Former Meta Head Joins YouVersion: ‘Seek Intimacy with God Every Day’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Former head of Meta’s global faith partnerships Nona Jones is ready to take on Bible illiteracy with her latest career venture.
“When I celebrated my fifth anniversary I had a moment of introspection,” Jones told CBN News about her role at the social media company. “I was like ‘Lord, you’ve allowed me to meet some incredible people, to learn some amazing things and to do things I never would have imagined through the work that I did at the company.’ And I was like, ‘But Lord I want to bring this to your kingdom. That was my prayer.’”
That prayer led to her new role as the chief content and partnerships officer at YouVersion, the creator of the Bible app.
“It’s a global team that essentially supports everything you see in the app,” Jones said of her work. “So, when you open the app, you’ll notice there’s the verse of the day. Then there’s typically a teaching video that will expound on the verse of the day. There’s prayer. There’s Bible plans and videos and all these different experiences in the app. My team is responsible for that.”
The YouVersion devotional app has made incredible strides since its launch, celebrating 500 million installs in 2021:
“It started as a question,” a recent press release stated. “‘What if people could have access to the Bible wherever they go?’ In 2008, it turned into YouVersion—one of the first 200 free apps on the App Store.”
The platform thanked users for helping them reach the half-billion mark and noted how God had blessed their ministry.
“What began as a desire to make Scripture accessible to everyone has now become a global movement of people committed to seeking God every day through His Word,” their website read. “It’s a movement you’re a part of… A movement that’s now been installed on half a billion devices. A movement made possible because the Bible is alive. God is actively at work through YouVersion—and hundreds of millions of people are a part of it.”
“Every time someone installs YouVersion, they’re getting instant access to a Community centered around the Bible. A Community that’s inviting God to shape their lives through Scripture, Bible Plans, and Prayer,” they added.
In the 15 years since it launched, the Bible app has installed more than 1900 languages, seen more than 139 million prayers created, 1.1 billion verse images shared, and 16 billion, highlights, bookmarks and notes shared on the app.
“Since its launch in 2008, the Bible App has grown from 83,000 downloads to over half a billion worldwide, and it is the longest-running Bible in the App Store. What started out as an idea in an airport became a global movement that is getting Scripture to people around the world like never before,” according to the YouVersion site.
Jones’ focus at YouVersion is on how to make the Bible more accessible to readers.
“Our mission is we want to encourage and challenge people to seek intimacy with God every day,” she said. “And so, we’re constantly thinking about what are the resources that we can make available in the app that make it easy for people to engage with the word of God. Because the number one deterrent to Bible engagement is that people tend to feel overwhelmed. They feel overwhelmed. They don’t know where to start. They may feel they’re not personally equipped.”
She continued, “If we can get the word of God into people’s hands and hearts, their lives will be changed.”
In addition to her work at YouVersion, Jones has joined the board of directors of Gloo, a faith-based tech platform.
“The intersection of business, ministry, and technology is my passion, and I am excited for the opportunity to use the experiences God has given me in these areas to advance the work of Gloo,” she said in a statement about the new position. “I am overjoyed to join the Gloo board of directors alongside a stellar group of individuals who are deeply devoted to serving the local church. The innovative work Scott Beck and his team are performing makes me confident in our collective ability to connect the faith community through technology in new and effective ways.”
Jones also uses her Instagram to spread her faith, sharing messages of growth, positivity, and encouragement with her followers. A recent video showed her reflecting on how God has helped her grow.
“The last few weeks and months have been an amazing time of ‘spiritual calibration’ for me; a time where God has used some situations to show me how much I have grown in areas I used to be weak in,” she wrote. “And, now that I’m on the other side of those situations and can see them clearly in my rear-view mirror, I have to thank God for his grace. I can now see that I’m not who I was. And, for that, I’m so grateful!”
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Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
