May
12th, 2010 - London (UK), Pittsburgh PA (USA)
World's first video Bible of
the entire New Testament goes mobile…
It’s said that
you remember 10%
of what you read; 20% of what you hear; 30% of what you see and 50% of
what you simultaneously see, read and hear. This has it all! And once
you start watching, it’s hard to turn off!
Pittsburgh based WatchWORD Productions (WatchWord), producers of the
worlds’ only stunning video bible of the entire New Testament
has
today announced a formal partnership with UK based In2itive Business
Solutions Ltd (In2itive).
Jim Fitzgerald (founder and Managing Trustee of WatchWord) received a
powerful vision from God in the early 1990’s to produce the
Bible
as a Video-book that people could watch, read, and hear all at the same
time, making Bible reading compelling and effortless for many more
people. Fitzgerald says the new partnership is timely. “When
we
began production in the early nineties we started out with the
entire 26 hour production on VHS tape, eventually moving to
DVD.”
But Fitzgerald says he always believed the best use of his videos would
someday be online and on some kind of handheld player. “I had
no
real understanding of just how much the Internet and mobile phones
would provide such an open path for our unique production to the entire
world, but this is bread and butter for In2itive and they bring nearly
10 years of expertise in doing just that.”
Fitzgerald says that meeting Jeff Lenton (founder and Chief Executive
of In2itive) back in 2005 was providential and led to the first steps
of taking an interactive version of the Bible with powerful tools for
streaming all 260 chapters of video to the Internet. One of the key
tools is an automated 5x52 daily reading plan that plays a new chapter
every weekday of the year. Now WatchWord and In2itive are working
together to take the entire video and all of the tools along with a
choice of interactive or simple downloads to mobile smart-phone users.
“Anyone will be able to watch the bible anytime and anywhere
at
the tap of a finger. It’s taken years for the technology to
reach
this point.” said Fitzgerald “it’s a
whole new
experience reading God’s word.”
In2itive’s business is based on in-house technology and
services
that facilitate the monetising and distribution of 3rd party
proprietary multi-media content (and in particular video) via the
Internet and mobile (smart) phones. Operating in the European private
and public sector with content partners, In2itive delivers interactive
online learning and educational content to tens of thousands of
subscribers through partner channels.
In2itive Chief Executive Jeff Lenton (a self-confessed
“business-aholic and serial entrepreneur”) first
met with
Jim Fitzgerald back in 2005 on a business trip to Pittsburgh.
“When I was introduced to Jim I found the story of his
journey,
his faith and his mission to take the Bible to the world in such a
powerfully engaging, easily understandable and memorable format truly
amazing. As soon as I saw the video I was hooked on the business
proposition. Right then I knew this was a unique and phenomenal product
to make available to potential viewers in every corner of the world via
the Internet – it’s what In2itve’s core
business is
built on and what In2itive has been successfully doing for a long
time”.
Lenton says that little did he know that becoming involved in this
project would give a complete 180 degree turn in his personal belief.
“Since starting work on this project, my faith and whole
understanding of the Bible and Christianity has been positively changed
by unimaginable proportions, and I feel God’s immense
presence on
a daily basis, driving both spiritual and business commitment to what
we are doing here.”
Lenton says that he feels this is missionary work with a difference.
“This is a new kind of missionary work – its
“E-missionary” work, introducing a truly engaging
video
book of the Bible from the relative safety and comfort of our home
environment.
It’s said that you remember 10% of what you read, 20% of what
you
hear, 30% of what you see and 50% of what you simultaneously see, read
and hear. This has it all! It’s a perfect teaching tool and
instead of reading a couple of chapters from the Bible, many users
spend upwards of 30-40 minutes a day watching it – once you
start, it’s hard to turn off!”
Before the two decided to formalise their partnership, they worked
together to launch several exploratory on-line evaluation sites with a
handful of distributors, Ministries and Church Organisations to reach
different corners of the world and test the whole solution. Hundreds of
users from China to Australia, the middle East, Europe, South America
and of course the US and Canada signed up and loved the Internet
service. With the launch of the mobile service, even more users who are
on the move will be able to have personal access wherever they are.
Fitzgerald and Lenton are currently visiting potential channel partners
including Ministries and Bible Societies, Church Groups and other
communities across the US and Europe, who could utilise the existing
productions and solutions or even license their own version using the
existing resources as an early entrance to the global on-line and
mobile
audience.
WatchWORD and In2itive are currently consolidating their joint strategy
to maximise the combination of WatchWords’ acclaimed
production
capabilities and In2itives’ on-line and mobile distribution
platform. It is planned to secure funding to complete new translations
and languages to reach even more potential Christian audiences around
the world.