“Moms just rule the world,” Director of Strategic Relationships for The Bible Project, Mike McDonald, told The Stream. But sometimes they don’t have much time for God.

“I’ve just heard so many stories from moms that either don’t have the time to engage in a typical — whether it’s a Bible study or small group or what have you,” he said. “They’re really … busy running the house and doing the things that they’re doing and working on top of that and taking their kids to school and going to a job. There’s just no space and time.”

The Bible Project

The Bible Project is a “crowdfunded, nonprofit video and audio studio.” Long-time friends Timothy Mackie and Jonathan Collins started The Bible Project in 2014 when they created two animated videos about the Bible and uploaded them to YouTube. The videos were a hit. They were fully animated videos “to make the biblical story accessible to everyone, everywhere.” Mackie and Collins then wondered if people would be willing to fund the venture. They were. Now, five years later, The Bible Project has 130 videos and 200 podcasts on their website. They can also be seen on the Bible App, YouTube, and Vimeo. The videos and podcasts are all free.

In addition, The Bible Project has published a coffee table book called Illustrated Summaries of Biblical Books. Each of the illustrations have accompanying videos people can watch to make the most of their Bible study time.

Uploading the videos to YouTube allows The Bible Project to reach 18-35-year-old males — a historically hard-to-reach population group. That wasn’t their initial strategy, said McDonald, but it’s worked out that way. He knows they’re reaching the unchurched via YouTube; now The Bible Project is trying to reach those who attend church regularly. They also wanted to provide moms with easy to use digital biblical resources such as devotionals that they can either download or work with online.

Reaching moms is “a big passion” for The Bible Project. They recently built a Vacation Bible School curriculum. When they talked to the moms running the VBSes, they realized that the moms didn’t have resources for Bible studies or small groups. The Bible Project decided to attend MOMCon and hand out free resources to busy moms — specifically Bible study and devotional materials in digital form. They can give away their videos and digital materials because The Bible Project is still completely crowdfunded. 

In September, The Bible Project will distribute the first crowdfunded digital devotional for busy moms at MOMCon — a conference for moms — in Orlando, Fl.

MOMCon

At MOMCon, The Bible Project will distribute a free downloadable digital version of “Gospel Wisdom for Moms.” Its goal? “Through watching The Bible Project videos and your own reading and reflecting upon Scripture, it is our desire for you to experience the story of the Bible like you never have before.”

The devotionals and study materials are customizable. “The sky’s the limit,” said McDonald. Creative people can “build out your own devotional for your own small group. And you could … put the videos in, you could put other content. You could write some stuff if you want.” All of their content from their website may be used in Bible studies, VBS, small groups, or even homeschooling curriculum.

McDonald wants moms to walk away from The Bible Project’s booth feeling “really supported and loved by The Bible Project. … I just want them to know that we’re in their corner.” The Bible Project wants to help the women to engage the Scriptures for studies. 

“It’s a thrill to be able to offer this for free thanks to 100,000 supporters who crowdfunded the project. We’re looking forward to hearing from moms as their investment in the Bible pays dividends in their lives and that of their families.”

MOMCon will be held in Orlando, Florida, on September 5-7, 2019. For more information, click here. For The Bible Project’s MOMCon website, click here.

Nancy Flory is an associate editor at The Stream. You can follow her @NancyFlory3, and follow The Stream @Streamdotorg.