Sermon Builder for Manuscript Preaching

I'm beginning a new sermon series next week and thought I'd try the Sermon Manager / Builder features in Logos for the first time. My workflow is:

1) Read & highlight passages in commentaries

2) Take notes on my highlights and create a loose outline

3) Write a (word for word) manuscript, copying in the commentary quotes where appropriate.

My understanding is that Logos will be great at steps 1 and 2 above. (Would love validation on this!) My concern is regarding step 3. All of the help videos and forum posts I find on writing sermons appear to be from people who preach from an outline. I preach from a (word for word) manuscript. I don't use slides or handouts. I can't find much in the way of information on if Logos is the right tool for this?

Thanks for any help!

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Comments

Morgan

I use Logos and the Sermon Builder every week for multiple lessons. For some of them, such as bible classes, I stick with an outline format. For sermons I typically write them out word for word since discussion won't take us elsewhere. The Sermon Builder is a pretty basic word processor. The only real advantages I appreciate is having everything in the Sermon Manager, Scripture Insert, and using Preaching Mode with my tablet. It's nice to have everything in the same system and easily retrievable.

Other than that you might find it a bit restrictive. Just off the top of my head when compared to Microsoft Word:

Formatting is extremely limited
Certain tools or layouts, such as tables, are unavailable
Keyboard shortcuts for formatting
Overall ease in using it

But some might consider that a plus. Word can do far more than I could ever want, or hope to learn. Sermon Builder gives me what I need without hiding it among a thousand other features.

As for points 1 & 2, absolutely! My study has been made much more efficient with Logos. The benefits over pen and paper (at least for me) are countless.

Paul Mulner

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1205897#Comment_1205897

Thanks Morgan!

Sounds like I should do steps 1 & 2 in Logos, the first draft of step 3, and then copy/paste into Word or Ulysses to format the final product the way I want for printing.

Mike Binks

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1205899#Comment_1205899

Thanks Morgan!

Sounds like I should do steps 1 & 2 in Logos, the first draft of step 3, and then copy/paste into Word or Ulysses to format the final product the way I want for printing.

Nope. 😊 think of the nice tree in your logo and learn to preach from your tablet. Preaching mode will give you all you need for a word for word sermon. I don't know anyone who can preach word for word from a table but out of interest I would like to hear it.

Paul Mulner

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1205915#Comment_1205915

No thanks! I tried preaching from a tablet for a few months about a decade ago and it ranged from "no better than paper" to "a disaster."

Even today when I watch people use them in the pulpit I personally find them distracting.

Paper hasn't failed me yet! But I am excited to try out my sermon prep in Logos.

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1205930#Comment_1205930

I tried preaching from a tablet for a few months about a decade ago

Tablets have improved a bit in the last decade. At some point you might want to try a dry run or two from a tablet. Note I am inclined towards paper myself but I'm an old gezzess (feminine form of gezzer?)

Paul Mulner

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1205938#Comment_1205938

That's true. I use my iPad(s) every day for reading and for my primary job. I depend on them greatly.

But in the pulpit...why? Paper works. All I'm doing with a tablet is introducing the possibility of something going wrong from an errant swipe, unexpected software update, battery failure, random reboot, app freezing...

I'm not sure what I gain vs. a system that has worked reliably for me personally for 15+ years and for others for hundreds?

Mike Binks

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1205939#Comment_1205939

I'm not sure what I gain vs. a system that has worked reliably for me personally for 15+ years and for others for hundreds?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ

Paul Mulner

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1205977#Comment_1205977

[:)]

John Connell

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1205939#Comment_1205939

That's true. I use my iPad(s) every day for reading and for my primary job. I depend on them greatly.

But in the pulpit...why? Paper works. All I'm doing with a tablet is introducing the possibility of something going wrong from an errant swipe, unexpected software update, battery failure, random reboot, app freezing...

I'm not sure what I gain vs. a system that has worked reliably for me personally for 15+ years and for others for hundreds?

Paul, I can relate. Even though I would upload my Adult Sunday School lesson to my IPad, I still printed out paper copies to teach from. When COVID hit and we began hybrid classes, (Zoom and in-person) the Zoomers complained about the noise from the papers rattling in my hand. So, I bit the bullet and started teaching from my IPad. It has worked well enough so far, but it is a little like operating without that safety net.

I have a one-off opportunity to preach on Father's Day this year and I will use paper for that.

-john

GregW

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1205939#Comment_1205939

That's true. I use my iPad(s) every day for reading and for my primary job. I depend on them greatly.

But in the pulpit...why? Paper works. All I'm doing with a tablet is introducing the possibility of something going wrong from an errant swipe, unexpected software update, battery failure, random reboot, app freezing...

I preached every week for several years from Sermon Builder before retiring, sometimes from a full manuscript and sometimes from an outline. I never had any problems, and just needed to make sure it was charged up the night before. Prior to that there were several mad panics when the printer wouldn’t work, ink ran out, paper jammed, etc. On one occasion, when someone arrived mid-service to tell one of our members her son had died, after making sure she was looked after I was able to switch to a completely different sermon on my iPad, something I’d never have been able to do with paper. And since they introduced the ability to edit on mobile, I can make last-minute mods very easily now. The other advantage is that I’m avoiding chopping down trees to print out something I’ll just put into the recycling afterwards.

i wouldn’t recommend using Sermon Builder to print out a manuscript, as it uses a very large font as a default, which means you use even more paper.

Paul Mulner

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1205992#Comment_1205992

We're all influenced by our experience. I'm glad yours was positive. Mine is very positive with paper.

As I mentioned above, I won't be printing from Sermon Builder. I'll do my last draft in Word or Ulysses and print from that. I don't think my 8 pieces of paper a week for the Kingdom of God are going to rid the world of trees.

David Thomas

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1205939#Comment_1205939

I'm not sure what I gain vs. a system that has worked reliably for me personally for 15+ years and for others for hundreds?

I am known for redundancy due to being in the pulpit ONCE when one page of my paper notes was missing.

I do your step #3 in Microsoft WORD so that I can visually make it easy to follow. a) I then copy/paste from WORD into Sermon Builder for 2 reasons: archive/search and bridge to Proclaim. I print my sermon notes and place them in a 8.5 x 5.5 3-ring binder so that they never get shuffled if a fan, breeze, drop happens. I also save a PDF of the Word Document and email it to my tablet with a reader APP in the Background. AND I use the Proclaim Remote which is the Active App on my tablet. I also give a copy of notes to the AV team. While this is REDUNDANT.

I am prepared with Plan A and Plan B if Wifi goes out, if Electricity goes out, if Faithlife servers are down, or if a mighty rushing wind sweeps across the pulpit.

view from the preaching desk

view by congregants

PDF backup

AV booth copy.

After the service, the AV copy if filed in the church files for prosperity and the 8.5 x5.5 copy goes into my personal archives.

Overkill? probably, but as you have described it "a system that has worked reliably for me personally"

danwdoo

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1205992#Comment_1205992

i wouldn’t recommend using Sermon Builder to print out a manuscript, as it uses a very large font as a default, which means you use even more paper.

Sermon Builder has a very useful feature that I use constantly to make adjusting things like this easy. In the print function, there is a "send to Word" lower down in the list of options. Clicking this opens the sermon document automatically in Word and then I just do a global font size change, make sure margins are set to narrow, then print. Works great and is quick and easy. Now I wish these could be set in Sermon Builder along with other options (I don't want keywords and such metadata included, just the text).

GregW

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1206334#Comment_1206334

Sermon Builder has a very useful feature that I use constantly to make adjusting things like this easy. In the print function, there is a "send to Word" lower down in the list of options. Clicking this opens the sermon document automatically in Word and then I just do a global font size change, make sure margins are set to narrow, then print. Works great and is quick and easy. Now I wish these could be set in Sermon Builder along with other options (I don't want keywords and such metadata included, just the text).

i did that once, but it makes printing out a manuscript a multi-stage process, which is one of the reasons I preach from an iPad.

danwdoo

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1206336#Comment_1206336

i did that once, but it makes printing out a manuscript a multi-stage process, which is one of the reasons I preach from an iPad.

But for those who do want/need to print out their sermons for any number of possible reasons, it's good to know about this feature and it only takes about 10 seconds to complete the process.

Kevin A. Purcell

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1205939#Comment_1205939

But in the pulpit...why? Paper works.

With this logic, there are lots of things that work. I could put a desktop system with an old CRT in the pulpit and say, "Paper? Why? A CRT works."

[:D]

I've been using my iPad since the first one came out and can count on one hand where I had a problem. I then pull out my phone and use it.

I have saved a lot of paper and ink over the ears. I love the workflow of writing on my desktop in Word, letting ONeDrive sync it, and opening it on my iPad, and there it all is. There are a few errant wipes that I can recover from quickly. I have never had a software update, but if I did I'd stop it. My battery is never failed because I plug in on Sat night. I have never had a random reboot of any iPad ever that I can remember except when I was testing betas, something I don't do anymore. And Word has never frozen in a way that I can't recover and never while I'm preaching. This is after using my iPad at least 2-3 times/week for 45-50 weeks/year for over 10 years.

But you do you! Great!!