Multi-faith, multimedia, multi-platform--that’s Odyssey Networks, and a new app the media organization has developed is mobilizing its message. Call on Faith, an inspirational app it launched in January, now has 10,000 subscribers. The Call on Faith app works on smart phones, the Nook reader, and the iPad.
Multiple channels provide short videos featuring spiritual leaders, prayers, and personal faith journeys. One channel, ON Page, is devoted to book coverage, and features short videos about books and authors. Launched in April, ON Page is looking for book trailers from publishers that will fit its inspirational multi-faith mission; recent featured books include Love Wins by Rob Bell (HarperOne, Mar.); The God Upgrade by Jamie Korngold (Jewish Lights, Mar.); and All that is Bitter and Sweet by Ashley Judd (Ballantine, April). ON Page runs publisher-produced videos, but it also produces its own videos, especially author interviews that it will do at no cost to the publisher. Publishers can contact communications director Mary Dickey, mdickey@odysseynetworks.org.
Odyssey Networks grew from the National Interfaith Cable Coalition, founded in 1987 by U.S. faith leaders concerned about televangelism scandals and the image of faith on television. It includes more than 100 member faith groups, faith-related organizations, and individuals, from the American Bible Society to Xaverian Missionaries. Odyssey’s mission includes the promotion of tolerance in a religiously plural culture and the enrichment of spiritual life. The Call on Faith app offers mobile spiritual enrichment. “It helps us reach that vast audience who are not practitioners of a formal religion, but who hunger for spiritual content to enhance their lives," Dickey said.
