Category: Donate

on • Jenny Steinbach

You’ll love this story. We all long to have great devotions with our children, and women’s comforting voices make all the difference.

Eva, a busy mom, recently shared her encouraging experience with us. She and her son, Jonny, have been listening to her.BIBLE together every night for the past four years. Jonny is now 10 years old, and this nightly routine has led to more than just bedtime stories; it has sparked deep, thought-provoking conversations and spiritual growth.

They typically listen to one chapter a night, and he likes to follow along with the highlighted words as he listens. Then she simply asks if he has any thoughts or questions.

It’s a nightly ritual that is easy on his mom, brings them closer, and fosters a love for learning about God’s Word. As a result of these special times together in the Scriptures, remarkable changes have already taken place in his life:

Generosity Unleashed: Jonny feels compelled to give back. He has donated his entire allowance (instead of a few pennies) to help provide meals for those in need, which stems directly from what he has heard in the parables.

Compassion in Action: Their conversations about God’s love and forgiveness built strength of character. After being bullied by a fellow classmate, Jonny prayed for the child, who had been unkind. His understanding of empathy and forgiveness deepens through these kinds of conversations, and he did not allow the other student to make him feel “less than.”

Growth in Faith: They engage in discussions about challenging passages in the Bible, such as why Jesus sent demons into pigs, washed the feet of His disciples and who is the Holy Spirit.

You made this story possible. When a woman is empowered with God’s Word, she makes a profound impact on her family and community.

And, today, we ask you to stand with us to reach more people, like Eva.

In 2023, more and more people have found her.BIBLE! We ended 2022 with 11,258 active users of our app and website.

This year YouVersion uploaded the complete Bible and began sharing results. There are now 243,233 people listening to God’s Word through the her.BIBLE app, website, and YouVersion. You are helping every one of these listeners to grow in their faith.

Our partnerships are deepening with more organizations that are also passionate about God’s Word getting to people in their heart languages. People are reaching out for language coaching from some African countries.

This year, we’re asking you to stand with us as we seek to reach more people who long for the Word of God. We have great news to share with you.

A generous listener has pledged a matching gift of $30,000. Every dollar you contribute will be doubled, allowing us to make an even greater impact.

Your gift of any amount can help expose thousands of people around the world to her.BIBLE. As we approach the end of the year, we invite you to join us in this kingdom work.

Your financial contributions, now matched, will help reach even more families like Eva’s and begin the recording of more audio Bibles in women’s voices.

This matching gift opportunity spans from today until December 27, 2023.

To donate, you can give at give.cru.org/0967201 or scan this QR code.

Thank you for investing in this incredible journey. Your prayers and generosity make a profound difference.

on • Jenny Steinbach

“Is her.BIBLE in different languages? We are an international ministry and reach refugees and immigrants from all over the world.” – Cynthia

Before her.BIBLE was even completed in English, we began receiving many requests for women’s audio Bibles in languages worldwide. And, while we are trying to reach more her.BIBLE listeners in English, we are also eager to coach women to record their own audio Bible in their heart language.

Katy, an Oxford Seminary seminary graduate in her first year of ministry in the Anglican Church was the first woman to start our coaching program.

She comes from a working-class family in Devon, UK, and is passionate about everyday women understanding their value to God. As a result, Katy is recording the NIV in the cockney English accent with multi-ethnic UK women’s voices! Katy explained, “Our main audio Bible in the UK is voiced by a well-known British actor with a very well-to-do accent. But I wanted to hear a woman read the Bible who didn’t particularly have an upper-class background because, in the UK, class is quite a big thing for us. It does create barriers for people.

The Bible talks about unity in diversity. What better way to reach and represent that diversity in the body of Christ than through these different voices?”

Katy recently reflected on the importance of this recording. “I was speaking to an [Asian] woman who has volunteered in the project. She shared that not seeing someone from an Asian background and a woman was a real barrier to her. It discouraged her that perhaps she couldn’t take part in leading because she didn’t look like the others.”

Katy then talked about the importance of the her.BIBLE coaching curriculum.

She shared, “To have a team of women ahead of me who have done what I’m hoping to do has encouraged me. It has been incredibly meaningful and inspiring.”

Pray for Katy as she and her team record, edit and master the New Testament with a goal of launching by International Women’s Day in 2023.

We desire to empower women to reach and disciple women in their nations with audio Bibles in their heart language. Varying reading levels increase the need for audio Scriptures around the globe. Women living in areas where they cannot own or carry a Bible will be able to listen discreetly. We hope to coach more women like Katy who have the longing and skills to produce their own audio Bibles.

Would you join the journey to reach more women with God’s Word? Your donation will help future producers begin their recording process in 2023. Your donation will help future producers begin their recording process in 2023. By giving a gift, you will help us to make training videos and materials for coaching, provide one-on-one consultations with interested women and continue to find more listeners for English. Your gift will enable women worldwide to hear God’s Word in their own language.

You can give online here.

If you have any questions about giving to her.BIBLE, please connect with Lori Dawe, Donor Development at lori.dawe@cru.org.

on • Jenny Steinbach

Women from around the world are connecting with God in a personal way that speaks to their hearts!

Amanda leads a weekly small-group Bible study for international women on her college campus. When she learned of her.BIBLE at a ministry conference, she immediately knew that it would be just right for the women in her study. Amanda exclaimed:

“This app is in women’s voices, AND it’s multicultural! Women gravitate towards those who sound like them.”

Since attending the conference, Amanda has made her.BIBLE an integral part of their study.

As soon as Amanda offered the “her.BIBLE study” to Anuja, from India, and Novia, her Indonesian friend, they signed up. Then Sharon, a new Christian from China, joined. Later Jennifer, a Mexican believer with lots of questions, wanted to belong. Lastly, a woman from the Middle East decided to join.

Six women from six different countries are coming together to listen and study God’s Word in New York City!

The group began meeting every Wednesday to study the book of John while listening to her.BIBLE. At the beginning of each week, Amanda would send texts, assign passages and offer helpful suggestions:

“While you’re folding clothes, walking to class, going to a coffee shop—listen to the app, and let the Word get inside you.”

By Wednesday, every girl had listened to the Bible passage several times. In the past, when Amanda assigned Scripture to her previous group, they never opened their Bibles to read it, but now these women are excited about God’s Word!

Amanda concluded,

“As they’re listening to the Word throughout the week, they see the importance of being in the Bible each day. What I wanted the most was for the women to want to read the Bible, not just once a week, but to hold on to it throughout the week. And that’s what’s happening!”

Women worldwide are seeking meaning, struggling in their faith, and longing to know their true worth. Together, we can help them find Jesus!

Your gift of any amount will help provide the funding needed to complete the Old Testament production, find more women leaders like Amanda who are longing to share God’s Word, and seek out more listeners through the internet.

You can give online here.

on • Jenny Steinbach

Today is International Women’s Day—a holiday celebrated in countries worldwide from Armenia to Zambia and more! Though it is lovely to set aside a special day to honor women, it is even more remarkable to know that Jesus sees and values women every single day.

Melody helps women understand how Jesus values them by leading a weekly Bible study in her neighborhood.

She shares, “What I love about her.BIBLE is how ethnically diverse the women’s voices are because my Bible study is ethnically diverse.

“We have women right now from Angola, Nicaragua, and Mexico. It’s just so beautiful to hear them when they talk about their heart for God and their beautiful accents and ethnically diverse experiences.”
Melody goes on to explain, “To have a tool to give them, that’s also reflective of what we are as a Bible study, I think is amazing. And it’s just such a gift to be able to give that to them. So that’s why I use it in ALL my neighbor Bible studies I lead.”

We are thrilled to have her.BIBLE listeners in more than 170 countries, and also thrilled that there are women who want to produce an audio Bible in their heart languages.

Katy, who is producing an audio Bible in British voices, explains, “It’s not the male voices that are the problem [in current audio versions]. It’s the lack of female voices. There’s something about the familiarity a woman’s voice brings.”

You can join us in bringing God’s Word in women’s comforting voices to people all over the world. Just open the her.BIBLE app, click on the three bars in the upper-left corner of your phone, then click on share app. You can also click on a Bible verse and share it with a friend.

As you celebrate International Women’s Day, we pray that you will know how deeply loved you are by God. “May you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is” (Ephesians 3:18). Then share His love with someone you know!

on • Jenny Steinbach

We all know the phrase, “It is better to give than to receive.” Leslie and Cassandra gave their voices.

Leslie, our reader for Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, Micah and Jonah said,

“I’ve been a student of God’s word all my life. I know that God’s word is written to all people, in all places, at all times. And yet, I’d only heard the Bible read by men.

“I never thought that was a barrier until I heard women reading God’s Word. And it felt like a veil lifted for me. I know that God loves women. Hearing God’s word in women’s voices has helped me experience God’s love for me personally.”

Cassandra, our reader for Genesis, Proverbs, Hosea and Joel shared,

“I’m so honored to be a part of this project. I mean it, from the bottom of my heart.

“When I am recording, I think about a villager on the mountains in the Himalayas. Because the world has become so small and there are no limitations as to where sound can go, so why not let the Word of God be disseminated in these places? To the far-flung corners of the world.”

One such listener in a far-flung corner of the world is Carril in Trinidad and Tobago. Carril received comfort through her.BIBLE voices, like Leslie and Cassandra, when her dad recently passed away. (To see Carril’s story in full, click here).

“It was so traumatic for me. I could not read my Bible, but I knew I needed God. I needed his comfort, but through the tears, I just could not see to read. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to read while crying, but everything is a blur. I remembered the her.BIBLE app on my phone! I just let the Word of God wash over me and comfort me. It offered an added comfort in a female voice because it was almost motherly.”

Would you like to reach more listeners like Carril who are longing to hear God’s word? Your one time or monthly gift of any amount will help us complete the Old Testament and encourage people’s hearts around the world. (You can give online here.)

Thank you and may you have a blessed holiday season!

on • Rebecca Kelsall

Anjelina Maldonado and her husband, Javier, opened Proximity Church in Orlando in 2015 primarily as an outreach to the “unchurched and prodigals in Florida.”

They placed people in small groups for discipleship, one being an eight-week women’s Bible study using her.BIBLE to listen to the Word of God.

The women, about 20 in all, were captivated the first time they listened to the Book of Ruth.


“To feel your faith being built up by another woman is awesome,” says Anjelina. “From a church with no believers to a body of women being built up is incredible. They never even knew each other and now were connecting over her.BIBLE.”

When Anjelina played the Book of Ruth, it was the first time Ingrid Fernandez, a nurse, had ever heard the story. She drove home that night and, though she was pregnant and had her young son in the back seat, sat in her car to hear the rest of the book.

Ingrid began listening to her.BIBLE during her commute to work. She found inspiration in the stories of women like Esther. “Esther thought she was going to be no one, and she ended up a queen,” Ingrid said.

Ingrid knows that the Word of God would have changed her life no matter what, but hearing it in women’s voices was like “having the right soundtrack to a movie.”

She said, “Like, in Ruth, it’s a female voice and it’s talking about a woman who went and conquered. It’s like saying, I’m just one person, just a nurse, just a woman; but with God, [I] can do anything.”

Ingrid regularly attends Proximity and now so do her husband, Enzo, and children. She dreams of leading a small group to reach her family members who don’t yet know Christ.

Ingrid relates to women who feel like they just don’t have time to sit down and study their Bible.

“Women are always going-going,” Ingrid said. “It makes it challenging. But if they can find a moment in the car to listen, give God the chance — the chance to tell them they’re loved and very valued to him.”

(You can read the full article by Rebecca, “Highlighting Women’s Voices in God’s Story,” in the July 2021 issue of Cru Storylines.)

on • Jenny Steinbach

As we near the summer, because of your prayers and your generous gifts, we have already recorded four of the remaining 21 books of the Old Testament!

God is powerfully using her.BIBLE in the lives of college women. Here are some of their encouraging responses:

Faith excitedly shared:

I absolutely love her.BIBLE because of how simple and easy it is to use. Being able to open it up and within seconds be listening to the Word of God read by strong, amazing women brings me so much joy.

The quality is fantastic, and I especially love how each female narrator has a different, unique voice that shows the diversity which God has created us with! her.BIBLE is such a wonderful way to dive into Scripture daily!

Taylor reflected: Most women resonate with other women better, having that heart to heart connection, so I think having a woman tell you to “Be strong and don’t be afraid” or “You are fearfully and wonderfully made” may make them more likely to actually believe it.”

After a painful relationship with a man in authority, Kate exclaimed: This is such a good idea! I feel like it would definitely be helpful for women who are less likely to listen to a male voice because of their bad experiences.

Because of you, her.BIBLE is bringing the Word of God to life with an engaging multi-ethnic women’s narration of the New Living Translation. We are encouraged to see young women like Faith, Taylor and Kate dive into God’s Word and connect with the Lord through comforting women’s voices.

Would you prayerfully consider partnering with us by sponsoring a chapter?

There are only 17 books left to complete! By giving $270, you will empower us to produce the next chapter. You can give online here at  www.give.cru.org/0967201.

Thank you for your consideration. Keep watching for more Old Testament books on our website!