iStand Movement?

iStand Movement?

NASHVILLE, Sept. 9 /Christian Newswire/ -- Capturing the attention of high school and early college age groups can be a challenge. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study, young people today spend an average of nearly 6 1/2 hours a day with media.

For B&H Publishing Group's Holman Bible division that meant finding a unique layout for their new iStand daily devotional - a layout that would engage readers with graphic intensive layout and textual snapshots in a one-minute reading format that gets to the point of the student's life challenges and concerns.

"Students want to connect with Scripture," explains Steve Bond, Editorial Director of Holman Bible Publishers, "but they're busy, always headed to the next appointment."

B&H Publishing bought the One Minute Bible format from Garborg over a decade ago. The acquisition proved to be the ideal format to allow the new media generation to read the word and be challenged to think about what it means for them today. It is the ideal format for a group in perpetual motion, Bond said.

The inspiration for the iStand content came from the film Amazing Grace. The film is the story of William Wilberforce's opposition to the English slave trade. As a young British legislator, Wilberforce felt a calling to pastoral ministry and as he talked to his minister, John Newton, realized that God's call was to use his gifts as a member of parliament to end the practice.

"Wilberforce's response to take a stand made a great difference in the course of history and in the quality of life for thousands of people," Bond said.

Devotional content was developed by The Livingstone Corporation, creators of the Life Application Bible. "[We designed the devotionals] to help students understand the necessity for making tough choices and courageous stands in an often hostile environment -- and to encourage and motivate them to make those choices and stand. So, we looked for Bible and personal stories of people who took a courageous stand," said Dana Niesluchowski, Marketing Project Manager for Livingstone.

The iStand One Minute Bible is available in the Holman Christian Standard version, one of the few entirely original translations in recent years. The Holman CSB reflects linguistic advances in punctuation, formatting, grammar, and vocabulary while it retains meaningful theological terms. The translation also benefited from the most up-to-date computer technology to assure accuracy in word choices.