Ever see those YouTube headlines from some popular creators that say, “I want to quit YouTube?” Marques Brownlee did it recently. I intentionally didn’t watch it because I hate these. But now I’m doing a blogger’s version of that same thing as I contemplate closing down Theotek and KevinPurcell.org.
The Origins of KevinPurcell.org and Theotek
My first post on KevinPurcell.org hit the web before 2015. Like way before. However, those original posts are gone. I checked the Internet Archive and found one from June 18, 2003. You can see that it’s pretty ugly and does not have great content.
At some time my site began to focus more on Bible software, church technology, and the Theotek YouTube show that I produced along with a few friends. That’s when my site took off and grew from dozens of hits per month to thousands of hits, sometimes on a single post.
The Theotek video blog and audio blog eventually died due to a lack of interest on the part of my friends and eventually me. Will it ever come back? I won’t say never.
The last post on KevinPurcell.org focused on deals for Logos Bible software. I became a Logos affiliate, which means I get a percentage of sales generated from my website and YouTube channel.
The Beginning of the End? Or Not! Closing Down Theotek
Unfortunately, I writing about Bible tech bored me as the market contracted and we lost BibleWorks and WORDsearch. Then Olive Tree and Accordance went stale with few updates. That left Logos for the exciting stuff. But I got tired of only covering Logos Bible Software. My attention often loses focus. Squirrel!
Last summer something significant happened. The Brushy Mountain Baptist Association in Wilkes Country, North Carolina called me to become their Director of Missions. If you’re not in Southern Baptist Life, think about area superintendents or bishops, but without much authority. I work with our 40 churches to help them strategize ways to reach their communities for Christ. I also support pastors as a kind of pastor to pastors. Add other strategic missions and evangelism and you get a Director of Missions, or as some call the position – Associational Missions Strategist.
This new position keeps me in my office more and allows for less freedom in how I organize my day. I don’t mind the new structure. I can still come and go as I need, but I feel responsible for being available to the churches. That means I’ve got less time to write here on this site. It’s not like there’s been a huge outcry of readers begging me to come back and get started again. So, I’ve done what most do. I focused on what calls for my attention louder and what pays the bills. This site doesn’t; it’s been a labor of love from the start.
What Does the Future Hold?
I won’t be closing down Theotek or KevinPurcell.org. However, it will look and taste different. Well, it won’t taste like anything which I guess is the same.
Now that I’ve created a workable rhythm in my work as a Director of Missions, I’ve considered putting more time into this site. However, I’m not excited about writing about Bible software, church technology, and similar subjects. My old partner, Church Tech Today covers that with a growing collection of experts who do a better job than me. Follow them for that sort of news and help.
What can you expect from Kevin Purcell and Theotek? I’m going to write about what excites me. A mix of subjects that I think will help people navigate the complex world of technology with a few detours through church life. I think eventually it will focus on what “Nerd Ministers” or church leaders might find interesting. When I do cover Bible software, it will focus on Logos and maybe occasionally other programs or apps if I find something interesting to share or review.
Join me along the way as this site moves in a slightly new direction. I’ll write a lot of the content on Fridays, my day off from the Association. But you’ll see it land usually at the beginning of the week. Videos on my YouTube channel might focus more on tech reviews or software reviews in general. So be sure to go over there and subscribe. You won’t see as many videos like the one above, but you will see some.
I agree that the Bible Software market has entered a new phase with Logos as the dominate product left standing. Not much to report on one company’s R & D.
What I do wonder if tech in ministry will shift. I have already made this comment on the Logos forums, I wonder if the PKM movement that draws on multiple platforms and aggregates it in tools like Readwise Reader and programmes like Obisidian will be more the future?
Add LLM tools and a student of the word is no longer locked into a homogeneous single platform, but can blend webpages, podcasts, articles, kindle highlights and of course Logos clippings,into one place for study, writing and sermon prep.
A potential indicator of this is that Readwise compatibility is one of the most voted on feature requests on Logos’ feedback site.
Anyhow, food for thought.
There is no telling what things like LLM or AI will do to Bible study and sermon prep. I’ve not used Readwise, but I just signed up for an account and downloaded the Safari extension. We’ll see if I actually use it. I used to use Instapaper, but quit after a short time. I prefer to use RSS feeds, but I’m old fashioned and miss Usenet Newsgroups.