Mobile Ministry Magazine

There is nothing really new about online Bibles for most of us. We are accustomed to going to places such as eBible and Bible Gateway to quickly look up a verse or a collection of verses on a particular subject. But what about when out and about and those sites, while great for what they can give, are a bit to much for a smartphone's or normal phone's screen? There is only so much that can go on a page, and well, eBible and Bible Gateway are just a bit too much.

Enter ZBible, the online Bible from Zondervan that is as useful as it is simple. What makes ZBible most useful? It is designed to be used on mobile devices. The landing page for ZBible (http://zbible.mobi) is just a simple logo graphic, search box and a drop down menu for choosing the version in which you want to search the Bible in.

Its about as easy as going to Yahoo or Google to find a verse. And the better part is that you can bookmark into your mobile device's favorites a search that you have found for later viewing. In this respect, it is not only easy to use, but convenient. Links at the bottom of the page give you some navigation options for going to next/previous verses and chapters, and then a search box just in case you want to find another term.

So what are any downsides to using ZBible?
If you are searching for complex terms, such as "Jesus+faith+mountain+sea," you might not get what you are looking for (despite that reference pointing to Mark 11:23).

How does ZBible work in a church/meeting setting?
This is one area where I don't think that it is a bad idea to get some use out of ZBible. I used ZBible the past few Sundays at my church and found that it was easy to get to a verse, though annotating a verse was out of the question. Going back and forth was not a problem, unless several verses in different books were given in a row, and therefore I would have to make use of the forward and back buttons. That being said, you can search for multiple verses at the same time and get those easily (example).

What could be improved?
Nothing really. ZBible is about as straight and to the point as one needs on a mobile device. It could have some better phone integration in terms of being able to use a numeral keypad for the common navigation elements (assigning the key '1' for previous page, '3' for next page, etc.). But right now it is really quick and simple and I recommend it not only to those of you who are on mobile devices, but even when you are on your desktop and need just a verse, and nothing else.

My Wish list for ZBible
- I would love to see ZBible evolve some kind of profile system, similar to eBible, where you can log in and view past bookmarks. This would keep people from having a list of bookmarks that can get quite long, and also make availability of such a list on any computing device that can connect to the Internet.
- If it were possible to integrate ZBible with a handheld Bible reader that would be probably even better. A subscription-based service where the Bibles are stored online (for modern copyrighted versions) and then a downloadable application (or integration with a current application) that would give advanced note taking and bookmarking abilities would be excellent for nearly any device. In my ideal world, I'd see ZBible as an add on plug-in for a program like Bible+ where you can read the modern versions online, have the non-modern versions saved on your device, and then make notes between them that you can share with others who have access to ZBible or email.

Overall, I recommend ZBible to any of you need a Bible on the go, and downloadable offerings do not work, and you do not mind a near simple "Google-like" experience on your mobile device.