This morning, I was reading a pastor’s Facebook group. Someone posted a question there asking about people’s experience preaching from an Ipad. It inspired me to write this post. I have used an Ipad for a year. I absolutely love it. Here are the simple steps myself and other use to do this.
Here is what I do.
1) I create a manuscript in Word on my computer using 14 font. I personally create it in such a way that I have a color outline embedded in it so it is easy to find my place. My Bibles Passages are red. Stories / illustrations are blue, Main Points are Green.
2) I use DropBox and store the sermon file in a dropbox folder that I share with my computer and ipad. It is a great free cloud storage system. There are others out that would work just as well (Apple Cloud, Google Drive, etc.).
3) I make sure I have enough battery life Saturday night.
4) I make sure I sync the file Sunday morning and open up the file from there. I have to do this because we are in a school and do not have Wifi access there and I don’t have the 3G data plan either.
5) I preach from the Ipad in Landscape position. I prefer this orientation because it makes the text wider and easier to read. Using this particular system, I scroll down as I preach. I find this works fine for me.
1) I use way less paper this way. I used to save all my sermons and recycle them by printing on the back side of them. I always felt like I had so much paper laying around.
2) Really comfortable: I like having a manuscript even if I am not tied to it. It took me a few weeks to get comfortable with this system. Once I did, I really like it.
3) Pages don’t get out of order: Every once in a while, my sermon notes would get out of order. This was awkward. This definitely doesn’t happen with the Ipad!
1) Passcode: Sometimes my Ipad will go to sleep before I get up to preach and I have to hit the passcode. If I enter the wrong one, I have to look at it and can get distracted. This happens rarely. You can set it not to go to sleep or not use a passcode.
2) Finding Your Place: I don’t rely heavily on the manuscript and sometimes have to scroll down pretty far. I used to have the same problem with paper just had to flip through it so it isn’t that big of a deal.
3) Preaching From Gadget: For a while I wrestled with the idea of preaching on things like taking care of the poor from what I consider a pretty expensive gadget. I felt like it was a bit hypocritical because the Ipad seemed like a toy not a tool at first. What I have found is that my Ipad has become an indispensable tool. I use it for sermon prep (reading books) and other things, so it feels very different to me know. Honestly, most people don’t even know that I am preaching from the Ipad because the music stand (our mobile church pulpit) hides it.
Ipad preaching tips and techniques used by others:
1) Create document on Mac using Pages
2) Save it using Apple Cloud.
3) Open the document on Ipad using Pages app.
1) Others create a manuscript or outline and save it as a pdf.
2) They save this on Dropbox like I mentioned earlier. You could use Apple’s cloud service if you have a Mac.
3) They use Ibooks to open the file. This allows them to tap on it switch pages rather than scroll it.
1) Create document in Google Drive on your computer
2) Open this document on your Ipad.
Thanks, Brad. This was helpful. From the other side of the country.
Dave Vroege, Halifax
Hi email my sermons to kindle and then my sermon reads like a book. Plus I don’t have to worry to much about font size when I type up my sermon because I can change that setting in kindle. I do have all my sermons on drop which means I am ready in season and out of season to preach the gospel.
I type my sermons/lessons in Microsoft Word and save them as a PDF. Then I save the PDF to Skydrive. I will then go to my iPad and open the Skydrive app to view the PDF. I will then open the PDF in Adobe Reader by opening in another app from Skydrive.
My experience and routine is very similar to Brad’s, except that I create in Word and copy and paste to Pages, then upload to iCloud. For some reason, I used to be able to upload Word docs, but it only likes Pages now.
I also use a color code system of highlighted backgrounds…yellow for the Bible passage, light orange, blue, or green for other emphasis. I rely more on varying point sizes then using the two finger zoom method. I often vary from my notes and freelance for a while. By varying color and type size, I can usually scroll down and find the next place fairly easy.
The most difficult thing at first was not having the ability to look ahead in the sermon notes very far. With printed documents, I could always have a two page spread open and look ahead. That is no longer an issue. Additionally, I struggled early on with my right thumb touching the screen on the right side and sending me ahead in the document in mid-sentence. I’ve learned to keep my hand off the screen unless I’m scrolling on purpose.
One other advantage worth mentioning…with a changeable document like Pages, you can make last minute edits and changes to the document right on the iPad. It may not reflect exactly what’s on the computer, but it’s nice to make changes late in the game.
At this point, I’ve been preaching for almost a year from the iPad and love it.
This article encouraged me to try preaching from a tablet – after a few weeks a printout seems so limiting. My issues were 1) we just decided to move to a new Bible translation, and replacing my super-extra-HUGE font Bible was a challenge – the new version is not available in the size I need. The tablet gives me 18 point font and the only expenditure was adding the new version to Logos ($10). The other blessing is color coding my notes/outline – I couldn’t appreciate it until I had used it! I’m looking forward to using the other new capabilities over time. We a not a Mac shop, so my setup consists of a laptop running Logos and Word, connected via OneDrive with a Surface RT tablet. Word has a “Read mode” that removes most of the buttons and stuff that might cause me to open other apps or generally mess things up.