The new Logos Bible Software iPhone app has totally revolutionized "Bible study on the go." There have already been more than 10,000 downloads within the first few days of release—all from a simple Twitter announcement that it was available. Seconds later, a flood of "re-tweets" and social networking word-of-mouth lit up the Internet, and that's just the beginning. So what is this incredible app that has taken off like a rocket? A whole new way to access Bible study on the go.

At its most basic level, this free download from the App Store will give you immediate access to more than 30 Bibles* from http://bible.logos.com.

...but wait, there's more!

When you sign up for a free account with Logos you will gain access to about another 30 free books!

...but wait, there's more!

When you register your account with Logos.com you will be able to access any free books from publishers that want to showcase new titles, or random books that we offer from time to time on free preview. You never know what might show up in your Logos Bible Software iPhone library some day. Imagine picking up your iPhone and seeing the hottest new title available in your library for free preview! One book per month, week, day? Who knows!

...but wait, there's more!

Add any Logos 4 base package and watch your resources grow as much of your library is synced with your iPhone or iPod Touch; the resources are available and your favorites, bookmarks and settings are transferred from one platform to another. Walk away from your desktop or laptop and your location is saved in the books you are using so that you can pick up where you left off on your iPhone.

The Logos iPhone app is so much more than a simple Bible reader. Mobile Bible study is transformed with multiple versions of the Bible that can be read, searched, cross referenced and compared. You can set-up reading plans that are synced from your desktop or laptop so your Bible reading is always on schedule. In addition, finding a passage is as easy as typing in the reference, using the book navigator, or dragging the scrollbar to the right location.

This application was created with the desire to bring the functionality of Logos Bible Software 4 to your iPhone. In particular, the ability to dig deeper into Scripture with the Passage Guide. Enter a verse and click “Go” to receive a report linking directly to commentaries referencing your verse. The Passage Guide also provides cross references, media resources, topics, and interesting words—all linked to resources in your library.

Do an in-depth Bible Word Study from anywhere by a simple "tap and hold" on any word, in a Bible with a reverse interlinear, and a pop-up will display the English word along with all the original language information. From this pop-up, click Bible Word Study to see the definition, pronunciation, translations, and example uses of the various translations.

Right about now you should be getting the idea that you need this app, you need it now, and you need to register it right away. There is simply no other Bible app that is this intuitive, intelligent and easy to use.

For more information check out some great screenshots and information, read our FAQs, and check out some customer reviews at the app store!

If for no other reason than to fully integrate your Bible study with your iPhone, you need to get a Logos 4 base package today. If you are a new user, check out the detailed information we have just posted about the most advanced Bible software in the world at our Logos 4 mini-site and if you are an existing Logos customer check out the limited time upgrade discounts available for you today.

Already a Logos Bible Software user?
Visit our custom upgrade discount calculator to see what discounts you qualify for on an upgrade to a brand new Logos 4 base package.

Want to be a Logos Bible Software user?
New customers should visit http://www.logos.com/4 to learn more and see what discounts are currently available.

* The list of e-books that can be read through Logos Bible Software is changing constantly as we secure rights and convert resources. Not all Bibles are linked word-for-word to the Greek and Hebrew yet.

Thomas, married father of four, is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute with a BA in Pastoral Ministry. He has pastored Fame Evangelical Church in Moweaqua, IL for eleven years. For the last five years Pastor Black has travelled to Haiti to teach a two week seminary module on Spiritual Warfare at the Emmaus Biblical Seminary (carrying his Logos Bible Software with him.)

We touched base this morning via Windows Messenger about his experience.

Logos: When did you start using Logos Bible Software?

Thomas Black: I picked up my first copy of Logos 2 just after starting ministry. It came with just a few resources—I don't recall the level. I don't recall being wowed by the interface but I used it a bit.

Logos: Were you with us for the switch to 3.0?

Thomas Black: Around that time I went into the local bookstore to pick up some Sunday school materials, and the bookshelf had one book which included a copy of Libronix on it. That's when I first heard there was a version 3. I couldn't resist it. I picked it up, and ran home. I'm a bit of a computer geek and couldn't resist a new bit of software. It was the newness that caught me—rather than the resource itself. Once I installed it, I thought, "This is what Bible software should be like!" I snapped up a few more resources after that and it wasn't long before I bought the Scholar’s Library package and then moved up to Scholar’s Library: Silver, then to Gold.

Logos: Was it difficult to keep Logos 4 a secret during the beta testing?

Thomas Black: Keeping Logos 4 a secret almost killed me. I host a blog and occasionally someone would ask me and I just had to keep quiet. Several times I or one of the other beta testers would accidentally post something in the wrong forum—thanks to sharp eyes we managed against the odds to keep the secret.

Logos: What were your initial feelings about Logos 4 as you began to interact with it?

Thomas Black: At first, I was one of the detractors to the interface. I hated the home page. That's not an overstatement. After a few days, and listening to responses from Bob, I started settling in. I saw the logic of introducing all kinds of new information to us. It was like the "book of the day" section on the Libronix 3 home page had grown to many books of the day, and I saw that as a good thing. I started to understand that the newspaper-like layout was meant to pull me in to areas I might not look at otherwise—and it worked. I've rediscovered many resources I forgot I had.

Logos: Did you find that Logos was responsive during the beta-testing?

Thomas Black: I thought the whole crew at Logos was amazing. I was really impressed with the attitudes of Bob, and all the programmers and others as they kept responding not only to bug reports but sometimes to some pretty strong criticism. Occasionally plans were changed midstream in response. The whole experience was quite positive. I know that you were all listening to us as beta-testers. We didn't always get our way but we all knew that our voices were heard.

Logos: How did the Logos 4 experience change as updates started to come?

Thomas Black: There are two answers to that one: first, it was partially frustrating especially as multi-gigabyte updates came down the pipe. Those were tough. Second, the experience continually improved. Every update of the program was better, smoother, faster and always there was an impressive batch of bug fixes. My hat is off to the programmers at Logos. They were working long hard hours at a feverish pace for two months. The evidence of their labor is on my desktop right now waiting for me to continue my studies.

Logos: Did you feel that camaraderie was created with you and the other beta-testers through the experience?

Thomas Black: I had a blast with those guys! Several of us already knew of each other from the former newsgroups, but I really felt like during the beta, due to our frequent interactions, that our relationships grew quite a bit. There was quite a bit of good natured ribbing going on, and despite that, no one, that I can recall, got their feelings hurt. They were a great group of people to work with.

Logos: If you were showing Logos 4 to someone unfamiliar with using Bible software for study and devotion what items would you highlight for them and why?

Thomas Black: Great question . . . first, I'd begin with pointing out the obvious things. Enter your passage and click go still applies. It's simple and yet quite powerful due to the built-in (and customizable) Passage Guide. After that, I'd work them through the library, just learning how to find out what you have in there is powerful. If they don't learn how to use the library, they're not going to get everything out of the software. Beyond that, I think the software can take even the novice where they want to go almost naturally.

Logos: Thanks so much for giving me some of your time this morning and I appreciate your candor.

Thomas Black: You're welcome. Thanks to you and the whole Logos crew. This has been a great experience.

Already a Logos Bible Software user?
Visit our custom upgrade discount calculator to see what discounts you qualify for on an upgrade to a brand new Logos 4 base package.

Want to be a Logos Bible Software user?
New customers should visit http://www.logos.com/4 to learn more and see what discounts are currently available.

We are merely hours into the release of Logos Bible Software 4, and while many of you have already waited for your massive libraries to index, you may have caught yourself thinking, "I thought Logos 4 was supposed to be fast. What happened to 'What You Need, When You Need It'?"

Logos 4 takes searching to a whole new realm with faster, smarter searching. And unlike most search engines, Logos 4 provides matches for synonyms! For those missing the significance of this, if you are searching for articles on communion, no search engine is going to bring results back for synonyms like the Lord's Supper or Eucharist. Nor will the other search engines ask you if you wanted a closely related topic like fellowship. This is the difference with Logos 4. We have gone through hundreds of topics and manually connected them to relative terms.

In order to do such searches, however, every word and every term in the thousands of books available for Logos needs to be indexed during installation. This allows Logos 4 to search a library of 10–10,000 books and return thousands of results in under one second—less time than it takes to pull one print book off your shelf! Nearly 63,000 hits for communion in 35,951 articles in less than 1 second means more time studying and less time searching.

It's true, this functionality takes a significant amount of time to install—an investment of your time in the beginning—but what you get in return later on is a fulfillment to what we promised from the start, "What You Need, When You Need It." Indexing your entire library allows the time consuming hindrances to be removed so you can get right to the task of serious Bible study.

Indexing. Think of it as if you were waiting for UPS to deliver your Amazon order. A little patience and investment of time up front—during installation—means that later on, whether you're preparing for next Sunday's sermon, working on your dissertation, or having your daily devotional time, Logos 4 will deliver thousands of relevant results —fast!

Already a Logos Bible Software user?
Visit our custom upgrade discount calculator to see what discounts you qualify for on an upgrade to a brand new Logos 4 base package.

Want to be a Logos Bible Software user?
New customers should visit http://www.logos.com/4 to learn more and see what discounts are currently available.

In the history of our company, Base Package Upgrades have generally been the best way to get a tremendous amount of new content for minimal cost. The release of Logos Bible Software 4 is no exception.

Upgrading your base package gives you all the benefits of Logos 4—a revolutionary tool for Bible study. Logos 4 has a brand new Home Page to get you started, powerful (and fast!) new search tools, an intuitive and easy-to-use design, plus lots of other new features.

When you upgrade, you get a tremendous amount of new content for minimal cost. You could potentially get hundreds of books for up to 95% off. We’ve added lots of new content to every base package—new Bible translations, reverse interlinears, commentary sets, reference material, preaching and ministry resources, and a whole lot more. Depending on your situation, you could easily double or triple your current library at minimal cost to you. Take a look at the comparison chart on logos.com/upgrade to see the sheer number of new books we’ve added to our collections.

With an upgrade to Logos 4, you can take advantage of today’s most advanced tools designed specifically with Logos Bible Software 4 in mind. Visualize the Bible with new people, places, and things databases. Zoom into the Holy Land with interactive, topographical maps linked with coordinates to Google Maps. Get an additional perspective on the place you’re exploring with thousands of images and photographs—all viewable with the new media resource functionality of Logos 4. You can also interact with the stories of Scripture with high resolution Infographics commissioned specifically for the release of Logos 4. Logos 4 also comes with new one-of-a-kind databases, stunning graphics, and a whole lot more.

You have nothing to lose. Literally. You will retain all of your current resources when you upgrade. When you buy an electronic book from Logos, you will never lose your book. And we’ll never make you buy the same book twice. That means if you’ve recently purchased new books, and now decided to upgrade, you won’t lose the resources you’ve purchased. You’ll simply add a significant amount of new content at a fraction of the cost. You keep everything you’ve purchased in the past—and you'll gain dozens, hundreds, or maybe over a thousand new books at a significant discount, depending on your situation.

For the initial release period, we’re offering discounts on all upgrades. Visit the custom upgrade discount calculator to see what discounts you qualify for on an upgrade to a new Logos 4 base package. If you’ve been thinking of expanding your library, the release of Logos 4 presents you with the perfect opportunity. Upgrade today!

Already a Logos Bible Software user?
Visit our custom upgrade discount calculator to see what discounts you qualify for on an upgrade to a brand new Logos 4 base package.

Want to be a Logos Bible Software user?
New customers should visit http://www.logos.com/4 to learn more and see what discounts are currently available.

Today we are announcing the all-new Logos Bible Software 4, designed from scratch to accomplish our goal of helping more people do more and better Bible study.

The leading Bible software products available today (including our own Libronix DLS 3.0) are powerful tools designed 10-20 years ago. Most Bible software companies were started in a day when users owned screwdrivers for opening their computer case and knew what a DIP switch was. Our software was designed for people who liked technology and were comfortable with it.

Today everybody has a computer, and everybody isn't a computer-geek. A computer is just one more tool in your life for doing whatever it is you want to do, from Bible study to photography to water skiing.

While technology has moved into the mainstream, it hasn't stopped improving. We re-invented Logos Bible Software repeatedly to stay on the cutting edge of technology and user interface. But the edge keeps moving.

Our last product couldn't anticipate the incredible inter-connectedness of today's users, with widespread broadband, wireless, and mobile-phone Internet. Today's leading programming language didn't even exist when we designed the Libronix DLS. Apple and Microsoft have changed processors, operating systems, and more. And, most importantly, the customer base has changed: today's Bible student with a computer isn't a computer hobbyist. We are appliance users who expect power, elegance, and simplicity. We want computers to be like our toasters, TV's, and cars. Turn them on and they just work.

This generation needed yet another back-to-the-drawing-board approach to Bible software. And we were glad to do it. Because only by starting with a clean slate can you leave behind mistakes and poor choices. Only facing an empty whiteboard can you design an architecture that isn't constrained by the limitations of long-gone hardware and operating systems. Only by abandoning your existing product can you truly hear what your users want in a world unconstrained by yesterday's designs.

Throwing it all away and starting over is incredibly rare in the software world. It is considered a dangerous business decision. It puts years between major releases and increases development costs. And the better your existing product is, the more your new product upsets existing users, many of whom just wanted a few small improvements.

But it is the only way to take advantage of the latest technology. It is the only way to design for today's users, and their expectations about elegant design, powerful features, and Internet integration. It is the only way to keep some of the world's finest software developers interested and engaged. (It's no fun maintaining a decades-old codebase.)

Starting over takes courage, but it is the only way to do something extraordinary.

Logos Bible Software 4 is not an upgrade. Logos 4 is Bible software re-imagined. To help you do more and better Bible study.

Already a Logos Bible Software user?
Visit our custom upgrade discount calculator to see what discounts you qualify for on an upgrade to a brand new Logos 4 base package.

Want to be a Logos Bible Software user?
New customers should visit http://www.logos.com/4 to learn more and see what discounts are currently available.

To celebrate the November-December issue of Bible Study Magazine, featuring John MacAthur, we have partnered with Thomas Nelson to give away a free download of MacArthur Bible Studies: Romans. Visit our John MacArthur on Bible Study page for all the details on how you can get your free download.

Along with giving away the free download, we're excited to announce a new John MacArthur pre-order opportunity. The John MacArthur Essential Bible Study Library assembles MacArthur’s best-selling Bible study books into a singular collection, with two dozen resources, including Bible studies, study Bibles, and more. Place your pre-order today!

If you're looking for even more John MacArthur material, be sure to visit our John MacArthur resource page.

Learn how to get your free download of MacArthur Bible Studies: Romans now!

On behalf of the BibleTech:2010 team, I am pleased to inform you that your presentation proposal has been accepted! We would love to send you an email with just such a message this November.

The BibleTech team is putting a call out for everyone interested in how technology is shaping the ways we read, interpret, translate and handle God’s Word. If you specialize in the intersection of Bible and technology we would be thrilled to hear what you are working on.

If you go to the past speaker page you can see that there is no subject that is too technical for the audience attending BibleTech. We have had discussions that are more philosophic in nature— Technology is Not Neutral: How Bible Technology Shapes Our Faith as well as more developer/academic related topics— Formal Equivalence versus Dynamic Equivalence: How digital texts can break the conundrum.

So if you are a programmer, developer, publisher, tagging expert, information/library scientist, technologist, thought leader, design guru, information architect, webmaster, mash-up creator or just have an interesting vantage point on how the Bible and technology intersect, we want to hear from you.

Go to the Participation page now and submit a proposal!

How many Twitter followers do you have? Five? Twenty-five? One thousand!? Think about how many of those followers are walking through any number of the difficulties that life tends to toss our way. Consider how many of them just need to hear some encouragement. Maybe today would be a good time to send out a favorite, encouraging scripture or two. Perhaps you have a verse which has so inspired you it has become your life-verse and is the kind of support that someone might need today. Ref.ly was created to meet such a need.

With ref.ly you can provide a short link to that verse that has been on your mind and send followers directly to that passage at Bible.logos.com.

Sure, you could just enter the verse address you are thinking of but what are the chances that your tweet reader is going to instantly recognize Is 53:6 or run to fetch their Bible to look it up? With ref.ly you can link directly to a Scripture that can be read with a simple click; ref.ly

You can either go directly to ref.ly put in your verse and hit the tweet button or go directly to Bible.logos.com put in your verse and hit the Share or Tweet button at the right of the page.

Another great aspect is that you can bypass the actual ref.ly site for most verses and simply type in the short-hand of the verse you would like to tweet; for John 3:16 you would simply type out http://ref.ly/Jn3.16. It is as easy as that.

Sharing God's Word with those who are following your words is a blessing that can't be measured. And ref.ly was created for just such a purpose. If you have found have found a creative and encouraging way to use ref.ly in your tweets or other social media sites respond with a comment and let us hear about it!

The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library is the third major component to the Anchor Yale Bible Group, which also includes the Anchor Yale Bible and the Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary. The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary has been available for Logos Bible Software for a few years, and the Anchor Yale Bible became available earlier this year. Now we’re set to begin work on the remaining books in the Anchor Yale Bible Group—the Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library.

The 28 volumes in this collection cover a wide variety of sub-disciplines in the broader field of biblical studies, including books on archaeology, geography, history, languages and linguistics, philosophy, and theology, to name a few. These books present the best contemporary scholarship in a way that is accessible not only to scholars but also to educated non-specialists.

This series contains many books which have become classics in their fields:

• The collection contains Raymond Brown’s volumes on the Passion Narrative and his Introduction to the Gospel of John. Brown’s book on John was intended to replace his 2-volume commentary in the Anchor Yale Bible, but the project was interrupted by his death in 1998. Francis J. Maloney edited Brown’s manuscript for publication, and it appeared in the Anchor Yale Reference Library in 2003.
• John P. Meier’s 4-volume (and 3,102-page) work on the historical Jesus is also included in the collection. His books, along with N.T. Wright’s, are essential reading on the subject.
• James H. Charlesworth’s 2-volume Old Testament Pseudepigrapha is a monumental work on Wisdom literature, Psalms, prayers, Judeo-Hellenistic works, and other pseudepigraphal literature.

The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library has also attracted the attention of mainstream media outlets. Substantial reviews of some of these books have appeared in recent years in magazines like Newsweek and the New York Times.

These 28 volumes retail at roughly $1,300.00, but we’re initially offering them on Pre-Pub for $499.95. To put this in perspective on a smaller scale, the average retail price per volume is $46.09, but you can pick these up on Pre-Pub right now for $17.86 each. We can promise this price won’t last more than a few weeks, so make sure you place your order today.

Today's guest post is from Morris Proctor, certified and authorized trainer for Logos Bible Software. Morris has trained thousands of Logos users at his two-day Camp Logos training seminars.

The Reference Browser is like a Scripture reference index in the back of a print book. Use it to locate occurrences of Bible verses in any Libronix e-book.

For example, open the Logos Hymnal. Now open the Reference Browser from the Go menu or use the keystroke shortcut Ctrl + R. Set the In box to the Logos Hymnal and the Type box to Bible. Type "Rev 19" in the Find box and click Search.

You've just found all of the hymns based on Revelation 19.

For more tips like this, be sure to visit Morris Proctor’s Tips & Tricks blog or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Do you have a Windows Mobile phone? If so, we'd appreciate your participation in a very short survey regarding specific devices. If you have another type of mobile device, don't worry, we're thinking about your needs, too. Your input in the August survey has already been put to work!

Jesus was unequivocal; “In this world you will have trouble.” If you have at least one friend, then you know someone acquainted with grief. If you are in ministry then you don’t need to be told that our churches are filled with the hurting, the wounded, the sick and the lonely. In ministry, helping those who suffer is often the task for which we are least equipped.

The Christian Focus Counseling Collection is a great tool to augment your counseling/care skill set. Included are eight volumes from Christian Focus Publications that are perfect to enable you to revisit a whole host of care-driven ministry needs.

In this collection are books to:

• Help you understand and minister to those suffering from depression with both a Biblical and medical understanding
• Minister to the grieving through the lens of the Old Testament book of Lamentations
• Provide a healthy, theological and balanced look at miraculous healing
• Enable you to understand and minister to couple dealing with infertility issues
• Empower you to provide pastoral visitations that are spiritually nourishing
• Equip others with a self image that is based on a sound and uplifting Christian worldview

The beauty of having resources like this in your Logos Bible Software is that each word is essentially a link to more resources within your library and allowing deeper and more illuminating study. Scripture references are linked to your favorite translation and even original language resources. Studying has never been so uncomplicated and enriching.

If you are looking for more counseling resources for you library make sure you check out the Christian Counseling Product Guide!

Yes, Jesus was quite clear that “In this world you will have trouble.” And it is our sacred responsibility to ensure that we can flesh out his follow-up encouragement, "But take heart! I have overcome the world!"