Millennial’s Radical Prayer Journey Shakes Tech Industry With Popular New App
Read Time: 2 minutes 16 seconds
Tired of living a life a dark and empty life with what felt like no purpose, a 29-year-old used his journey of finding God through meditating on the Bible to shake the app industry. Alex Jones was raised in a Christian high school was baptized, confirmed and went to Mass every Sunday, but had no personal relationship with God.
Jones created the app “Hallow” and shares his inspiring journey on the app’s website. He says he started to read simple books on the Christian faith at its very core. “Aspects from these discussions and books resonated within me: arguments about free will, about faith, about love. I started to think that maybe this whole Christianity thing wasn’t all just a fairy-tale after all,” Jones says.
After reading about St. Thomas Aquinas, he started to ponder whether he could find a relationship with God too. It was through his desire for relationship that birthed the app, Hallow. He used what he was finding in his own prayer life, priests and faith leaders from different denominations to find different methods to find growing peace in God.
“And what we found was more than we ever could have expected. We found a world deep with history, experience and teaching going back thousands of years,” Jones says.
The principle behind the app, which has 3.75 million downloads so far, is to create a ‘personal retreat’ each morning in your home. Jones says their goal isn’t creating new ways to pray, but to bring the world’s contemplative prayer methods that already exist to the Christian faith today.
After the first year of launching, Hallow became the No. 1 Catholic App in App Stores and has now crossed 100 million prayers completed through the app in 150 countries.
There are prayers to begin your day with as well as a technique called ‘The Examen’ developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola a man born in Spain that founded the Jesuit order. Jones encourages people to ask the Holy Spirit for help, “to show you where God was present [in your day] and to guide us to the moments He wants to bring our attention to,” Jones says.
“Last, but certainly not least, is Lectio Divina—the first method of prayer we cover that directly incorporates the Bible,” Jones says. The goal of the prayer is to let go of your own agenda and open yourself up to God through the Bible.
Jones says his relationship with God has completely transformed. He is happier, at peace, joyful, thankful and has found a true friendship with God. “We joke, we laugh; He pushes me, He helps me,” Jones says.
In an interview with Fox News, Jones says the average user is 34 years old. “They’re struggling to sleep at night, but they want to stop scrolling through Instagram or TikTok and use their time differently,” Jones says.
Actor Mark Wahlberg uses the app and Jones says, “He and his wife use the app all the time, and they have been incredible partners.”
You can download the app in your app store and listen to meditations, reflections and sermons. {eoa}
Shelby Lindsay is an assistant editor for Charisma Media.
