Christian Web Resources

We’re starting a twice-monthly feature here on Church Marketing Sucks that looks at the questions I get in my online office. We explained what online office hours are and how you can be a part of them last week, so check out that post if you missed it.

That said, let’s take a look at some questions. This week, I answer an inquiry about ministry calling as well as how to preach from your iPad. Take a look and be sure to join me every Wednesday from 2-4 pm CST for online office hours!

I am a junior in college studying student ministries what advice would you give me as I look to graduate in the next year?

My answer: I will give you the same piece of advice that my mentor gave me in college: ”Do everything you can to not go into ministry. Take another job if you have to. Try working elsewhere for a season. At the end of all this, if you still feel the call the ministry, you need to obey the voice of the Lord.” I took his advice and tried every job I could think of: house painter, waiter, food service worker, courier at a law firm. You name it, I tried it.

But, as I think he knew would be the case, I ended up going into ministry. The call was still there. I was bit by the bug. That is my advice to you. If you do the above, figuring out what you want to do in ministry will be the least of your worries.

I wanted to know how easy it is to use your iPad for teaching a sermon and what’s your fav app for teaching? This is one of the main reasons for me buying one.

My answer: Very, very easy. I use Pages mainly, but there are PLENTY of other apps you can use. I like Pages because I can write a message on my desktop and send it to the iPad, ready to roll. It’s also super easy to make changes on the fly if I need to between services.

Another option I’ve used and like a little better is using Dropbox. I can write the message on my desktop, send it to my dropbox folder, and use the iPad app to open it up. The benefit of using Dropbox is that the document isn’t editable, i.e. no mistaken changes during the message, etc. If I need to, I can open up the document from Dropbox in Pages, etc.

It really is the way to go. I’m not sure it’s for everyone, but for me it’s rock-solid. It keeps me from having to take a gang of paper notes up there, reduces clutter, waste, etc. Highly recommended! Give ‘er a go.