Event to Celebrate 400th Anniversary of the King James Version

Contact: Julie Shutley, 972-267-1111, julie@alarryross.com; Lauren Williams, 972-267-1111, lauren@alarryross.com; A. Larry Ross Communications 

EDMOND, Okla., Feb. 9, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- Four hundred years ago when the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible was published in the common language of the people, God's Word became more accessible. Now, YouVersion's Bible App, Biblica and Zondervan are teaming up to continue to increase access and engagement with the Bible by offering 1 million free downloads of the New International Version (NIV) Bible beginning Feb. 12.

"Hundreds of years later, our generation has benefitted greatly from the efforts of those who made the King James Version available," said Bobby Gruenewald, Pastor, Innovation Leader at LifeChurch.tv, creators of YouVersion. "We are thrilled to join in the celebration by offering free downloads of the NIV through our partnership with Biblica and Zondervan."

Starting Saturday, Feb. 12 at 8:00 p.m. EST, the popular NIV will be available for download through the Bible App™ for 400 hours. Once downloaded, a user will be able to access the NIV anytime, anywhere -- not just when connected to the Internet. The time available to download the Bible will end at 12:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, March 1.

"The NIV continues in the tradition of the King James Version by bringing God's unchanging Word into the language of the people. Our goal at Zondervan is to see 'more people engaging the Bible more,' and YouVersion's Bible App helps accomplish this purpose," said Chip Brown, Senior Vice President and Publisher at Zondervan. "It is an outstanding resource available on nearly every mobile device on the market, and that makes accessing God's Word as easy as making a phone call."

As part of a year-long celebration of the KJV anniversary, YouVersion will be offering several unique opportunities to make the Bible available to more people than ever before.

Based on the website youversion.com, the YouVersion Bible App was developed by the team at LifeChurch.tv. The Edmond, Oklahoma-based church hosts tens of thousands of people each weekend during 80 services throughout 14 locations, including Church Online.

The online and mobile YouVersion Bible has provided a way for users to read the best-selling book of all time in record amounts anytime and in any place. The free Bible App is available on iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, and Android phones, as well as any web-enabled mobile phone.

Users logged 4.3 billion minutes reading the Bible in 2010 with the Bible App and are currently on track to log 1 billion minutes in the first 50 days of 2011. As of the beginning of January 2011, the Bible App had been installed on slightly more than 13 million unique devices. On Jan. 19, the YouVersion Bible App was listed by Apple as one of the all-time top apps for both iPad and iPhone.

For additional information, visit www.youversion.com, www.biblica.com and www.zondervan.com.

Note to Editors: For information or to arrange an interview, please contact Julie Shutley or Lauren Williams at 972.267.1111, julie@alarryross.com or lauren@alarryross.com.