Stephen Johnson, CEO of OliveTree Shares Hidden Secrets

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Sep 10, 2012 in Digital Bible Study | 0 comments

Stephen Johnson took over as CEO of OliveTree Bible software when founder Drew Haninger retired. We got to interview him via email recently. I published a shorter version of this in Christian Computing Magazine, but here’s the full text of the interview unedited and raw!

1. Tell me about your journey from being a cute kid your mom loves to how you ended up working as a Bible software engineer with Olive Tree.

When I was a kid I wanted to be a doctor just like my dad. I took a programming class in 7th grade and learned to program in BASIC on an Apple IIe and I loved it. I then experimented with programming on my HP calculator in high school. As a kid I also loved building legos. Towards the end of high school I realized that I did not have the stomach for blood. So I decided to pursue my love of building things by majoring in mechanical engineering. For some reason I never really thought about pursuing a career in software until after I started college. After my first year of college I decided to try a few programming classes to see if that is what I wanted to do and I never looked back. Creating software is a highly creative, artistic, and problem solving process. 15 years later, I am still in love with the craft of software engineering. During my senior year of college I did an internship at Olive Tree (I believe I was the 2nd or 3rd person ever hired at that point). After college I got a job working at Tektronix working on software for their assembly line. I then went to Portland State University for my master’s degree in computer science. My master’s thesis was on debugging functional logic languages. I had a blast in grad school and loved diving into languages like Curry and Haskell. After graduating from Portland State I started working full time at Olive Tree. It was awesome building software to help people study the Bible. At the time Olive Tree was very small and so I was involved in just about everything. As Olive Tree grew I keep part of my time in software and part in the business and operations. It was a very natural fit for me to move into the role of CEO.

2. When did you become the CEO and how?

I became CEO on July 9th, 2012. We had a company meeting and announced the transition. At the meeting I spent some time talking about “What We do Matters”. We don’t just create Bible software to let people study the Bible. We create tools that God uses to change lives. Marriages are saved because of what we do. Fathers lead their families because of what we do. We don’t just sync notes and highlights. We sync sermon notes from a pastors desktop to his iPad so he can preach a sermon that God uses to save a marriage. We sync the Roman’s road verses to a phone so that a young lady can share the gospel with her coworker. When people interact and understand scripture their lives and the lives of those around them are changed! We don’t just help people study the Bible. We create, build, and support tools that God uses to change lives! What we do matters.

3. Compre the offerings OliveTree has to your competitors.

Olive Tree connects people with God and the Bible using technology. We are approachable for someone without seminary training and we have awesome features for those with seminary (or equivalent) training. Olive Tree runs on Android smartphones, Android Tablets, iPads, iPhones, Macs, Windows, and Windows 8 UI. Your books, notes, highlights, and bookmarks are keep in sync between all of your devices with the Olive Tree cloud. The resource guide is an easy and quick way to find related content in your library to the passage you are reading.

4. What’s the greatest strength of OliveTree?

We have an amazingly passionate team that is highly innovative and creative.

5. What do you think that you uniquely bring to OliveTree compared to your predecessor, the founder of OT?

Drew and I share a passion for connecting people with God and the Bible using technology. We both love the Bible and technology. I think I bring a little more organization to our operations.

6. What did you learn from him that can help others in the Christian world who lead organizations of all shapes and sizes?

I learned perseverance and never giving up. Drew preserved and continued “pushing on” even when things were hard. I learned to focus on what we know we need to do and not get too worried or distracted with the “competition”. (As a side note, we really don’t have competition. We have fellow workers in Christ )

7. What’s on your iPod?

Vaughan Williams, Tschaikowski, Berstein, Sibelius, and Rachmaninov. Listening to classical music sparks creativity and keeps me at heightened levels of productivity for longer periods of time. I also have the EntreLeader podcast, Casting Crowns, Mercy Me, Hillsong United, Zac Brown Band, and Keith Urban.

8. Mac or Windows?

Definitely mac. I am a big Apple fan. Before the “post-PC era” I used to tinker with computers and customize them. If Android had been around at that time I would have loved Android. I now want devices that just work. My Mac, iPhone, and iPad combo is awesome and it just works. So now I spend that time with my family and creating apps on the side. I still haven’t finished any of my 3 side project apps

9. What do you think of the current/future direction of the various platforms that OliveTree runs on?

I think Android has a lot more potential, especially in the tablet market. It is the leader in the smartphone market for total handsets sold and I think it will make a lot more headway in the tablet market. Tablets like the Nexus 7 are very nice and priced really well. I think we are going to continue to see 3rd party innovation in the Android space. This is very exciting and provides a lot of really great options for users. Fragmentation is an issue in the Android space, but it is also an advantage. Fragmentation is the result of innovation, creativity, and options.

iOS is a rock solid OS that just works for most people (it doesn’t always just work). One of the things I really like about iOS the high quality apps in the app store. It is easier to create high fidelity apps for iOS and to compete on iOS you have to create awesome looking apps. I think we are going to see continued massive growth in iOS devices. With the release of Mountain Lion, the Mac is even more integrated with your iOS device via iCloud. I think that iCloud will be a key technology for the future of iOS. In time everything you do will be seamlessly connected via iCloud and it will just work.

Macs are continuing to sell well and gain market share. I think we are going to see this continue with the release of Windows 8. I helped my grandfather get set up with both a Windows computer and a Mac. The mac was much easier for him. There were a number of little things that make a mac easier that I hadn’t noticed until I watched him use the computers.

Windows is the interesting one. I am very excited to see what will happen with Windows 8. Microsoft is making a bold move and radically changing the Windows experience. Their designs are opinionated and well thought out. This will create a lot of passionate Windows 8 fans (we have a few in the office). I think that a lot of average computer users who have grown used to the way windows work will be shocked when they buy a new computer and see Windows 8 on it. On the one hand Windows 8 is easier to learn than Windows 7. However, so many people already know how to Windows XP, Vista, or 7 that learning is not an issue. They don’t want to learn something new, they just want to accomplish some task. So I really don’t know how well it will do. As a tablet UI it has some really nice interactions. I think it is very good that to run a Windows 8 UI app it has to be an approved app from the app store. This will help a lot with the security and virus issues that are so prevalent with Windows today.

Thanks to Stephen Johnson (@StephenLJohnson on Twitter) for answering our questions and for helping make OliveTree a maker of great Bible study software and apps.

Don’t Get Fooled! It’s a Business Not a Ministry

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Sep 4, 2012 in Featured, Ministry | 0 comments

Don’t get fooled! It’s a business not a ministry?

What am I talking about? The many companies that choose a primary business model of using the church and Christians as their primary target for profit.

Don’t get me wrong. Doing business with the church or with Christians almost exclusively isn’t a sin. I’m not advocating avoiding such companies. It’s not a reason to never do business with such companies. I work with many such businesses to help me in my ministry as a pastor, a writer and as a disciple of Christ. If Lifeway Christian Resources, the many Bible software companies, and some great online resources that help me present the Gospel in church on Sunday didn’t exist, it would make my life more difficult. I once bought a computer from a “Christian” computer reseller and the business helped me get a great machine at a fair price and supported it well when it failed.

But don’t get fooled! They’re businesses and not ministries.

Why am I writing about this now? Because a company reminded me of this today in a disappointing way.

I contacted a company hoping they would help me out. I considered moving from a Windows PC to a Mac for our church’s presentation computer. A video I created failed to play on the Windows machine while it worked perfectly on my Mac at home. I decided to look into the cost of buying a new Mac and transferring the license of our presentation software from Windows to Mac. Other companies did this for me without even a small administration fee. A couple more just charged a small clerical fee. I swapped out my Adobe Photoshop license from Windows to Mac for nothing so long as I didn’t use the Windows version any longer. That’s one of the most expensive programs I own. A couple of other very expensive Bible software applications let me switch without a fee or charged just a small fee and I can keep using the Windows versions as well.

The presentation software company offered what they called a “crossgrade” for hundreds of dollars. This, they said, let me continue to use both the Windows and Mac versions. Great! I don’t want to use the Windows version. I will only use one copy on the Mac. Too bad. I still had to pay. I reasoned that this didn’t make sense since the two version work almost identically. They look a little different because of the different operating systems, but the basic functions were nearly identical. But the company won’t budge. That’s their right.

I replied to the sales person’s last email saying their policy disappointed me. It felt like they should want to work harder to keep me as a loyal and long time customer. I’ve used and recommended the software for almost a decade. The policy ensured that I will not use that application any longer just as soon as I can afford a suitable replacement. That’s my right.

All of this serves to remind me that the companies that exist to take money out of the church are not ministries. They’re businesses. They may employ Christians. Many run under the control of a Christian. A lot of them work hard to help the church and Christians, but they do so to make money knowing its good business to offer good customer support. Some focus more on the business and less on the support, just like companies run by secular people.

A Higher Standard

If a business calls itself Christian it must operate at a higher standard. A “Christian” mechanic I once had dealings with proved that the term often functions more as a marketing ploy than a real description of their ethics.

Christians who run businesses also must operate at a higher standard because all Christians should operate their lives at a higher standard, whether they own and operate a business, teach school or pick up trash for a living. God expects more of us.

If you own or operate a business, ask yourself this question about how you support the church. Does your business plan center around taking money out of the church or does it focus on adding value to the church seeking payment for this just like a pastor or other staff members get paid. Parasitic companies operate under the first ethic, while other businesses work under the second. I like to work with the second class of company, but they’re hard to spot and the first often look like the second.

If other companies can afford to offer the same service you offer without sucking as much out of the church treasury as your business does, then you’re doing it wrong. If you wake up every day asking, how can I help a pastor, a church secretary, a minster of music or youth, then you’re likely doing it the right way.

Image credit: 401(K) 2012 on Flickr

10 Reasons Why Your Church Should Have Small Groups

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Sep 29, 2011 in Ministry | 0 comments

One of the new blogs I read is also the service that supplies some of our Sunday morning sermon images and song backgrounds. Sharefaith does more than provide graphics for churches. They also help church leaders understand how to better serve. So when I saw this post, I though I share it here so you can go over there and read it and learn about their great work:

10 Reasons Why Your Church Should Have Small Groups:

Here are their top five. Hit the link above for the rest and the explanation of each…

1. Small groups foster close relationships and integral community.
2. Small groups provide a comfortable introduction for nonbelievers to the Christian faith.
3. Small groups provide an ideal way to care for the needs of people within the church.
4. Small groups provide a way for Christians to live out their faith instead of merely hearing more preaching or teaching.
5. Small groups participate in focused prayer for one another.

As I read one small groups expert say, and I can’t remember who, Southern Baptist already have small groups. It is called Sunday School. However, we just had a discussion at our church last night during the Thrive Team meeting. Thrive is a revisiting dreaming team trying to come up with our purpose, mission and vision to better guide the church. The discussion our team had was on how pitiful Sunday School attendance has become at many churches. Sadly, most churches have a fraction of the people they have for worship. One member said that it is easier to come to worship where you are a face in a crowd instead of Sunday School where you are a person with responsibilities.

I fear the commitment issue is real. I also fear that some shy away from intimacy.

We are starting a new small group for Singles at our church.

How do you do small groups? Have you ever started a new small group in a home like we are trying to do? How did you publicize it and get it going?

What the Church Can Learn from Apple: Part Two

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Oct 22, 2010 in Editorial, Ministry | 0 comments

Yesterday I overviewed the success of Steve Jobs and Apple as it resurrected itself from the bad days of the late eighties and early nineties. The keys to their success were simplicity and synergy guided by the singular vision of a strong leader in Steve Jobs.

The church in America is very much where Apple was twenty years ago – struggling to be relevant and useful. Too many people are leaving the church. Most churches are small and getting smaller. The few mega-churches are often growing only by stealing members from others. They do have more baptisms than smaller churches but they have more debt and more problems too. They are bigger so they have more of everything. The question is do bigger churches baptize more people per capita. Sometimes, but often not.

So what can the church do to follow Jobs and Apple from mediocrity to booming success? First, let me say that if God is not in it, nothing will work. All of this is said with that assumption.

I believe the keys that make Apple successful can be the keys to make the church successful again.

First we have to simplify. Thom Rainer’s book Simple Church eloquently showed this. It just rings true. We are often rushing in so many directions that we don’t have any time to do the basics – worship, discipleship, witness, and loving people. We need to simplify and this will take painful pruning. We have to cut away the fluff and get back to some core values.

Second, synergy is needed. Everything needs to focus on one vision and all aspects of the church from how we do worship to how we do nursery during worship must fit in to the vision of a synergistic future. For example, the youth program in your church should not have a different vision than the senior adult group. They may go about things slightly differently, but the vision should be shared between them. The choir and the men’s ministry should all reflect the same path from immaturity to growth and maturity as disciples. Everything should grow off the same trunk – the single vision.

Finally, as I said yesterday, the key to Apple’s success was a single vision articulated and shepherded by a single leader – Steve Jobs. The church needs a renaissance of strong pastoral leadership. God has appointed the Pastor to lead. But too many churches are led primarily by another group – the deacons, a single matriarch or patriarch, or some other group. No I am not advocating a dictatorship with the pastor calling all the shots. But the pastor needs to be unleashed to be the shepherd, not just another sheep who preaches.

How will this happen? That’s the rub. Application is the key to making any principle, no matter how good it might be, work. And that is not what this is all about. This post is merely the wake up call.

Apple’s Success Can Teach the Church a Few Things

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Oct 21, 2010 in Editorial, Ministry, Technology | 0 comments

While watching Steve Jobs announced updates to their Operating System, Multimedia Creation suite of apps, and their MacBook Air line of notebooks, I was struck with a thought. Apple’s success could be a case study that churches could study and follow.

Apple is a very successful company. They are flying high and their earnings and value are higher than ever. That has not always been the case. For years they floundered as their brand was becoming synonymous with mediocre products in the late eighties and early nineties. Steve Jobs was forced out as their CEO and the company struggled to hold the imagination of tech enthusiasts while computers running Microsoft’s Windows were gaining market share and the attention of ordinary people. The PC dominated while the Mac was a sliver of the overall pie representing computers being purchased.

Fast forward to 2010 and one in five new computers is a Mac. The company made $22.7 Billion dollars in their computer division alone. They are swimming in cash. Apple’s iPods are dominating the mobile music market and the iPhone is considered one of the hottest smart phones available despite really credible competition from Android and maybe now Windows Phone 7. Blackberry is still more ubiquitous but not as many people are excited about them than they are about iPhones, despite all its flaws.

So what makes this company so successful? The answer is two words:

1. Synergy
2. Simplicity

Synergy is one of those over used buzz words, but it has real meaning. The Mac ecosystem all fits together beautifully. This was never more obvious than when watching Apple demo their products. One can take Garage Band, a music creation tool, and export it to play on an iPod, import it into their video editors (iMovie or Final Cut) or just keep it on the Mac. Videos that are created on the Mac are easy to get onto an iPad or iPod Touch. iTunes is a central place for all the media one wants on their iPod, iPhone, PC or AppleTV. It all just works together so nicely.

The second word is simplicity. Apple has a knack for clearing out clutter and making things simple and therefore elegant. There is no wasted space. Everything is not minimalistic, but simple. The difference is minimalists sacrifice features for less. Simple offers the basic features needed in a way that is uncluttered and uncomplicated. People say that a Mac is best for people who don’t want to tinker and edit registries. The iPhone is a closed environment but that makes it really easy to use.

Synergy and Simplicity! These are their keys to success.

So why can’t other companies achieve this kind of resurgent success? I believe it is the third secret to their success, which is actually the root of these two already mentioned reasons. Apple’s synergy and simplicity come from this one root factor. That factor is a single strong leader who has a clear vision and empowers those around him to achieve their best while fitting into the vision he has laid out. In other words, the key is Steve Jobs and his role in the company.

Remember, he doesn’t do everything. But he does have his imprint on everything. He guides the ship the company is steaming along at a fast clip on their way to new heights.

So what can the church learn from all of this? More on that tomorrow.