For 75 years, Guideposts has inspired the world to believe—through magazines, books, devotionals and online articles and resources—that anything is possible with hope, faith, and prayer. Now our organization’s mission will continue in exciting new ways as we welcome an addition to the Guideposts family.
Guideposts has acquired the company that produces Abide, the world’s largest Christian meditation and prayer app. Working together, Guideposts and Abide, which launched in 2014, will have the ability to bring even more inspiring products and services to our audience.
“Look at all the channels that we have available today that can help Guideposts get to our North Star of a more hopeful world,” says Guideposts President and CEO John Temple. “We have new ways to bring people closer to God by meeting them where they are.”
Temple, who has been leading Guideposts since 2017, looks to the future of the organization in this acquisition, while also recognizing its unique origins. “When we think about 75 years of Guideposts and what that means, we go back to our founder, Norman Vincent Peale,” he says. “He was one of the first people trying to spread God’s grace and love through many channels.”
Peale famously reached his audience through magazines, radio, sermons, newspapers, and more, including the bestseller, The Power of Positive Thinking. In his early days as the pastor at Marble Collegiate Church, he would hit the streets of New York City to talk with people and listen to their stories. The use of personal stories to spread hope continues to be a pillar for Guideposts.
For Abide founders, Neil Ahlsten and Eric Tse (both former Google employees), this storytelling approach connects beautifully with Abide’s purpose: bringing people closer to God through technology. “In our research we learned 75 percent of Christians said they prayed daily,” said Ahlsten. “However, over half of them said they were not satisfied with the experience.”
With this in mind, Abide sought to use an audio app to make people’s daily prayers and meditations more enriching. Over the years they’ve created a successful spiritual space in the digital world.
“In this moment in time, we can help make these practices so effective that everyone around the world can do them,” Ahlsten says. Bringing people together to help them attain spiritual wellbeing, is why Temple and Ahlsten feel the organizations are divinely aligned. The two met four years ago at a prayer breakfast event and reconnected again in early 2021.
Within minutes, Temple said, the two were already brainstorming ways to merge their enthusiastic teams. They came back together at the exact right time for both companies.
“It’s just interesting the way things work out,” Temple said. “God works in mysterious ways and there are mysterious ways to this.”
Ahlsten also felt a touch of the divine during the acquisition. While out for a morning run one day, he listened to an Abide prayer on serving God. As he listened, he got a notification about the terms of the acquisition.
“It was so cool to be in that moment, praying to God on how to serve Him, and then getting that notification,” says Ahlsten. “Sometimes God speaks through digital.”
Together, Guideposts and Abide share the same powerful drive to use that digital space to improve the spiritual wellbeing of the world.
“The more people you have, the more channels you can get into, the more effective your impact will be,” says Ahlsten. “Abide and Guideposts together can accomplish more than we ever could on our own.”
“Hope is a team sport,” says Temple. “We really believe that together we can make a huge impact.”
As we welcome Abide to the Guideposts family —and as we reach and support more people across more formats, through print, audio, video, websites, newsletters, and more —we remember the sage advice of Norman Vincent Peale: “Pray big, believe big, act big!”
