Equipping every believer
to carry out the Great Commission.

Disciples are called to make disciples.

“… entrust these to faithful men who will be qualified to teach others as well.”2 Timothy 2:2 · AAB

Local believers are carrying that call to their own people.

They share the gospel in their own language with the people they already know, and those people reach others.

Meanwhile, ministries are doing media outreach campaigns to thousands every day.

But reaching someone is only the beginning.

Requests for prayer and conversation already outnumber the people available to answer them.

We're building tools to supercharge the Great Commission by better equipping locals to reach locals.

Turumba brings thousands of conversations into one inbox.

Messages from every app a person uses land in one place, each with its full history, and go to the right mentor.

  • WhatsApp
  • Messenger
  • SMS
  • Telegram
  • Email
  • Web chat
  • Discord
  • Matrix

Apologist AI can engage responders 24/7 to qualify genuine seekers.

Each ministry gives it a persona, an audience, its languages, and its own knowledge base, so it fits the mission it serves.

Seed Bible makes sharing Scripture and media one simple step.

One link shares the Bible along with videos or articles, with no download or login.

Sending a reference

  1. Look up the verse
  2. Copy it
  3. Send it to a friend
  4. Ask them to read it
  5. They find a Bible online or download an app
  6. Pick a translation they can read
  7. Find the book
  8. Find the chapter and verse
  9. Finally read it

Sending a Seed Bible link

YusufHere's what we talked about, with a short video on Isa's life.
Seed Bible playlist John 1:1–16 and a video on Isa’s life No download, no login Open the playlist
Karim, two days laterI've been reading about Isa's life! Let's do coffee soon?

This is a real playlist. Open it to see what Karim received.

Once it opens, a mentor or an AI guide can read with the person live, moving through the passage and highlighting as they go.

Each tool is in use today. Making them one seamless, cohesive solution is the work ahead.

“The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body … Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it.”1 Corinthians 12:12, 27 · AAB

Disciple-making movement partners are eager to connect locals with locals around the world.

A seeker found online needs a believer nearby to walk with them.

An example story: May's journey

An illustrative composite of a media-to-movement campaign in 2027, once the tools work as one.

  1. Step 1 · The campaign

    May messages the campaign at midnight.

    A ministry runs a video campaign in May’s city. May, nineteen, taps “Message us” and asks, “How could a man really claim to be God?” No one is awake to answer.

    May · WhatsApp · 12:04 amHow could a man really claim to be God?
    Jesus made that claim openly, and the Gospel of John begins with it. Would you like to read it?From the ministry’s library
    • TurumbaReceives her message on WhatsApp and starts the conversation’s record.
    • The Apologist ProjectAnswers right away from the ministry’s sources, and flags that she is genuinely seeking.

  2. Step 2 · The connection

    Nandar joins May’s conversation.

    Behind the scenes, Turumba matches May with Nandar, a believer from a DMM partner’s network who lives nearby and speaks her language. In the morning Nandar reads the whole conversation and writes to her in the same thread.

    Jesus made that claim openly, and the Gospel of John begins with it. Would you like to read it?

    Nandar joined · 8:10 am

    NandarGood morning, May. I’m Nandar. I read your question, and I’d love to look at it with you.
    • TurumbaMatches May with Nandar from DMM partner networks and gives Nandar the whole conversation.
    • The Apologist ProjectSummarizes the exchange for Nandar, then steps back.
    • DMM partnerSupplies the network of local believers Nandar belongs to.

  3. Step 3 · Scripture

    They open Scripture together.

    Nandar sends a playlist on who Jesus is: passages from John with short teaching videos between them. May taps the link and Nandar meets her inside it.

    Who is Jesus?seedbible.org · playlist · no download, no login
    Who is Jesus?Nandar is here
    1. John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
    2. Video · 3 minWho did Jesus say he was?
    NandarWhat do you notice in verse 1?
    • Seed BibleSends Scripture and teaching in one link, in May’s language, and lets Nandar meet her inside it.

  4. Step 4 · Discipleship

    May meets Nandar and joins a group.

    May finishes the playlist over the next week. Nandar meets her in person and invites her to a group that reads Scripture together on Thursdays.

    Who is Jesus?6 of 6 · finished
    There’s a group that reads together on Thursdays. Want to come with me?
    MayYes, I’d like that.
    • Seed BibleLets May keep reading on her own. With her consent, her reading helps Nandar decide when to follow up.
    • TurumbaKeeps the relationship’s history and reminds Nandar to follow up.
    • DMM partnerGathers new believers into groups that read and obey Scripture together.

  5. Step 5 · Multiplication

    May walks a friend through the same passages.

    Weeks later May’s friend Leah asks the same question. May sends her the playlist and reads it with her, with Nandar beside them.

    Who is Jesus?May, Leah, and Nandar
    1. John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
    MayThis is where it started for me. What do you notice?
    • Seed BibleLets May send the same playlist and meet Leah inside it.
    • TurumbaBrings Leah’s conversation to May and Nandar together.
    • The Apologist ProjectAnswers Leah’s questions when neither of them is available.

The same tools serve one believer, a church, or a global ministry.

These teams already serve ministries worldwide.

2M+
faith questions answered
The Apologist Project
92M+
Bible API requests since March 2026
AO Lab
50,000+
digital missionaries equipped through Turumba
Agelgel
195+
countries reached across the three teams
Combined

The three teams building it.

Agelgel + Digital for Jesus

Discipleship across channels and across time
The Turumba team in Ethiopia
The calling
To make sustained discipleship possible across the channels people already use, with a platform designed to grow alongside ministries and the people they serve.
In the field
Turumba began in Ethiopia in 2019 and has been shaped by seven years of ministry use. During the Ethiopian civil conflict it carried up to 150,000 messages a minute for over a year. By 2025, Agelgel had supported more than 50,000 digital missionaries through the platform. The current platform is a ground-up rebuild on modern architecture.
The platform
A unified inbox across SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger, email, and web chat; human-led conversation with AI fallback; a journey builder with milestone tracking; mentor management; ministry hierarchies from denomination to local church; and Seeker Intelligence, which reads each active pathway in real time to flag risk and surface the next best step.
Who is behind it
Agelgel is a separate Ethiopian organization led by Samson Usmael, bringing the engineering team and field experience behind Turumba. Digital for Jesus is the closely aligned, independently governed American arm of Agelgel's work, led by Marc Vergo. The two operate together as one ministry team around Turumba.
Organizational status
Digital for Jesus receives gifts through Allegro Organizational Solutions, a 501(c)(3). The coalition fund also supports the Turumba team.
What it unlocks
Turumba gives the wider system memory and coordination for human-led conversations with AI fallback. A person can be met on the channel they already use, a mentor can lead from the start, and AI can provide continuity only when no person is available.
Leadership
Samson Usmael
Samson Usmael
Founder, Agelgel

Digital Director at Great Commission Ministries Ethiopia. Roughly 15 years in digital missions, having trained thousands of online missionaries, and the founding vision behind Turumba.

Marc Vergo
Marc Vergo
Lead, Digital for Jesus

OneHope's Director of Decentralization. Leads US-side operations, partnerships, and the connective work between the Ethiopia team and the wider network.

Product snapshot

Turumba

One inbox for every channel a ministry already uses, with mentors leading conversations, AI covering the gaps, and every journey tracked from first message to local follow-up.

Channels
SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger, email, web chat
Model
Human-led with AI fallback
Built for
Denomination to local church hierarchies
Proven at
150,000 messages a minute, sustained for a year
Turumba's conversation inbox, with an unassigned WhatsApp thread, suggested replies, and a button for a mentor to take the conversation
One inbox for every thread. An unassigned conversation waits for a mentor to grab it, with suggested replies ready if no one is available
Turumba's delivery channels screen listing WhatsApp, SMS, Telegram, email, Messenger, Instagram, and TikTok connections with delivery rates
Every channel a ministry already uses, connected in one place, with delivery visible per channel
Turumba's faith journey pipeline showing people moving through touchpoint, engaged, active journey, and decision stages
The faith journey pipeline: who is at first touch, who is engaged, and who has reached a decision
Turumba's mentor match proposals, scored by language, maturity stage, availability, and shared interests, each awaiting human approval
Suggested mentor matches, scored on language, stage, and availability, and approved by a person
Turumba's seeker list showing each person's maturity stage, engagement level, and status
Every person, with their stage and engagement in view, so no one quietly goes cold
Turumba's growth metrics tracking prayer, Bible engagement, contribution, and testimonies across journeys
Growth measured as spiritual fruit: prayer, Bible engagement, serving, and testimonies

"The majority of innovation flows from industry back to the kingdom. Turumba flows the other way."Samson Usmael

The Apologist Project

Faithful answers that carry the relationship forward
Jake Carlson
Jake
Troy Michels
Troy
Steve Verleye
Steve
Christine Abernathy
Christine
Geryl Winterowd
Geryl

A distributed team of volunteers and part-time contributors across the United States and Asia Pacific, gathered through FaithTech.

The calling
To meet seekers at any hour, in any language, with thoughtful answers grounded in content and theology each ministry can confidently stand behind.
In the field
A mature platform, hardened by years of production use: over 2 million faith questions answered, 500,000+ gospel conversations, roughly 200 languages, 195+ countries.
The platform
The ministry controls the corpus. An agent can be grounded entirely in a ministry's own content, draw on a larger contributed corpus (Got Questions, Ligonier, Stand to Reason, BibleProject, and more), or blend the two. Responses cite the sources used, and agents can be configured for specific audiences, languages, and worldviews.
Who is behind it
Jake Carlson founded the organization and serves as president, with Troy Michels as head of operations and Steve Verleye as chairman of the board. The wider team of volunteers and part-time contributors, gathered largely through FaithTech, combines long technology careers with ministry and apologetics leadership.
Organizational status
The Apologist Project is a nonprofit organization.
What it unlocks
Ministries can offer trusted, contextualized answers at scale while keeping their theology, source material, voice, and audience strategy under their own control.
Leadership
Jake Carlson
Jake Carlson
President

A 25-year product and engineering career spanning startups, Oracle, and Apple. A missionary kid raised in China and a Colson Fellow, he has grown the project from prototype to a team of a dozen regular contributors.

Troy Michels
Troy Michels
Head of Operations

Seventeen years leading product teams from seed to Series C, now running the operations that keep dozens of ministry agents deployed and supported.

Steve Verleye
Steve Verleye
Chairman of the Board

Former COO of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview and an advisor to FaithTech, with C-suite experience bridging technology and nonprofit leadership.

Christine Abernathy
Christine Abernathy
Head of Developer Relations

Ten-plus years at Facebook/Meta, former Senior Director of Open Source and Director of Global Labs at FaithTech, active across Indigitous and Gloo.

Geryl Winterowd
Geryl Winterowd
Head of Advancement

Co-founder and COO of Guardian Financial Wealth Management, an investment advisor and fiduciary with a long project management track record.

Product snapshot

The Apologist Project

A configurable apologetics agent a ministry can deploy in its own voice, grounded in its own library, a shared contributed corpus, or both, with every answer citing its sources.

Questions answered
2M+ across 195+ countries
Languages
Roughly 200
Corpus
Ministry-owned, contributed, or blended
Deploys as
Web widget, app, or API
The apologist.ai chat interface inviting a seeker to ask anything about God, Jesus, or the Bible, with example questions and a translation selector
Where a seeker arrives: "Ask anything about God, Jesus, or the Bible," in their own language
A cited answer to the question of how a good God can allow evil, quoting Romans and referencing Got Questions
A hard question answered from Scripture and named sources, not from the model's own opinion
The end of an answer with related media from the Alisa Childers Podcast and Stand to Reason
Every answer points onward to real ministry content the seeker can keep exploring
The Apologist Project console, configuring an agent's name, domain, behavior, knowledge, and branding
A ministry configures its own agent: domain, behavior, knowledge, branding, and languages
Model selection screen showing economy, standard, and premium AI models with credit costs
The ministry chooses the model behind the agent, from economical to premium
Analytics dashboard showing evaluations, prompts, and searches over time
Usage analytics: evaluations, prompts, and searches over time

"The best Bible Q&A chatbot in existence."Shea Houdmann, president, Got Questions

Featuring content contributed by
Bible Project Stand to Reason Got Questions Reasons to Believe Apologetics Canada Ken Boa Reflections Discovery Institute

AO Lab

Enabling ministry in and through Scripture
Craig Bradley
Craig
Kallyn Gowdy
Kal
Ryan Cook
Ryan
Caleb
Caleb
Gabriel Souki
Gabriel
Amit Pant
Amit
Amir
Amir
Mazen
Mazen
Kushagra
Kushagra
Sujan Barman
Sujan

A fully distributed team working across Venezuela, Egypt, Pakistan, India, and the United States, with no single room to photograph.

The calling
To place the Word inside the conversations and communities where people already live, and to give believers everywhere Scripture infrastructure they can freely use, build on, and share. Freely received, freely given.
In the field
The Free Use Bible API provides open, free access to more than 1,200 translations in over 1,000 languages. It has handled more than 92 million requests since March 2026, and every month so far has set a new record.
The platform
Seed Bible is a real-time Scripture environment that opens from a link shared through whatever channel a group already uses, with instant participation. Ministries publish clear-labeled Bibles under their own name with their whole library indexed to chapter and verse; an AI guide or a live human can navigate, highlight, switch translations, and lead someone through the text in the same space. With the person's consent, Seed Bible can also show whether someone enters Scripture, continues reading, and remains engaged, turning Bible use into actionable ministry insight.
Who is behind it
Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, AO Lab is built by an international nonprofit team of developers and ministry builders spanning Venezuela, Egypt, Pakistan, India, and the United States.
Organizational status
AO Lab is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
What it unlocks
Scripture becomes a common meeting place and a measurable part of the relationship. A ministry can bring its own content, guide someone through the text, and understand whether that person is actually engaging with the Word. Connecting those consent-based engagement events back into Turumba and the wider pathway is part of the integration work ahead.
Leadership
Craig Bradley
Craig Bradley
Founder & Executive Director

Founded AO Lab in 2022 to give believers everywhere open Scripture infrastructure it can freely use, build on, and share.

Kallyn Gowdy
Kallyn Gowdy
Chief Technology Officer

Twelve years of engineering at Google and Microsoft, now architecting the API and real-time systems behind Seed Bible.

Ryan Cook
Ryan Cook
Head of Product

Leads product for Seed Bible, shaping how ministries publish their own Bibles and guide people through the text.

Product snapshot

AO Lab's real-time Scripture environment. It opens from a shared link, letting a human or AI guide navigate, highlight, and lead someone through the text in the same live view, with consent-based signals showing whether they keep reading.

Try it yourself at seedbible.org ↗

Translations
1,200+ via the Free Use Bible API
API traffic
92M+ requests since March 2026
Access
Open a link, join instantly, no account
Clear label
Ministry-branded Bibles with their library indexed to verse
A Seed Bible session in John 14 with a chat conversation open beside the passage
The conversation happens inside the passage, not somewhere else
Romans 10 shown side by side in English and Arabic with a verse highlighted in both
Any two translations in parallel, including right to left languages, with highlights carried across
A BibleProject video on the Ten Commandments playing inside Seed Bible, with Genesis, John, Romans, and Exodus passages open in the side rail
Video and teaching content plays in the same place as the text, with the passages still open alongside
Reading metrics dashboard showing chapters read, books, top chapters, and translations
Consent-based reading metrics: what is read, in which translation, and who keeps returning
A single-column Seed Bible reading view of John 1 with books, search, chat, and discover controls
Reading on its own, with the library, search, and chat one tap away

From pilots to every ministry.

We're raising funds to run the first integrated pilots and complete the build-out.

  1. 2026 to early 2027MVP integrated pilots with partner ministries.
  2. 2027The seamless build-out, shaped by what the pilots teach.
  3. 2028Extending it globally for any ministry to use.

Help sustain the tools local believers use.

We're seeking $2M a year for the three ministry teams and the integration and deployment work between them.

The floor

Sustain

$1.2M/yr

The hard need. It preserves current operations and existing commitments across all three ministry teams.

Our target

Accelerate

$2M/yr

Sustain, plus the next hires, infrastructure, and integration work the coalition needs to expand its reach.

The ceiling

Full Capacity

$3.2M/yr

Fully staffed and deployed, scaling into partners who have already committed verbally, including the 153 Collective.

A gift can be designated to a single ministry, and that designation will be honored. We are asking for something harder: give to the coalition, where gifts are shared equally among the three ministry teams. Each of us may receive less than we would have raised alone. We ask anyway, because the pathway fails if any one of the three teams does.

The coalition launched in September 2026. Those who join receive concise annual reports, published here at year end 2027, 2028, and 2029.

How funds are received: AO Lab, The Apologist Project, and Digital for Jesus each receive gifts directly. Coalition fund gifts for Turumba and the Ethiopian development team are received by AO Lab, a 501(c)(3), and passed through under a documented charitable arrangement.

What AO Lab takes for handling coalition funds: nothing. No percentage, no administrative fee, no cut of any kind. AO Lab absorbs the work of receiving and distributing these gifts as its contribution to the coalition.

How coalition funds are allocated: undesignated gifts are split equally three ways, between AO Lab, The Apologist Project, and the Turumba team. A ministry whose needs are met can return its share to the fund, and that share is divided between the other two. Marc Vergo serves as the coordinating decision-maker and holds the final determination if the three teams disagree.

When our needs are met: if all three ministries have their needs fully funded for the next eighteen months, we will ask donors to give to other causes rather than keep raising for ourselves.

How accountability is maintained: regular financial reporting, coalition milestones, field and deployment reporting, security and privacy review, partner feedback, and an annual review of priorities.

How each organization is protected: each keeps its own governance, board, and intellectual property. Private ministry content stays under ministry control, participation preserves brand and theological identity, and common standards keep data portable, so no ministry is locked in.

Theological reliability: each ministry selects its own sources and answers cite them. Scripture is served as written rather than generated, boundaries are configurable by the ministry, and questions outside those boundaries escalate to a person.

Human ministry at the center: people lead the relationship. AI responds only when no person is available, and hands the journey back as soon as someone joins.

Privacy and sensitivity: explicit consent, minimal data collection, anonymous access where possible, role-based permissions, local data control, secure and self-hosting options, and transparent retention.

Coalition health: written governance, defined responsibilities, named owners for each milestone, and clear funding agreements, so the work does not rest on goodwill alone.

Open, portable architecture: modular systems, open APIs, exportable data, self-hosting paths, and Scripture infrastructure that stays freely available to the whole body of Christ.

Honest measurement: metric definitions stated plainly, field evidence alongside the numbers, human verification, and a firm line between engagement, profession of faith, discipleship, and multiplication.

Give to the 4th Generation Missions fund.

Gifts here are received by AO Lab, a 501(c)(3), designated "4th Gen Missions." They are shared equally between AO Lab, The Apologist Project, and the Turumba team. AO Lab takes no cut of any kind.

Gifts of any size are welcome. To support one team instead, give to it directly:

Schedule a walkthrough with the coalition team.

Get in touch

Someone from the coalition will follow up.

Agelgel + Digital for JesusTurumba The Apologist ProjectApologist AI AO LabSeed Bible