For the last seven months or so, I have been trying to work only from my iPad.
Now, to let you know up front, I have not been able to completely do everything yet, but I can pretty much accomplish my basic requirements from my iPad.
As a pastor, this involves a lot. So, here is what I do each week and how I do it:
1) Sermon prep
Many hours of my week are devoted to sermon prep (and/or teaching prep). In order to do this, I use many books. What I have found, is that many of the commentaries I own, are already online. Take a quick look at www.studylight.org. There you will find Greek/Hebrew helps, dictionaries, encyclopedias, commentaries, and much more. It is a one stop shop ya’ll! How neat is that? That’s pretty neat!
I usually begin by opening up my YouVersion Bible app to my preaching/teaching passage, then open up Safari windows with all my helps. Finally, I open my word processor. For writing, I use Documents To Go Premium. I am sure there are better ones out there. Heck, I know there is. But, as a creature of habit, it is my go-to. It is for several reasons: it makes .doc files and syncs with Dropbox and other cloud apps. I have all my sermon files in Dropbox and sync to my desktop computer and iPhone. That’s when the magic takes place!
2) Sermon slides
I also make my own sermon slides each week. For this, I use several programs. First, I make my series graphics. I usually do this by finding a sweet background on Creation Swap, then pull it into my Over app or Phonto app to add titling. I save those and head on over to Keynote. There, I put my sermon points onto a Keynote presentation and take a screen shot of each slide. Finally, I upload those bad boys to a Dropbox folder I have synced with the iMac at the church that will play the slides in Pro Presenter. Voila! It is that simple, right? Sure…
3) Social Media/Blogging
I am probably too much into social media. I am kind of nerdy that way. I am on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Vine, Pinterest, Foursquare, now Pressgram and more! Crazy! My two biggest are Twitter and Facebook. For these, I use Tweetbot for iPad (and iPhone) and Facebook for my personal accounts. I also use Facebook Pages app to manage our church Facebook page and other pages.
I pretty much only blog from the iPad and iPhone now. I have tried apps, even paid for some, but still find myself back in the basic WordPress app. It works for me, and I have learned an itsy-bity bit of code, so I can get by. However, many times I will go to my desktop to proofread my posts. Who doesn’t love a good spell check, am I right? That saves us some embarrassment.
4) Teaching
I LOVE teaching from my iPad. This is one big reason I wanted to switch to iPad only. I asked the church to purchase AppleTV (which they graciously agreed), and since then my life has changed! It’s like the first time you pumped up your Reebok pumps or beat Super Mario 3. It was just that good. Most of my teaching is now done with a projector, WiFi, Keynote app, and my iPad. It really has changed so much for me. I do not preach from my iPad (I try not to use notes when I preach), but all my teaching is done on it.
Runner up: Music and Video
I listen to music constantly. I’m very close to wearing suspenders, skinny jeans, and black plastic rim glasses so I can look down my nose at you and tell you how refined I am. Kidding ya’ll. I have a Spotify Premium account and that is my go-to for all my music needs. I stream it all the time on my iPad!
I also enjoy making videos from time to time. They may be videos to use for youth talks, sermon starters, or most likely a sermon preview during the week to post to Youtube or Facebook. To do this I either use Instagram or iMovie. Both work well, it simply depends on what I need to do. This is all easily and quickly done on my iPad.
The iPad may be one of the greatest tools out there for pastors and ministers. I highly suggest thinking about investing in one, or begging the church to buy you one. Put one in your budget. It will help streamline many tasks you and I have each and every single week.
What about you?
Do you use your iPad in ministry?
How?
Any thing you would add to the list?
Anthony Svajda says
I use mine all the time as well.
That seems like a huge work around for all the presentation slides. I build a basic outline in evernote and do the presentation on my air once I have the bones.
Also, you should check out hootsuite for social media. It is great!
Paul Stohler says
Thanks! Yes, it is a lot, but I am trying to stay with my iPad only, so that’s why I keep it there. I have tried Hootsuite several times, and I am just not a huge fan… 🙁
Eric Dye says
I’m with you. I’ve tried it a lot too, but could never get into it—for whatever reason.
Paul says
I always liked the scheduling feature and multiple accounts back in the day, but I have been using Buffer for that. I think one of my hangups was the media URL shortening. The pics still do not preview in Tweetbot even today. It’s odd…
Eric Dye says
Yeah, I am loving the Buffer App, too. The shuffle feature is my fav.
Tim Baker says
I found that the iPad seemed to be made for Pastors! 😉 I do much of what you do only with different apps. I do most of my Sermon Prep through Evernote. I do my teaching notes using Prompster, which is a teleprompter so to speak, and I love it.
I have not found an easy way to make my slides with my iPad. We use Proclaim presentation software. I have not found a way to make my slides for it on my iPad. However, I can control the slides using my iPad as a remote. Which has at times functioned as my notes as I preach. Proclaim does not always work as it should so far. It has some bugs. I may start using my iPhone as the remote and the iPad for my notes, but who knows!
Somedays I hate juggling technology and Preaching. I can get caught up trying to get everything to work that I forget that Preaching needs to be Spirit lead, and fluid if he is leading me to go elsewhere.
Paul says
Thanks for the comment and the ideas. I also use Evernote, but mostly for the purposes of saving blog posts and ideas. I have not heard of those apps, but will have to check them out!
I agree that the technology can be overbearing sometimes. What frustrates me, is that I am usually the one adding it on myself!
Anthony says
I also use my iPad for a lot of my ministry needs, either teaching or preaching.
I start with Bible Gateway to read/study the passage. It also has some pretty good commentaries and dictionary.
I use Evernote clipper to clip things through out the internet that I find interesting and use Evernote as a repository for notes and other assets and to write the sermon or teaching notes.
For visuals I use keynote with visuals from CreationSwap or Haiku Deck, which has images that you search through and add text.
I have not yet purchased an Apple Tv so I connect my laptop to a projector and/or TV screen and use my laptop as remote.
iPad can almost do everything, but not quite yet.