Pastoral Ministry and Logos Bible Software

This is a general question for those who are pastors.

We all know Logos is Bible software, so we all use it to prepare sermons and Bible studies. It can also keep track of prayer requests, index our sermons, and help us read through our Bible.

However, I have used Logos for many years now, and realized recently that for other types of pastoral ministry I do not really use Logos, even though I have some resources in those areas (I have Platinum with plenty of extras). I am thinking of things like leadership, fellowship, ministry to the sick, bereavement ministry, weddings, counseling, visitation, personal evangelism, worship planning, and so on (the stuff they usually don't teach you at seminary).

I am wondering if any of you are using Logos for these sorts of ministry and if so how do you use it? While I am not suggesting Logos become a different program from what it is (say a worship planning program), maybe some have some suggestions that would help Logos assist me in these areas.

Thanks

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Rich DeRuiter

I am wondering if any of you are using Logos for these sorts of ministry and if so how do you use it? While I am not suggesting Logos become a different program from what it is (say a worship planning program), maybe some have some suggestions that would help Logos assist me in these areas.

Mark,

I have found the Leadership Library series, the Library of Christian Leadership, and the Mastering Ministry series, to have lots of great helps in these areas. The Minister's Handbook and the Star Book for Ministers also has some good helps.

Jeremy White

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/92907#Comment_92907

Richard,

I don't think it is so much finding the resources that is the issue - it's more "now what" - how can I include this as part of my day to day ministry - I spend a fair amount of time in this piece of software anyway - how can I get even more use out of it.

I also would be interested in what other people are doing with this. One of the things that I have done is use the notes function to create some crib sheets - for general situations like - here are some good ideas to put into practice during visitation through to notes specific to a person - here are some things that might be of interest or benefit to a certain person.

I would love to see more social functions develop within Logos to allow for conversations centered around Logos resources, whether in a more public sense but also in a small group or one or one.

Mark Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/92921#Comment_92921

it's more "now what"

I think that's what I was trying to get after.

It also occurs to me that much of what I may have in Logos isn't too easy to get to for pastoral ministry. For example, I have quite a few volumes dealing with the general topic of counseling. Even supposing Logos 4 gets a robust topical searching method, I wonder if some other tool or index would be helpful in finding, say, all the chapters on a particular subject that I might have in my library. It might even be cool to see what else Logos offers that would deal with such a subject (that I don't already have). Lots of other pastoral issues are like this. I have some resources, but I wonder if Logos could make them more accessible? Instead of a passage guide, how about a 'pastoral ministry guide'?

I don't know. Just wonder if this library I have in logos can be more useful outside of Bible study.

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/92932#Comment_92932

Just wonder if this library I have in logos can be more useful outside of Bible study.

I've been doing some work identifying what is needed for Logos to serve as the repository of all Scripture used in the church - Sermon text, prayer/devotional book, responsive readings/scriptural song, "Sunday School" and related groups, occasional services (baptism, peace vigils ...), congregational reading plans ... I'm initially looking at non-liturgical church services. This isn't quite "pastoral ministry" as you are thinking of it but it is an area that Logos can be easily tweaked to serve.

Mark Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/92983#Comment_92983

Interesting, Martha. Let us know what you come up with. (I'm in that non-liturgical group).

Mark Watson

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/92932#Comment_92932

It also occurs to me that much of what I may have in Logos isn't too easy to get to for pastoral ministry. For example, I have quite a few volumes dealing with the general topic of counseling. Even supposing Logos 4 gets a robust topical searching method, I wonder if some other tool or index would be helpful in finding, say, all the chapters on a particular subject that I might have in my library. It might even be cool to see what else Logos offers that would deal with such a subject (that I don't already have). Lots of other pastoral issues are like this. I have some resources, but I wonder if Logos could make them more accessible? Instead of a passage guide, how about a 'pastoral ministry guide'?

I don't know. Just wonder if this library I have in logos can be more useful outside of Bible study.

Mark - is a wiki page for pastoral topics of any interest to anyone? Or does this become just another storehouse of information that a user have to search through? I am thinking of a topic like - prison ministry or substance abuse counseling techniques.

Bohuslav Wojnar

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/92988#Comment_92988

Thank you Mark for opening that thread and asking those questions.

I found Logos to be excellent in the preparation of sermons and teaching in a regular situation, when I have enough time to study the subject, read all the commentaries I want to consult, do the word studies etc. However I feel a little bit lost when I need some quick results finding material for some special events, feasts, funerals and so on. Part of the problem is that I still struggle to really know what I have in my library (Platinum with many extras). Logos 4 is light years ahead of Logos 3 in the library management matter but still it is not the same as having book on the shelf and in your hand. Yes, I know, it is my problem and I am learning, creating some new collections and hopefully I will be better organized eventually...

Mark Watson

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/93023#Comment_93023

However I feel a little bit lost when I need some quick results finding material for some special events, feasts, funerals and so on. Part of the problem is that I still struggle to really know what I have in my library (Platinum with many extras).

Bohuslav - Would creating some Pastoral Collections help with that matter? Has anyone created collections for things like counseling? or funerals?

Bohuslav Wojnar

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/93025#Comment_93025

However I feel a little bit lost when I need some quick results finding material for some special events, feasts, funerals and so on. Part of the problem is that I still struggle to really know what I have in my library (Platinum with many extras).

Bohuslav - Would creating some Pastoral Collections help with that matter? Has anyone created collections for things like counseling? or funerals?

Collections are excellent thing in Logos 4. Creating some special collections for the pastoral ministry, counseling etc. would be great help.

Todd Phillips

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/93025#Comment_93025

Bohuslav - Would creating some Pastoral Collections help with that matter? Has anyone created collections for things like counseling? or funerals?

I think using Favorites or Clippings would be better for that sort of thing. Whenever you find something useful, you clip it to an clipping file named for that subject or place a link to it in a Favorites folder for that subject, then, over time, you would build up a custom topic index to your books (if using Favorites) or a quick reference sheet (if using clippings).

Rene Atchley

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/93032#Comment_93032

For me Logos is a good resource for professional Christian Counseling issues. While the sources will not prepare much of anyone to be a Christian Counselor they are very useful for topical, theological, biblical, and theoretical matters related to the profession of counseling. I don't find a need to upgrade to the "super bargains" or a new interface to find what I need since much of the extra items is nothing but fluff and filler for theological debates that matters to others. What I would like to see is the ability to buy modular upgrades that focus solely on the ministerial issues related to the professional topics in my ministry.

Mark Watson

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/93032#Comment_93032

Bohuslav - Would creating some Pastoral Collections help with that matter? Has anyone created collections for things like counseling? or funerals?

I think using Favorites or Clippings would be better for that sort of thing. Whenever you find something useful, you clip it to an clipping file named for that subject or place a link to it in a Favorites folder for that subject, then, over time, you would build up a custom topic index to your books (if using Favorites) or a quick reference sheet (if using clippings).

For storing the information that you find helpful in your resources, I agree completely.

But to cut down on searching through mountains of material, I believe collections is a good place to start. I just did a search on "substance abuse" in my entire library (Platinum base package, plus more) and got 272 hits from 211 sources. Many of the titles were from Bible Encyclopedias, Daily Devotionals, Sermon Idea Books, etc. So to me, the collection idea is more of a how to get to the proper section of the big public library.

I would like to be able to filter the Pre-pubs and current resources available for pastoral topics.

Mark Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/93032#Comment_93032

Todd,

This is a good suggestion.

I guess part of what I would like is a way to more easily access information of a specifically pastoral nature. I'll get back to my thought about a Pastoral Ministry Guide in Logos. I could see typing in a topic like 'Fund Raising' and getting things like:

1. Biblical references to stewardship and giving

2. Dictionary articles on stewardship and giving

3. References to sermons and sermon outlines on giving and stewardship

4. References to books and major chapters on stewardship from a pastoral ministry perspective (i.e. not personal stewardship but church stewardship)

5. References to case studies or examples of church fund raising.

6. Theological references (Pastoral theology as well as systematic theology)

7. Specific references to pastoral ministry handbooks.

Something like this would give me easier access to resources I might have. I'd also be grateful for references to resources I don't have but Logos publishes.

This is just the information side of the equation, but without really combing my resources a group at a time, I'm not sure how to get at what I already have. Logos makes this easy for Bible study, but I don't find it helpful for something like this.

Todd Phillips

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/93038#Comment_93038

So to me, the collection idea is more of a how to get to the proper section of the big public library.

You can also tag books in the library with topical keywords to help you find them again. And that creates implicit "mytag:" collections for each of the tags. Depending on how one works, this could be a quicker way to categorize books than creating lots of collections.

It's too bad we can't limit searches by the metadata. We can find all the books in the library with "subject:counseling", but we can't search over all books with "subject:counseling". That would make ad hoc searching a little easier if we could. As it is now, we first have to create a named collection that has "subject:counseling" as its definition, and then search that collection. I don't necessarily want to create a collection every time I want to search a subject.

Jeremy White

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/93041#Comment_93041

Something like this would give me easier access to resources I might have. I'd also be grateful for references to resources I don't have but Logos publishes.

Would reading lists fulfill a function like this?

Bohuslav Wojnar

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/93041#Comment_93041

I like your suggestions Mark.

Somebody mentioned clippings, yes, I found them very helpful in gathering topical material I use later for sermon preparation. I need also to develop more using the favorites in combination with the clippings and notes. I tried to use that way of collecting material as I was preparing my last 2 sermons and it looks promising. Notes however need much improvement IMHO.

Mark Watson

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/93055#Comment_93055

You can also tag books in the library with topical keywords to help you find them again. And that creates implicit "mytag:" collections for each of the tags. Depending on how one works, this could be a quicker way to categorize books than creating lots of collections.

Todd, what else does the "tagging" do to the books? Can it be removed, etc.? I have not used this feature yet.

Brian Huddleston

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/93056#Comment_93056

I agree with Jeremy that Reading Lists might be helpful. I played around with the Steward topic that was already in place. There's a lot of potential with community driven topic lists.

Todd Phillips

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/93063#Comment_93063

what else does the "tagging" do to the books? Can it be removed, etc.?

It just associates a word or a phrase with a resource. You add them in the info pane of the library, and if you select multiple books you can tag them all at once.

An individual tag can be removed, but there is some difficulty with removing a single tag from multiple books at one time. Currently when you have multiple books selected, you can only clear all their tags (in addition to adding a tag).

It doesn't do anything directly to the books,but rather it just updates the library database.

Then you can type (for example) "mytag:finances" into the library and find all of the books that have been tagged with the word "finances". Plus the tags can be used as collections in the search window, as I described previously.

Mark Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/93056#Comment_93056

Would reading lists fulfill a function like this?

I think that would help. Someone's annotations in particular would be useful.

I wonder if there is a way since we are online with Logos most of the time to access a master Index they mantain that would have this info, sort of like searching for sermons on Sermon.com in the Passage Guide?

BTW: Thanks to everyone for the input.