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AUSTIN, TX (May 14, 1997) - Christian youthworkers will soon have unprecedented access to a wealth of current youth Bible studies with an innovative new electronic tool from NavPress Software. The Baptist Sunday School Board today announced a partnership with NavPress Software to publish the popular StraighTrak youth curriculum on CD-ROM, the first set of BSSB Bible study curriculum to be published electronically. More titles are expected to follow.
StraighTrak is being published by NavPress Software in the Bible industry-standard STEP format so that it is compatible with Parsons QuickVerse Library, as well as WORDsearch, LESSONmaker, and other STEP-compliant programs.
"Bringing youth to Christ is the most important ministry in America today, in my opinion as a dad," said Dr. Jim Sneeringer, software developer of WORDsearch and LESSONmaker, "but youthworkers have, until now, been poorly served by advances in Christian software. StraighTrak helps correct that by combining timely, youth-oriented resources with a state-of-the-art electronic library system."
NavPress Software is a leading provider of computer software tools for Bible study, discipleship and sermon preparation. Serving Christians for over 10 years, NavPress Software is expanding into new areas of ministry by providing unique tools for youthworkers. NavPress Software has traditionally been popular with Baptists, who make up the largest percentage of NavPress Software customers.
Helping teens learn about God is indeed a challenge in today's society. The Baptist Sunday School Board, a pioneer in youth ministry, consistently provides timely, relevant Bible studies through its successful StraighTrak curriculum, used by over 20,000 teens weekly. The StraighTrak Bible studies cover hot topics that teens confront in their everyday lives.
Even an inexperienced youthworker can easily use StraighTrak to create a fresh and exciting Bible study in about an hour. "StraighTrak is great material for youthworkers to use in a variety of settings: Wednesday nights, lock-ins, retreats, conferences, or small group discussions..." according to Dr. Wesley O. Black, Associate Professor of Youth Education at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX.
StraighTrak reaches youth because of its unique study creation process. StraighTrak development meetings are held four times a year throughout the country, with youthworkers, pastors, parents and teens all working together to create topics and lessons that are important to youth. In a few short months, the lessons are completed, distributed and helping teens grow. Richard Barnes, Manager of the Youth Biblical Studies Section, Biblical Studies Department of the Baptist Sunday School Board explains that the StraighTrak vision is "to use state-of-the-art technology to provide practical resources for the men and women working in hands-on youth ministry."
The Baptist Sunday School Board chose the STEP format for their first entry into the electronic publishing world after much review. STEP, an acronym for Software Template for Electronic Publishing, specifies a common format for recording Bible study materials on computer-readable media.
STEP was defined and is supported by Parsons Technology, NavPress Software, Kirkbride Bible and Technology, Loizeaux Brothers, and others. Before STEP, Bible study programs could not read material published by vendors of a different program. Now, programs built on STEP can access material published in STEP format from any software developer or publisher.
StraighTrak is being published in STEP for use with LESSONmaker, the premiere small group leader's software tool. With LESSONmaker a teacher or small group leader can quickly prepare a custom Bible study for youth or adults on any Bible passage or topic.
Unlike other Bible software programs, LESSONmaker is designed specifically for small group discussion, making it the perfect platform for StraighTrak. NavPress Software was the first in the industry to provide a small group software tool in 1992.
The initial StraighTrak release of 200 lessons (volumes 1-20) with the LESSONmaker program will be available in summer 1997 for $69.95 on CD-ROM for Windows 95 or Windows 3.1. It will be available at Baptist Book Stores, selected Christian retailers, and NavPress Software.
The Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention assists local churches and believers to evangelize the world for Christ, develop believers, and grow churches by being the best worldwide provider of relevant, high quality, high value Christian products and services.
Owned and operated by the Southern Baptist Convention, the Baptist Sunday School Board in Nashville, Tennessee is among the world's largest publishers of religious materials, shipping out over 66,000,000 pieces of church literature annually. For more information, contact the Baptist Sunday School Board at 615-251-2303; 127 Ninth Avenue, North, Nashville, TN 37234; or www.BSSB.com or www.YouthScape.com.
NavPress Software, headquartered in Austin, Texas, is a leading electronic publisher of Bible study tools and reference works specializing in the needs of group Bible study. Its mission is to provide high-quality software that enhances spiritual growth and ministry by helping God's people study and communicate God's word more effectively and efficiently. Its products include WORDsearch, LESSONmaker, and a complete library of supporting electronic books. For more information, contact iExalt Electronic Publishing (the new name for NavPress Software) at 1-800-888-9898; 1934 Rutland Drive, Suite 500; Austin, TX 78758; or www.WORDsearchBible.com.
WORDsearch and LESSONmaker are trademarks of iExalt, inc. STEP and StraighTrak are trademarks are properties of their respective companies.
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Copyright ⌐ 2000 iExalt, inc. All rights reserved. Prices and packages are subject to change without notice. WORDsearch, LESSONmaker and STEP are registered trademarks of their respective companies.
This page last updated Friday, April 28, 2000.