The New Theotek is Back - Find Out Where You Can Listen

The day you’ve all been waiting for arrived this week with them new Theotek Podcast. I don’t know if it’s 2.0 or 3.0. In fact it might be the fifth iteration. But this time it’s better than ever, simpler, shorter, worth your time. Read on to find out how to find it, what you can expect from each episode, and who you’ll hear as you listen.

The new Theotek with Kevin and Rick!

Theotek: the New Format and Who’s Included

The original Podcast was a live video format on Google Hangouts that we then saved to YouTube. You can still watch those old podcasts on YouTube. Sort by date and you'll see the videos about 3 years ago.

We also did the podcasts in audio form here on this website and you could find it on Apple and other places. That’s now dead, but they are still available.

For the new Theotek, we're going all-in with an audio podcast. Will we ever go back to video? We'll see. If enough of you ask for it, then sure. We might. For now, it's all audio, and we're hosting it on Anchor.fm.

Now you’ll want to subscribe to the new podcast using many different platforms. Use one of these links below or search for the podcast by Title. If you do that, be careful not to select the old one. The old one is called "Theotek Podcast" with my name under the title, and it's not separated, so you'll see it as KevinPurcell. Don't subscribe to that one. Instead, look for just Theotek, and my name reads as "Kevin Purcell" separated.

This time around, there’s just a pair of us. I’m one host, and Rick Mansfield from Accordance Bible Software will join me. We will occasionally add some of our friends who helped us create the old Theotek Podcast.

Our Theotek Trailer from Anchor.fm.

Where to Find Theotek

Here’s the list of links to use to subscribe on your chosen platform:

• Anchor.fm
• Apple
• Breaker
• Google
• Pocket Casts
• Radio Public
• Spotify

Logos March Matchups Starts Today with Big Savings

I love March Madness. I used to find a set of NCAA basketball brackets and fill them out. Then I'd watch as many NCAA college basketball games as I could find time to watch. The Logos March Matchups comes along at the same time to promote Logos Bible Software.

Logos March Matchups promotes the software to customers with some deals on commentaries during the March Madness season. Logos started the promotion today, and you can start voting on which books you want to be discounted. By the way, the above link is an affiliate link. That means if you use it to buy books, then you'll help me out since Logos gives me a kickback.

https://youtu.be/7B847IGt6vA

How Logos March Matchups Works

You can participate and vote on what books they offer at the best prices. The College Basketball March Madness works like this: they rank teams in four sections from 1 to 16. The best teams are ranked 1 with the weaker teams ranked 16. Take four groups of 16 and you get 64.

Each group of sixteen plays a single-elimination tournament. The winner gets to compete in the Final Four. That's the four winners of the four 16-team tournaments.

Logos does the same, putting 64 commentary sets in a bracket. Instead of playing a game, they let people vote on which commentary sets they want to receive the steepest discount. Since they start with 64 sets, they pair them up in 32 polls in the first round. The sets that voters choose move on to the second round. In that round, Logos pairs 32 sets and 16 can win based on the votes of users. This continues to the third round with 16 teams, the fourth round with 8 teams, the final four, and the final pair. By the end, voters pick one commentary set to get the steepest discount.

Buyers get smaller discounts in the earlier rounds. The final winning commentary set will cost 60% less after March 22, the end of the tournament.

What Can Users Vote On?

Buyers can get the "Hall of Fame" commentary set, the New International Commentary on the Old and New Testament, for 40% off today. You don't have to wait for the end of the Logos March Matchups tournament. Here's how Logos describes this work:

This massive collection combines the available New International Commentary (NIC) volumes covering the books of the Old Testament and the New Testament to provide an exposition of Scripture that is thorough and abreast of modern scholarship, yet at the same time loyal to Scripture as the infallible Word of God. This conviction, shared by all contributors to New International Commentary (NIC), defines the goal of this ambitious series of commentaries.

The brackets for the Logos March Matchups tournament show the following commentary sets...

Here's my list of recommendations from each division of the brackets.

Division 1 - This section includes the New American Commentary series, my favorite set of commentaries. However, a lot of people like Word Biblical Commentary, so I think it may win the division. However, consider the Lexham Geographic Commentaries. Logos says, "The Lexham Geographic Commentaries deliver fresh insight by drawing attention to an often overlooked component of biblical stories—their geographical setting."

Division 2 - I expect that Evangelical Exegetical Commentary will win this division. It's a critical commentary written by and for Evangelicals. They focused on creating a digital tool. The other set that should challenge for the win is the Pillar New Testament Commentary. It's slightly less technical that some commentary sets making it a nice choice for preachers or teachers not doing scholarly work.

Division 3 - The New International Greek Testament Commentary Series should take this division. In fact I'll call it now.

Division 4 - Either the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary Collection or Anchor Yale Bible Commentary will take this part of the bracket. However, I'd prefer The IVP New Testament Commentary Series.

The final round should result in either Word or EEC winning it all. What do you think? Answer below to tell me what your favorite commentary is and which one you think will win it all.

Fans of Mobile Education and Verbum will also enjoy their own bracket.

What Do We Mean by Creative Digital Sermon Preparation?

We started this series on Creative Digital Sermon Preparation with an overview and introduction to the series. Now we take another look at the overall idea after hitting step one, prayerfully choosing a text. What do we mean by "Creative Digital Sermon Prep."

See our series on Creative Digital Sermon Preparation!

I assume readers understand what we mean by sermon preparation...

• Choosing a passage under God's direction.
• Studying the text using Inductive Bible study.
• Planning to present the message of that text.

Using digital tools for Bible study can save time and aids in creativity. We'll show you how.

That's sermon preparation. We add the term digital because we use digital tools instead of analog paper books and Bibles. This series covers the process of digital sermon prep using Logos Bible Software. We'll then take a stab at it with Accordance and Olive Tree and maybe some others. If you don't use Logos, what do you use? Comment below.

How do we prepare creatively? And then how do we present the message creatively? Here's what I mean by Creative Digital Sermon Preparation and Preaching.

https://youtu.be/Ly4pUNKoTgY

Creativity Pictured

Young Kevin sat in the auditorium listening to Pastor Bob Stiles preach. He couldn't wait to get out of there and eat lunch. Maybe mom would let them go to the Italian place with the great spaghetti and garlic sticks with butter sauce.

Can a Hershey's Kiss preach a sermon to a bored little boty?

"Everyone take out the Hershey's Kiss our ushers passed out before the service began," Pastor Stiles directed. Kevin already ate his. Mom looked at him, wondering where Kevin put his. Kevin looked up at her and smiled as innocently as he could.

"Why did that old man want me to eat a Hershey's Kiss? They're pretty good."

He enjoyed his 25 minutes earlier. Now he wished he had another.

"They say 'Big Things Come in Small Packages.' Remember that the next time you eat a Hershey's Kiss or any other small piece of chocolate candy," the pastor said, unwrapping a Kiss. "The tongue is tiny but can deliver a ton of pain when we say unkind words meant to stab at the heart of a loved one."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNGr1Aj6XOs&feature=emb_title

Just then, a video played on the screen showing a man building a fire while a narrator read the passage from James 3:1-12.

So too, though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts great things. Consider how a small fire sets ablaze a large forest.

(James 3:5, CSB)

For the first time, little Kevin paid attention to the sermon, at least during the sermon.

Kevin waited with his Uncle in line at the CVS staring at the candy.

A few days later, Kevin and his Uncle Mike stood in line at the CVS, waiting to pay for some medicine Uncle Mike needed for his bad back. Kevin looked at him, wondering, "Will he say, 'Yes?'" He did, and Kevin grabbed a small bag of 6 Hershey's Kisses from the rack below the checkout counter.

The 6-pack of Hershey Kisses never tempted Kevin till he heard that sermon.

He wanted Hershey's Kisses after the pastor mentioned them in church Sunday. After Uncle Mike paid, Kevin tore into the bag, unwrapped his first Kiss, and gobbled it up like a starving vagrant.

"Get your fat little brat out of the way," a heavyset older woman yelled at Kevin's Uncle. Did she mean him? He never really considered himself fat, but he was plump. The pain of her words pierced his heart.

Creative Digital Sermon Preparation in Biblical Hermeneutics

As we preach, the creative elements of the sermon make them memorable. In the fictitious example above, a sermon on James 3 grabbed little Kevin's mind. Days later, when he experienced what the pastor exemplified by his candy analogy, it meant more to Kevin. He learned thanks to Pastor Stiles's small object lesson on the potency of the tongue. Candy grabs a boy's attention more than eloquent speech.

A motion video of words from a Bible verse with sound instead of accenting the words grab attention more powerfully than reading the text from a paper Bible. A multi-sensory experience where the audience hears the message, sees the message, feels the massage, and even tastes the message, will tattoo itself to the heart more indelibly than a traditional spoken word.

Creativity in sermon preparation and delivery empowers the message as nothing else can. That's why we want to creatively study the word, looking for the multi-sensory aspects of the text, and take note of those examples so we can creatively reproduce them for our audiences.

Examples of Creative Digital Sermon Preparation for Communicating the the Bible

The Bible is rife with creativity and objects lessons. The Eden tree served as an object lesson of boundaries, commitment, and the temptation of Adam and Even. The flood taught Noah a lesson through an experience of all the senses as no sermon could. God used a dove to illustrate a message of waiting on God to act. The rich sensory experience of sacrifice stamped the idea of atonement on the Israelites' hearts as they smelled, heard, felt, saw, and in some cases tasted that atoning sacrifice.

Image by Dadion Gomez from Pixabay 

The Lord's Supper and Baptism are two of the most important worship rituals of the church. We experience them a rich multi-sensory experience that we will unlikely never forget. Who can't remember their own baptism as the water poured over the face and then dripped off a robe or t-shirt and shorts? We taste a tiny cup of juice or wine, depending on our traditions.

Baptism and the Lord's Supper were commanded by Christ for many reasons. I believe that he commanded us to do them in part as a means of indelibly stamping the truth on our hearts reinforced by the sense of taste, touch, smell, site, and hearing.

Find the Sensory Signals in Scripture and Communicate Using Senses

Expository preachers argue that we communicate the Scriptures' messages by letting the message of God's word direct our words as we preach. We don't bring our opinions into the Big Idea of the text. We let the words in the passage direct our main points and message.

Image by FotoRieth from Pixabay

I usually preach expository sermons. So, I support the idea of letting the text speak. However, I think we miss another way that the text should direct our message. Let the tone, sensory imagery, creativity, and word-picture of the text direct our presentation methods. A convicting message from a text will contain a more prophetic tone as we preach. A lighthearted story filled with humor should also contain humor. When a Psalm uses strong sensory images, the sermons should grab hold of those same or similar sensory images.

Spotting the art in Scripture becomes part of our preparation while we study a passage. Learn the Big Idea of a text and learn how the Bible communicates the Big Ideas by tickling our five senses.

Logos 9 Basic Now Available for Free - What's Included

Last fall, Faithlife released Logos 9 Bible Software, a powerful and complete Bible program useful to Biblical scholars, preachers, and teachers alike. Now they released Logos 9 Basic, the free version of the upgraded program.

When Logos releases a major new update, they wait for a few months before releasing the program's basic version with a diminished feature set. This month we finally saw that Logos 9 Basic version for free.

Logos 9 Basic Features Included

Here's what you get with the Logos 9 Basic version if you never downloaded a previous version of Logos. If you have an older version, you may already own some of the following.

• Reverse Interlinear Support
• Interactive Media
• Workflows that help you study the Bible in a systematic way
• Over 40 Books and Bible study tools
• Customizable Bible reading plans
• Customizable book reading plans
• Take notes with formatting and links to websites or other tools inside Logos
• Highlight books and the Bible
• Read devotionals
• Tie commentaries to the Bible displayed in the program
• ESV and Lexham English Bible Audio Bibles

Some of the books you get include Faithlife Study Bible, Charles Hodge's Systematic Theology, the Christian Standard Bible, and the Lexham English Bible. You can also use Easton's Bible Dictionary and Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary.

The total value of the free books included in the basic version hits a value of over $900.

Users can run Logos 9 on their Mac or Windows computers. It also syncs up with mobile devices running iOS or Android, including Amazon's Fire tablets.

If you need helps with Logos, then head over to their active forums full of users willing to help.

Discounts on Paid Packages

If you download and like Logos 9 Basic edition, then consider upgrading to one of the following packages. If you use my affiliate link, you'll help me out with the cost of hosting this website. The deals below run through February 2021.

Logos 9 Fundamentals with 5 Additional Books

You can get the following books with Logos 9 for only $50. That's half off the normal price of Logos 9 Fundamentals. The prices below are the normal cost if you bought them individually:

• A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Genesis $37.99
• The Atonement: In Its Relations to the Covenant, the Priesthood, the
• Intercession of Our Lord $ 9.99
• Studies in Theology $9.99
• How to Study the Bible for the Greatest Profit $12.99
• Spurgeon Commentary: 1 Peter $12.99

Library Expansion Sale

Faithlife offers a set of Library Expansion packages that help new users add more books at a discount. Again, using the link here gives me a little kickback to help defray the costs of hosting Theotek here and my YouTube Page and new Podcast.

What's Missing in the Basic Edition

With the paid versions of Logos 9, you'll get more books. For example, the Logos 9 Standard Versions add anywhere from 70 to 700 resources. You also will get more feature sets with the larger versions of Logos 9. You'll get some advanced preaching and ministry tools, 40 reverse interlinear Bibles for language study. Compare them on the Starter page.

Logos includes a lot of great visual tools like maps, visual ways of displaying information, and great interactive media.

Setapp Review: Worth the Cost to Get Dozens of Great Apps?

What if you could pay one fee and get access to dozens of great apps? That's what the Setapp subscription service offers. You pay monthly or yearly, and while you're paying, you can use any of the included services.

These kinds of bundles pop up on the Mac side, but Setapp is available all the time and keeps adding new apps that you can use all for one monthly fee.

Setapp made a name for itself because it doesn't just provide you with garbage apps no one wants from developers trying to make a name for themselves and can't get people to buy them. They don't offer old versions like those British computer magazines used to offer on a disk with the magazine I used to buy at Barnes and Noble. You actually get some established names too.

I subscribed months ago and used it to download some cool utilities and programs on my Mac and even my iPad. We'll look at the service and the apps and then decide if the price is right. We'll also list some of the best apps available.

See reviews of other tech products here on our site.

Video Review of Setapp

Here is my video review of the Setapp service from the Theotek YouTube Page. Go there and subscribe if you like this video.

https://youtu.be/azYJWwIH-ek

How Does Setapp Work?

Install Setapp on your Mac. There's a 7-day free trial offer to test it out. I wish they gave a longer trial, like 30 days.

Click the Setapp icon in the Menu Bar to show this window.

Run the app, and it puts an icon in your Menu Bar. You can click it, and you'll see a small popup window. This small window shows apps you can install, or you can open the full app. There's also a Settings icon in the lower right corner. Use it to close the app or change preferences.

Take a look at all the apps curated in Setapp and install the ones you might find useful. You can also get them on an iPhone or iPad.

The Setapp app looks a lot like the Mac App Store.

The apps install through the Setapp app, which looks like the Mac App Store. On the left side of the app, there's a list of categories. A slideshow at the top shows the recommended apps. In the main section of the window, users will see Recommended for you, New arrivals, and Recently updated.

To see all the apps installed, click on the On this Mac section on the upper left. The Favorites section shows apps you choose as your favorites by clicking on the heart icon next to an app title (see above). Setapp sets up Collections of apps based on the ways you might use apps.

Setapp Collections

When you find an app, you might want, click on the app icon to learn more about the app. You can install it from that screen or the previous screen.

Setapp User Interface: Favorites and Installing Apps

Install Apps on iOS

People who want to install apps on their iPhone or iPad can do so by going to the Available on iOS section at the bottom of the list on the left of the Setapp window.

From the iOS section, click on the iOS app button to install on your iPhone or iPad.

Let's say I want to install the 2Do app on my Mac and iPhone. Install it first on your Mac using the Install button next to the app title. Then you'll see the iOS app button with a checkmark in the button next to the Install button. Click it to install the app.

Click the iOS app button and you'll see the QR code ot scan with your iPhone.

Setapp shows you a QR code that links to the app in the iOS App Store. Use your phone's camera to scan the QR Code. After installing the app on your phone, click on the Next button on Setapp on your Mac. You'll see another QR Code that unlocks the app on iOS so you now own the app.

Value of the Setapp Service is in the Apps Available

The apps make Setapp worth $10/month or $9/month if you pay annually. I installed only a handful of apps on my Mac, but these apps' total cost if I bought them separately makes it worth the price. The 2Do app costs $50 alone. That's half the price of the subscription for a year. I also use Clean My Mac X, which costs $35/year in the app store or $90 for a one-time fee. Those two apps alone make it worth the cost for a year.

You have to factor in that you must pay every year. So some apps don't have subscriptions. You pay once and own it. If you only use those kinds of apps, then Setapp might not hold value for you.

I like that I can try out all the apps without paying extra. It's all you can eat. That's a good value.

I've discovered apps that I love, like News Explorer. It's an RSS reader, which curates news sites. I can open it and see my favorite blog headlines and open just those I care to read.

Setapp Categories

Setapp contains the following categories:

• All Apps
• Lifestyle
• Creativity
• Developer Tools
• Productivity
• Mac Hacks
• Writing & Blogging
• Education
• Maintenance
• Task Management
• Personal Finance
• Available on iOS

In the lists below, I mention the apps in one category even though some apps show up in multiple categories. For example, Gifox shows up in Lifestyle and Developer Tools. I only list it in the category where it best fits.

Lifestyle Apps Worth Downloading

News Explorer is a great RSS newsfeed reader for Mac.

Here's a list of some of my favorite Setapp Apps in Lifestyle:

• Canary Mail - one of the most popular Mac Email apps.
• Downie - download videos from video hosting sites.
• News Explorer - RSS feed reader mentioned above.
• Photolemur - a nice AI-powered photo editor.
• Swift Publisher - a powerful desktop publishing app.
• Touch Retouch - edit photos and remove distracting background people or objects in photos.

Creativity Apps to Look At

Use CleanMyMac X to clean up the junk that eats up your storage space.

Check out these great Creativity apps on Setapp:

• Cleanshot X - a great screen capture app.
• FotoMagico Pro - powerful slideshow creation tool that puts your photos into beautiful videos of photo slide shows.
• GlueMotion - create time lapse videos using your photos.

Developer Tools

I'm no developer but even I find a few of these useful. Give a look to these Setapp Developer Tools apps:

• Coherence X - turns a website into a Chrome web app, great for Google Chrome browser users who work on a Mac and a Chromebook.
• Gifox - records screen and saves it as an animated Gif.
• Marked - write in markdown code and see what it will look like on your website.

Best Productivity Apps on Setapp

For people trying to get some work done, try some of these Productivity apps.

• 2Do - powerful task manager.
• BusyCal - a great Calendar replacement that runs from the Menu Bar and supports natural language input.
• InstaCal - another great calendar app that runs from the Menu Bar. which I like but not as well as BusyCal, but you may disagree so try both out.
• PDF Search and PDF Pen - two great PDF tools that give you a little more than just using the Preview app for PDF reading, writing, and markup.

Great Mac Hacks Apps

Here's a list of my favorite Mac Hacks apps:

• Bartender - a popular tool to keep your Menu Bar from getting too cluttered.
• Jump Desktop - a great remote computer application, which lets you access another computer over the Internet from your mac and also lets you access the Mac on which you install Jump Desktop.

Writes will Love These Writing & Blogging Apps

Writers of long-form documents love the way Ulysses organizes content and makes it easy to write in a distraction-free environment.

Are you a writer or blogger? Then try out these great apps on Setapp:

• MarsEdit - turn your blog into a word processor so you can write offline and then upload after you get your text just right.
• Ulysses - one of the best long document editing tools that helps writers compose their books, screen plays, or other long documents.

Education Apps You'll Love in Setapp

Educators and students will find these apps useful:

• MarginNote - a powerful note taking and annotating tool with automation features that make it incredibly useful for students.
• MindNode - create mind maps to help you organize papers, thoughts, or just study topics.

Cool Maintenance Apps to Make Your Mac Work Better

You can speed up your Mac or make it work more efficiently with these tools:

• BetterTouchTool - lets you program the Touch Bar on your MacBook Pro.
• ClearVPN - a basic VPN client that wouldn't be my first choice, but since it's here for free to Setapp subscribers, I use it and works.
• iStatMenus - get more information about your machine with this little Menu Bar app.

Available on iOS

Install the following apps on your iPhone or iPad:

• 2Do - task manager for Mac and iOS.
• MindNode - great mind mapper for Mac and iOS.
• Ulysses - also runs on an iPad.

Conclusion and Recommendation

The last two categories (Task Management and Personal Finance apps) don't include any apps that weren't already mentioned in the other categories. That's why you don't see them listed above.

Setapp costs $9.99/month. If you buy the one-year subscription, you'll save $12 for the year. You can get a family subscription that lets you install Setapp on up to 4 machines. That might help if you own more than 2 Macs. People with two will pay an extra $2.49/month for the second Mac. Add an iOS device for $2.49/month.

Try Setapp for one month and see what apps you'll use. Then do the math to see if the subscription saves you money over a couple of years. The apps I use would cost me hundreds of dollars, so it's worth paying for 2 Macs and one iPad.

Setapp would be a better deal if the $19.99/month family deal applied to Macs and iOS devices. I'd buy that and install apps on my 2 Macs and my iPhone and iPad.

I like that they add new apps almost every month or two. This increases the value. I'd like to see video demos of the apps inside Setapp. However, the apps include a link to the developer's website. These sites usually show more information that you get inside Setapp.

Accordance Deals: 7 Perfect Price Points to Grow Your Library

If you're an Accordance Bible Software user, then be sure to head over to their website and take a look at their 7 price point Accordance deals to help you grow your library. You might already know about the sale since they send out an email to customers. But let's take a look at what's included in these 7 price points to help you decide what you might want to invest in for your Accordance Bible Software library.

I'm not getting any kickback or free content from Accordance for this post. These are some great commentaries, reference books, and tools that Accordance users should look at.

Accordance divided this wonderful list of Accordance Deals into 7 different price points, which they call Choose Your Savings. The deals start at $200 on the high end and falling to $0 for the cheapest set. See below for the books included in each price point with some info about my experience using some of these tools.

$200 Accordance Deals

The three commentary sets that cost about $200 includes one of my favorites. The New American Commentary looks at the text with the pastor and advanced Bible student in mind. It's also useful for scholars, with some technical detail in the treatment of each scripture passage.

As a brand new pastor in 1993, I began subscribing to this set in book form. Broadman & Holman sent me a new book every few months. This continued for years until they slowed down. Today, they're still missing a couple of volumes. The books missing include...

• Psalms 1-72 - no known release date
• Ephesians - projected release date of October 2022

NAC uses the NIV text. It's not too technical, so that most believers could make use of this excellent set.

The other sets included in this deal at $200 includes...

• SIL Exegetical Summary Series - gives a summary of how many different scholars treat a text. Students could begin with this and then jump to other commentaries based on what they find in this summary.
• Preacher's Outline and Sermon Bible - this commentary also includes a detailed outline of each passage. Buyers will get the commentary focusing on helping the preacher organize sermons with exegetical outlines of the text and suggestions for teaching the text. I often consult POSB when I'm struggling to outline the text or, after I'm done, to check my understanding.

$150 Accordance Deals

Bible Speaks Today - The commentary set focuses on making their commentaries understandable and readable while still covering the important details of the text. The resource helps teachers and preachers with applicable and understandable exposition. It's in my top 10 list of commentaries that I consult when I preach.

Reformed Expository Commentary - as the name suggests, this work takes a reformed approach. I'm not familiar with it since I don't own it and don't consider myself reformed. According to Accordance, the series is "accessible to both pastors and lay readers" with "exposition that gives careful attention to the biblical text" from a reformed, Christ-centered focus.

Mentor Commentary Bundle - like the Reformed Expository Commentary, I'm not familiar with this set. Accordance brags about the set holding to a "high view of Scripture and stays close to "orthodoxy while appreciating and learning from the latest theological research. This unique combination allows the reader to see what recent scholarly research has discovered without losing sight of the inerrancy of scripture."

$100 Accordance Deals

Old Testament and New Testament for Everyone - Accordance separates this set into two, so you're really paying $200 for both. However, this lets people buy one or the other if they prefer. The OT set is written by John Goldingay and covers every single passage of the OT with a simple explanation for the average person. This makes a nice devotional commentary that users can also consult as they teach a small group. The NT volume, written by NT Wright, includes his own translation of every passage in the NT. If focuses on relevance for today making it also a good devotional tool

Perspectives Series - think of this as an issues-based work with the debate over "the most challenging issues in biblical studies, theology, and pastoral ministry. You get a point-counterpoint style approach to the big issues, including things like Family Ministry, the Doctrine of God, the Sabbath, and Your Child's Education, to name a few.

$80 Accordance Deals

Lenski's Commentary on the New Testament - most of the time a commentary authored by one writer might not offer the best option. However, sometimes that one person did a great job and so you jump in. Lenski translated each passage and then covers it with a conservative viewpoint. He discusses the language and translation with great detail.

Barclay's New Daily Study Bible New Testament - people who want a devotional commentary with depth will enjoy this work. The updated version in this work helps this generation understand Barclay's illustrations and discussion.

Introduction to the Old Testament - four volume introduction to the OT. I'm not familiar with it, so take a look at the description of each work from Accordance.

$50 Accordance Deals

John Phillips OT and NT Exploring Commentaries - this work focuses on practical application in an accessible format for lay people and pastors alike. It's full of illustrations that teachers and preachers can use in their expositions. I haven't used it a lot, but do occasionally consult it for help in bringing a passage to life.

Gold Nuggets: Sermon Outlines - the Golden Nuggets comes from The Preacher's Goldmine, a monthly publication of outlines aimed at helping preachers. They organized them into annual collections and put them together in this resource in digital form with Accordance.

For Everyone Bible Study Guides by NT Wright - go through the New Testament using this Bible study guide, which uses inductive study to come to an understanding of the meaning and application of each passage in the NT. It's a great resource to get you started in preparing Bible study lessons for a small group.

Accordance Deals Under $40

Complete Word Study Dictionary of OT and NT - while I own many scholarly and detailed word study tools, I usually prefer to look at this work when I'm preparing my sermons and studies. That's because each word has plenty of cross references, that help the reader understand the Greek or Hebrew word translated in an Old or New Testament passage. It's advanced by not as technical as other lexicons. I use the other ones too, but start here.

Portable Seminary 2nd Edition - think of this as a seminary in one tool with content related to Bible surveys, theology, history, homiletics and more. Authors like my mentor Haddon Robinson as well as other contemporary writers help readers learn about how to lead the church today.

Handbook of Bible Application - this book organizes itself by topic aiming to help readers apply the scriptures to everyday life.

Hard Sayings of the Bible - tackle the tough issues in Scripture with this reference of 500+ difficult to understand passages.

Life Essentials Study Bible Notes - Gene Getz gets at the topics in this set of notes on topics and passages simply and accessibly. The goal is to support preachers and small group leaders or teachers who want to help their students and church members understand in a practical way how to live out the truths of Scripture. I love this set and own it now in three different forms and just bought it for Accordance too.

5 Free Abraham Lincoln Collection Books

Get five free books about the Great Emancipator. You'll get the following works:

• Abe Lincoln’s Anecdotes and Stories: “A Collection of the best stories told by Lincoln which made him famous as America’s best storyteller.” Compiled by R. D. Wordsworth in 1908.
• Abraham Lincoln’s Religion: By Madison C. Peters (1908)
• Lincoln’s Use of the Bible: By S. Tervena Jackson (1909)
• The Soul of Abraham Lincoln: By William E. Barton (1920)
• Abraham Lincoln: Was He a Christian?: By John E. Remsburg (1893)

Does Grammarly Improve Writing Enough to Justify $140/Year Subscription?

I recently discovered the writing service Grammarly. Grammarly runs on various platforms and analyzes writing for grammar, spelling, and style problems. You can use it for free and get spelling and punctuation assistance, or you can get advanced analysis by paying for a subscription. And it's not cheap! Is it worth the price?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAzZeZ9Ri2Y

Where Can You Use Grammarly?

Writers can run Grammarly wherever they write, so long as they use one of the supported platforms, which include:

• Microsoft Word Plug-in
• Browser Plug-in for Safari, Chrome, Firefox, or Microsoft Edge
• Web Application
• Desktop App for Mac and Windows
• Mobile Keyboard App for iOS and Android

Grammarly installs as a plug-in in Microsoft Word

When you install the Word plug-in, you write, and Grammarly offers corrections that you can easily click to change. The quick correction suggestions speed up my writing because I don't worry about going back to fix typos or errors until I finish typing a paragraph or more. Then I click a few times to fix things, thanks to the plug-in.

Open your Safari or Chrome browser, and you can correct as you type anywhere on the Internet. The extension checks your spelling, grammar, and style to help you write better. Grammarly helps when writing inside web forms or other places where there's usually no spell-checking or only rudimentary spell-checking. It's helped me with my writing in WordPress.

Grammarly Web App and Desktop or iPad App

Grammarly Web App User Interface

To use Grammarly as a web app, open the site and create a new document. You'll see three columns. The writing area on the left has a toolbar on the bottom for formatting text and paragraphs.

There's a narrow column called the Assistant on the right that shows your document's analysis. It tells you whether your document has any problems and how clear, engaging, and grammatically correct it rates your document.

When there's an error, Grammarly shows the correction in the center column. Users can click to fix things quickly without retyping text.

Grammarly as a Replacement Keyboard

• 

• 

  When you type the Grammarly keyboard shows mistakes.

• 

  You'll see the correction suggestion in the bottom after you tap the green G in the Grammarly keyboard.

The mobile keyboard on iOS or Android replaces the built-in keyboard. As a user types into a text entry box or a document, the keyboard analyzes the words typed and offers to correct them in real-time. The keyboard includes things like slide to an insertion point by pressing and holding on the space bar, like the built-in iOS keyboard. I can't say if the Android keyboard does this since I've not tried it.

Value and Recommendation

Grammarly is a subscription service with three tiers.

• Free - The free version works in all the various apps and services listed above. Still, it only shows you spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors.
• Premium - Premium enhances the analysis to include writing style for multiple audiences and settings. Imagine an editor helping with more than simple errors to improvise your writing style.
• Business - The Business level subscription adds more features for a team of users.

How much does each level cost? Here's the breakdown:

• Premium Monthly - $29.95
• Premium Quarterly - $19.98 for 3 months = $59.94
• Premium Annually - $11.66 for 12 months = $139.92

The Business Plan changes in price depending on the number of users. If you pay monthly, the company charges $25/month for each member. However, if you pay annually, you get a discount as follows:

• 3 to 9 members — $12.50/member/month
• 10 to 49 members — $12.08/member/month
• 50 to 149 members — $11.67/member/month

The best recommendation I can give you is this: I bought Grammarly for one year. It really helps me with my poor typing skills. I use it as my primary keyboard on my iPad and iPhone. I installed the Word plugin and used it in Safari on my MacBook Pro and Edge on my Windows desktop.

The price seems steep. After telling a friend that I bought the subscription, I learned about something similar called Antidote. He uses it, and it costs half as much. They offer a free version, too, so give it a try before paying for Grammarly. You may get a better deal than I got with Grammarly. If you don't like it, give Grammarly a try. I decided it was worth the price to speed up my typing and protect me from making as many mistakes.

Ways to Make Logos Work Like Wordsearch

Jumping from Wordsearch Bible Software to new owner Faithlife's Logos 9 proves difficult for some users who don't have time to learn all the complex and powerful features available in Logos. We'll look at XXX ways to make Logos work like Wordsearch. This will help users make the Logos feel more familiar for Wordsearch users.

The Library in Wordsearch was easy to use, but you can find the same feature in Logos.

Take advantage of these tricks, but also work to learn the more advanced features in Logos to get the most out of the program. Don't take the keys to your new Ford F250 and drive it like a VW Beetle. Learn more about the features of Logos 9 so you can become more effective in using your new software.

If you didn't upgrade to Logos 9 when it shipped last fall, consider it. Logos gave Wordsearch users version 8 for free but wanted to grab some money from their new customers. It' might be worth adding one of the cheaper base packages.

Use Layouts to Make Logos Work Like Wordsearch

Both Logos and Wordsearch include a feature to set up a desktop layout so you can quickly get to work after opening the program. You can make Logos work like Wordsearch by creating a Layout that mimics the features of Wordsearch.

Open Logos and start with an empty layout. Logos 9 has a button in the upper right corner of the toolbar that closes everything with one click. Hit that button and you're ready to get started (see image below).

Many Wordsearch users like the Library pane that shows up on the left-hand side of the window. So, find your Library button on the toolbar and click and drag it to the left-hand edge of the empty layout (step one below).

Follow the Steps below.

There's a drop-down button in the Library window toolbar (step 2 below). If you click it, it will show three views:

• Cover View
• Title View
• Details View

You want the Details View. Choose that and it will show all of your books in a long list. Now you want to use the Facet menu (three horizontal lines next to the Find resources search box; step 3 in image above). Click the Facet menu and you can now click on the Type Facet to see your library grouped by the type of book, like Bible, Bible Commentary, and more. This works like Wordsearch's library book folders for each kind of book.

Resize the window to make it smaller, but not so small that you can no longer see the Facet menu.

Find your favorite Bible and open it by dragging it from the library to the space just right of the Library window. Then grab any other book you want to place it on the right.

Saving Your New Layout to Make Logos Work Like Wordsearch

We want to save this layout so you can use it quickly and easily. Click on the Layout button in the upper right corner next to the Close All button we used above (see step one below). The first item listed in the right column of the drop-down list shows a link that reads Save as named layout (see image above). Click that and a box opens for you to type a new name. I typed Wordsearch. Hit enter.

You can tweak your layout as you use it. Each time you change something.

• Open the layout drop-down as you did above (step one above).
• Then right-click on the thumbnail (step two above).
• Choose Update to current snapshot (step three above).

The layout's not the same as Wordsearch and you can't easily turn the Library window on and off as you can in Wordsearch. But you can set things up this way temporarily while you get used to Logos. After you do, close this window and just use the drop-down Library from the button on the toolbar.

Copy Bible Verses Replaces ZipScript to Make Logos Work Like Wordsearch

Fans of Wordsearch used ZipScript to quickly insert Bible passages into other programs like Microsoft Word. It ran in the Windows system tray (see above). Click the little icon and enter the passage (see below).

Logos doesn't offer a separate app like ZipScript, but you can use what they call Copy Bible Verses. In the layout I created above, I placed the Copy Bible Verses window on the right. Open it from the Passages section of the Tools menu.

Using the Copy Bible Verses is easy to start, but it can do some powerful things. Here's what I did to make it work best for me.

I start by selecting the Bible verses I want to copy to Microsoft Word. Then, in the Copy Bible Verses window, I make sure to select three things at the to; of the window just below the text entry box. You'll see three hyperlinks that behave like drop-down boxes.

1. Set the format of the text you copy.
2. Select the translation of the verses you wish to copy.
3. Select the destination of the verses.

The destinations available will depend on what operating system you're using. Click the link and see what you can use on your computer.

Formatting in Copy Bible Verses

Logos ships with a bunch of formats preset for you to pick. However, at the bottom of the pop-up formatting box, you see an option to Create a new style. I created a style that I like my Bible quotations to use when I paste them into Word. There's a lot of ways to customize your style and Logos offers help in figuring it all out. This link will open the Help page inside Logos for creating new styles if you have Logos installed. As the help page instructs, start with an existing style and edit it to look the way you want.

Using tags users can create their own formatting style, but use the built-in styles to gets started. It's much easier to edit a style than to create one from scratch.

I created a style that makes text a shade of red, 14 point Helvetica type, and spaced with space above and below each paragraph.

Users can choose to insert the text automatically or just copy it to the clipboard and then paste it manually. If you copy and paste it automatically, it chooses the most recently used document in the program you choose to paste to from the menu.

Select a style most like what you want your text to resemble. Right-click on that style from the formatting drop-down box and choose Edit Style. At the top give a new style a name by clicking on the current style name. When you get the style to look the way you want, then click on Save. Thanks to the Logos syncing feature, it will show up any time you click the link to display the drop-down box on this and any other computer with your copy of Logos installed.

Set Up Parallel Bibles to Make Logos Work Like Wordsearch

If you opened more than one translation to show parallel Bibles in Wordsearch you can take advantage of that feature in Logos. Here's how to do it.

Open Text Comparison from the Tools Menu to get a capable Parallel Bible features.

Logos calls this feature the Text Comparison Tool and you open it from the Tools menu. The tool displays text in a few different ways. First, you can put in columns using the menu button at the right end of the window's toolbar. It looks like 3 vertical dots (see above). Choose from the following display options:

• Automatic Layout - switches between horizontal and vertical layouts based on window size
• Horizontal Layout - puts your Bibles in columns like a traditional parallel Bible
• Vertical Layout - puts them on successive lines with an option o show them in Interlinear mode or Verses mode (see the drop-down box in the image below).

You'll also see options on the menu to show differences or not. The image above shows the blue text. That indicates how the translations differ from the first column's translation.

You can either view Vertical Layout in Verse mode or Interlinear mode as displayed above.

Also, notice the hyperlinked translation abbreviations. Click those to change which translations show up in your Text Comparison window.

Logos includes a feature that compares to most of the features found in Wordsearch. Not everything will make it into Logos nor will all of your books. However, I think you'll find that Logos will meet your needs if you take the time to learn them. Until you get skilled at studying the Bible in Logos, you can use the above tips to help make it a little more friendly.

Logos Bible Software Bought Wordsearch. What does it mean for me?

In case you didn't know, the publishers of Logos Bible Software and Proclaim Worship Software, Faithlife, bought Wordsearch Bible Software from LifeWay, the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. I shared a little about it here and at ChurchTechToday.com, where I sometimes write.

When we face significant changes, we feel afraid and wonder what will happen and how will it affect us. Those feelings will affect Wordsearch customers more than Logos customers. However, it will also offer some positive changes. We'll look at both the negatives and the positives and then consider the future of Bible software.

Simplicity and Comfort with Wordsearch for Users

People who used Wordsearch for a long time liked that they could collect a large library of excellent Bible study tools and ministry books from excellent publishers. Wordsearch produced a lot of great digital content for their software users. Wordsearch also presented those excellent tools in a simple, familiar format. The program added features and changed the way it looked over time, but it always had a look that reminded us of Windows Explorer or macOS Finder. The list of content showed up in easy to recognize folders along the left, while the content showed up on the right. You could display a Bible in one window, a commentary in another, and notes in a third. It all made sense.

Moving from Wordsearch to another program felt more jarring than most moves because the other high-powered windows software looked very different. At least Accordance had the library list on the left. Logos hid their library in a drop-down list that you could open as a window and put on the left, but it took some work to set up a familiar layout that Wordsearch users would consider familiar.

Disappearing ZipScript; Gone But Not Forgotten

ZipScript appealed to Wordsearch users and many of those trying to jump to Logos, the new Wordsearch overlords, experience consternation at seeing it go away when the program stops working. Understand that the deadline won't come anytime soon. But one day it will quit.

ZipScript sat in the Windows Taskbar Ready anytime.

ZipScript ran in the background and grabbed scripture from a chosen Bible from the Wordsearch library. Users could quickly paste it into a Word document or some other text editor or even a website. It worked simply and elegantly.

ZipScript let you quickly insert Bible text into any document.

Logos has something similar in the Copy Bible Verse tool, but you have to open Logos to get at it. We'll show you how to use Copy Bible Verses in Logos below.

And that leads me to some hope for Wordsearch users. You can do most of what you really love in Logos or some other third-party application. It will take some time and training to get the most out of it. So let's look at the hopeful side of the buyout of Wordsearch by Faithlife.

Reasons for Hope for Both Logos and Wordsearch Bible Software Users

Logos users will experience the most hopefulness with the purchase of Wordsearch. Users now can access a large library of books and tools not available before in Logos.

The Complete Biblical Library includes a commentary and some language study tools to name a few resources. Logos didn't offer this package until now. Wordsearch and Accordance did. That's just one of the hundreds of books Logos users can now buy and use. More will become available as they finish converting the digital files into Logos book formats.

Wordsearch users will also get access to a lot of resources that weren't available to them before. Both customer bases could buy thousands of Bibles, commentaries, reference books, and other titles. Now they can get even more.

In addition to more books, Wordsearch users willing to take the time to learn how to use the powerful and complex features in Logos 9 will discover that their new program is more like owning an aircraft carrier than a 400-foot luxury yacht. Both float in the water and both will get you across the Pacific Ocean, but one can do it in a simple familiar way while the other feels more like a highly technical piece of machinery ready to attack any task with skill and advanced expertise like nothing else in existence. I think Accordance would disagree with that last bit. It's similarly powerful, but I hope you get the meaning of my flawed analogy.

I recommend that Wordsearch users patiently take the time to learn to use Logos. Here are a few ways to help...

• Logos Support Page has plenty of training
• Logos community forums is full of helpful users
• Check out one of the advanced training schools online like Morris Proctor and LearnLogos
• Visit Theotek here and on YouTube
• Take time to look around the software
• Open Wordsearch and Logos at the same time and take a look at what you love about Wordsearch and try to mimic that capability inside Logos
• Take a look at other Bible software like Accordance, Olive Tree, e-Sword, PocketBible and more.
• Keep using Wordsearch until you can't

The last recommendation above is important. Just because you won't likely get any software updates in the future from Logos, the program will probably keep running fine until Microsoft updates Windows and breaks it. If that happens, then don't upgrade windows. I'm guessing you can keep using Wordsearch for at least another year or more. That might extend for years, especially if you don't mind staying on current versions of Windows. Eventually, however, it will shut down and you'll have to move on.

The Future of Bible Software

Where will the Bible software community end up in a couple of years or longer? That's a hard question to answer and I've never been a good prognosticator. I thought Covid would last a few weeks at most. But let's give it a try.

Bible software is both expanding and contracting at the same time. Over at ChurchTechToday.com my editor, Lauren Hunter, wrote about the future of Bible software quoting Rick Meyers, the generous creator of e-Sword. He said...

 “This same decade has seen new Bible software companies emerge who are embracing these new hardware/platform changes. So, in the decade which saw WORDsearch first sold to LifeWay, and now to Faithlife, we have seen the rise of YouVersion. One generation of programmers hands off the baton to the next generation of programmers; meanwhile, God’s Word remains as popular as ever.”

I agree. We see more options for quality Bible software. At the same time, we now have fewer options for the advanced Bible study needed for academic Bible study or translating the Bible into more languages on the mission field.

With that, I think that Bible software companies that offer a strong online presence will win in the long run. And that means Logos. They are the only advanced Bible study option that works on all platforms including...

• Windows
• Mac
• iPhone
• iPad
• Android
• Online
• Chromebooks
• Kindle

Others work on many of those like Olive Tree, but they don't offer a website for Bible study. Accordance is in the same boat.

Some of the best online sites work great in a desktop browser, but not as well on mobile. Some of those show up as apps in the app store, but not all.

With the contraction of the number of powerful programs, it may seem like Bible software is in trouble. However, the big names are strong and not going anywhere soon. So, I'm hopeful.

The 4 Best Camera Styles for Streaming Church Services Live in 2021

When churches shut down due to Covid-19 we looked at the 4 best camera styles for streaming church services. It's almost a year later and time to update that for 2021.

In a previous post about streaming church services live, we looked at the best way to stream with an iPhone or Android phone. To offer a professional live stream of your church's worship service, you'll want a dedicated camera instead of a phone. In this post, we'll look at picking the right camera for your needs. Again, a phone might fit your budget, but this time we're assuming you want something that creates better quality for streaming church services.

What's the best camera for streaming church services live?

Here are the other posts in this series:

• Streaming Church Services Live from a Phone Made Simple
• Streaming Church Services Live Using Facebook or YouTube Apps or Pages
• 7 Best Tools for Streaming Church Services
• Streaming Church Services Life and Cheap

What Kind of Camera Should You Use for Streaming Church Services?

People can pick from a few different kinds of cameras aside from their phone camera. Most people think of a webcam when they think of live streaming. However, webcams only work if you're streaming yourself sitting at a desk or in a room close to the camera. The quality of the image that a webcam produces usually won't compare to a dedicated camera. The camera, if it zooms, usually uses digital zoom, which looks bad. You'll have to put the camera very close to the pulpit and it will distract the people from attending the stream. Don't use a webcam for streaming church services live.

The best options include the following styles of cameras:

• A video camera or camcorder with at least 720p resolution that also has an HDMI output that shows the live view of the camera video.
• A DSLR or mirrorless camera that also offers a live output of the video of the camera.
• A PTZ IP Streaming Camera that you can connect over an Ethernet cable and offers remote control of the panning and zooming of the camera lens.

A PTZ camera like this one from AIDA streams over a network. You can connect it anywhere that you can wire it to a network and run cable a long distance.

Let's take a look at some options for each kind of camera.

Video Camera or Camcorder

Before cameras on smartphones got so good, most people owned a camcorder or video camera. Basic consumer-grade camcorders made in the last few years will offer a 1080p or even a 4K video option. You can spend as little as $250 for a very good Canon camcorder that offers HDMI output and a live view of the image. B&H Photo has a few ranging in price from $250 to $2000 depending on your church's budget. The cheapest option, the Canon VIXIA HF R800 Camcorder offers the following features needed for a good streaming camcorder.

This Canon VIXIA HF R800 Camcorder doesn't break the bank and work great in medium to small sanctuaries.

• Optical Image Stabilization - less wiggle as the camera operator movies it from side to side.
• HD Video - 1080p is the sweet spot, but lower quality 720p usually looks good enough and high-quality 4K video may offer too much making it harder to stream on a slower network. This camera offers 1080p which gives your viewers good image quality.
• 32X Optical Zoom - avoid using digital zoom because it gets closer to the subject, but looks horrible. The optical zoom looks much better. If your camera has a digital zoom, turn it off in settings.
• Powered via Power Adapter - you want to plug it into the wall so you don't have to worry about your battery running out. If you do this remove the battery so you don't ruin it by keeping it plugged in. That way you can still use the camera for recording video outside of the sanctuary.
• Mic Input - the camera comes with a mic input if you need to use it in other situations outside of streaming your worship service. While streaming church services, you'll get sound from the soundboard going into the computer.

Consider a Higher-quality 4K Camcorder

The above Canon camera gives users an adequate option, but if you want 4K streaming you'll have to find another camera. The Canon VIXIA HF G50 4K Camcorder (seen below) gives a higher resolution but costs 4 times as much. But you'll get a much better image. It will also require higher bandwidth, so make sure your Internet connection is fast upstream as well as downstream and can handle streaming church services in 4K.

Despite the higher price, the HF G50 cuts the optical zoom by a third. That means you won't get as close to the people on stage while recording from the same spot. If you can place the camera person closer to the stage, then this will work fine.

You can go nuts with high-end professional cameras that cost thousands of dollars, but people who need those cameras probably already know more about cameras used for streaming church services live than I do.

Mevo Camera for Streaming Church Services Live

The Mevo Camera gives churches a specialized camera for streaming church services live, but you'll have to place it close to the platform like a camera phone.

The Mevo Start ($399) streams or record locally in 1080p. Use the Mevo App to control the camera on a smart phone or tablet. Set things up so it looks like you have multiple cameras all using the one camera and the app.

The Mevo Start is small and has a battery that should last long enough for most worship services, but you can also plug it in. The built-in mic will pick up audio or there's a built-in 3.5mm mic input to connect a higher quality external mic. Most churches will connect their soundboard to the smartphone or tablet instead. You'll need to connect some specialized cables to make that work. I'd suggest going to the Mevo Facebook group to get further support from other experienced users.

An Example of Using Mevo in Church

You can view an example of the Mevo in action at my church's Facebook page. Look for our Sunday School on Wednesday night videos. We use a regular camcorder for our Sunday morning, but we use the older Mevo Plus camera for Wednesday night streams. Here's the company's ad for the Mevo Start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu-rl1Q8eAs

The camera will connect either to your phone or your tablet. I'd recommend using an iPad since that's larger and you can see more on the screen at one time.

The app runs on iOS and Android. Find out more about that from Mevo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ7hKFkgigg

The Mevo camera works best in smaller sanctuaries or for churches who want to stream things like interviews or events in a small room. If your room requires you to be further than about 10-20 feet, this option won't work well for you and the image quality is lower than even a camera phone.

DSLR or Mirrorless Camera

Churches can use the above cameras for streaming church services live online, but they may want better quality images and a camera that they can take off the tripod and use for take photos of church events. A good DSLR or Mirrorless camera will fit that situation better.

What are DSLR or Mirrorless cameras? The video below explains it better than I can. If you don't care and just want recommendations, then skip to the next paragraph.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxMRykqTrIA

Mirrorless camera give the user a smaller camera while still offering beautiful photos and video. The DSLR is the style of camera that's been around forever, but now they're digital. Mirrorless is the future.

Canon M6 Mark ii

I used to recommend the Canon EOS M50, but a friend had a lot of trouble using one for his church. So I now recommend the Canon EOS M6 Mark ii. That's the camera I own and occasionally use for live streaming.

Canon EOS M6 Mark ii

Canon released a brand new utility called the EOS Webcam Utility that lets users turn their DSLR or mirrorless camera into a webcam. You can hook your camera up to your computer with USB-C. The new utility will make it available in your software as a camera for streaming. It works fine for Facebook or YouTube live streams.

The camera might run out of battery power before your service ends, so get the power adapter that lets you plug the camera in AC power. It costs $24 as of this writing.

Get a zoom lens with at least 200 mm of zoom. You'll still have to place the camera little closer than you may like because 200 mm zoom is like 6.5X zoom on a camcorder.

Canon EOS Digital Rebel T7i

The Canon EOS Rebel T7i is one of the best DSLRs for streaming church services live.

If you don't own a Windows computer, consider then take a look at the Canon EOS Rebel T7i DSLR camera which starts at $680 without a lens. Pay $1000 to get a long zoom lens.

I prefer Canon because they offer better color than Nikon or Sony camera. But you can find comparable cameras from those manufacturers that will work for you. Other companies like Panasonic, Fujifilm and Olympus make great camera. Here's a list of options at Amazon.

Look for...

• 4K resolution for shooting
• Live video output for streaming
• A lens from 200mm zoom or higher
• Stays on and offers live video for a long enough time to stream your entire service since some cameras shut off after 20 or 30 minutes.
• An adapter for powering the camera while using it because most batteries won't last for the full length of a worship service.

You may not be able to find the above things mentioned in the camera's description at your store of choice. Ask the seller or post a question in a place like Amazon.

The last item on the list is a must. Get the power adapter for your camera like this one for the T7i mentioned above. or the one we linked to above for the Mark 6 Mii.

PTZ Streaming Video Cameras

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsQwxrBv4fg

Video explains one church's experience with a PTZ camera.

A friend of mine chose to buy another kind of camera that I've not used. It's called the Avipas AV-1081G 10x HDMI PTZ Camera ($620) with IP Live Streaming. PTZ stands for Pan Tilt Zoom, which describes the way it can move (panning left-right, tilting up-down and zooming in and out).

It only offers 1080p video, which is fine for now. It says it's a 10x zoom camera, but only the digital zoom is only 5x, which is not going to be good enough for medium to larger sanctuaries.

These IP cameras are usually smaller, so you can put them in your sanctuary and they'll seem less noticeable. You won't need a big tripod because you can install it permanently.

The camera connects via a network cable. You can control it from a computer or with a special remote control box. The box or the software will control the panning (left right) and the tilting (up and down) while zooming in to the subject.

Recommendation

For those who worship in a large sanctuary, get a camcorder with a 32X zoom or higher. They are usually the cheapest option and you can get a good 1080p or 4K camera for hundreds instead of thousands of dollars. Then invest in good software to make it work, although Facebook alone does the trick for most people. If you plan to stream to another service, ask them what they recommend. The best free software for streaming is OBS Studio. The open-source software comes with a large community of users who can help you get it set up.

Here's what you'll need to get it all working if you're streaming from your church sanctuary:

• Canon VIXIA HF R800 Camcorder - $250 at B&H Photo
• A mini-HDMI to HDMI out cable with an adapter for your computer like to convert the HDMI signal to format that streaming software can use - $100 for both.
• A good streaming computer like the new M1 Macs - $900+.
• A cable to connect your soundboard to your streaming computer. You'll have to determine what kind of sound output your board has - $10-$50.
• Open your web browser and use Facebook Live Streaming from your church's Facebook page or if you want more features get OBS Studio which lets you set up multiple camera inputs, an input for your worship presentation (lyrics and sermon slides), and other interesting graphics - Free.

For people who are streaming from a smaller room, consider going with the Mevo Camera and a good phone or tablet. Here's what I use to make it all work:

• Mevo Start Camera - $399 or $384 on Amazon.
• A mini table-top tripod like the Manfrotto PIXI Mini Tripod - $18 on Amazon.
• iPad to control the Mevo Camera app - $319 for a 32GB base iPad from Amazon or $329 from Apple.
• Zoom Podtrack P4 mobile mixer with 2 Zoom mics - $390 from Amazon

The last item on the list is a new addition to my setup. We had a lot of trouble getting audio right with the Mevo over my iPad. However, this mixer fixed it all. If you already have a headset, two XLR mics, and cables, then you can buy the Podtrack P4 for only $200. Check back here for a full review of the Zoom Podtrack P4 at a later date.

5 Ways the M1 MacBook Makes Ministers More Productive and 1 Way It Doesn’t

I bought the new M1 MacBook Pro and over the last week, it made me more productive. Here are 5 ways that this new M1 MacBook Pro can help make ministers more productive in ministry and at the end, I'll offer one reason that it's not all perfect.

In case you didn’t know, Apple released a significant update to its MacBook Air and MacBook Pro line. They replaced the Intel processors with Apple Silicon, which streamlined interconnection between the brain of the computer (processor) with the memory and graphics processor to make the computer faster and more efficient. It runs a lot of things faster and the battery lasts longer, up to 20 hours long depending on how the user sets their preferences and what software they’re using. That's Apple's figure not mine.

How does a computer make someone more productive? I’ve got 5 ways the M1 MacBook Pro makes me more productive. This applies to the M1 MacBook Air and M1 Mac mini too, since the internal hardware of the new Apple M1 MacBook Air and Pro perform similarly.

M1 MacBook Battery Lasts a Long Time

When I first opened and set up my new Apple M1 MacBook Pro, I plugged it in because that's the popular wisdom - charge your tech to 100% right away. After doing that I didn't plug it in for a couple of days of heavy use. I didn't time it so I don't know how long it lasted. But it lasts a long time.

M1 MacBook Pro battery life is stellar, even with the screen brightness set fairly high.

My friend who also got an M1 MacBook Pro took his computer to a coffee shop. He worked with it untethered to power all day long and reported in the early evening that it still had 63% battery life left at 4:07 in the afternoon. That's stellar battery life.

I typically use mine for about 3-5 hours per day on battery power and I don't charge it for two or three days at a time. Even then, I only do it to be safe. I could probably go 4-5 days easily.

This kind of battery life makes you more efficient because you don't have to worry about finding your charger. Leave the charger at your desk, nightstand, or wherever you top off the battery. It may not save hours a day, but every five-minute saving helps. You’re not worried about battery life so you can work anywhere instead of seeking out a table or booth at the coffee shop near the power outlet.

M1 MacBook Keyboard Enters Text More Accurately

Apple customers have a checkered history with Apple's recent keyboards. Until a few years ago, they made the best mobile keyboards around. My first Mac was a 2nd generation MacBook Air and I loved that computer because of the keyboard, the trackpad, and the operating system.

Apple kept the stellar trackpad but wanted to make their computers thinner so the designers at Apple crippled their amazing keyboards making them nearly unusable. Fortunately, this changed with the newest MacBooks released in 2019 and 2020. The new M1 MacBooks also sport the new keyboards that actually work great, feel great and type accurately if you're a quick touch typist.

Not everyone agrees that the newer keyboards work better, but most do. I hated the previous versions and feel like these latest keyboards work more like that first MacBook Air I received nearly 10 years ago.

M1 MacBook Screen's Brighter and Easier to Read

Do you know what 400 or 500 nits mean? Neither do I. Practically, it means a bright monitor that you can keep at about 50% most of the time. A nit is a measurement of brightness. The word comes from the Latin term nitere meaning to shine.

A bright screen saves battery life and stays crisp and bright enough to see text, view video, and enjoy using your MacBook. I can read my M1 MacBook Pro screen easily while out and about keeping it at 50%. Most computers I've used or tested had to be set at about 70-80% in most bright rooms for me to view them comfortably.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MU3qVzohTo

The M1 MacBook Air is 20% darker than the M1 MacBook Pro officially. The Air offers 400 nits of brightness while the Pro has 500 nits. When my son and I placed our two M1 MacBooks together, we didn't notice as much a difference as I expected. See that in our unboxing of his new M1 MacBook Air in which we put my M1 MacBook Pro next to his Air to compare the two.

The M1 MacBook Air on the left and the M1 MacBook Pro on the right.

M1 MacBook Always Stays On So No Waiting to Boot

My old MacBook started up pretty quickly. It took a few seconds from sleep mode and less than 20 seconds from off. However, opening the lid on the new M1 MacBook Pro turns on the screen and the computer snaps to attention instantly ready for your input.

Instant-on displays won't save you hours a day or a week, but it does make you more efficient.

Consider this scenario. You have an idea, so you pop open the computer and start typing within a few seconds. With older MacBooks or a PC, you open the screen and often you have to wait for the computer to boot up or wake from sleep. It takes 5-30 seconds or some Macs and longer on old systems, maybe 5 minutes.

You wanted to quickly get an idea written in your sermon notes or the Bible study notes, but the slower computer means you're waiting. In the interim, you get interrupted by someone and you forget to write down that idea. That perfect ending to your sermon or the excellent illustration of your third point is gone into the recesses of your aging mind. I hate when that happens. It's less likely to with an instant on display that pops up the moment you lift the lid. How often does this happen? Not very! But one time makes this a nice added benefit of a faster computer.

Bonus Benefit: iOS Apps on Your M1 MacBook

Did I say five benefits? Well, here's a bonus sixth benefit of the new M1 MacBook Pro and Air - iOS Apps on your Mac. You read that right. You can install some of the apps you love using on your iPad or iPhone on your Mac.

It's too simplistic to say that the new M1 MacBook is just a glorified iPads, but they do run Apple Silicon just like an iPad or iPhone. For that reason, Apple designed the new macOS 11 Big Sur with the ability to install iOS apps, if the developer makes that option available.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSWexQA3Ep8

Not all developers flipped the switch to turn on iOS app installation on the Mac. For example, I edit my sermon podcast on the Ferrite iPad app. It's quick and easy to use and I'd love to edit my sermon podcast with Ferrite my new M1 MacBook Pro too. Ferrite won't let me do that right now. But they'd be insane not to offer a version. This would give them a large number of potential customers. I'm guessing they will make it available in the Mac App Store, but they'll charge an added fee. Ferrite's so good I'll pay extra if it's not too expensive.

A few Bible app developers flipped that switch already. You can install a few great Bible apps for iPad on your Mac.

M1 MacBook Performs Some Tasks Faster

https://youtu.be/GmoqW-jPIgM

The video above exported from Final Cut Pro, a video editor from Apple that Apple updated to take advantage of the power of the new processors. It exported in under three minutes. On my old MacBook from 2017 that would take about 15-20 minutes depending on how complicated I made the edit with tracks and transitions.

If you use Apple's iWork apps like Pages, Keynote, or Numbers you'll seem excellent responsiveness. iMovie or GarageBand run quickly too.

Any application made to run natively on the M1 Apple Silicon Processors will run more efficiently than the previous generations of those programs. Here's one example. I created a twelve-minute video about how Bible software runs on my new MacBook. See it below. Microsoft released new versions of their Office apps with M1 Mac optimization support.

1 Way an M1 MacBook Doesn’t Boost Minister Productivity

Notice the previous section heading says "some". Not all macOS software runs screaming fast. Traditional software that developers failed to update to an M1 optimized system require something Apple calls Rosetta 2. Rosetta 2 takes the software coded to run on the old Intel-based systems and helps them work on the new Apple Silicon processors. Think of it like a translator who listens to you speaking English and translates your message to Sign Language for a hearing impaired person.

All Bible software that I'm familiar with requires Rosetta 2 to run on an M1 MacBook at this point. The previous video shows you how well most of the Bible software runs, but it's not perfect. I experienced some slow performance in both Logos and Accordance. It's minor, but worth mentioning. You can use these programs, but you will not see an increase in productivity till Faithlife and Accordance or the other developers update their programs. I'm told Logos is looking at 6 months to 18 months depending on how they attempt the update. Accordance isn't saying anything publicly, but I hope it will be sometime in the next year.

7 Best iOS Bible Study Apps on M1 Macs

Did you know you can install iOS Bible Study Apps on an M1 Mac? You can, but should you? We'll take a look at the best iOS Bible Study apps that you can install on your Apple silicon Mac with macOS Big Sur.

When Apple released the M1 MacBook Air, Pro, and Mac mini, they possibly revolutionized the computer market with their incredibly efficient Apple silicon processors. These processors speed up things like video editing and encoding on powerful programs like Final Cut Pro. It also makes the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro run fast. But not all Bible study programs built for macOS run faster than they do on Intel-based Macs. So, let's take a look at the iOS Bible Study apps available from the app store.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSWexQA3Ep8&feature=youtu.be

How to Install iOS Bible Study Apps on an M1 MacBook

If you want to install one of these iOS apps, open the Mac App Store on macOS Big Sur as you would normally. In the upper left corner, you'll see the search box. Note, this doesn't work on older versions of macOS or on any computers that do not use M1 Apple Silicon processors, like the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac mini.

Type in the name of an iOS Bible Study app like Logos Bible or Accordance Bible.

Search the Mac App Store for your favorite iOS Bible Study apps.

The next screen will show the search results for macOS apps. Click on the iPhone & iPad Apps tab as seen below.

Choose the iPhone & iPad Apps tab in the macOS App Store.

This will show you the available apps that you can install on your M1 Mac.

Not all developers will let you install their iOS apps on a Mac. They have to turn this on, so contact them if you don't see it. Below you'll see the ones we like that you can find as of the date this article was published.

Why Only Some iOS Apps Will Install on M1 Macs

Since not all Bible Study Apps will install on an M1 Mac with Apple Silicon, we've got a list that will look different than our favorite five Bible Study apps. When you do see one taht's available it might give you a warning that isn't verified by the developer to run on the computer.

There's a link under the name of most of these apps as seen above. Click it to get an explanation from Apple. It reads as follows:

Most iPhone and iPad apps are compatible with a Mac with M1, but some may not be available because they require capabilities unique to iPhone or iPad. A developer may also choose to make their app unavailable on Mac.
"Not verified for macOS"
Some apps available on Mac may not function as they normally would on iPhone or iPad. For example, features that rely on hardware unique to iPhone or IPad - such as a gyroscope or a screen that supports complex Multi-Touch gestures - may not work on Mac.

That only means the apps that you can install may not work properly and some won't install because the developer chose to block you from installing.

To log into a couple of these apps I had to enter my computer password and/or my Apple account password.

7 Best iOS Bible Study Apps to Install on M1 Macs

Here's our roundup of the 7 best apps to install on your M1 MacBook Air, Pro, Mac mini.

• Logos Bible Study Tools - because the desktop version of Logos runs a little slow, it's not bad to install their iPad app. It's a bit awkward to get it going, but once you do it works well.
• Accordance Bible Software - the best mobile app for use on a Mac comes from Accordance. It runs okay and lets users enjoy all the mobile features. It did crash. a couple of times, but once I got books installed it seemed to run great.

Download and install the NASB 2020 on your Mac with the Bible app.

• Bible from Life. church - not technically a Bible study tool but still good to install on your Mac. This gives access to some of the multimedia content in the Bible app but on a computer. You can also use the NASB 2020, something you won't find in many apps.
• Tecarta Bible - this useful study Bible style app works great. Download your tools and run the app. You can't use Tecarta on a Mac any other way.

Laridian PocketBible lets you show 4 or more windows something no other iOS Bible apps do. That makes it one of our 7 Best choices.

• Laridian PocketBible - one of the first apps to offer a Mac version for M1 computers came from Laridian. It runs just like it does on an iPad making it one of the best of this breed.
• The Bible by eBible - if you're an eBible user on the web, you'll possibly enjoy using it on your phone, tablet and now Mac. It installs fine, but only runs in a small window.
• Mantis Study Bible - this humble little app was once one of the best mobile apps and it runs fine on a Mac, although only in a small window.

Did I miss any? Comment below which mobile Bible apps you want to see running on the M1 MacBook Air, Pro, or Mac mini?

Should You Run iOS Bible Apps?

All of the discussion about running iOS Bible apps on your new M1 MacBook Air, Pro, or Mac mini begs the question, "Should you run iOS Bible apps or iPad Bible apps meant to run on an iPad or iPhone?"

Most of the time you shouldn't bother. I'm I can now install these apps on my M1 MacBook Pro, but after a few weeks I haven't run many at all. I wanted to run the Logos Bible app because they need to fix a few minor annoyances with their Mac-based software. However, the Logos iOS app doesn't run as well as other apps either. So, I probably won't really run many.

12 Days of Logos Deals and Demo in Logos 9

Every year Faithlife offers what they call the 12 Days of Logos, where they offer 12 different products for steep discounts. That benefits you if you want to buy any of these 12 products for Logos 9. We'll take a look at them and give you some tips as to which ones you should consider and maybe avoid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd9EQt2CWNQ

What are the 12 Products Available This Year?

On our list this year, we get some really great books and tools for Logos 9 and Logos Bible Software, which you can use with their latest desktop version of Logos 9 or you can get it on their mobile Logos 9 Mobile app. They also work on the web app.

The above price is my dynamic cost since I own a couple of the NT volumes of this work in Logos 9. Log in and you'll find your price.

Here's the list of the 12 products and how much they cost. If you want to buy one of these, I ask you to consider using my affiliate link because it helps me continue my work of writing reviews and how-to articles about Bible software and ministry-related tech topics.

• Bible for Everyone Commentary Collection (35 vols.) 62% off, $119.99 sale price
• Challies Recommends: Best Old Testament Commentaries (55 vols.) 50% off, $442.99 sale price
• Romans-Philemon, 21 vols. (New Testament Technical Commentary Collection) 65% off, $232.99 sale price
• New Studies in Biblical Theology Series Collection | NSBT (50 vols.) 52% off, $299.99 sale price
• NIV Application Commentary: New Testament | NIVAC (20 vols) 55% off, $199.99 sale price
• New International Commentary: Old Testament | NIC (28 vols.) 51% off, $499.99 sale price
• Popular Patristics Series  Collection (53 vols) 54% off, $229.99 sale price
• Ancient Christian Reference Collection (55 vols.) 50% off, $549.99 sale price
• Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary | SHBC (36 vols.) 55% off, $499.99 sale price
• Welwyn Commentary Series | WCS (56 vols.) 60% off, $199.99 sale price
• New Covenant Commentary Series | NCCS (16 vols.) 54% off, $99.99 sale price
• The Life Application Bible Commentary (17 vols.) 60% off, $49.99 sale price

Let me highlight a couple of the above books. I use the New International Commentary: Old and New Testament sets regularly. Faithlife is offering the Old Testament package for only $500, a 51% discount. That's steep. It's both an easy to understand commentary, but has a technical level of information for advanced Bible students and people who teach and preach the Bible.

The NIV Application Commentary: New Testament comments on the text and then offers some practical application to the commentary. This helps the average Bible student or the teacher/preacher alike. You'll pay only $200, a great price for this product.

The Life Application Bible Commentary focuses on real-world use of the teachings of scripture to help Christians in their growth. It comes in at 60% off.

Deals on Logos 9 Packages

The prices above are what I would pay thanks to dynamic pricing. Log in and you'll see how much you'll pay and 5% will help me out.

In addition to the above tools, you can also get one of the Logos 9 packages available from Faithlife with some deals. Logos identifies them by colorful names like Silver, Gold, and Platinum. You can follow my affiliate link, which gives me a 5% commission to help me continue writing helpful reviews and how-to articles about Bible software and ministry tech.

M1 MacBook Pro and Bible Study Apps

Are you curious how the new M1 MacBook Pro handles Bible study apps and programs? I was too and couldn't wait to test this out. You can find the results as I tested Logos 9, Accordance 13, Olive Tree, Laridian Pocket Bible, and e-Sword X on the new M1 MacBook Pro.

The New M1 MacBook Pro running Laridian PocketBible.

UPDATE: Added a video under the Logos 9 on M1 MacBook Pro section below.

Why I Bought the M1 MacBook Pro

For the past year, I actually transitioned to a Windows-centric computer experience by giving my 2018 MacBook Pro to my son, a videographer and photographer who really wanted to go Mac. I bought an excellent HP Spectre x360 13 2-in-1, but then reluctantly decided to go back to Apple after my office PC failed and I got a Mac mini from a friend.

I bought the 2020 MacBook Pro that Apple released earlier this year based on Intel's processor. That was in late October and then Apple released the new M1 MacBook Air, M1 MacBook Pro, and M1 Mac mini. Fortunately, I got mine at Best Buy and I could return so I did and picked the M1 MacBook Pro with 8GB of RAM and 500. It's not the highest-end M1 MacBook, but it's what could get in exchange without paying too much more.

Olive Tree Bible Reader on the new M1 MacBook Pro.

Best Buy shocked me and told me I could get the new computer the next day, but that was wrong. It showed up the Monday before Thanksgiving instead of one week before Thanksgiving. That's not bad considering Apple shows a date in mid-December before you can get one directly from them.

Installing Bible Programs on the M1 MacBook Pro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px7AaTfKyTs

Installing Logos 9 on the new M1 MacBook Pro.

The new M1 MacBook Pro showed up and I unboxed it and starting setting things up. Soon I was installing my Bible study programs. I use three Bible apps but for this test, I installed five of the best Mac Bible study programs you can buy today.

• Accordance 13
• e-Sword X
• Laridian Pocket Bible
• Logos 9
• Olive Tree Bible Study

For the most part, these apps installed without much concern. It's interesting that the first time you install a program that's not optimized for the M1 chip, macOS 11 Big Sur will ask you if you want to install something called Rosetta 2. It didn't take long to download and install, but it stops you from launching your app. I had to launch Logos 9 again after Rosetta 2 finished installing.

The other apps installed quickly. Accordance takes a little while to download your books if you have a large library. Olive Tree Bible Reader, Laridian PocketBible and e-Sword X don't take as long. In fact PocketBible has the best installation process of the group. It takes little time at all.

Logos 9 on M1 MacBook Pro

Let's first talk about Logos 9 because it's the most demanding of the five programs. It Typically, I start the installation, plug in my laptop, and leave for hours. When I come overnight or after a full day away, it finishes and we're ready to study the Bible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p8wtfzRzfs&feature=youtu.be

This video is from Gregory Lawhorn a frequent poster in the Logos Forums. He compared the MacBook Pro Intl and the MacBook Air M1 doing time tests of Logos running on each.

As you can see from the video above showing the installation and indexing process, it took 3 hours and 47 minutes to install, download my 27GB library, and index the library. The download seemed faster than normal. Then indexing went quickly.

My friend LaRosa compared the indexing process to taking a long trip on an Interstate. It takes a little while to get on the road, but once you do and get up to speed, it runs quickly. Then, the off-ramp time slows down. That's how things went with the M1 MacBook Pro. It starts slow, speeds up, and then finishes slowly.

Normally, when Logos 9 indexes the library it takes up a lot of resources and you can't really use your computer much. You can, but it's infuriating because Logos takes up all the memory and processor. However, with the M1 MacBook Pro, Logos 9 ran slowly, but the rest of the system ran smoothly. For example, I hit the Home button in Logos 9 and scrolled through the Home page. It stuttered running haltingly. It's not smooth at all.

In spite of how slowly Logos 9 itself performs, the rest of the system runs smoothly during the indexing. That's abnormal with Intel or AMD based computers. They usually don't run smoothly.

Battery Life for Running Bible Study Apps on M1 MacBook Pro

How does Logos 9 indexing effect battery life on M1 MacBook Pro?

The battery life stood out on my new M1 MacBook Pro. The process of installing Logos 9 on laptops usually kills a battery. On my previous HP x360 13 and my older 2018 MacBook Pro, I would never attempt to install Logos without plugging in. I didn't have to on this computer.

Add the wonderfully bright screen and crisp text, you get a fantastic experience writing and reading. I put the screen at 50 percent and it looks like other computers I'm used to using when they are set to 75-80 percent.

After I killed the battery installing Logos I used it for a couple hours and went to bed with it at 40 percent. This morning, after running on battery at 50% for about 4 hours, my battery reads 76% left. That's fantastic. My 2020 12.9-inch iPad Pro doesn't last as long in real-world use.

Hard to Tell Difference on M1 MacBook Pro

Logos 9, Accordance 13, Olive Tree Bible, Laridian PocketBible, e-Sword X on the new M1 MacBook Pro.

What's the final takeaway for running Bible study apps on the M1 MacBook Pro? For four out of our five apps, there's little to no different. I couldn't tell the difference between running Accordance, e-Sword X, Olive Tree Bible, or PocketBible on this computer.

Logos 9 is a little different. Installation was a slightly better experience. You can set it to download and index your library and get some other work done while it happens in the background. That's a huge improvement compared to running the program's installation on other computers.

Once you install Logos 9, it runs well. There's one issue that's more a Big Sur problem than an M1 MacBook Pro problem. Over in the Logos 9 forum, there's a post listing one issue as follows:

The Logos Desktop Team has tested Logos 9 and Logos 8 on macOS 11 "Big Sur." So far we discovered some minor styling issues (see below), but have not encountered any major issues.
Known Issue: Table of Contents arrows are duplicated.

From Logos 9 forum

Logos 9 has an issue with arrows in the Table of Contents in books running on Big Sur.

The above issue with arrows is an extremely minor issue. You may find others, but right now that's all.

In another Logos forum post, Phil Gons from Faithlife said the company has no definite plans to make Logos 9 run as an M1 Mac application. That's not saying they won't do it, but they are not announcing anything publicly. I'd expect this to take a long time since the current version of the software works so well. I look forward to the time when these five all run as a native app.

There's one thing that you can say about running Bible study applications on the new M1 MacBook Pro. Launching these apps takes a lot less time than they used to. Of our five, Laridian PocketBible and e-Sword X jump onto the screen instantly. Olive Tree Bible Reader loads in a couple of seconds and Accordance launches in a few seconds. Sadly, Logos 9 still takes longer than the others. But it loads faster than it did on Intel Macs. Running the programs speeds up on these new M1 chips too.

Slide Over on iPad Makes Your Bible Study More Productive

Do you use Slide Over on iPad as you study the Bible? If not, you should because it can increase productivity. Take a look at the following tips for effectively using Slide Over on iPad as you study the Bible or do other tasks on your iPad.

Study the Bible efficiently using Slide Over on iPad.

Switching back and forth from your Bible study app to your word processor or other mobile apps, while prepping sermons feels laborious. However, thanks to Slide Over with iPadOS digital Bible students can productively work with two apps at a time on larger iPad screens.

What is Slide Over on iPad?

When Apple released the first version of iPadOS more than a year ago, they perfected a feature called Slide Over. Think of it as two apps on the screen at the same time. Apple didn’t do it first, but iPad users found it cumbersome to use in previous releases.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAuWLA762B8&feature=youtu.be

A demo of Slide Over on iPad

The iPadOS will show you two apps at once. You can view them with both apps taking up half the screen or you can view them with one covering two thirds and the second app covering another third. The smaller window can sit on the left or the right side of the screen.

How do You Turn On Slide Over?

To open an app in Slide Over the app has to show up in your iPadOS dock. The dock sits at the bottom of the screen and holds all of your favorite or most-used apps plus three of the most recently used apps.

Drag up from the dark line at the bottom of the screen to show the dock where you can drag an app into the side for Slide Over on iPad.

I keep my most-used Bible study app in the dock. But if you want to use another Bible study app that you don’t have in the dock, then open it first. Now slide up from the bottom of the screen slightly. You see a black line just above the bottom edge of the screen start swiping from that line and swipe about half an inch or so until you see the dock. Tap and hold a second app from the dock and drag it up to the right or left side of the screen. If a menu pops up then keep dragging up and over to the side of the screen.

Use two Bible apps at once like Olive Tree and Accordance as seen above.

The screen will show your two apps each taking up half the screen. If you want to adjust the size of the apps, drag from the line in the middle of the screen to the right or left to make one app smaller than the other.

When do I Use Slide Over in Bible Study?

I own a few Bible study apps that I regularly use in my sermon and Bible study prep. Sometimes, I want to read books in one app, but keep all my notes attached to the passage I’m studying in the same app. So, I open the app where I want to keep my notes and then I open the other app. That way I can read the second app while writing notes in the first.

During the sermon or Bible study writing phase, I’ll open Microsoft Word and my Bible app where I’ve kept all the study notes. That way I can easily refer to the notes as I write my sermon or Bible study.

Sometimes I want to research some idea on the web in order to come up with an interesting sermon illustration. I keep Word and Safari open at the same time. Sometimes I’ll open a video in YouTube or some other streaming app to quote the video in my sermon. Any app you might use it prep a sermon that supports Slide Over can be opened.

If I’m presenting while preaching or teaching, I’ll open Keynote and my sermon in Word at the same time. Or, I open Keynote and Safari to drag and drop images from the web as I put the presentation together.

Tips for Using Slide Over

You can master Slide Over with the following tips:

• Open apps not in your dock before trying to use Slide Over so they will appear in the recently used section of the dock on the right where your three most-used apps show up.
• If one app doesn’t need half the screen, give more screen inches to the other app by sliding the center adjustment line over a little.
• Set up multiple app combinations for Slide Over and use the switching feature to switch between these multiple app combinations.
• You change one of the two apps into a floating window by dragging from a small dark line at the top of the active app by pulling down slightly and hold it till it pops from the side to a floating window. Grab the line and pull down and to the right to put it back.
• While in the floating view, you can remove the window by swiping up or down to swipe it away.
• Move an app from one side to another by dragging it from the tiny black bar at the top and then slide it over to the other side of the screen until it snaps into place.
• Create multiple pairs of windows and swipe between them the same way you would swipe between apps.

Is Bible Software Getting Too Complicated

No matter what software program I bet there are features you never used, seldom use or don't even know exist. My dad owned an old ‘72 Oldsmobile and he worked on it a lot, mostly because it was a piece of junk. But he could work on it. Now, you need an engineering degree to work on an Oldsmobile or almost any car. You can do a few simple things like change tires, batteries and plugs. But the real work needs a computer system and a specialist with training most of us don’t possess. Bible software feels like that today.

Would you rather have Bible software that’s reparable like my dad’s 72 Cutlass or like a modern car with all the computer enhancements?

Early Days of Bible Software

I've been using Bible software since I got my first computer back in the early 90s. It was QuickVerse, a program that back then, ran on a handful of 5.25-inch black floppy disks because the hard drive didn’t have space for it. It pretty much did two things, that I can remember anyway. You could read and search the NIV Bible.

My first Bible study program was QuickVerse and it came on 5 floppy disks and ran from the floppies.

If you searched for a broad term like grace or God, then you had to swap out the disks one after another as you looked through the hits on your search. The Pentateuch sat on disk one, the rest of the history books on disk two, poetry and major prophets on three and so on. I may be wrong about the break down, because ... you know ... it was nearly 30 years ago. But that was all I think it could do - search and display the NIV.

Now, you can install 24 GB of books and content on your hard drive. The menu of features rolls off the screen when you click it. You look at the books and you see dozens of ways to look at the data included. If I used everything in my chosen programs, I'd never have to time actually write my sermons. I'd study the passage for 60 hours.

I know that some people need very advanced searching and data presentation tools, but for the ordinary pastor who preaches simple sermons week-in-and week out, the answer is an YES!!! Many Bible Software programs are way too complicated.

Why is Bible Software So Complicated?

When I first started writing Bible study software reviews, I felt like I could share with my readers all the great features with some depth. Now, I'm just scratching the surface in a 2,000 word review. Recently I shared a 3,000 word review and still felt like I didn’t really cover all that the program could do.

Why is this so complicated? First, I think the developers are trying to please everyone in one package. More people are reading the Bible digitally than ever before, but few people go in depth the way a pastor or Bible scholar needs to. So, the program developer wants to make it useful for the person who just wants to read devotions on their Bible and the scholar who needs to do intricate searches.

Logos Bible Software is powerful, but some might consider it too complicated.

Average Christians want to read the Bible and occasionally find out who King Darius was or see a map of where Edom might be. They would like the notes they get with their physical copy of a favorite Study Bible.

However, a pastor needs more. He wants to study what the original author intended to say and how translation effects the meaning of key ideas in a passage. What does it mean when Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “Give thanks in everything for that is God’s will in Christ Jesus.” He can look up the words translated “give thangs” and “will” in any number of great lexicons. He can search on the Greek term and find every form of it in Paul’s letters, the whole New Testament or even the Old Testament Septuagint.

NACS Sermon on the Mount in Accordance Bible Software for Mac

A scholar studying an obscure topic like the use of prepositions in poetry can get deep into technical things like textual criticism, Hebrew or even Aramaic study and more.

All of these purposes show up in some of the more complicated and powerful programs like Accordance Bible Software and Logos Bible Software. Some used to use BibleWorks before it went out of business.

Should Average Christians Use Complicated Bible Software?

Yes! That was easy. Here’s why.

The Christian is meant to grow deeper in their understanding and appreciation of God’s word. Sure, you can do that with a simple Bible app so long as you have some books in your library. But it’s just easier to grow more advanced with a program that offers a higher ceiling.

Let me illustrate with my own life. When I left home I took with me a trunk, a suitcase and a few boxes of belongings. This included some clothes, a radio and some mementos. Then I met my wife and we joined our simple collections of belongings. Soon we had our first and then our second son. What fit in the back of my family’s Pontiac Station Wagon in the summer of 1987 got replaced with a house full of stuff that we would struggle to fit in the average Uhaul.

Similarly, a Christians needs for Bible study can and often will grow with their discipleship. At first, you do well to read a few verses a day out of the Bible. Then you start needing to know more and you want a Bible dictionary, an atlas and a good study Bible. If you start to teach a Bible study now that you’ve grown into Christian maturity, a good commentary might help. Then what if God calls you to preach or scholarship.

The biggest mistake yo can make is buy books repeatedly. However, with Digital Bible Study that’s easy to do. Why not start with a powerful program that can grow with you but also makes it easy to read devotions in the early days?

What Should Bible Software Makers Do to Make Their Programs Simpler?

Stop making them too complicated? Again, that was easy. But you know I can’t leave it there. Here’s what I’d like to see from the larger companies.

I’d like to see the Bible software companies focus on a few things. First, focus on speed and simplicity of the User Interface. Bring in customers and experts in design. I have a friend who’s very good at this and he looks at Bible software shaking his head. It could be so much easier to use. Find a UI design genius like Antoine to help with strategies.

Second, make sure your program is fast. I regularly use three programs and one loads in seconds. They all load in seconds actually, but the fastest loads in under 5 seconds on a fast computer. The second one still loads quickly but it does take a little longer. A third takes half a minute to a minute depending in which system I use. Then, when I do work on that third one it takes longer to finish.

During installation all three programs take forever to get set up. I own very large libraries in all three. I wish they would find a way to download and sync with little to no interaction from me. Two of the three require me to reorganize my library each time I install the program because they don’t sync the books list as I have them organized. The slower program does sync the settings and library listings. I don’t know how to solve all these, but I would like to see them focus their creativity here before adding new whiz-bang features.

Let me turn off advertising. I know they gotta make money to keep offering cool features, but I’m going to go months between buying new books for my library. This annoys users and we should be able to limit the amount of advertising.

Focus on feature parity between platforms. Bible software runs on a Mac, Windows, Android tablets and phones, iPhones and iPads, and the Web. Before adding new features to any of those platforms, make them all look and act essentially the same.

I’ll use Wordsearch as an example since it’s now nearly defunct. They had a nice desktop program, a decent web app and a horrendously bad mobile app. One reason I think they got bought out and discontinued by Logos is the pitiful mobile app. If they had spent more time updating the mobile app, they would have succeeded. They didn’t and floundered into failure.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Review for Ministers

Probably hundreds or even thousands of sites posted a Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Review when it came out earlier this fall (2020). So, why does the Internet need another one? It doesn’t! Thanks for stopping by.

Actually, I’ll publish one anyway, because I want to focus on how I use the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 in my ministry. My Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Review will focus on the following:

• Bible study
• Reading books, magazines websites
• Preaching
• Presenting in a teaching situation
• Note-taking in meetings or study
• General tablet use including email, social media, web surfing, playing games, and watching video online

I like to read my devotions using my paper Bible, but I open Samsung Notes on my Tab S7 and write notes there.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Review: Screen and Input

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 blows away every other Android tablet. If you want a cheap tablet to read books, watch videos and play a few games, then consider a Kindle Fire. But if you want the best Android tablet available, then buy the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 or S7+. I have a friend who is an Apple fan through and through. He said the Tab S7 is good enough to make him consider switching, almost.

Two versions of the Galaxy Tab S7 Android tablet. 11 and 12.4 inches.

Samsung offers two iterations of this stellar tablet each in three colors (Mystic Bronze, Mystic Black, Mystic Silver). One comes with an 11-inch WQXGA LCD with a 2560 x 1600 resolution. It's a beautiful screen even though the larger 12.4-inch Super AMOLED display with a 2800 x 1752 resolution. I looked at both at the store and wanted the smaller more portable tablet and didn't see a very big difference between the two screens. In theory, a Super AMOLED display should look much better, but the LCD on my tablet still looks amazing.

I primarily bought the tablet because I wanted a smaller tablet for reading, taking notes, and general media consumption. The S Pen competes well against the Apple Pencil on the iPad, whether you use the second generation Pencil on the iPad Pro or the older Pencil on an iPad mini, iPad Air, or regular iPad. It's a better size and fits in my large hands perfectly. I love taking notes in Samsung Notes. If they offered a slightly smaller 9-10 inch screen I probably would have picked that version, but my 11-inch S7 isn't unwieldy.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Performance

The 865+ Qualcomm Snapdragon processor feels very fast with an Octa-Core 3.09GHz rating. Both tablets run on the same processor. The 11 gives users 8GB of RAM while the 12.4 strangely only has 6GB. You can buy them with three storage options - 128, 256, and 512GB of built-in storage. Add up to 1TB of expendable micro-SD card storage.

Specs don't matter if the software doesn't run fast. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 does. Everything feels smooth. Apps jump to life. I started it up and timed the boot and it took 28 seconds from start-up to the point I could launch apps. That does not include the few seconds when I paused my timer while I entered my password and restarted it as it finished booting.

I don't play a lot of games, but the few I do ran smoothly. You won't worry about speed on the Tab S7 or S7+. Find out all the detailed specs at Samsung's website, but here's the list of highlights.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Specs

• Software: Android 10 and Samsung's One UI 2.5
• Processor: Octa-Core (3.09GHz,2.4GHz,1.8GHz)
• Display: 11-inch WQXGA display with a 2560 x 1600 TFT
• Memory: 128, 256, 512 GB storage, 8 GB RAM for 11-inch and 6 GB for 12.4-inch; up to 1TB micro-SD card slot
• Camera: Front = 8MP, Rear = 13 and 5 MP; Video Recording UHD 4K 30fps
• S-Pen support; Optional Keyboard case
• Wi-Fi -802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax 2.4G+5GHz, HE80, MIMO, 1024-QAM; LTE optional
• USB Type C; Bluetooth v. 5
• Fingerprint scanner and Face recognition security
• Weight: 1.1lb, Dimensions: 6.51x9.99x.25 inches

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Review: Bible Study and Reading Books

Many ministers will use their Tablets for reading and Bible study and I'm one of them. I primarily run Logos Bible Android App, Olive Tree Bible, and Accordance Bible. Sometimes I run the Bible app from Life.Church too.

You can move your books from the internal storage to the micro-SD card in the settings. Olive Tree Bible App lets you do this too. You can't do it with Logos or on iOS.

These apps run perfectly fine. The Accordance and Olive Tree Bible apps will let you store your books on the micro-SD card, which helps if you have a really large library or want to keep them on external storage in case you have to erase the internal storage.

Moving books to SD card takes a few minutes if you own a large Accordance library.

In addition to Bible apps, I use the Kindle app and read PDF files on my tablet. The screen may seem a little large for some, especially compared to a Kindle or smaller Kindle Fire. But I like it. I am getting older and can boost the font size to easily read.

Write in the Margins or Highlight like a Paper Book

If you convert your books to PDF format, you can import them into Samsung Notes or some other note-taking app and mark them up as you would with a pencil or pen and a paper book.

Samsung ships the tablet with Noteshelf, a great note-taking app that's also good for marking up books. When you create a new note, you can import a document and choose your PDF book from internal storage, the SD card, or a sync service like Dropbox or OneDrive. You have to set those services up and then they will show up as options in the Noteshelf import dialog box.

Now, use the S Pen to write notes in the margin or highlight the book. When you're done reading the book export the PDF with a slightly different name, like Book Name Finished.PDF.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Review: Preaching from Digital Notes

When I preach, I don't take paper notes into the pulpit. I use my tablet. For years I used the iPad and then iPad Pro 12.9-inch. Now, I like using the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 because it's a little smaller.

Tap the Reading Mode in the upper right corner of Word to get the view above.

I write my sermons in Microsoft Word and then load them into the Android app on my Tab S7. In the upper right corner, there's an icon that looks like an open book. Tap that to get to Reader view. It loads the document in a larger font that you can adjust. Swipe left/right like a notebook. This view hides the toolbar.

Using the tablet is great. I think Microsoft needs to make their Reading Mode work on Android the same as iOS. You can swipe left/right like a notebook or scroll up down on iOS. You can scroll up/down on Android.

Presenting Using the Tab S7

Presenting requires connecting the tablet to an external display or projector. I use a USB C to HDMI cable for a reliable connection. Hook that up to a projector, as I do. Then I fire up Microsoft PowerPoint.

I love that I can annotate my slides using the S Pen. Touch in the top black bar above the slide to show the inking tools. Then when you're finished you can close the presentation and either keep or discard the ink markups.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Note Taking

Notetakers can use one of the dozens or even hundreds of note-taking apps in the Android App Store. Samsung ships with its Samsung Notes app, my primary choice because it's simple to use and I don't really need much more than that. I can use the S Pen and when I write on screen I can rest my wrist on the screen while writing.

Samsung also ships with the above mentioned Noteshelf. It's also a simple note-taking app. I don't think it adds much that you can't get from Samsung Notes, so I don't use it.

INKredible offers another more powerful note-taking option. The one reason I like it is the zoom feature. See the image above. It pops open a box at the bottom of the screen. As you write in the zoom box, it enters the handwriting in the spot of the note above the zoom box. As you write, a gray shaded section appears at the left end of the line. When you finish writing at the end of the box you start writing in the left side gray area and it automatically moves the entry box over to the right of that line and then to the next line as you get to the end of the line. See it in the demo below, which is admittedly very old and out of date.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBrMAFcB-0U

I take my Tab S7 everywhere. I take notes in meetings, when I'm doing my devotions with my print Bible, or when I'm brainstorming ideas for ministry or even my personal life. It's a great companion and I love taking notes on it.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Review: Games, Media and Web Usage

As I said above, I don't play a lot of games. However, I enjoy simple games like the Microsoft Solitaire app, Real Pool 3D, and others. People who play more power-hungry games will likely enjoy using the tablet with 8GB of RAM and a fast Octa-Core 3.09GHz processor. Below you'll see a video demo of more powerful games like PubG Mobile from a gamer.

https://youtu.be/USavq8T7OgU?t=362

I do watch some videos, mostly using YouTube, Netflix, and YouTube TV. It's a great solution for that while out and about waiting for. The sound won't blow anyone away, but it's very good for what it does. They advertise the Dolby Atmos support, but my aging ears don't hear that much difference between average speakers and better quality sound like the Tab S7 should offer.

Volume sounds loud enough at about 75% in a somewhat noisy room. You can pump it to 100% to get louder audio, but your neighbors will get annoyed. Plug in or use wireless earbuds for most of your usage and you'll get better sound.

Samsung Dex

Some users long for a device that serves as their mobile phone or tablet and as a desktop computer. With Samsung Dex, you get just such an application.

I plugged my Samsun Galaxy Tab S7 into a monitor using a USB C to HDMI cable. Then I paired a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard to the tablet. The screen shows up on the monitor and works as a desktop computer.

Dex works as expected, but I don't really want to use Android as my desktop system. So, I didn't really use it much. I could in a pinch and I could see carrying around a good Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. You can also use the optional Samsung Keyboard Cover, but it's not cheap and doubles the thickness of the tablet and it's not easy to remove quickly for reading or taking handwritten notes with the S Pen. So, I don't bother. I returned the keyboard cover and got the thinner and lighter Book Cover. I used to carry around the mouse and keyboard but seldom used it so I quit doing that. You'll need to decide if you want to make use of Dex.

Recommendation

If you're looking for the best Android tablet in general, then go get the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7. If you want a larger 12.4-inch screen to use as a computer replacement, then get the larger Tab S7+, but that's the only reason. The smaller S7 holds up fine for the majority of users.

People who only want a tablet for reading, playing light games, watching videos, and doing some basic Internet activities, should really consider one of the very inexpensive Amazon Kindle Fire tablets. Get whatever size you prefer.

If you're deeply emersed in the Apple world, consider the iPad, iPad Air, or iPad mini depending on what size you want and what budget. The great Apple Pencil works on all of them.

Logos 9 Upgrade is Here: Get a Discount Here

Logos 9 dropped October 26 with some updates to the program. A lot of you will upgrade and you can get Logos 9 for 15% off using this link.

Upgrade to Logos 9 for 15% off.

For full disclosure, Logos gives me a commission if you use this link. I don’t normally use affiliate links, but I’m placing this here so you can save some money by buying the upgrade using that link. If you do it helps me out too.

I wrote an article at Church Tech Today about what are the most important updates to the program. To learn more for yourself before that post comes out, head over to the Logos 9 page at the company’s website.

Logos 9: Top 5 New Features

The best new features included in the Logos 9 upgrade includes the following top 5 new features...

• Factbook Upgrade - click a word in your text with the Factbook feature turned using a toolbar button and it opens the Factbook to that subject.
• Sermon Builder - an upgrade sermon planning feature that takes passages from your favorite lectionary and populates a calendar that you can display in list mode or a kind of pie graph.
• Commentaries in Guides - users can now sort commentaries section in the Passage Guide by different ways including the author’s denomination.
• Dark Mode - I’m not a fan of dark mode, but people love it, so it’s here in Logos 9.
• Images in Notes - you can now add images to your notes.

That’s not a complete list, but it shows what most people will find interesting.

I will upgrade because I am that guy who always wants the latest greatest of the programs I use. If there’s an update to Windows, macOS, MS Office, I’ve used it in Beta for the last few months to help write my article for Church Tech Today.

Logos upgrades every couple of years. If you’re a Logos fan you’ll likely want to get the upgrade. For Wordsearch users who came over when Logos bought it, you may want to wait till you get used to using Logos 8 to make sure you’re a good candidate for the update

Logos 9 Free Engine Upgrade

The free Logos 9 software without all the new bells and whistles will likely show up in 2021. It comes with nothing but the basic program update. However, you can’t get it this year. So, if you’re patient and don’t think you really see anything that interesting in the new features list, then hold off till next year.

40 Questions Series for Accordance Review

The 40 Questions Series from Kregel Publications for Accordance Bible Software puts into digital format 8 of the useful theological series that seeks to answer questions that Bible students might have on a range of topics from Calvinism to Church Membership. The series includes 8 of the 17 books in the set, each with 40 questions about a topic included in the book. Is it a good addition to your Accordance library? We'll take a look at the series itself and at using it in Accordance Bible Software.

For full disclosure Accordance gave me a review copy of the set. They offer a special until October 26 on the series taking $52 off to give you almost a 30% discount. Buyers can also get the individual volumes for a discount. Here's what you get.

• 40 Questions about Creation and Evolution (Keathley, Rooker)
• 40 Questions about the Historical Jesus (Pate)
• 40 Questions about Heaven and Hell (Gomes)
• 40 Questions about Salvation (Barrett)
• 40 Questions about Calvinism (Wright)
• 40 Questions about Christians and Biblical Law (Schreiner)
• 40 Questions about Islam (Bennett)
• 40 Questions about Church Membership and Discipline (Kimble)

The other books in the series are not yet available on Accordance but they will be soon.

40 Questions Series: How the Series Answers Questions in Accordance

Since Accordance gave me a copy to review for their sale, I did not have time to read all 8 books in the series. I started with 40 Questions about Calvinism by Shawn Wright. He's a church historian, pastor and professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville.

40 Questions about Calvinism in Accordance Bible Software

Each book includes 40 questions that introduce and examine the topic of that book. For example, some of the questions from Wright's book on Calvinism asks things like...

• What's the Difference between "Calvinism" and the "Reformed Tradition"?
• What are the Five Points of Calvinism?
• Does God Love All People?
• Is the Arminian Doctrine of Prevenient Grace Biblical?

The book breaks up the 40 questions in to sections on things like general questions, questions about God's character, about salvation, about human responsibility and more. The last section covers more practical questions.

I'm not a Calvinist nor an Arminian. You might call me a Molinist because I affirm free will and eternal security like most traditional Southern Baptists.

The book helped me understand what many Calvinists believe and how they don't really like being put in the box of the TULIP 5 Points. The fact that those points came as a reaction to Arminian theology helps add some depth to what I was pejoratively taught about Calvinism.

In spite of learning more about what Calvinists believe, I was not convinced. However, I would recommend Wright's book for anyone who wants clarity about Calvinism from a Calvinist.

Accordance does a very good job of creating quality digital versions of the books they sell. They're formatted nicely for screens. The book creators do a good job producing mostly error-free copies of their books, so you can trust them.

Installing 40 Questions Series in Accordance Bible Software's Various Platforms

If you purchase the 40 Questions Series for Accordance, you'll want to do a few things to make them more convenient to use. You probably already know how to download new books, but if you don't follow these steps:

• Open Easy Install from the Accordance menu on macOS or from the Utilities menu on Windows.
• Click on the Easy Install tab at the top of the dialog box.
• Click the boxes next to the book name
• Hit the Download button at the bottom of the Easy Install box.
• Let it download the books and when it asks hit the Install button to shut down Accordance and Install the books.

After that the program will restart. You'll find them in the various sections of your library. For example the following five books show up in the Theological section of your Library.

• 40 Questions: Calvinism
• 40 Questions: Christians and Biblical Law
• 40 Questions: Creation and Evolution
• 40 Questions: Heaven and Hell
• 40 Questions: Salvation

You'll find the other 3 in other sections. 40 Questions: Membership and Discipleship shows up in the Practical section. You'll find the last two on Islam and Historical Jesus in the History section.

If you don't see the library on the left hand side of the window, open it from the Library button or the Window menu. You can also use the keyboard shortcut OPTION+COMMAND+1 on Mac or CTRL+ALT+1 on Windows.

To make the new books easier to find you may want to move the books to the top of your Theological section by dragging and dropping them using your mouse or trackpad. Or you can right-click the section name and choose Alphabetize to put them in alphabetical order. We showed you how to do this in our review of the Christi-Centered Exposition Commentary for Accordance.

Tap Library icon in lower left (1st screenshot), tap download button (2nd screenshot) and tap select all (1 above in 3rd screenshot) and then tap download (2 above in 3rd screenshot).

To install the books on your phone or tablet, tap on the center of the app and then tap your Library icon in the bottom left corner on iPhone or iPad. Then tap on the Download button in the lower left corner and wait for the list to show your books. Hit the select all button in the upper right corner 2nd from the left. Then tap on the download button in the upper left corner.

Tap the menu button in the upper left and then tap on Easy Install to open the Easy Install box on your Android phone or tablet.

On Android, tap on the screen to show your menu. Hit the Menu button with 3 lines in the upper left corner. Tap on Easy Install to open the Easy Install box.

If you're not sure which section of the library holds a book, then just start typing in the search box at the top of the Library.

Reading Books in Accordance Bible Software and Apps

Reading and highlighting books in iOS and Android versions of Accordance are a pleasure. As you'll see below, note-taking with Accordance mobile is not possible right now. I hope this changes very soon.

It's pretty easy to simply read books in the Accordance Bible Software on your Mac or Windows computer. Just open them up and read. You'll find them in the various sections of your Accordance Library as seen above.

If you want to add notes or highlights, you can do so easily.

To add notes hover over a section you want to annotate, a plus button will show up to the right of the paragraph. Click it and it opens a notes editor.

Unfortunately, you can't add notes to books in the mobile apps. iOS lets you add notes to Bible verses, but not books like the 40 Questions Series. Android doesn't even let you add notes to Bible verses. If you prefer to read on a mobile device like me, you'll need to open another app and put notes there and then sync that note file to your comptuer and copy and paste to into the desktop versions of Accordance. It's not ideal, but is a way to get around the limitations.

I asked Rick Mansfield of Accordance Bible Software about this and he said that the developers see the importance of notes and want to add them soon.

Use last highlighter #1 or open the highlighting pallette #2.

Adding highlights requires you to select the text you want to highlight and then choose the highlight style from the highlighter tool that pops up or you can open the the Highlight pallette box by hitting the button on the toolbar. Make sure you select the right highlight file from the dropdown box in the pallette box. After that it's easiest to just use the little tool you will see just above your highlighted text. The previously used highlight style shows up on the left (#1 in image above) and the tool pallette box opens if you hit the other button (#2 in image above).

I use My Mobile Highlights, created by default when you install the program. This file syncs with your mobile device using either the built-in syncing feature that requires you to have the computer program open and the mobile device open.

A lot of people own convertible or 2-in-1 Windows computers these days. If you like reading books on yours, then you'll enjoy reading in the Windows version of Accordance. It's not as convenient on a Mac since Apple doesn't make a handheld version of a MacBook.

Syncing Notes and Highlights Between Different Operating Systems

The built-in Wi-Fi syncing in Accordance is not very convenient. I never use it and you shouldn't either unless you have a problem using Dropbox. The Dropbox highlighting is only a little better, but it is better than the Wi-Fi system. You have to connect your installation with Dropbox. See the video below for how to sync using Dropbox.

https://vimeo.com/126882018

How to sync Accordance with Dropbox video.

Accordance needs to improve it's syncing features. That's my biggest complaint regarding Accordance Bible Software's platform. You have to use a third-party service to sync. They need to bring it in house and make it secure. Second, it's not always automatic. You can set the Mac or Windows versions to automatically sync when you open and close the program, but you have to do it manually on iOS or Android. Third, they need to sync settings and library organization between all platforms too. Other Bible software platforms do.

Until they add automatic syncing, you'll want to sync manually. Use the same steps from above on how to install the books on your iOS or Android device and chose the Sync button. Make it a happen to do this each time you open and close the app.

Recommendation

First, I like the 40 Questions Series and look forward to reading the remaining 7 titles after enjoying and learning a lot from Wright's book on Calvinism. Second, Accordance does a nice job and offers them all for a great price right now of $122 for the set. Make sure you get them before the deal ends October 26.

Christ Centered Exposition Commentary for Accordance Review

The Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary went on sale at Accordance recently and they gave me a chance to review it for you. How does this series help pastors and Bible students study the word? We'll let you know and show how to use it inside the Bible study suite.

Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary from Accordance Bible Software

What is the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary?

Most commentaries come in one of a few categories depending on who will use them. Imagine a spectrum from right to left. Furthest to the left you'd find the most scholarly and technical commentaries that likely make use of original languages and focus a lot on translation, textual critical tools that help scholars at the graduate school or seminary level. You coudl imagine professors and translators using these.

On the far right end you would find what we call a devotional commentary that's meant to be read alongside the Bible for an average Christian whose reading their devotions and just wants a quick paragraph about a chapter or passage. Study Bibles fit in this spot on the spectrum.

The New American Commentary is one of my favorite sets and I own it in every Bible software package I own. It's closer to the center or slightly right of center depending on who you ask.

So where does the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary fit? It's closer to the devotional side than the middle. It doesn't give users a word-for-word or even a verse-by-verse approach to Bible interpretation. Instead it reads a lot like the notes a preacher would make while preparing for a sermon. What if that preacher then chose to release those notes in book form and you get something like this commentary?

https://vimeo.com/279685124#at=38

Tony Merida describes the series as looking at the text like one would use a magnifying glass to get up close to a subject or using a wide angle lens to get a wide vista. I would say it seems more wide angel than magnifying glass. But that's a good thing for teachers and preachers after they've spent time with the magnifying glass from other tools.

The commentary series includes 25 volumes from both the Old and New Testament. Here's the list of current books included and their authors.

Old Testament

• Exodus by Tony Merida (2014)
• Leviticus by Allan Moseley (2015)
• 1 & 2 Samuel by Heath Thomas and J.D. Greear (2016)
• 1 & 2 Kings by Tony Merida (2015)
• Ezra and Nehemiah by James M. Hamilton (2014)
• Proverbs by Daniel L. Akin and Jonathan Akin (2017)
• Ecclesiastes by Daniel L. Akin and Jonathan Akin (2016)
• Song of Songs by Daniel L. Akin (2015)
• Isaiah by Andrew M. Davis (2017)
• Ezekiel by Landon Dowden (2015)
• Daniel by Daniel L. Akin (2017)
• Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habbakuk by Eric Redmond, Bill Curtis, and Ken Fentress (2016)
• Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi by Micah Fries, Stephen Rummage, and Robby Gallaty (2015)

New Testament

• Matthew by David Platt (2013)
• Mark by Daniel L. Akin (2014)
• Acts by Tony Merida (2017)
• Galatians by David Platt and Tony Merida (2014)
• Ephesians by Tony Merida (2014)
• Philippians by Tony Merida and Francis Chan (2016)
• 1 & 2 Thessalonians by Mark Howell (2015)
• 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus by David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida (2013)
• Hebrews by R. Albert Mohler, Jr. (2017)
• James by David Platt (2014)
• 1, 2, 3 John by Daniel L. Akin (2014)
• Revelation by Daniel L. Akin (2016)

Buyers can rest assured that the series authors hold a high view of the inerrancy and authority of scripture. They also put a strong emphasis on the role of Christ in every passage of the Bible, as the title suggests.

Editors David Platt, Daniel Akin and Tony Merida come from my denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention. Merida and Platt crafted the series with a pastor's heart while Akin brings a to the series his expertise as the President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC.

Examples of Key Passages

Take the book of Daniel as an example. The commentary starts out with an introduction from this volume's author, Daniel Akin. The section for Daniel 1 begins with the Main Idea as follows:

Even in times of great trial and opposition, Christians must remain faithful to God and his gospel, imitating Christ’s own steadfastness as he endured persecution and death for our sakes.

Daniel Akin, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary: Daniel (chapter 1 Main Idea).

As I've preached through both Ezekiel and Daniel over the last couple of years in my church, I've used this series from another software program. I've always appreciated that it offers thoughtful interpretation, with a scholarly background that doesn't hit you in the face. The authors are sure to show us how this passage offers a Gospel message where appropriate. It truly puts Christ at the center of their expository approach.

Readers will not get high-level discussions of grammar, translation or extensive history background. The authors do give the reader enough information about those sorts of details as they help support their interpretation.

Fast foward to Daniel 11:3-4 we get the following entry from Akin.

God Breaks and Divides as He Chooses (11:3–4)

There is a 150–year gap between verses 2 and 3. What happened in that period is not important for the story God wishes to reveal in this vision. Scholars agree that the “warrior king” (ESV, “mighty king”) of verse 3 is the Greek Alexander the Great (336–323 BC). Historians have written volumes about him. God gives him one verse in this chapter! He was a powerful king who conquered the known world of his day and ruled with absolute power. He indeed did whatever he wanted. But he died at age thirty-three. So, as soon as he is established, his kingdom will be broken up and divided to the four winds of heaven, but not to his descendants; it will not be the same kingdom that he ruled, because his kingdom will be uprooted and will go to others besides them. (v. 4)

This is precisely what happened. Alexander’s sons were murdered, and no part of his vast empire went to his descendants. As we mentioned [Dan, p. 140] earlier, following his death, four of his generals divided up his kingdom into four parts:

• Cassander took Macedonia and Greece.
• Lysimachus took Thrace and portions of Asia Minor.
• Ptolemy took Egypt and Israel.
• Seleucus took Syria and Mesopotamia.

However, none of these kingdoms ever came close to matching the power and strength of Alexander’s brief empire. God plucked Alexander’s kingdom up, divided it into four pieces, and gave to others as he saw fit. And with that the great Alexander is finished. He served God’s plan and purposes. Off he goes!

Daniel Akin, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary: Daniel (chapter 11 Main Idea).

Notice Akin brings out the history following the division of the Greek Empire after the death of Alexander the Great.

Jump forward to the book of Matthew and we read about the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. David Platt writes in a way that reads like a sermon.

Platt introduced the section with a story about the great Billy Sunday, a 19th century evangelist. Sunday addressed vices from his day like dancing and playing cards. I bet few of us today would worry about such "vices" as Sunday called them. Platt uses the idea to illustrate that we should be extreme different than the secular world.

There was to be a clear line of demarcation between believers and unbelievers. These were things that marked off the people of God—things that marked out holiness, godliness, and salvation. He had a certain picture of what it looks like to be a believer in Jesus, and anything outside that didn’t fit.

David Platt, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary: Matthew, Matthew 5-7

Platt then gives background on the sermon and dives into the text. This could easily be heard as a message in Platt's church. That's a good thing for preachers or Bible study teachers planning to share the message of the Sermon on the Mount. An ethical teacher or preacher could even use the story citing Platt as their own message introduction.

Tips for Getting the Most Out of the Commentary

When you buy the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary, you'll download it using Easy Install in Accordance Bible Software. I recommend going into your Accordance Library and move it up the list towards the top. Even if you don't keep there, put there at first. This reminds you to use it each time you study a passage for a sermon, Bible study or your personal edification.

To promote it towards the top of your commentary list, open the Library from the toolbar button. It looks like an open book and by default sits on the left end of the toolbar.

If you removed the Library button, you can access it using the keyboard shortcut COMMAND+OPTION+1 or CONTROL+ALT+1 on Windows. You can also open it from the Window menu.

1. Open Library from toolbar button. 2. Find new books in bottom of list. 3. Drag them up so you'll see them more readily as you use the program.

Expand your Commentaries section the Library. Look for the two new books added to your Library by Easy Install. They'll probably show up at the very bottom of the section. If you have the two-volume set with one book for OT and one for NT, then look for Jesus in the NT and Jesus in the OT. If you bought the single volume set, then look for Christ-Centered Exposition. I wish they would have titled them more like the original titles with something like "Christ Centered Exposition" still keeping it short so you don't have a really long entry in your Library.

When you find them, drag them to the top or near the top. I put them just below New American Commentary, which is my favorite.

Open Info Pane to now see the book where you dragged it in Library.

Now, if you use the Info Pane or the Amplify menu, the books will show up where you dragged them, in my case just after NAC.

If you use the Amplify menu to open commentaries, the book will also show up here in the new location in your list.

Recommendation

The Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary serves it's purpose well. God used it to help me better focus my study of the books of Ezekiel and Daniel plus other texts from various books of the Bible over the last several years. I look forward to seeing the missing books of the Bible added. Three volumes that you can get in physical or eBook form still don't show up in the set available from Accordance. You can see the whole list with more detailed information about each book at the commentary's website.

Don't expect in-depth exposition on every detail and word. Do expect a pastor approach to the text.

I used the series after doing my own carful observations, word studies, and reading more scholarly commentaries. But I seldom preached a passage without first reading this work if it had a volume on the book I was preaching. I also, often found the preaching focus useful as I introduced a passage using one of the stories the authors included or driving the main idea home for my audience with concluding illustrations borrowed from the authors.

Learn more about the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series from Accordance. If you think you could use a commentary that more than just a devotional commentary, but also more accessible than more advanced scholarly sets, then hurry over to Accordance to get on sale until October 26. It's on sale for $99.90 or $50 as a crossgrade if you own it in another Bible program.

For full disclosure I was given a free copy of the set in order to write this review. However, I liked it enough to pay for it in another program when it first came out a few years ago.

Note this version of this article was updated to explain that there's a 2-volume version and that the publishers have a few more books available net yet showing up in the Accordance version.