We’ve been building Logos Bible Software since 1991. It’s the heart of everything we do, and of accomplishing our mission:
We use technology to equip the Church to grow in the light of the Bible.
Logos is the premiere tool for people who are serious about Bible study. It’s heavily used by pastors, scholars, seminary students, and lay people.
But people who are serious about Bible study -- and want to use a powerful, dedicated tool for study -- are a small percentage of most churches. We want to serve everyone in the church, and we know that many people ‘grow in the light of the Bible’ through classes, small groups, video, and free content on the web.
Faithlife Equip is our platform for helping everyone in every church grow in the light of the Bible. We believe an integrated platform (one account!) is of great value to the church, and that the more we integrate the daily ‘mechanics and logistics’ of the church (member management, communications, calendar, giving, website, etc.) with biblical content (sermons, curriculum, Bible study, videos, etc.) the more likely it is that we can engage and serve the whole church.
And, if you’ll forgive the bluntness, the more likely we’ll be here to serve you in the future.
I’ve always erred on the side of transparency in discussing how our business works, especially here in the forums.
And you have always been direct in response... Sometimes enough to hurt! But in a good, constructive way. “Wounds of a friend”... :-)
First, Logos is doing well. We’re still healthy and still growing. Logos Bible Software is still profitable and we plan to be here, serving you, for decades to come..
But ‘software’ is changing. We’re adapting, by offering Logos on whatever platform you prefer, or all of them: downloadable to Mac and Windows, mobile on iOS and Android, and purely on the web at https://app.logos.com. Simply put, this is expensive. Yes, it’s the cost of doing business, but it means developing on five platforms, and it does cost more. (I miss the days of three platforms… and the days of just one, before that!)
And people aren’t buying software the way they used to. Some simply don’t buy software. Some subscribe to online tools, but spend less than they used to spend on downloadable software. Others are ‘satisficing’ with free content on the web, when they previously might have bought Logos, even if they weren’t going to be a heavy user.
Content producers are looking at digital as an important revenue stream. They have more channels through which to sell, and want to keep a higher percentage of the revenue. At the same time, the channels want a big cut: Apple and Google keep 30% of revenue from in-app purchases, and more and more sales are moving to mobile vs. direct.
Logos Bible Software generates revenue through content sales; we don’t charge for the software engine. But over the past 28 years the world has changed, and now how we get paid is out of alignment with how the market works. (Don’t worry, we’re not going to change it or break our promises to you about the free engine. But it’s something we have to adapt to.)
The good news is that there’s a win-win solution for us and for our users: church technology.
We sell Bible study tools to people who attend (and often lead) churches. Churches need Bible study tools, content, and curriculum, which we’ve been providing for years. But they also need membership management, online giving, websites, presentation software, music resources, email, texting, etc., especially, as the first ‘born-digital’ generation moves into adulthood.
Today many churches are redefining ‘regular attender’ from 3-4 times a month to 1-2 times. Communities and relationships are being managed and nurtured online, and people expect everything to be available in the cloud, from sermons to handouts to curriculum to books to videos to music. It needs to be on the web, on their phones, and on their smart TVs. And in the church, all of these things are centered on the Bible. And the Bible is our ‘home turf’!
As an organization, a church is people who come together at times and places to study the Bible and love and serve each other. And it’s technology that hosts the calendar and manages the communications in that community.
You have trusted us for almost 30 years to build tools to help you study the Bible. If we can also be your supplier for the related tools and technology your church needs, we can not only help you help others ‘grow in the light of the Bible,’ but we can build a new, royalty-free revenue stream that helps us deliver all of these tools, including Logos Bible Software.
This is why we believe it’s important to expand our offerings. But it’s a crowded space.
We generally don’t talk about our competitors. We focus on building great tools and serving our customers well, and hope that that’s enough to win in the marketplace.
That has worked for Logos Bible Software, and we hope it will work with Faithlife Equip as we enter new, adjacent markets.
But something has changed in the world of church technology: the big money has moved in.
Church technology was largely provided by small companies that were born out of a solution the founder built for their own church. Most of those companies were much smaller than Faithlife, but just as mission-driven.
In the past few years, though, the ‘professional business world’ has decided that church technology is a big market -- especially online giving. (I hate using that phrase, since I think of Faithlife as a ‘professional business’ too…. Is it better to say “Wall Street”? I mean public companies, private equity firms, etc.)
More than 45 church technology companies were bought by a single company in the past four years. That company has been sold repeatedly, and is now owned by a private equity firm, which has combined it with companies serving non-church nonprofits, associations, etc.
The other large firm in online giving for churches is a public company.
An independent church technology firm recently sold out to a large public company that builds nonprofit management tools; another sold to an online giving provider that has taken in private equity.
And, of course, several significant Christian publishers are divisions of larger, secular publishing companies.
There is nothing wrong with any of this. These are businesses, and they get bought and sold; they need investment capital to grow. And there are fantastic, mission-driven, Bible-believing, church-loving leaders in all of these organizations. We’ve met them, and count many as friends.
There are no sour grapes here; every one of these options is available to Faithlife too. We get called weekly about taking in private equity or selling the business. We are a business, too, and we could take professional investment or choose to sell.
I just don’t want to.
As much as I love business (I wrote a book about it!), I love our customers and our mission more. Businesses need spreadsheets and steely-eyed analysts, but that’s not the part of the business that excites me, and I’m loathe to turn Faithlife over to the people who do find that exciting.
(I’ll consult them, to make sure we’re acting responsibly… I just don’t want them to drive.)
We’re planning to stay independent. We’re assuming that:
...if we earned your trust over the past 28 years with Logos Bible Software, you’ll consider us for your church technology needs, or recommend us to someone who will.
...we can deliver solutions as good as (or better than) our new competitors, because we still have one of the largest, smartest technology teams serving the church; because we’re focused on churches, not secular nonprofits; and because we have all of you to help us get it right.
...churches actually do care who they’re doing business with.
We only need to be right on two of these, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re wrong on the third -- maybe churches rank ‘does it best / safest’ above who owns the business, and I wouldn’t fault them. I buy lots of stuff from companies whose policies or leadership don’t reflect my values. But if I can get as good or better a product from a business that cares about me and shares my values, they are my preference.
And don’t worry -- even if we’re wrong on all three assumptions, your investment in Logos Bible Software will be fine.
So tell me, what do you think?
Are we on the right track? Are we making the right assumptions? What would we need to do to earn your church’s business?
And most importantly, how do we get Logos Bible Software users to take a look at our church products? What message would work best with you? Will you start hanging out in our Faithlife church platform forum and give us advice? https://community.logos.com/forums/101.aspx
(Really -- we need your expertise and advice more than anything else. Our primary competitive advantage is our existing connection to church leaders: you!)
Should the message focus on: Integration with biblical content / education? The integrated platform (no more five accounts to manage)? Awesome features? Our independent status? Our history serving customers well? Our competitors’ Wall Street connections? (Just kidding…)
Over the years you’ve never stopped telling us how to make Logos Bible Software the best tool for Bible study; I would very much value your wisdom and advice as we look to serve more people in your church.
P.S. FWIW, our new, full church management system is still getting the finishing touches (membership management, communications, child check-in, etc.). But website hosting, sermon archiving, online giving, and more are all working completely right now. You can see our “Early Access” website here: https://equip.faithlife.com/ -- dozens of churches are onboard already!
Right now, Equip ‘Early Access’ is an amazing deal… and I’m surprised every Logos user hasn’t gotten their church onto Faithlife TV for Churches (https://faithlifetv.com/church), because it’s worth it for the Mobile Ed courses alone… and Faithlife Giving (https://giving.faithlife.com/) is fantastic and will be super-well integrated with the whole platform. I hope you’ll check it out.
