ADVENTIST REVIEW ~ ~

Adventist Resources Increasingly Available on Smartphone Technology

White Estate, Sabbath School release new apps, upgrades; felts to go digital

BY ANSEL OLIVER, assistant director for news, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

 

Responding to a rapidly changing technology marketplace in which the use of “smartphones” and other mobile devices is accelerating, entities of the Seventh-day Adventist Church are releasing and updating new mobile applications, or apps, to help believers connect with the movement and its goals.
 

HANDHELD LIBRARY: Darryl Thompson, assistant director of the Ellen G. White Estate, says the estate’s newly upgraded iOS application makes Mrs. White’s complete published writings available to iPhone/iPad users. An Android version is in development, Thompson said. [photo: Ansel Oliver/ANN]

The latest, released on January 11, 2011, is called InPrayer, and is the product of the church’s Revival and Reformation Committee. According to that group’s Web site: “InPrayer is a mobile application developed by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which is designed to facilitate a global prayer chain that prays for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This prayer movement, called 777, is designed to encourage Seventh-day Adventists to pray 7 days a week at 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. It is part of a larger initiative to encourage revival and reformation within the Seventh-day Adventist Church.”
 

There are several modules available to InPrayer users: a configurable daily reminder to pray at 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m, a map view that shows you where every other member interacting with the app is located, a daily devotional focused on the Holy Spirit, global prayer requests, a local prayer request module allowing you to track your own personal requests, Facebook integration that pushes a configurable status to your Facebook account, and Twitter integration that pushes a configurable tweet to your Twitter account.
 

Versions of the InPrayer app are available, free of charge, for both the Apple iPhone and Google Android platforms.
 

Two additional organizations at the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s world headquarters are making more of their resources available on smartphone technology.
 

Both the Sabbath School and Personal Ministries Department and the estate of church cofounder Ellen G. White have recently released upgrades to their mobile applications. The newly upgraded Ellen G. White Estate application now makes available all of White’s published writings. The Sabbath School Department puts in a single app all of its study guides, from beginner through the Adult Bible Study Guide.
 

INPRAYER APP: Devotional reading from InPrayer, a new application for iPhone and Android platforms from the Church’s Revival and Reformation Committee. [AR staff photo]

The Sabbath School app is available in English, French, and Spanish, said Falvo Fowler, departmental editor and executive producer. The app, available for the iPhone/iPad and Android platforms, also features media produced by the department, including Sabbath School university videos, daily Collegiate Quarterly
  readings, multilanguage podcasts, and kindergarten lesson animations. Cool Tools, a resource for Sabbath school and small group leaders, is built into the app.

The department also posts its kindergarten animations on YouTube and Vimeo, Fowler said. The YouTube channel now includes closed captioning in both English and Mandarin. Resources in more languages are in development, he added.
 

In addition, an iPad app set for release in February for the GraceLink study series will feature a digital felt board, Fowler said. Parents, teachers, and kids will be able to tell stories by manipulating and moving characters and backgrounds specific to that week’s story.
 

Fowler said apps could also connect to a projector or monitor for presenting to audiences. For more information on the Sabbath School app’s Android version, go to http://bit.ly/h9I3Ip.
 

The new White Estate app includes all 412 books written by Ellen White or compiled from her writings, said Darryl Thompson, assistant director of the Ellen G. White Estate. The app also features search ability of the entire White Estate library, the King James Version of the Bible, and Webster’s contemporary 1828 dictionary. It also allows users to create notes to share via e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter. Additionally, every Bible verse reference is hyperlinked.
 

The White Estate has also released EGW Lite, with content based on 10 of White’s most popular books, Thompson said. The “lite” app was created for users with limited storage or wireless coverage.
 

The White Estate is developing an Android version for release later this year, Thompson said. For more information on the White Estate app, visit whiteestate.org.

                                                                                                                  --with additional reporting by Mark A. Kellner