My March column for Christian Computing Magazine came out today. In it I discuss the sad state of affairs for Bible software for Windows 8 and Windows RT. Of course older software should run on Windows 8 installed on an Intel compatible PC, but ARM versions of Windows RT won’t work with regular Windows software that ran just fine on Windows 7 and earlier.
The Bible app situation for Windows RT embarrasses Christian fans of the new platform. People who want to do serious Bible study on the new Microsoft mobile OS will have to settle for simple reading apps or go online for their advanced study to places like Logos’s Biblia (http://www.biblia.com) or My Study Bible’s online site (http://www.mystudybible.com). Yes I know there are other options, but none of them gives me what these two can. If I’m wrong, please let me know (@kapurcell on Twitter).
To update what I wrote in my article, I received an email from one major mobile Bible software app maker that they currently have a beta for Windows RT and it should show up soon. So stay tuned and I’ll share more as soon as I can. Not sure if I am at liberty to share about this beta yet.
Also, a link in my article had a typo. Biblia.com should read that instead of Biblical.com.
In this second episode of the Digital Bible Blast we cover a few things. Here are the show notes that go along with this episode.
Story One – Preaching Workflow
We cover the steps for writing sermons using a Mac and then getting those sermon notes on an iPad using the Pages app from Apple on the iPad. It amounts to writing in Pages on the Mac ($19.99) and then saving to iCloud and opening the sermon notes in Pages on the iPad ($9.99).
Laridian announced that they made PocketBible available on the Windows Phone platform. Get it for free and $6.99 for the advanced features.
Story Four – iOS Bible App Updates
A few Bible apps received updates. The biggest came from YouVersion which added support for iPhone 5′s larger screen and the inclusion of video clips from The Bible miniseries from History Channel, the Jesus film and the Lomo Project as well as the KJV included in the download. Other app updates include:
Olive Tree Bible
e-Sword
MantisBible
Story Five – More Logos News
Morris Proctor, the official Logos Bible Software trainer posted about the new features available in Logos 5 to coincide with the free barebones version of the Logos 5 engine becoming available for download. Check out the post to see what comes new in Logos 5.
They also started their March Madness campaign Vote for favorite authors and save money on books based on the outcome of the competition. They’re now in round 2 with a 30% discount.
Morris Proctor explains what’s new on Mar 4 on Logos Blog
Free engine update available
Beta has new Notes editing engine that should improve things a lot
The Sermon Starter Guide sits atop my list of favorite new features in Logos 5. Think of it as the Passage Guide but for preachers. The Sermon Starter Guide helps preachers combine middle steps study and sermon prep into one easy report. I say middle steps because preachers should never use this guide early in the study process. More on that later.
For people who haven’t used Logos before, think of the guides as a digital research assistant. I tell the guide to go look in my library for content related to a passage or a topic. For example, I preached this past week on 2 Timothy 1:8. I did a search on the passage and on the topics of fear, witness, evangelism and power.
Using the Sermon Starter Guide
Find the Sermon Starter Guide under the Guides menu.
Start a Sermon Starter guide report using the Guides menu
Now uses the Sermon Starter Guide to do one of two kinds of supported searches – passage and topic searches. While entering a passage might help if the preacher doesn’t understand his passage yet, I think the best start comes from entering the passage’s primary topic. Preachers should wait to do this until after they’ve studied the passage using the word study tools and the Exegetical Guide in Logos. Once that’s done, then do a topic or passage search using the Sermon Starter Guide.
For example, I ran a report on 2 Tim. 1:8 below.
The list of included data in a default Sermon Starter Guide shows the following:
Theme – shows themes from the chosen passage
Thematic Outline – an outline of topics related to the above themes with example texts, great for surveying what the Bible says about the topics in a chosen passage
Collections – searches the passage or topic in a predefined collection of works
Media Resources – visual resources related to the passage or topic
Commentaries – commentary entries about the passage
Outlines – outlines from books related to the passage like commentary outlines or Bible handbooks
Parallel Passages – cross references of the passage or topic
Topics – topcis related to the passage with references
Illustrations – sermon illustrations from illustration books
GraceMedia.com – media from the site useful only to those who subscribe
SermonAudio.com – audio sermons about this passage
Sermons.Logos.com – same as previous but text-based from Logos’ sermons database
SermonCentral.com – same as previous but from this site
Customizing Sermon Starter Guide
This guide works great, but not all of these entries work for everyone. That’s why I love that I can create a different set of default data sets using the Add button to include more along with the default. Also an X button shows up at the end of the list items to delete that particular guide data set. Click on the Sermon Guide menu in the upper left corner of the guide window and choose to Edit the content to make your own guide for future use.
From now on, run this edited version instead of the default version to get a sermon guide that helps you.
Good Exegesis by Doing Sermon Starter Guide Last
Before leaving this topic, let me suggest that you not jump on this Sermon Starter Guide at the beginning of your sermon prep. Do the basic exegesis of a passage by studying the words using an Inductive approach and then do word studies. The Exegetical Guide helps in this second step. Then stop and think about the ideas included in the passage and run your sermon guides on those topics first and then on the passage last. This workflow will help you become more biblical and not as tied to third-party tools.
To summarize, here’s how I’d use Logos in my sermon prep in order of steps from first to last.
Find a passage using search tools – search topics first or just enter passage if you already know the reference of a passage you want to preach
Delineate the passage by reading it repeatedly using the Passage Analysis Tool and the Pericope Set to show the first and last verse in passage sections according to editors of the various Bible translations
Use the Text Comparison Tool to read the text over and over in different versions and consult the Passage Analysis Tool again to compare translations
Do language study – some will translate from Greek or Hebrew while others will run Bible Word Studies on important words in the passage and/or using the Exegetical Guide and looking up words in dictionaries using the Power Lookup Tool
Keep notes along the way using a note attached to a reference, not a translation
Using the Sentence Diagram tool under Documents, create a structural diagram of the passage.
Determine the topic or theme of the passage (I’m a Big Idea preacher from the Haddon Robinson school so I like to come up withe the Big Idea at this point)
Search for these topics or themes using the Sermon Starter Guide reaching as much as needed in the various resources returned
Collect media resources for presentation
Come up with the outline of the text and translate that into an interesting contemporary preaching outline
Use info from the Sermon Starter Guide where it fits by doing the four kinds of sermon development (explain ideas, illustrate them, prove them and apply them)
Put it all together and then look over it to determine if the sermon points to the glory of God or instead pushes us to “do better” and fix it if it fits in the latter
I hope this helps you see where the Sermon Starter Guide fits in the sermon prep process.
I got ahold of a Google Nexus 7 Tablet and really enjoy using the Android 4.1 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet. The device comes with a 7-inch display that looks beautiful. Text shows up crisp and easy to read, except in bright light. The user interface runs smoothly, thanks to something Google called “butter” as in buttery smooth. The technology caches the OS display elements and they run quickly thanks to the fast Tegra 3 processor powering the Nexus 7 Tablet.
The tablet comes with either 8 or 16 GB of storage. For those who want to install a large Logos or Olive Tree library, get the 16GB for $50 more. I don’t install all of my books, just those I use a lot. You’ll need to connect to Wi-Fi to stream your content using a tool like Logos or the YouVersion Bible app that also streams some of the Bibles available. The Nexus 7 Tablet doesn’t offer a 3G version, a real weakness.
The main thing to consider is the size. The iPad gives us plenty of room, but also makes the tablet less mobile and heavier to hold as I read. I love the smaller 7-inch form factor. It feels more like holding a book. It’s more comfortable.
One weakness makes it a little less than perfect for preaching. I use my tablet to hold my notes. The iPad works better with the larger display. I write my sermons on a Mac, so, with Mountain Lion’s new iCloud tool, I can write using the Pages word processing app and save them in iCloud. The notes show up as soon as I open the Pages app on my iPad, simplifying my sync workflow.
If you’re scoring at home, the iPad wins for syncing and the workflow used to get preaching notes on the tablet. The Nexus 7 Tablet wins for size and form factor. Both look great, perform quickly and smoothly and function well. The Bible apps on the iPad have a slight edge over those available on the Nexus 7 Tablet and Android in general. But not enough to make that an obvious win for the iPad thanks to recent improvements to the best Bible apps. The size of the Nexus 7 Tablet trumps most of the iPad’s strength’s making me a Nexus 7 Tablet guy primarily and an iPad user for only a few occasional tasks, like preaching.
The new iPad is excellent for Digital Bible Study.
I picked up my new iPad from the FedEx shipping facility last Friday because I wanted to get it as soon as possible instead of waiting for them to deliver it late in the day. Immediately I opened the box and looked at the bright, crisp new screen. My first thought: this will be awesome for reading – the Bible, books, or anything.
Since Friday I’ve been able to use it for a few things and one of my favorite uses of the new iPad with the retina display is Bible study.
Compared to previous versions the new iPad is higher resolution and easier to read
In case you don’t know, the retina display on the new iPad has four times as many pixels than the earlier model. The resolution doubled both horizontally and vertically while the screen size remained the same. This means that each dot used to draw the screen is smaller and looking at the screen at normal reading distance they are imperceptible.
If you use your iPad for reading the Bible or Bible study resources, the new retinal display will help you see the text cleanly. It looks almost like you’re looking at paper.
The other benefits of the iPad for Bible study include long battery life, something it always had, and if you get one with 4G you can download content quicker. I don’t live near 4G, but if you do, this will make Bible apps that need an Internet connection much more useful. One of my favorite Bible apps is Logos. It lets you download books to your device so you can read them while offline. You cannot use the more advanced search functions without the Internet. Now, with a faster 4G radio you don’t have to wait as long to read your Bible or books.
If you already have an iPad and you’re pleased, don’t waste the money to upgrade. If you don’t have one, this one is worth the cost and then some. If you’re using another tablet, the iPad will be a big improvement. I don’t care which other tablet you’re using. None of them are as good as the iPad.
