WORDsearch Bible Software, based in Austin, Texas is one of the oldest and largest publishers of software and digital books specifically for Christian pastors, Bible teachers and students. WORDsearch is now part of the ministry of B&H Publishing Group of LifeWay Christian Resources of Nashville, Tennessee. WORDsearch produces specialized study programs under the brands WORDsearch, QuickVerse, and myWSB and a compatible library of over 5,000 digital books on Windows, MacIntosh, iPad, Android, and web browsers.
Contents
Bible Software Products
WORDsearch 10, and now WORDsearch 11 the company’s flagship Bible software brand running on Windows and Mac PCs, automates tasks in the process of Bible exegesis and hermeneutics. Key functions of WORDsearch include searching a user’s digital library by word, topic, or scripture reference, hyperlinking to related documents, and copying selected materials into a target document. WORDsearch users regard it highly for its speed and ease of use.
WORDsearch is frequently used by pastors for the creation of sermons, and teachers for preparation of cell group and Sunday School lessons.
QuickVerse 10, is a variant of the WORDsearch program that reads the same digital books and features most of the same functions. The functional capabilities of QuickVerse 10 better suit the needs of lay Bible teachers. QuickVerse 10 offers a means for hundreds of thousands of past QuickVerse customers to continue using digital books acquired with older versions of QuickVerse. myWSB.com is a free, web browser-based Bible software program with a different functional approach, but nearly the same library of resources as WORDsearch and QuickVerse. WORDsearch Bible is a mobile Bible software program available for iOS and Android. It offers a limited set of functions on nearly the same library of resources.
All of the Bible software versions connect to the same set of online ownership records so that a customer is able to acquire a digital book for one of the programs, and use it from any of the other programs, in nearly all cases at no additional charge.
Reviewers found WORDsearch powerful enough to be useful for preachers. It is one of About.com's top 10 bible programs.
A free application called WORDsearch Basic (formerly Bible Explorer) is also available.
History
WORDsearch was founded in 1987 by Dr. Jim Sneeringer and Dr. Cheryl Sneeringer, making it one of the earliest commercial examples of digital publishing in any domain. Both Drs. Sneeringer earned PhDs in Computer Science at UNC supervised by Dr. Fred Brooks, and became evangelical Christians partly through his witness. Their shared interest in Bible study, teaching, and computer software led Jim to create the WORDsearch program while on sabbatical from IBM (ROLM) Corporation.
The program became part of the product line of NavPress Software in Colorado Springs, CO in 1989. In 1993, Dr. Jim Sneeringer and Randolph Beck of Austin, Texas acquired the assets of NavPress Software and continued to publish under that name. In July 2002, the publishers adopted WORDsearch as the corporate name.
In July 2003, WORDsearch acquired the assets of Epiphany Software, Inc. of San Jose, CA, including the program and brand Bible Explorer. Andrew Cogan, former President of Epiphany, joined as chief technical officer of WORDsearch.
In April 2004, WORDsearch entered a licensing and publishing partnership with LifeWay Christian Resources to supply the Bible Explorer program, to be published under the brand Bible Navigator, as the exclusive Bible Software program of LifeWay.
In May 2011, WORDsearch agreed to acquire the assets of the QuickVerse® product line from Findex.com. QuickVerse had been the largest selling Bible software program through the 1990s.,
In June 2011, all of the assets of WORDsearch were acquired by LifeWay Christian Resources of Nashville, TN.