New SMS app with Bible verses becomes overnight sensation

From "Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>
Date Wed, 6 Apr 2011 15:14:05 +0800

3083 Edition

March 28-April 3, 2011

Headline News

New SMS app with Bible verses becomes overnight sensation

Reported by Lin Yi-ying

Written by Lydia Ma

Associate Professor Dennis W.J. Peng of Graduate Institute of Journalism at 
National Taiwan University designed an application software for cellphones last 
year. The app, called “31SMS”, allows users to send short messages via their 
cellphones free of charge and includes a Bible verse at the bottom of each 
message. The application received the most hits and downloads in Taiwan in the 
past 2 months. 

“Media evangelism is no longer limited to means such as television, radio, and 
newspaper. We can also share the gospel through new technologies that are more 
effective at getting people’s attention,” he said on March 25, 2011, as he sat 
down for an interview with PCT-owned New Eyes Television.

Peng explained this adventure began when he wanted to notify his students about 
one of his classes but discovered sending regular short text messages (SMS) was 
too expensive and time-consuming. This prompted him to embark on this project 
to create a new app with the support of Android and iPhone downloading systems. 
Currently, there are about 110,000 people who use 31SMS every day.

According to Peng, this app is compatible with any cellphone brand or model and 
at the bottom of every message template is a Bible verse. It cost him and his 
wife nearly NT$5 million to create it – a drop in the bucket compared to airing 
a television show.

“God gave us this opportunity and this medium. We need to think more about 
different means of communication to share the gospel and avoid costly means 
like traditional television networks. When we do that, we’ll discover that what 
we had considered impossible options are actually possible with God,” he said.

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