Anybody use their android tablet to preach?

I am debating beginning to use my android tablet to preach off of. I preach from a manuscript, and I think that it may be less distracting for me to simply glide my finger across the screen to change pages rather than shuffle pages around.

My question is, for anyone who may already do this, what format / apps, do you use to read off of?

What seems to work best (with just a little playing around), is to take the standard word document of the manuscript, increase the font size, decrease page margins (in order for it to be more readable on the tablet), and then save it as a PDF. I sync between my laptop and tablet with dropbox, and then open it out of dropbox with my kindle app. This allows me to flip between pages from left to right, rather than having to scroll as when opened by adobe reader / office apps.

This is what I have been able to figure out after just a little work, (it was a nice surprise to realize that kindle opens and reads PDF documents) but I am not confident that this is the only / best way to accomplish this. I am hoping for some suggestions / advice.

Thanks,

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GLR

Hi Caleb,

I use my Acer Iconia to preach from and find it very easy - -and I think an improvement - easy to read and adjust.

I use Documents to Go by Data Viz -- prepare my sermon on my PC and then upload notes to the Acer -

The more I have used it the less notes I seem to need - with highlighting and colours I find it very easy to see and keep on track.

Hope this helps,

Blessings,

Sir Maru

This is what I have been able to figure out after just a little work, (it was a nice surprise to realize that kindle opens and reads PDF documents) but I am not confident that this is the only / best way to accomplish this. I am hoping for some suggestions / advice.

Thanks,

Get the Springpad App from the Amazon store. Install the Springpad internet link on your PC. Then you can write sermons in Word, get information from Logos and paste it all into your Springpad link on your PC.

It will automatically appear on your Kindle Fire after a sync.

You can then make quick notes on the Kindle Fire in Springpad and it will automatically appear on your PC after syncing.

Derek Browning

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/330033#Comment_330033

I use my android tablet to teach youth lessons & serves as a bible, and I love it. I write my lesson in MSWord using logos to support, then save my lesson in drop-box. Once I get to church I pull my document up on my Android transformer in dropbox and start boring people. And I love it.

The other night we had a black-out at the church, and paper bibles were obsolete, so we all studied in the glow of smart-phones and tablets. The adults just prayed and waiting on us to finish. :-)

Scott Chambers

I use my android tablet to preach...it is very easy to do. It does make it easy and removes the distraction from the changing of pages. I use Quick Office pro.

Todd Kuehn

I also just began using my Asus Transformer to preach and it is way better than fumbling around with pages. I use the built in Polaris Office that opens up .doc and .docx very nicely. It is not the best editor for these documents however, but I do all my editing in word then transfer over.

Tommy Johnston

I use my Transformer Prime to preach/teach in certain contexts, and have found it to be a delightful experience! I do some tinkering to get my notes in a format that looks good in landscape, with the end product being a two column PDF in landscape mode that is perfect for my eyes to find what I need (around 14 point font is my sweet spot). EZpdf reader tends to be my favorite app for this.

George Somsel

I am debating beginning to use my android tablet to preach off of.

I think the voice would not be particularly acceptable to most congregations. [;)] [:D]

F. Allen Rasnake

I use my Nook Tablet coupled with Quick Office Pro. I type my notes in MS Word and drag them over to the Nook. I am very pleased with the results.

Ed W. Visser

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/334513#Comment_334513

I use my Transformer Prime to preach/teach in certain contexts, and have found it to be a delightful experience! I do some tinkering to get my notes in a format that looks good in landscape, with the end product being a two column PDF in landscape mode that is perfect for my eyes to find what I need (around 14 point font is my sweet spot). EZpdf reader tends to be my favorite app for this.

Like Tommy Johnston, I too use an ASUS Transformer (I have a TF300T), and have found that ezPDF Reader to be the best way to go. I write in WordPerfect or Word on my laptop, use Segoe UI 20 font, letter size page. Save as pdf and transfer to the tablet. edPDF Reader is super customizable, and allows the user to add mark up, highlighing, drawing, notes etc., which can be 'flattened' to be part of the file.

http://johnbotkin.net/2012/05/29/practical-pastor-preaching-from-a-tablet/ mentions some helpful points, such as turning off wifi, alarms, etc. Make sure your screen stays on and that you lock its orientation (I prefer portrait), sound off, notifications off.

I've been using my tablet for preaching notes since July 2012, two services a Sunday, except for funerals -- then I return to paper. I appreciate using my tab, but I think for funerals and weddings I want to eliminate as much as possible things going wrong.[;)]

Randle Bond

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/416832#Comment_416832

Have you tried a tele-prompter type application that will scroll your sermon at the speed you preach? Very handy. I've seen some good ones on iPad. Here are two I found for android, but haven't as yet found one that can work with word/pdf documents

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.psegina.teleprompter&feature=search_result

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kvance.MirrorScript&feature=search_result

David Buckham

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/419550#Comment_419550

I also use my ASUS Transformer (TF101). I work on my sermon on my Mac in Word or TextEdit and save it as a PDF. I use ezPDF Reader PRO to read my sermon. It's taken me almost a year to do this though. Always worried about the "what if's"...like a screen gets left on and battery dies.

I preach from an expanded outline or, on occasion, a mindmap (in which case my sermon is a single image...google Preach By Ear).

I did see that Proclaim now has a note feature where I can use my tablet as a remote and see my notes at the same time. That may be of interest.

Michael

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/419550#Comment_419550

The auto scroll seems like a great idea because when I scroll down I it sometimes misreads and zooms in or out. It's hard not to get flustered in situations like that.

Bob Schaefer

I've been using my HP TouchPad at worship for the better part of a year now. Most recently, I've been using Android on it rather than WebOS, because of the Logos app.

Since I come from a liturgical tradition, I have quite a few PDF documents open in multiple tabs on Sunday morning:

The bulletin (order of service), exported from Word.
The full text and music of the liturgy, exported from Word.
The most recent prayer list for worship, exported from my custom Excel prayer spreadsheet.
My sermon, exported from Word.
The readings, prayers, and hymns for the day, "scanned" from the hard copy into a PDF using HandyScan on my Windows Phone.
Sometimes there are also choral anthems or other supplemental documents.

As complicated as it may sound to juggle all these files, it's not really any harder than dealing with their paper incarnations. And it's much less to tote around during worship. It does, however, take a certain amount of organization to be sure I have everything I need before worship starts!

For those of you who have incorporated tablets into your worship, I'm very curious how your congregations have perceived the technology. I had a few members who were quite offended that I would read the gospel from a digital device, rather than "the Bible" (actually, I had been reading it from an insert, set on top of the pages of my hymnal, and not from a Bible at all). They found it disrespectful. I suggested that there's nothing inherently respectful or disrespectful about pixels vs. ink. I also was tempted to observe that our bulletin inserts with the printed word of God almost all end up in the bathroom garbage after church - the nearest wastebasket to the door - and that seems far more disrespectful to scripture than reading it from a tablet!

valisa sharma

Sorry,i can't use it.

Andy

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/428400#Comment_428400

Sorry

Spammer trying to increase post count. Reported.

Derek Browning

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/428407#Comment_428407

Not to get this forum post side-tracked, but what does a spammer have to gain by increasing their post count on here?

TCBlack

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/428451#Comment_428451

Not to get this forum post side-tracked, but what does a spammer have to gain by increasing their post count on here?

Assuming the diagnosis is correct a higher post count let's you fly under the radar for awhile until you put spam links in your sig and they propagate all over the forum instantaneously.

David R Broom Jr

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/419550#Comment_419550

The last thing we need are Obama preachers using a teleprompter. lol [:D] But on a serious note, I no longer use a paper bible in Church whether preaching or otherwise. Just make sure your battery is charged, because a dead bible is not a good thing.

elliott siu

Hi. I use Evernote (free app). It's a fantastic app that syncs everything you put into it from any device you're logged in to. I write my sermons on my PC in either Evernote or Word (and then paste into Evernote). Then I open Evernote on my tablet and it's there. The interface is simple and easy to work with while preaching.

Peter

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/429326#Comment_429326

I have also discovered Evernote. It is fantastic. I prepare my sermons or studies on my desktop and just drop the finished article into evernote and bingo its on my tablet. I am using a nexus 7 and I thought that the screen would be a bit small but it is working fine.

Oliver (Shane) Edwards

I tried using EZPDF to preach off but it was never quite as flexible and easy to use as I wanted. I wanted to not have to think about my device at all while I was preaching. I think I have figured out how to take a MS Word file and put it into Kindle format. It takes about 15 minutes to set up but once set up, in the future I should be able to put my sermons on my tablet's kindle app or a kindle and preach with the fonts, margins exactly at their most readable, which is something I could never do with PDFs.

I detailed the instructions on my blog.

http://oliverinthehat.ca/2012/11/tech-victory-sermonizing-with-tablets-and-kindles/

Nate Shinn

I've used my keyboard Kindle (k3) for a year and a half to preach from & have just started using my Kindle Fire HD 8.9. I type my sermon in word, email it to my kindle (kindlename@free.kindle.com) using wi-fi & it's good to go.

I'll have to check out some of the other options & see if I like them better.

Thanks!

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/432716#Comment_432716

I wanted to say thank you for this thread. I just bought my daughter a Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 with ICS for her birthday. We got my dad (who is also a minister) an iPad last year and my plans were to get one also. But after playing with the Galaxy I am considering one instead.

However all the information online is usually geared toward preaching with an iPad and the apps associated with it. This thread has given me hope that I will be able to also do it with a Galaxy if I decide on one.

I already use Evernote and usually use Word to create my sermons. But I am always interested in what process other ministers use. I have made a note EZPDF.

Are there any other apps/tips anyone has for someone considering preaching with an Android device instead of Apple?

Thanks. God bless

Sola Gratia

Billy Neumann

Anyone who does this: is there a way to tag references in the document you use, and will the LOGOS app then make them clickable (appearing in a pop-up)?

That's what I want....

Rich Schnieders

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/435391#Comment_435391

I have used my Motorola Xoom Android Tablet for quite a while now. I normally convert my sermon notes Word document to a PDF and use the PDF on my Xoom. I have experimented with placing my notes into Proclaim so I can control Proclaim and have my notes at the same time. This works well most of the time but I had a couple failures so I keep my notes in PDF, even when putting my notes in Proclaim. The Proclaim Android app is a great resource and if you place your notes in the right place it works well to preach from. I don't think I could go back to paper.

Rich

Joel Sutton

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/428845#Comment_428845

I use a Nexus 7 to preach from and I love it. I'm saving paper, I don't have to keep my pages in order, and I have my whole service at my fingertips. What's not to love?

Someone else mentioned not using a paper bible at all anymore. I was reading the scripture from my tablet, as well, but found out that there are some in my congregation who were put off by that. I think there is something to be said for the visual of actually opening a bible and reading from it. If that makes worship more meaningful to someone, I'm more than happy to carry my bible and my tablet.

Brenda Haight

Good afternoon Carl,

I have a basic Kindle that I use. it works great. I don't save it as a PDF - I just upload the document to my Kindle and open it up. When the document is open, it moves from page to page like turning a page in a book you are reading. You can change the font size etc. that works for you.

If you want the ability to make changes to the sermon, you can purchase an office app and then also get a free Google Drive account to upload your document which allows you to make changes. you can then access it through the office app.

I wasn't sure if a kindle would work over a tablet or iPad but I have used my Kindle to preach from. The first time I printed my manuscript just in case there were problems so I would have a backup but that wasn't needed.

wish you well in your ministry and updating your technology.

blessings,

Brenda

BillS

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/431597#Comment_431597

I tried using EZPDF to preach off but it was never quite as flexible and easy to use as I wanted. I wanted to not have to think about my device at all while I was preaching. I think I have figured out how to take a MS Word file and put it into Kindle format. It takes about 15 minutes to set up but once set up, in the future I should be able to put my sermons on my tablet's kindle app or a kindle and preach with the fonts, margins exactly at their most readable, which is something I could never do with PDFs.

I detailed the instructions on my blog.

....

Hi Shane, I tried going to your blog but my antivirus found a virus & won't let me bring it up. Would you mind reposting here?

David de Luna

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/466199#Comment_466199

I use an Asus Transformer for the vehicle, but Evernote is the only app besides Word that I need. I really don't even need Word. I use it out of habit. Evernote really has all the word processing functionality I really need. Write it up on my home desktop. Close Word, grab my tablet, run out the door. Open Evernote when I get in front of the kids and voila! Way easy.

TCBlack

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/464325#Comment_464325

Resurrection an old thread... on purpose.

I've been hesitant to make this jump, but I want to now. Whatever I buy will last me a very long time, or better.

I've narrowed my choices down to the Google Nexus 7 or 10.

SO:

What size and why?

I'm over 40 so the 10" seems preferable to me for reading from the pulpit, but I want to read from it a lot, so 7" seems preferable.

So... I see Joel a few posts higher was using a 7" to preach from.

Help me out with your advice my friends.

Everett Headley

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/487814#Comment_487814

I use my 10" Transformer Prime for preaching, I like it alot. Some thoughts: I think preaching on bigger tablets is just easier to see, about the same size as a piece of paper. Also, make sure you set it so the screen doesn't time out. I carried a paper back up copy the first few times, but nothing ever happened so I don't anymore. I just use the office app that was preloaded and make some minor visual adjustments so that I can see headings quicker.

Tim Farley

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/488230#Comment_488230

I have the Asus Transformer and have been thinking about using it for sermons. I could use the office program on it or Evernote, but how do the rest of you use your electronic Bible software at the same time? Are you opening and closing different apps or just copying the text into your notes? Just looking for some practical suggestions as I venture down this road. Thanks.

TCBlack

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/489264#Comment_489264

Tim,

Carry your Bible and your tablet. There is something about the physical presence of the bible in the pastor's hands that I will still do for the foreseeable future. Just my $0.02 on that point.

David Thomas

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/489264#Comment_489264

how do the rest of you use your electronic Bible software at the same time? Are you opening and closing different apps or just copying the text into your notes? Just looking for some practical suggestions as I venture down this road. Thanks.

This is in the iPad section, but may provide some hints that carry over to Android tablets. http://community.logos.com/forums/t/48291.aspx

Tim Farley

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/489282#Comment_489282

Thanks for the help. I think I'll start by continuing to read from my Bible and using my tablet for my notes only.

Ken Cyr

I have used an ipad 2 but now I use a galaxy tab 2. I used an app called "splashtop" with both of them. It allows me to take over the powerpoint of the message I preach. I actually now preach with powerpoint using its "presenter view" so I see my notes but the congregation doesn't. Works great, essentially I store the actual sermon pp on the projector computer and when the tech starts the slideshow I take over on my tablet. Way better control of the slides and I have a great view of them on the tablet.

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