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How do you use Accordance for sermons?


CWW

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I'm fairly new to preaching.

 

In my beginner way, I simply use User Notes to record insights and ideas as I study each verse of the text for preaching, including copying from the various references I might want to use. I usually put the Outline in the notes of the first verse in the passage.

Finally, I copy the entire User Notes to a Word document for editing and crafting the final sermon.

 

Just wondering how do others use Accordance in the preparation of a sermon?

This question is partly triggered by the recent podcast on User Tools.

I'd looking forward to pick up tips and learn better ways of using Accordance from the wealth of experience here :)

 

Thanks

Wei

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Wei,

 

This is a good question! Variations of it have been asked before; since I've answered in those threads, I won't repeat my answer there, but rather list some of the threads for you:

 

Best way to compile information while studying?

How to record your study?

How Do You Use Accordance for Sermon Prep?

Do you use the Edit Window or an alternative?

 

Hopefully others will chime in here a well.

 

Lorinda

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Sorry to engage in self-promotion here, but I have an entire chapter of my book Macs in the Ministry devoted to how you can use Bible software in general, and Accordance in particular, to prepare a sermon. The accompanying DVD also includes a training video where I illustrate all the steps using Accordance.

 

The following chapter of the book then goes into developing a sermon outline in Pages, and that sermon outline then becomes the basis for a series of other projects.

 

Okay, end of commercial. We now return to your regularly scheduled Accordance discussion. ;)

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Thanks Lorinda for the links! Very helpful. Tried searching the forums before posting the question but didn't find those threads. Much appreciated :)

 

Thanks too David for the book recommendation :P

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

Just wondering how do others use Accordance in the preparation of a sermon?

This question is partly triggered by the recent podcast on User Tools...

Thanks

Wei

 

Hi Wei

 

I'm not a preacher, and I'm brand new to Accordance so Im probably not qualified to reply to your post.

 

However, with that being said, I would like to mention how I think I would do it and the tools I would use if I needed to prepare, and present a sermon.

 

First of all, I would go totally paperless, and put all of my sermons on the iPad using an iPhone/iPad Application from Evernote. I use Evernote myself for outlining and keeping notes of books I read and Bible studies, as well as keeping personal notes from sermons that my pastor preaches. Although I don't take a lot of notes directly on the iPad during worship (I mainly use the iPad as my Bible to follow along) I prefer to take notes the ole fashion way, with pen and paper, then I can transcribe my notes to the iPad later via my MacPro as it's more convent. Also, our pastor provides us with a basic outline of his sermon every week with blanks to fill in while he's preaching. I love that, it takes the work out of note taking, and allows you to concentrate on what he's saying versus trying to write EVERYTHING down yourself while he is saying it. I'm also fortunate that my church posts the preachers sermons each week in itunes via a podcast. So I'll download the podcast during the week and listen to the sermon again to take better and more in-depth notes via my desktop. The great thing about Evernote is that you can type up (or input) your notes on your computer (Mac or PC) using the free PC or Mac Evernote client. Then it syncs via WiFi to your iPad and iPhone.

 

If I were preparing a sermon, I would simply copy and paste my text from Accordance into Evernote on the desktop (or Macbook) sync it to my iPad and use the iPad to preach from. (That's if I was a preacher mind you :) Another nice feature of Evernote is that you can share you notebooks online with specific friends, or the world. You can fix it so they only have read only access or you can give them permission to edit your notes. This way, you could make that link available to your congregation and they could easily access your sermon text, copy and paste it from the automated webpage in to their own word processor/notes to add whatever text they wanted to add.

 

Furthermore, your notes in Evernote are all searchable which makes it a dream for locating anything specific such as notes containing specific phrases, words, scripture reference or anything else. You can also attach multiple tags to your note headings which basically turns your notebooks into a complete database searchable by any tag you have created or multiple tags. Additionally, I use what Accordance defines as user notes, to reference my sermon notes in the PocketBible App on my iPad, and I will likewise start inserting user notes in Accordance to reference my sermon notes, or other Bible reference notes associated to a specific verse. Example ... I insert a scripture reference user note for every sermon my pastor preaches. Then at a later point in time when I'm reading that scripture again (say 10 years from now) I see that I have a user note on a specific scripture reminding me that my pastor preached a sermon on a certain date of which I also have the notes and the audio of that sermon stored in iTunes so I can listen to it again when ever desired.

 

Don't ya just love technology?

 

I would like to add that I'm still quite uneducated as far as the user tools in Accordance. I watched the training video on the website but felt a little alienated from it's concept. I believe Dr. J has a video podcast on the subject too right? Im going to watch it and see if I can better understand how user tools work. That may be the perfect tools for gathering your information prior to importing it into Evernote.

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Hi Ron,

 

Thanks for the tip on Evernote. Sounds like its an app that's working really well for you. I have heard of it before but was under the impression it stores on a "cloud" so that means I would always have to have a data connection when using it. That put me off a bit so never really looked at it. I'll have to check it out more seriously now.

 

Cheers,

Wei

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Hi Ron,

 

Thanks for the tip on Evernote. Sounds like its an app that's working really well for you. I have heard of it before but was under the impression it stores on a "cloud" so that means I would always have to have a data connection when using it. That put me off a bit so never really looked at it. I'll have to check it out more seriously now.

 

Cheers,

Wei

 

 

Hi Wei, do you have an iPad?

 

Yes it has been working fantastic for me. And you are correct, it does sync and store your notes on a "cloud" but for $5.00 a month or $45 a year you can subscribe to the premium service and select to have all of your notes be "Offline notebooks" so you don't have to worry about having an internet connection to access your notes. I was a little cautious at first, but after using it for a month now, I highly recommend it (especially for iPad users without 3g) and it's my opinion that it's well with the monthly subscription. As a matter of fact, Im going to upgrade to the annual subscription here shortly after I pay for all my new Accordance software. LOL

 

Seriously, it's well worth if for all of that it does. You can be looking at a webpage on your desktop via Safari or Firefox and simply click on the Evernote button which is added to your browser and it will transfer the page to your Evernote client on your desktop or laptop (or any other computer you install the clint to) and the next time you sync your client to the cloud it will be there ready for you to sync your iDevices. I simply keep my Mac client application running all the time at hone and have it automatically up-sync ever 30 min or so that way the next time I open the app on my iPad or iPhone it automatically syncs. Fortunately, our church provides free WiFI access anywhere in the building so if I forget to sync my iPad before I leave home, I can always do it when I get to church. Now how cool is that? Not to mention I can use Logos for the iPad at church if I need to since I have WiFi access, but Im sure Accordance for the iPad will alleviate that need once it's released since WiFi won't be required to access your Accordance reference materials.

 

Additionally, Evernote has announced that something big is going to happen on July 14th, so you might want to check out their website on that date. Oh and one last MUST HAVE feature in Evernote is the ability to backup your notes to your hard drive from your Mac or PC client application. Then you can restore your notes at any time if needed. I have set up Time Machine on my Mac Pro to automatically backup the notes I've backed up.

 

Hope that helps. Let me know if it works out for you, maybe I'll decide to become a preacher someday :)

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