Back on the Logos Forums Solely as a Logos User

In case you haven’t heard, I am no longer working for Accordance Bible Software (I have been laid off at Accordance). Therefore, I am returning to the Logos forums solely as a Logos user. There’s plenty I’ve wanted to say over the past few years but have stayed quiet due to my time “over there”, so I’m using this post to catch up. It’ll be quite lengthly and “TLDR”, so feel free to use your favorite AI chatbot to summarize it. :-)

I won’t be spending much time here talking about “the other guys”, nor do I have any plans to “bash the other guys” now that I am departing there. I will also not make any comments about anything internally during my work there. All I will way is I am thankful for my time there and for the privilege of serving people while I was there. I am praying for my former colleagues over there. It was my first full-time job as I wrapped up my PhD program and started out in the job world, and I’m thankful I was given an opportunity to serve somewhere. I also want to thank Rick Mansfield (who is now over here), as when he departed from there, he put in a good word for me which I’m sure helped me land my first full-time job. So to my dear brother in the Lord, Rick, thank you for helping me get started in the job world! I’ll never forget your kindness and for believing in me! My weather job of over 20 years also came to an end in September, so I’m officially unemployed across all my streams of income and on the job hunt. My resume is at my personal website, parkernathan.com. Please pray for me during this time that the Lord will show me His next calling for my life.

I likely won’t be posting much (if at all) on “the other guys” forums moving forward. I made one post under my personal account there announcing my departure. Most of the time over there I posted under their master admin account since in the event of my departure, I didn’t want a ton of official information tied to my personal account. I have passed the baton to my now former colleagues, so I will allow them to continue that leg of the race.

I still have my library with “them”, but moving forward, I’m going to be spending most of my personal Bible study time brushing up on my Logos training and likely spending the bulk of my personal Bible study time in Logos (as I tear up when I open “the other app” now that I am no longer working there). I had a LearnLogos.com and MPSeminars.com subscription, but I’m having to let both go due to my major reduction in funds.

I’m not sure how Logos is handling private betas anymore (I used to beta test major versions of Logos) now that Logos has moved to the subscription model. However, I am now open to any private beta testing Logos offers.

I do have an active Logos Max subscription which is good for a couple of years (until May 2027, I’ll need to find a job before then in order to likely keep it!), plus as a confession, I had used some of my weather job money (not my salary from “the other guys” since I didn’t feel that would be proper) to “backup” some of my critical resources in Logos just in case I ever needed to (the only one I haven’t had a chance to grab yet is New Interpreter’s Dictionary). Like Rick, that day has come for me as well. At the moment I’m on a spending pause on all books until I get some new income, but there’s a handful of books I’ll purchase once I have some income again.

In general, I’m enjoying my Logos Max subscription, as it has provided some excellent value for my Bible study. Smart Search is my most-used feature, as it has allowed me to uncover some useful insights from my library I never would have found with Precise searching. I need to play more with Smart Bible Search. Search Results Synopsis is also highly-useful.

I would have really used Summarize during my PhD program when studying for my comp exam. My only regret with it is why I didn’t have it then! It is truly a dream feature for the PhD student. I’m glad to see the Bible Study Builder arrive as a former Wordsearch/Lessonmaker user, and Morris Proctor would have loved it as a former Logos Lesson Builder user. I wish he could have lived to see it. He would have been so thrilled with it.

The 5% storewide and 5% back are nice perks with Pro and Max, or at least they will be when I can start buying books again. :-)

While I’m enjoying my Logos Max subscription, I do see where there are occasional times where uses may need some features without a subscription model. While I’m locked in for two years and have the Legacy Fallback License, if I didn’t and with my reduction in income, I would have likely needed to cancel my subscription (since in this case, I can’t agree with Erasmus, I need food first). Plus people on limited Internet may have issues using the Logos subscription models (my Internet has been flakey and at times has caused issues with Logos connecting to their servers, I can’t wait to get fiber when I finally can!). For those with poor Internet, I know your pain! Plus there are some people who are anti-subscription in general (I’m not when I can afford it and when it offers true value for my life, but some people will never subscribe to anything, so still find a way to take their money!).

My proposal for these scenarios is that Logos could bring back the ability to purchase the Full Feature Set and offer basically the equivalent of the Legacy Fallback License every two years. Instead of a version number, Logos could use a year and call it “Logos 2025”, etc. It would offer the non-cloud/non-AI features at a similar price point than what it’d cost for paying for two years of a Logos subscription. The Logos subscription would still be the better value (similar price but include cloud, AI, and rewards back), but the perpetual license would be there for people who need ownership or an “offline” license. Think of it as similar to Microsoft 365 vs Microsoft Office perpetual licenses. Those of us on Logos subscriptions but who may need to cancel due to financial hardships could either extend our subscription long enough to qualify for a Legacy Fallback License or crossgrade our subscription to a perpetual license so that even if we’re forced to cancel temporarily until we have funds, we don’t lose all our features and still have something “current”. Logos could also look at revamping the app engine version numbers (I’ve been a little confused about the current numbering) and change the version numbering to year/month. So an update this month would be 2025.10. If more than one update happens in a month for a particular reason, then that release gets a year/month/day release number, so 2025.10.16.

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Donovan R. Palmer

Hey Nathan, it is nice to hear from you, and I wish you well as you move on to other things. While us Bible software geeks love our tools (some of us owning more than one), and we love to nerd out on them, people are always most important. Prayers said as you seek your next chapter in work.

Steven MacDonald

Well said, Nathan. It's good to have you back :-). I posted on your second post so I will post here as well. I'll pray you get just the right job.

I love your feedback for Logos. I could definitely be onboard with Logos if they would offer the dual options.

I would like to add that it would be nice if Logos would also extend a 90-day grace period for Logos legacy users in case they do need to drop their subscription due to finances so they won't lose their discounted pricing.

Darrell Tan

Read your update on Substack. Thank you for all you did on the other side, including the forum before they made changes to that too.

Dr. Nathan Parker

Thanks everyone for the comments and the prayers! It feels great to know that so many people are. While this has been a challenging season for me with multiple trials hitting at once, I know the Lord will deliver me through this stronger and open a new door for what He has in store for my life next, so I'm trying to be less downtrodden and more excited to see what the Lord has in store next!

I will also make one more comment that while I was "over there", I never felt of Logos as a "competitor" but as fellow laborers in serving the church's Bible study needs. I remained friends with all of my friends over here, and I continued to respect them and pray for all of them as well. It was never a bitter rivalry to me and never would be.

While I no longer have the one source of income at the moment, at least I can take a deep breath and freely post over here solely as a Logos user again and continue enjoying my experience with Logos. :-)

DMB

"My proposal for these scenarios is that Logos could bring back the ability to purchase the Full Feature Set and offer basically the equivalent of the Legacy Fallback License every two years. Instead of a version number, Logos could use a year and call it “Logos 2025”, etc. "

Well, they weren't too thrilled last year with this idea. I think they really, really want subscriptions. Maximize no-walkaway.

But there is a high buy-it fence (L10 was $2k or so?) and so far, not much new worth buying … all AI stuff (not sellable).

Dr. Nathan Parker

True.

I'm at least locked in for two years on my Max subscription, and hopefully I'll land a new job before it expires! I could probably swing at least Premium if I were still in a financial bind, but last time I was in one when my dad died, it certainly was great being able to buy the L9 FFS and letting my Connect subscription lapse knowing I still owned a "current" version of Logos.

Dave Hooton

@Nathan Parker

There are Suggestions forums for ideas and discussions you raise here, but I'll comment on some:

I’m not sure how Logos is handling private betas anymore (I used to beta test major versions of Logos) now that Logos has moved to the subscription model. However, I am now open to any private beta testing Logos offers.

No more private betas. Go to the beta forums.

Logos could also look at revamping the app engine version numbers (I’ve been a little confused about the current numbering) and change the version numbering to year/month. So an update this month would be 2025.10. If more than one update happens in a month for a particular reason, then that release gets a year/month/day release number, so 2025.10.16.

Because there is a 6 week beta cycle, software releases occur on a predictable basis. Version numbers reflect the industry standard for software versioning because releases are not predicated on a roughly two year Major release tied to upgraded Libraries (Logos 10, Logos 9, etc.).

While I’m enjoying my Logos Max subscription, I do see where there are occasional times where uses may need some features without a subscription model.

My proposal for these scenarios is that Logos could bring back the ability to purchase the Full Feature Set and offer basically the equivalent of the Legacy Fallback License every two years.

The subscription model is firmly embedded in the business and this is unlikely to happen. And I don't see many users being satisfied with standard/Precise Search when AI offers much more flexibility.

Dr. Nathan Parker

Good to know about the betas. Thanks!

Thanks for clarifying the version numbers as well.

True on the subscription model being likely the only path moving forward, but I thought I'd provide an example of when a user may need to own non-cloud/non-AI features due to my recent lack of income. :-) I should have another job before my Max subscription runs out, but worst case scenario, my family could probably at least buy me Premium as a hold over. Smart Search is the one feature in the Logos subscriptions I'd hate to live without. Most of the new stuff I like but if I had to give it up to eat, I could. Now that I've taken Smart Search for a major spin, I'd really miss living without it.

I'll probably start a new thread on this under suggestions, but the other major AI tool I use for Bible research is BibleMate. If Logos did something similar to it, but based on my own Logos library for the content, I would enjoy it. I can elaborate further in a new thread.