LU Online graduate launches Xbox 360 Bible application

For years, Liberty University Online graduate Aaron Linne dreamed of a way to get the Bible on the Xbox. This month his dream will come true as his company prepares for the upcoming release of “Bible Navigator X,” the first complete Bible available on a video game console.

Linne, who graduated from LU Online in 2008 with a master’s in business administration, is the executive producer of digital marketing for Broadman & Holman Publishing Group.

“Bible Navigator X” features the complete Holman Christian Standard Bible, which can be downloaded through the “Indie Games” channel of Xbox.com.

The application will “bring the Bible into people’s living rooms and onto their televisions in a completely new and innovative way,” said Linne. “We can gather our small groups around our HDTVs and scroll through the Word quickly and easily. We can enjoy the greatest story ever told on the screen where so many other mediums have reigned for so long.”

Linne hopes “Bible Navigator X” challenges publishers to release different translations of the Bible for the Xbox and develop other innovative ways to share the gospel.

“We really hope that this gets people thinking about the Bible in new, fresh ways,” he said.

The “Bible Navigator X” application consists of the complete Old and New Testaments, as well as three additional tools: a basic search function that operates much like a concordance, a bookmarking function that allows for marking passages and reorganizing bookmarks into an order appropriate for teaching or study, and a presentation mode that features a larger display suitable for projecting content on a screen. Additionally, the program features 10 themes, allowing users to customize the look of the Bible while maintaining its readability. Themes geared toward students are available, including one based on LifeWay’s “Fuge Camps.”

Linne explained that the tools were designed for everyone, but particularly with youth ministers in mind.

“Certainly it’s convenient to be able to quickly pull up a Bible verse on your television at home,” he said, “but this is also a great tool for youth ministers who teach in youth spaces that already have Xbox consoles in them. It’s a quick way to create teaching aids from equipment you already have.”