iPad/Tablets

I have seen some times in which these devices have been used.

The congregation that I am a part of is actually pretty young in average age and very technologically savy, so we have a number of people that use their iPhones, iPads, and other devices in place of actual physical Bibles. I personally am old fashioned in regard to books, so I don’t use e-readers even though I have devices that could function that way. I just like the feeling of holding a book and turning the pages.

The person that I have seen use devices the most is my dad. He takes notes every Sunday directly into his iPad Mini. The Bible program that he uses allows him to be able to take notes in outline format while applying the points and topic directly into the verses being cited, so that he is able to find the various topics that the verses apply to. It also allows for uploading the outline and verse notes directly into the Bible program on his home computer.
My dad frequently leads the singing, and puts his notes on the topic being preached, the songs he selected, and any point he wants to make regarding the message from the song selections.
He also frequently preaches while the pastor is on vacation, in which case he stores his speaking notes on the iPad Mini while using a physical Bible for references.

At many Wednesday night meetings, the message given to us is done with the aid of a projector and PowerPoint.
For many years my pastor used an ancient (as in probably as old as me) and overhead slides to teach some lessons that he had done in the past. Many of us talked to him about using PowerPoint instead and saving himself the trouble of using those primitive systems. However, he always replied that he didn’t want to give up the ability to underline, circle, and use multiple colors in order to provide emphasis and connection for his thoughts in a easily understood visible way.
Then, someone provided him with a laptop that also doubles as a tablet. Since then, he has learned to work with PowerPoint while using the tablet’s ability to allow him to make marks like he used to.

My Pastor uses a tablet. I still preach from printed notes … I thought it was pretty funny the night his tablet battery died and he had to wing the rest of his sermon.

[TylerR]

My Pastor uses a tablet. I still preach from printed notes … I thought it was pretty funny the night his tablet battery died and he had to wing the rest of his sermon.

…and that is EXACTLY why I’d be afraid to take my laptop into a pulpit.

I am not in the ministry but I have an iPad mini and really like the PDF expert app. You can annotate and arrange folders in a lot of different ways and it is very user friendly. I just put Schaff’s church history on it for free and I can make notes or underline, even highlight. It’s great.

i also use Logos which is my favorite app.

Olive tree is nice and a cheaper way to get an inter linear than Logos. It also defines each word using strongs and it includes the concordance. Not to mention it parses each word for you.

pages is nice for writing short notes.

Lately I have been listening to iTunes’s a lot. There is an excellent church history from RTS that is probably at least fifty hours of audio. It is a free app.

I believe I’m paradoxical. I like using PowerPoint to augment my preaching, especially with teenagers. I have a mini-projector, and I preach from notes as I go through my PowerPoint slides. I record the sermon from my laptop through PowerPoint, then convert the whole thing to video and upload to our church YouTube and my own blog, along with a PDF of my sermon notes.

However, for study, I absolutely hate electronic resources. I have Logos Gold, and use it, but don’t love it. If there is a resource I particularly love on PDF, I’ll actually buy a hardbound copy for study. If it is just merely useful, I’ll keep it electronic and won’t bother to buy a paper copy.

For example, I bought the 10-vol set of Keil and Delitszch’s OT commentary, even though I have a free electronic version. I also recently picked up Schaff’s complete 8-vol History of the Christian Church for the same reason - even though I have it on Logos already.

I use modern technology for preaching, but am old-fashioned in my study habits. Greg Linscott, a while back, asked me whether I wrote my sermon notes with a quill pen …

Quill Pen? I don’t remember that! :)

At some point, it comes down to the realities of what you can afford, too. I could not bring myself to buy something in a hard copy I already had in a place like Logos or could access for free. I have better ways to spend that money- whether on other books, or my kids, who have this persistent demand for something they call food… It’s nice to have preferences, but sometimes we just don’t have the luxury of indulging all of them. We have to pick and choose. I often will use https://www.mnlinkgateway.org/ to have books sent to our local public library so I don’t have to buy them- just because I can’t afford to buy everything I want to read.

Greg mentioned limited funds. I’ve mentioned this before, but I am truly blessed by the GI Bill. I get school for free, but I also get money for housing I don’t really need, and separate allowance for books. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be buying expensive sets of books … !

You younger guys got it made. Back in the 90s the GI Bill paid tuition…maybe. It was a relatively small amount. I had to take out loans to pay for a local state school, and that was with a few scholarships that I eventually earned and the GI Bill.

Oh, and many Christian schools back then didn’t take the GI Bill since there were requirements, real or imagined, that the schools didn’t want to be beholden to. That’s one reason I went to a state school.

When I came in, they still had the old Montgomery GI Bill. I had the option to switch it over to the Post 9/11 GI Bill before I began using it, and I did. It is outrageously generous, and I actually feel like I don’t deserve the benefits it gives me.

I use the iPad for preaching. I charge mine every night, it easily lasts through 4ish hours of use on Sundays. I used to use my Kindle, but find the iPad much nicer.

I was in a seminar listening to Jim Berg and saw him use an app called iAnnotate. Very cool… I need to get a projector thingie for my iPad so I can use it. Allows you to mark up the screen while projecting an outline or chart. you can expand the image to zero in on one point… I would think that you might need to have a power source for extended use of this app, but that wouldn’t be hard to manage.

I’ve enjoyed adding to my repertoire for preaching. Hopefully it improves the communication. That’s the goal.

And for me, it eliminates the compulsive desire to save all my printed notes even though I have the Word files stored on my computer and on backups… leaves the shelf space for the books of others.

I forgot to mention ibooks. It is usually a little cheaper than Kindle and you can cut and paste out of it (which I believe you also can with Kindle) which is handy for a student or a pastor who wants to read a quote in his sermon.