It's not "magic" but it's evident that four (or more) times a week is the tipping point for positive, lasting life change. Check this out: Back to the Bible's Center for Bible Engagement conducted research in how, when and why people read their Bible and how it influences their lives. We found that people who engage in Bible reading four or more times a week experience life much differently than those who don't! The statistics show these Bible-engagers have a much higher level of health and stability despite the ongoing challenges of life. God's Word on a regular, frequent basis influences how you cope with money, relationships, crises, addictions, and behavior problems. We always knew that -- now we have scientific proof that God’s Word will change your life!

Powered by 4 (or P4) was developed based on that research. Taking in God's Word is the power; doing it 4 (or more) times a week is the plan! You commit to reading the Bible at least 4 times per week. And we commit to being your accountability partner, providing the readings, questions to ponder, and an opportunity to ask, discuss, and grow through our blogs and comments.

The goal is to read 4x a week...but you can always do 7 if you like. Or 5 or 3 or whatever. It's completely up to you!

Since we don't know which days you'll choose, P4 provides readings each day. If you want to use it Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Sunday…hey, it's there for you. If you want to mix it up...hey, it's still there for you.

Really, it's even totally okay to skip some if you get "behind" on your days. Maybe you want to combine some of the readings. It's really up to you. No one's keeping score or sentencing you to perdition for this. We just like to be a little orderly on our end and keep it coming.

Short? Who you calling short? Oh, wait...the readings. You could just as easily ask why they're too long? It's really a matter of perspective. Yes, they may tend to be shorter than what you're used to, but let's be a little flexible here. There's nothing more or less spiritual about how many verses you read at a time.

As we map out the readings, we ask a lot of questions: How do the verses fit together or split apart? Where does a story or conversation begin and end? Is there a question asked in one verse that needs to be answered in the next? Can we maintain the context? Does this set up a thought that needs to be finished? (And you thought we just pulled numbers out of a hat!) This is also why some readings overlap; you'll read the last verses again the next day because it helps with context or flow or sets up the next thought.

So some days you'll read 8-10 verses, another day a whole chapter (yes, you will, did you read 1 Samuel?). Occasionally it might mean breaking down a familiar passage just so you have to pay attention instead of skipping over what you think you already know.

Remember, the goal is not how much or how little you can read but to read, with understanding, and spend the time getting to know God and His Word.

Oh, this is a great question...which we will not answer.

Seriously, at P4 we have this funny notion that people are basically intelligent (after all, look how smart God the creator is) and can be trusted to figure out a few things for themselves. We provide some of the answers because we know it's not always easy to understand everything you read and a little help in the right direction can be good. But some questions are directed at your own experience: what you've seen or heard or done or learned. Frankly, we're just not able to answer that for you.

And come one, you know that if we answered them all, you--I mean, somebody else--would probably just read the question with the answer and think, "That's nice" and never really think for themselves. Yes, thinking...dangerous ground, I know, but there you have it. And what if you disagree with an answer? That's fine. Consider the blog and comment pages as a place to discuss those unanswered questions.

Instead, we want to empower you, not spoon-feed, to give you an opportunity to think, explore, discuss, consider, etc., and yes, to help you lean on the Holy Spirit to guide and direct as you read God's Word.

Oh, anybody can do that! In fact, lots of great reading programs will help you do just that. We even have a few here at Back to the Bible. It's a good and noble goal, but there are no extra gold stars on your chart for doing it. The goal in P4 is not just to read but to engage: to read and to think, to study a little, to ponder and explore what God says instead of racing through a big chunk and checking it off. So we include questions to consider; we post blogs and comments to open up the discussion further. Plus, if you were ever lost in Leviticus or Numbers as you read through the year, we hope you'll enjoy the variety of P4's readings. (WARNING: We probably will tackle Leviticus and Numbers, but we'll try to break it up to manageable sections when we do.)

Short answer. It's free. Long answer. We were given rights to use the ESV at no cost. And since it's such a solid translation, and very readable as well, we decided it was a great fit for Powered by 4.

We're so glad you asked! And good news--the answer is "most definitely yes." The scripture link in the daily email takes you to BibleGateway.com. And what a great site it is. If you look near the top of the page, you'll see a handy dandy drop-down menu set to the default translation, the English Standard Version. But hold on, because in that drop-down menu are enough translations to satisfy any taste. And, for all of you who prefer to read the Bible in Chinese or Spanish…yep, those are there too. So have fun with all the choices, and see how the Bible comes to life.

The designer in us decided the emails would be much too long, not to mention uncolorful & slightly cluttered, if we included the entire reading. Plus, when you visit BibleGateway.com to read the passage, you get to choose your favorite translation. And that should make us all smile.

We actually have a team of people who are involved with Powered by 4 in various ways. One of our writers designs the daily reading schedule as well as writes the accompanying questions. And, for those who may not know, the cool thing is that the P4 readings are in sync with the Back to the Bible program, so they are a great complement to each other. As far as the blog, our facilitator, Tami, writes all the daily blogs herself. There are also others on the team who facilitate in a number of areas (emails, website, blog moderating, etc).

Sure can. Just visit our archives page (sounds exciting doesn't it!) where you can print PDF's of all the Powered by 4 readings and questions since P4 was launched in January of 2008. Where are the archives? From poweredby4.org, click on the big button that says "Your Power Plan." On that page, you'll see the archives link.

First of all, we LOVE people who want to spread the word! And since P4 is equipping so many people to engage the Bible, we want to keep the excitement going. So, we created some special pages on the P4 website with all kinds of ideas and resources to help get the word out. Visit the P4 Movement & the special pastor's page to get started.

In addition, you can always forward the email to anyone you think might be interested so they can take a look for themselves!

Technology. It's love/hate relationship, isn't it? First, take a few deep breaths. Now, let's look at a few options.

a. It's possible when you subscribed that your email preferences were not saved. Don't worry. It's an easy fix. Just click on "My Account" at the top, log in, and look at your email subscriptions. If the little box by Powered by 4 is checked, you're subscribed. If it's not, check the box, then scroll down and click the "save" button. All done!

b. Email can be very finicky. Sometimes a junk mail folder or spam filter will snatch up emails that are deemed suspicious. If you find that to be the case, you can add the P4 email address to a safe list. That way, future emails will land in your inbox. The email address to add is: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

c. In the whole cyberspace world, there could be several other possibilities for emails misbehaving, so when in doubt, you can always contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it We'd be glad to help!

Some of you might be thinking...what video blogs? I haven't even seen the old video blogs. Well to catch you up to speed, Tami, the P4 facilitator, used to post video blogs for the viewing pleasure of the P4 family. And while they were cool, fun, helpful, encouraging (you name it), they were rather time intensive. So we took a survey to see what elements of P4 were the most useful, and lo and behold, the written blog was much more popular than the videos. What does this mean? It means Tami is now putting more of her time into the written blogs. She loves to interact back and forth with all of you, so we hope you won't shed too many tears over the beloved videos. You never know though, a video might pop up when you least expect it. Stay tuned...

One of our best, not-so-secret secrets is that we have new, and free, Bible studies for each weekday at bibleminute.org. You can search by topic and find a study for almost anything. Another way you can go deeper is with our Bible studies. Woodrow Kroll has put together some awesome studies on various books of the Bible. The studies are relevant for today and will lead you through questions and life application. Check them out in our online store.