CHURCH MANAGEMENT: PLANNING CENTER SERVICES AND MORE
If you aren’t one of the thousands of churches using Planning Center for your church, check it out immediately. It has become the standard tool in churches of all sizes around the country to plan church services and schedule volunteers.
For worship leaders, Planning Center Services allows you to upload mp3s of your songs and music charts so everyone can practice at home before they come to rehearsal. Plus, it’s an amazing tool for scheduling volunteers and planning the order and content of church services months in advance.
Planning Center also has an impressive number of top-notch solutions for child check-in, giving, small groups and more. I’ve used them all.
By the way, Planning Center People is a free tool (rivaling very expensive church management solutions) to keeping track of all the contact info of people from your church. It’s fantastic if you need to look up the contact info from someone in your church.
BOOKS: AMAZON KINDLE
If you are like me, you read a lot. Though I use a lot of native Apple apps, I read books on the Kindle app instead of iBooks. Why? Because Kindle books are often cheaper, and it automatically syncs across any device.
I can read on my iPhone, put it down and pick up right where I left off on my laptop or iPad. I also like that I won’t lose my library if, God forbid, I ever switch to a non-Apple product. Kindle works on every platform.
Plus, Amazon is the largest bookstore in the world, and I’ve already accumulated a large digital book library.
My favorite new feature is the continuous scrolling option. When turned on, you no longer swipe left and right to turn pages. Instead, you scroll up and down like when you’re reading an article on a website. It makes reading on the phone more natural and less choppy. Plus, it makes highlighting easier since I no longer have to try to highlight paragraphs broken up on multiple pages.
AUDIOBOOKS: AUDIBLE
Audiobooks are gaining popularity. Like podcasts, they allow you to listen to books while you do other things like drive to work or mow the lawn.
Audiobooks have helped me double the number of books I “read” in a month. I still like Kindle books, but it’s nice to have a mix of both. I know a lot of pastors use audible just based on the growing number of downloads of my audiobooks.
Audible is also owned by Amazon. So you can sync Kindle and Audible books. It’s a nice feature, although I haven’t used it much.
If you want to get started, click here and you can get a free trial plus two free books! Even if you don’t continue after the trial, it’s worth it for the free books.
ONLINE ARTICLES: FEEDLY
Feedly is the best blog reader available. It allows you to read and follow all of your favorite blogs in one app. This is one of the first apps I open every morning.
Not only does it help me stay up with current events and ideas, but it also helps me sift through hundreds of blog articles quickly to read only the best ones.
I also love the functionality to save articles for later or share them on Twitter, Facebook or more. If you read a lot of websites, you need this.
BIBLE: LOGOS BIBLE STUDY TOOLS
All pastors should get the Logos Bible app.
While the popular Bible app is good for casual reading, I’ve found the Logos app to be all around better for pastors.
You can follow reading plans, take notes, dive into the original Greek or Hebrew, access commentaries, compare translations, listen to audio Bibles, and so much more.
One of the coolest, lesser-known features is the Reference Scanner. It allows you to point your camera at a Bible verse reference on a handout, in a book or wherever, and it will automatically recognize the verse and pull it up for you. So cool!
The Bible app is built for the average Christian, but Logos is built specifically for pastors and church leaders. It’s the best app for serious Bible study and sermon prep on the go.
By the way, if you would like to upgrade to the latest version of Logos or sign up for the first time, use this link for an exclusive 10-25 percent discount just for my readers.
