilCooke Phil Cooke male Helping churches & nonprofits not suck at the media. http://t.co/EDnq7j8qXD http://t.co/Z4XZwHOgMk Recent books: One Big Thing & Unique
112. RaviZacharias Ravi Zacharias male Founder & President of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. Atlanta | Worldwide. Helping Thinkers Believe & Believers Think. Staff assists with tweets.
113. LysaTerKeurst Lysa TerKeurst female I’ve had a crush on Art for 20 years. We love 5 kids like crazy. I adore my team at Proverbs31ministries. I wrote Made to Crave, Unglued, and a few others.
114. PsRobertMorris Robert Morris male Official Twitter for Robert Morris, Senior Pastor of @GatewayPeople, and the author of The Blessed Life and The Blessed Church. http://t.co/WsY79Qngh8
115. israelnewbreed israelnewbreed organization
116. caseytreat Casey Treat male Senior Pastor @CFCSeattle, husband, father, friend, & author. Romans 12:2 changed my life & can change yours too.
117. rick_bezet Rick Bezet male Husband to Michelle, Dad to Hunter/Hailee/Tanner/Grace! Pastor to New Life Church in AR! My dog hates me.
118. JenHatmaker JenHatmaker female Wife, mama of 5 (3 the old fashioned way…2 from Ethiopia), writer, speaker, foodie, Wii Just Dance Champion, gardener, hash tag abuser, Jesus girl.
119. JLin7 Jeremy Lin male to know Him is to want to know Him more
120. BillyGraham Billy Graham male Official Twitter page of Rev. Billy Graham. Account is run by @BGEA staff.
121. joechampion Joe Champion male Love Jesus, Love my family, Love my Church.
122. PastorSergio Sergio De La Mora male Pastor of the Cornerstone Church of San Diego, Father, Husband, Visionary, Author of The Heart Revolution.
123. realrobbell Rob Bell male
124. hillsonglive Hillsong LIVE organization The Official Hillsong LIVE Twitter. Our latest live album #GloriousRuins is now available! http://t.co/8M8uQwehgs
125. JoelOsteen Joel Osteen male Daily inspiration to help you live the life of victory and abundance that God intended for you. http://t.co/6apEukVPbT
126. _Matt_Carter Matt Carter male Lover of Jesus. Husband of an amazing woman. Father to 3 delightful children. Pastor of Preaching @ The Austin Stone. Author of The Real Win w/ Colt McCoy
127. MichaelHyatt Michael Hyatt male Author of the New York Times bestseller, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World. Founder of http://t.co/UNZmxcFox9. Forbes Top 50 Social Media Influencer 2013
128. LeeStrobel Lee Strobel male Follower of Jesus. Husband, dad, grandfather. Author of 20+ books, including The Case for Christ & The Case for Faith. Professor at Houston Baptist University
129. bennyperez Benny Perez male Husband, Father, Lead Pastor of The Church LV. Join us for @DedicatedLV in Vegas June 25th-27th. Register at http://t.co/z89UxZQAkd
130. TroyGramling Troy Gramling male Husband, Father of 3, Lead #Pastor at @PotentialChurch.
131. Pontifex Pope Francis male Welcome to the official Twitter page of His Holiness Pope Francis
132. RealRomaDowney Roma Downey female Roma actress and producer of emmy nominated series The Bible seen by over 100 million people in USA and Son of God to be released Feb 28th 2014
133. bobbygwald Bobby Gruenewald male Pastor, Innovation Leader @ LifeChurch.tv. a founder @ http://t.co/QDlDdOyo. Passionate about my family, The Church, Leadership, Mobile Technology.
134. DarrenWhitehead Darren Whitehead male Husband to Brandy. Dad to Sydney, Scarlett & Violet. Aussie. Author of Rumors of God.
135. AnnVoskamp Ann Voskamp female Wife to the Farmer: Mama to 6 : Author of NYTimes Bestsellers: One Thousand Gifts … & … The Greatest Gift. Seeking to follow One alone.
136. IJM Intl Justice Mission organization Official International Justice Mission twitter securing rescue for victims of slavery & other violent forms of oppression. Tweeters: Austin/Tierney/Jaclyn
137. RevRunWisdom Rev Run male Words of wisdom non-stop.. Pls don’t be offended if I don’t reply or follow u, But I Love you!
138. DannyAkin Daniel Akin male
139. ahc Andy Crouch male Writer (Playing God, Culture Making) | Executive Editor (@CTmagazine) | Producer (@ct_city) | Dad
140. hillsong Hillsong Church organization Hillsong Church is all about loving God and people.
141. PastorChrisHill Chris Hill male Official Twitter for Pastor Chris Hill. Son, husband, father, friend, mentor, preacher & Senior Pastor of The Potter’s House Church of Denver.
142. JonAcuff Jon Acuff male New York Times Bestselling Author of Start/Speaker. Married to Jenny. Dad to L.E. and McRae.
143. ronniefloyd Ronnie Floyd male Senior Pastor of @CrossChurch, a multi campus faith family, the founder of @CCSchoolofMin. Passionate about preparing leaders for global Gospel advancement.
144. johnnymhunt Johnny Hunt male Pastor of FBC Woodstock since Dec. 1986. FORMER President of the Southern Baptist Convention
145. SheilaWalsh SheilaWalsh female Born in Scotland, now a US citizen, wife, mom of 1 boy and 3 pups. Overwhelmed by the fiery love and mercy of God, found it impossible to keep it to myself
146. Crossway Crossway organization Crossway is a not-for-profit publisher of Christian books, the ESV Bible, and gospel tracts. Tweets by @angelacheatham and @jameskinnard [at the time tweeted as @CrosswayBooks]
147. bilcornelius Bil Cornelius male Leader/founding pastor/speaker/author/entrepreneur I love Jesus, @jesicacornelius,my 3 kids, @bafchurch, & people.I could eat Mexican food 5 days a week.
148. 9MarksOnline 9Marks organization 9Marks exists to equip church leaders with a biblical vision and practical resources for displaying God’s glory to the nations through healthy churches.
149. RichWilkerson Rich Wilkerson male Pastor @TrinityMiami husband of 1 wife Robyn 4 sons 2 daughters 1 GrandDarling… Love God & Love Ppl
150. KerryShook Kerry Shook male Senior pastor of @WoodlandsChurch. Husband to the beautiful @ChristineShook. Dad to Ryan, Josh, Megan & Steven. NY Times Bestselling author.
151. gregsurratt Greg Surratt male Pastor – Seacoast Church
152. TommyTenney Tommy Tenney male Happy husband to the ever amazing @JeannieTenney • Father to 3 delightful daughters • Blessed with 4 grandchildren • Son of @TFTenney • Christ follower • Cajun
153. scotmcknight scotmcknight  male Professor @nseminary
154. DrHenryCloud Dr. Henry Cloud male Psychologist, Author, and Leadership Consultant. http://t.co/haDxnxImhX
155. mattfry Matt Fry male Lead Pastor C3 Church http://t.co/Pr8QOnjHgq ARC Lead Team http://t.co/wtA6HwBOFi
156. pastoremase Eric Mason male Jesus follower, Husband of @ImmNehe, Father, Pastor @epiphfellowship Author of #ManhoodRestored
157. bibleseries The Bible’ Series organization The Bible’ is an epic journey from Genesis through Revelation produced by Roma Downey & Mark Burnett. Emmy nominated & seen by 100 million people & counting!
158. tommybarnett Tommy Barnett male Senior Pastor, Phoenix First Assembly in Phoenix (http://t.co/jUYIccxdTd), Arizona; co-founder of the LA Dream Center and NY Dream Center
159. ericmetaxas Eric Metaxas male is the author of BONHOEFFER: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy and AMAZING GRACE: William Wilberforce & the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery.
160. FirstLadyJakes Serita Jakes female Official Twitter for First Lady Serita Jakes
161. erwinmcmanus Erwin McManus male traveling the universe with my band of outsiders in search of beauty, wonder, and a good story.
162. johnortberg John Ortberg male Author Speaker Pastor
163. Fred_Buechner Frederick Buechner male Christian theologian and author of 36 books, including fiction, autobiography, essays, sermons, quotes, and other nonfiction.
164. hillsongNYC Hillsong NYC organization The best way to stay in touch with what’s happening in Hillsong NYC! Also, check out – http://t.co/3WbMj7pyX8 and http://t.co/X7ytKmHdiE
165. jrvassar JR Vassar male Christ follower, Husband, Father, Pastor.
166. ANNELAMOTT ANNE LAMOTT female Author – Bird by Bird, Traveling Mercies, Some Assembly Required, Help Thanks Wow. Mom, Nana, activist; elder at St. Andrew Prez–services at 11:00.
167. RedeemerNYC Redeemer Pres NYC organization
168. RichStearns Rich Stearns male President of World Vision USA, and author of The Hole in Our Gospel and Unfinished: Believing Is Only the Beginning (April, 2013)
169. ihoughton Israel Houghton male Husband, Father,Friend of God
170. LarryOsborne Larry Osborne male Pastor, Author – North Coast Church, Vista CA Blog:http://t.co/cybdjDrxo6
171. PastorChrisSeay Chris Seay male Pastor of Ecclesia Houston, President of Ecclesia Bible Society/Translator of The Voice ( a beautiful and faithful translation of scriptures), Husband and Dad
172. charitywater charity: water organization We’re an NYC-based charity working in 20 developing countries around the world, bringing clean water to people in need.
173. Michael_Card Michael Card male Christian Author, Singer/ Songwriter. Written 23 books and 30 albums Well known and loved through songs like El Shaddai, Immanuel and Come Lift Up Your Sorrows
174. CharlesJenkins7 Charles Jenkins male I laugh I serve I create I give
175. dancathy Dan T. Cathy male CEO and President of Chick-fil-A, but I like to say I’m in Customer Service
176. kimwalkersmith Kim Walker-Smith female I love Jesus, Skyler (my knight-in-shining-armor), Wyatt (my wildly handsome son), Duke & Stella (my cuddly dogs), and chocolate. In that order.
177. RELEVANT RELEVANT Magazine organization The leading magazine on faith, culture & intentional living. Covering what’s relevant to your life—in print, iPad & daily online. (Founded by @CameronStrang.)
178. tonymorganlive Tony Morgan male I help leaders and organizations get unstuck.
179. therealtobymac TobyMac male I got my eye on it!!
180. Clayton_king Clayton King male Founder & President of Crossroads Ministries, Teaching Pastor @ Newspring Church, Campus Pastor @ Liberty University, Author for Lifeway & Baker Pub
181. JeanneMayo Jeanne Mayo female Wife + Mom + Nana + Coach + Author + Speaker + Cadre + Atlanta Leadership College + 212 Director = Love to Meet You!! #follow #StuMin @YLCoach
182. jaredcwilson jaredcwilson male Husband, father, pastor, author. My latest book STORYTELLING GOD available now from Crossway.
183. JonTyson Jon Tyson male Trinity Grace Church : City Collective : City Renewal. Planting in Midtown Manhattan. Pursuing the way of Jesus : Joining God in the renewal of all things.
184. brandonheath Brandon Heath male Don’t miss Brandon on #HitsDeepTour and check out his album Blue Mountain on iTunes http://t.co/WnmvSIeP3E
185. jamiemunson Jamie Munson male CoPresident of @Storyville Coffee, Writer at http://t.co/IDic6PFedy, Author of 2 Books – Authority and Money
186. BurkParsons Burk Parsons male I’m not my own but belong to Jesus Christ whom I trust, follow, and preach as an ordinary pastor, dad, and husband making disciples of nations for God’s glory.
187. philwickham Phil Wickham male The Ascension now available on iTunes! http://t.co/fMqmAHW5bS
188. HenriNouwen Henri Nouwen quotes Henri Nouwen – author, theologian, mentor, pastor, activist, Dutch priest, and above all – beloved.
189. MikeFoster Mike Foster male Lover of imperfectionists. Founder of @POTSC. Author of Freeway: A Not-So-Perfect Guide To Freedom. I believe in love, God and you.
190. cameronstrang Cameron Strang male Founder of @RELEVANT, daddy of Cohen, follower of Jesus, publisher, podcaster, fan of the Magic & Gators. But not in that order.
191. bloodwater Blood:Water organization Partnering with Africa to end the HIV/AIDS & water crises
192. jonforeman Jon Foreman male I play music in bands called switchfoot, and fiction family. I am grateful to be alive.
193. JonathanMerritt Jonathan Merritt male Senior Columnist, Religion News Service @RNS; Author of A Faith of Our Own (2012) and Jesus is Better Than You Imagined (2014)
194. loswhit Carlos Whittaker male Author of Moment Maker :: Hater of Meatloaf :: Lover of Familia
195. DanKimball Dan Kimball male on staff at Vintage Faith Church, author of They Like Jesus But Not The Church
196. stevekmccoy Steve K. McCoy male I’ve heard and I believe. I study and I preach. I imagine and I create. I am loved and I love.
197. challies challies male Owner and proprietor of http://t.co/UVIRyi9y.
198. lovedoes Love Does organization
199. williebosshog Willie Robertson male President of Duck and Buck Commander. Personality on both, Duck Dynasty and Buck Commander Protected by Under Armour.
200. coltondixon Colton Dixon male love God. love music. love people

Via MIT Technology Review.

Seasonal Interest in Bible Reading Plans

Thursday, January 1st, 2015

Just in case you wonder how seasonal people’s interest in reading the Bible is, here’s a chart from Google Trends showing five “read through the Bible”-related search terms. The peaks every January speak for themselves. You can see a secondary peak in August or September when classes get underway at many schools.

If we take some of the above data, plot it by week rather than by month, and add it together, the effect is even more vivid:

This chart shows peaks every January.
(This chart goes through December 27, 2014.)

You see huge peaks just before and after January 1 each year, along with a small bump around Easter and the aforementioned mellow spike in August or September. The interest related to the new year is almost entirely gone by February. You could interpret this drop as “Everyone who’s interested has already found their reading plan for the year,” or you could interpret it as, “Well, Genesis was interesting. Maybe I’ll read through the Bible next year.”

Inspired by Google Trends of Popular New Year’s Resolutions.