The Best Tech for Ministry

Many churches use technology in their ministry and worship so I'm not going into detail on things like Powerpoint, projectors, or anything like that.  But let me tell you the best piece of tech I use in ministry.  (Other than the computer, of course.)

My Amazon Kindle.  This last week had big Kindle news and I may review that in a later post, but the Kindle may be the little known ministry tool that you need to get.

Yes, the Kindle is a great E-reader and certainly, I buy all of my books for my Kindle; whether I'm studying for a sermon, educating myself on theology, or reading for fun.  But my Kindle has revolutionized my ministry of preaching, teaching, and officiating funerals and weddings.  Let me explain.

The Kindle can do much more than just download and read books from Amazon.  It actually is able to display many different file types, and you can transfer files to it in a couple of ways.  Let me break down how I use mine.

• First, I preach from my Kindle weekly.  Before this piece of tech, I used a Bible with wide margins and a few notes to preach from each service.  I'm not one to write a manuscript, and don't actually even use my notes that much; but a simple outline keeps me from rambling.  So one day I decided to try out my Kindle for preaching.  I began by typing my notes in Microsoft Word - though you could use any good word processor - and including the Scriptures directly in the outline.  I use youversion.com or biblegateway.com to cut and paste Scripture to my document.  I make the outline in 24pt. Calibri font.  This is easy for me to read when displayed on the Kindle.  Then I save the document as a pdf file; one of the many file types the Kindle will read.  (Note: Kindle will read a regular .doc file too, but you lose any formatting such as indents or other outline elements.)  Preaching from the Kindle is great.  I have the notes I need, as well as Scripture we will use.  I keep my Kindle in a leather case from Amazon that makes it look like a black book or Bible that I'm holding.  And, I have organized sermons both on my computer and my Kindle if I ever need them.

• Funerals and weddings are the best uses for my Kindle.  In these services, I have much more mapped out plans for the service and my sermon, so having the whole service in my Kindle is great.  Putting it together is just like for the sermon.  But I find it more useful because I need my written words more than when I preach.  For a graveside service, it's especially useful because wind can't blow the pages of a Kindle.  You won't be fighting to keep your pages in line no matter the weather.

• To transfer to your Kindle, you can either connect it via USB and use it as a mass storage device, or send it by email.  Amazon gives you a Kindle email address when you buy one, and you can send docs to it with email as long as you're on wifi.  Your email address is ______@free.kindle.com.  It works great to get your content wirelessly to your Kindle. 

Pastors, this really has revolutionized my preaching and services.  Now, it's better and cheaper than ever to buy a Kindle and use it for your ministry.  One caveat: keep your Kindle charged up.  The battery lasts weeks, so it's not a major worry; but make sure it's charged when you need it or you could really be in trouble.

Note: I don't work for Amazon, just love good technology.