Name Your Price: Logos for Your Entire Church
We've spent 32 years mostly selling single-user licenses of Logos to individuals, supplemented by some bulk sales of Logos in higher-ed to faculty and students. But we can't help but think that we're missing an opportunity to get Logos into the hands of even more people.
Making a free version of Logos available has been one way of doing that. Leaning into subscription will be another way to bring Logos within reach for more people, removing the upfront cost and big initial commitment. But these are both B2C plays.
I don't think we'll ever achieve our lofty global goals if we don't evolve beyond selling only to individuals and Christian higher-ed institutions.
Longer term, I'd love to have options in market that address each of these segments with solutions that are packaged and priced to win hundreds of millions of additional users.
- Individuals
- Families
- Churches
- Parachurch organizations
- Higher-ed institutions
And likely also the Christian private and homeschool education space.
In this thread, I'd like to focus the conversation primarily on the third item, where I believe we have the greatest untapped opportunity and readiness to serve the market well.
That's where you all come in.
If we came up with an offering that allowed you to equip your pastoral team, lay leaders/teachers, and even your entire congregation with one of our forthcoming Logos subscriptions (largely equivalent to our four features sets along with some of the best Lexham content included), at what price point would you find the offer too good to pass up?
Would if be important that we offered different solutions for different groups, where you could decide how much of your church you wanted to equip and with which level of solutions?
For example, you could equip
- your pastoral team with level 3
- your lay leaders/teachers with level 2
- everyone else with level 1
We'd likely want to go beyond just Logos and allow you to bundle in Proclaim, Logos Sermons, and Logos Mobile Ed, and the broader Logos video library (aka Faithlife TV).
Would you want to choose both the what and who?
What do you want?
- Logos
- Proclaim
- Logos Sermons
- Logos Mobile Ed
- Logos Video Library
Who do you want it for?
- Pastoral team
- Lay leaders/teachers
- Everyone else
Or should we just price it such that you get everything for everyone at a price that's too compelling to pass up and reduce the complexity?
We'd almost certainly need to layer on top of this the ability for you to purchase books, collections, or libraries at a significant bulk discount.
Longer term, I'd love to supplement this with a new Digital Church Library offering, where you could buy a fixed number of copies of a given title and have it in your church's virtual library, where it could be check in and out by your people.
Does this excite you? Is it something you and your church would be interested in?
What value would you assign to the ideal solution? What price per member/attendee would you be willing to pay per year for some or all of the above?
What budget line item would it come out of? And what percent of that budget would it make up?
We'd love to hear from you if you'd be interested, what you'd like, and how much you'd be willing to pay.
You're also welcome to reach out to me privately (phil at logos), if you'd prefer. I'd be happy to hop on a call as well and learn how we could best support you in your work of making disciples of Jesus.
Thank you!
Phil
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I am not in church leadership but this seems like a fantastic idea for small groups/Bible study/etc. You could get the church a good rate to sign people up for X months so it’s “free” to the end users participating and then try to convert them to being paid subscribers going forward. I think the features combined with a base resource package (especially if you use the denomination logic like with packages), could be really successful.
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Thanks, Matt. Ideally, churches would see equipping their people with Logos as very aligned with their goals and could apportion some of their budget to ensure people have the tools and content they need to engage more deeply with the Bible, be changed by it, and share it with others.
At what price does that become a no brainer?
RightNow Media makes a similar play but with a different product offering. Churches pay hundreds or thousands a year to give their classes and members access to a library of Bible study videos. Their advertised pricing starts at $150/mo. (for average attendance of 101–200) and goes up to $1,500/mo. (for 3,501–5,000)—so basically starting at $1/person/mo. and going down to $0.35/person/mo. at the high end (with special pricing available on below and above both ends of that spectrum).
Is that the right ballpark for what I described above?
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Hi Phil,
You already mentioned it, RightNow Media is doing something similar with video content and our church has found it a helpful resource at a price too good to pass up. One thing RightNow Media does is base their pricing on congregation size. As a small church, I would hope that church size would be taken into consideration. I like RightNow Media, but would be more excited about giving our people access to Logos.
I do think that different packages also makes sense. I would probably be happy with two - one for pastors that contains resources a bit more on the technical side and another for everyone else.
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Thanks, Tim. That's helpful.
What price would you find compelling in your case? And just Logos, or would you want the other items bundled in?
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Phil Gons (Logos) said:
Is it something you and your church would be interested in?
What value would you assign to the ideal solution? What price per member/attendee would you be willing to pay per year for some or all of the above?
Let me state first that I'm not in the right marketplace to give you a useful data point for this--I pastor a relatively affluent mega-church not in the West. I am however a decision maker/influencer for this sort of thing. If I were to bring the subject up, the immediate, uniform response would be, "Why would we want to move from YouVersion to that?" Logos certainly does more, but I would not be able to persuade them to move from free to paid regardless of the price and features. Videos and FL ebooks would be the most attractive features to my church, but the vast majority of members as well as staff would see no use for the advanced study features or even understand them.
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I am curious about the outcome of the Bargain.
Blessings in Christ.
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I invested much of my money in Logos. It has been good for me personally. I pastor a church, a chaplain in a hospital and I use Logos often. What has upset me about Faithlife is that the video library is geared to high education learning. It's really not geared to churches.
RightNow media is geared to Bible studies that churches would use. They have the right mix of small group Bible studies that people will be interested in. I have a free subscription with RightNow.
Honestly, a merger with RightNow, or some kind of combo agreement with them would be the most practical way to reach churches. My church has a RightNow membership for the pastor and youth pastor. This is because the local Association and State Convention both have an account. They each give a single subscription to the churches. So through the Association, I have a free account for my youth pastor, and the State Convention provides me a free account.
As a small church pastor (which will be 90 percent of the churches you will reach), multiple subscriptions will cost too much. Between Logos, RightNow, Subspace, Planning Center, there are too many subscriptions that most churches will not be able to afford. Many churches still use paper products and are making the transition to the digital world. Moving to a subscription model is difficult for most churches to accept, especially when there are so many companies that are doing different things out there.
Personally, I pay for the church's Proclaim subscription out of my own pocket. (Don't drop Proclaim, whatever else you do. There are many churches who will use this tool.) A combination subscription (even if it is a partnership with another company) will be the most practical way to reach churches with Logos. Whether that is a Logos combo (Logos, Proclaim, another app), or a two-company combo (Logos-RightNow kind of like Marvel-Sony partnership) will be the most effective.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jimerwin/ - a postmodern pastor in a digital world
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Hi Phil,
Thanks for asking. I was just going to bring up RightNow Media as a successful model, but you and Tim already brought that up.
Our church has subscribed to RNM for 10(?) years or more. We are a small church but all these years, including now, I know that RNM is actively being used for our small groups, fellowships, children and youth ministry, etc. It's almost like a default go-to resource that we almost take for granted, sometimes forgetting that "somebody" (our church) is paying for this service every year.
I think that is a picture of success, and I hope Logos can replicate that model...
- The church (or Christian organization) decides to pay for a Logos subscription for the whole church.
- There's a simple process (a la RNM) for designated administrators to add/subtract users to grant access to Logos.
- Users will mostly start accessing it as a web app or mobile app initially. As they grow with Logos, some tech-savvy users may download and install the desktop app (Windows or Mac).
- Simple, straightforward training videos will be accessible from the web / mobile app interface for new users.
- I know Logos tends to over-engineer its offerings with different levels and packages, but I like the RNM model where every user gets access to the exact same content and functionality.
- Due to the existing complexity of Logos, you may have to have a simple-to-understand tiering system like your proposed level 1-2-3. But keep it as simple as you can please and the closer to the RNM model the better IMO (personally I think just 2 levels are sufficient: Pastoral level vs Everyone else).
- Please don't muddy things with the distinction between features and resource content etc. Just design 2 to 3 levels, each including a certain pre-defined set of features and content.
- Like RNM, charge by approx congregation sizes. If you're willing to go for maximum simplicity, do not have differential pricing based on how many level 3-2-1 users they have. The setting of each user to their package level is purely based on each user's need and experience level with the software.
- As much as I'd like things to be as simple as RNM, you may unfortunately need to have some denominational distinction while defining the content for each level.
- Please do not over-bundle things:
- Do not bundle Proclaim... most churches already have a worship/presentation solution by now.
- I don't know what is "Logos Sermons"... never heard of that... please do not bundle.
- Mobile Ed might be the only thing worth bundling. FLTV's content has been stale for so many years now... I wouldn't mind these two being rebranded together and bundled with this offering IF FLTV doesn't not significantly adds to the pricing.
EDITS:
- As for pricing, I don't know how much our church pays for RNM, probably at that $150/month tier. We are a budget-conscious church, with a budget-conscious board, but after the first year with RNM, no one has ever questioned its usefulness or suggested we drop the subscription. I hope Logos will be like that too some day.
- I love the idea of Logos partnering with or offering joint subscription with RNM!
My few cents, hope this helps.
PL
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Thanks for all the feedback so far, but you're all dodging my central question:
What would you be willing to pay for Logos for your entire church?
There's not a wrong answer. I'm truly looking for the price at which it would become a no brainer for you to add without having to replace anything already in your budget.
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Phil Gons (Logos) said:
RightNow Media makes a similar play but with a different product offering. Churches pay hundreds or thousands a year to give their classes and members access to a library of Bible study videos. Their advertised pricing starts at $150/mo. (for average attendance of 101–200)
I like this idea. Use denominational packages as well as the standard base package to attract different groups. Think Sda starter package with more resources from the denomination versus many of the books that members will not use.
Mission: To serve God as He desires.
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The 150.00 per month is the sweet spot for small churches.
Mission: To serve God as He desires.
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One more question:
Is there a critical missing piece of our platform / problem we need to solve before this could become truly viable and we could become the Bible study platform for churches?
Is it partner with RNM and offer their video Bible studies?
Is it allowing pastors to seamlessly convert their sermons into lightweight digital curriculum with reflection/study/discussion questions to use for personal, family, and small group studies by connecting the sermon outputs from Sermon Builder to the mobile app for attendees to have instantly on the phones and structured for their use between weekly gatherings?
Is it enabling custom curriculum creation and delivery and leadership and ministry training more broadly?
Something else entirely?
What are your biggest pain points that are well aligned with our core competency of facilitating deeper Bible knowledge?
Or is Logos at the right price point compelling enough without anything else?
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A decade ago, I was pressing for Logos/Verbum to become a platform for churches that cover a wide geographic area where physical meeting throughout the week are difficult. Web based materials - Bible study preparing for the Sunday service, inquiry classes/RCIA/sacramental preparation/faith formation all could be delivered to all members of the parish. I was thinking in terms of main line Protestants and the ACELO churches (Anglican, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Oriental Orthodox). Unfortunately, I think Logos has so thoroughly missed the boat with these groups as to not be in a position to move into church support for these groups.
- The church calendar has been intermingled with the lectionary - for your audience there are 3 basic calendars - the old Western calendar, the current Western/Byzantine calendar, and the Oriental calendar. Whether one says ordinary time, after Pentecost, after Trinity, or Proper is equivalent to speaking English, French, German, or Finnish ... they do not represent separate calendars.
- For confessional churches such as the Lutherans, you have not built the structure for the theology and Bible to be tied to the authoritative confessions (or other documents). Nor have you made it possible to tie catechisms into theology and Bible study.
- For church using the prayer hours or sanctoral cycles, you've developed nothing for a day at a glance. In fact, you removed the sanctoral cycle function and replaced it with a calendar devotional approach.
- You've done nothing to integrate ISSL or denominational Bible study (think Seventh Day Adventism) for "Sunday School" into Logos so that teachers can integrate faith formation with Bible software - you don't even support the sort of handouts that are needed for the younger ages.
- You don't support workflows using non-Biblical texts which is extremely limiting for adult education evening classes which may focus on church documents, theology, social justice books, even literature
- You don't support workflows on multiple passages. Multiple passages studied together is the norm in churches using a lectionary.
- You don't even support many of the Bible criticism methods - not tagging for literary features, no narrative analysis tools, ...
From my perspective, you had an opportunity which you blew. Fill in the crevasses (they wider than gaps), provide a simple web app/phone app, then it will be appropriate to discuss costs.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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Hi Phil,
My church is pretty unique, so it's probably not in the target audience of churches for you.
1) It is completely volunteer, lay run. No pastors or elders or paid staff of any kind. A few of us have some theological training, but preaching is done by 10-15 of us and most of those have not taken seminary classes.
2) We have about 45 people on average at Sunday worship, no Sunday school program.
3) Very engaged lay congregation, lots of biblical literacy already.
4) Mennonite/Anabaptist with a progressive evangelical leaning.
5) We follow the Revised Common Lectionary as a default, but we have topical sermons just as often as sermons based on the lectionary text.
6) Small budget and most of our budget goes to charities outside our church (supporting refugees, MCC and other Mennonite causes, and such). Next category is rental of our worship space, and next technology.
With all that said, I could see it being helpful for anyone preparing a sermon to have access to a good set of reference resources including at least one complete commentary set (preferably Believer's Church Bible Commentary, which is the one published by Herald Press, a Mennonite/Anabaptist publisher), and ideally another set or two, such as NICOT/NICNT and the "For Everyone" series.
We'd also want access to a wide swath of early church, Mennonite/Anabaptist, and progressive evangelical resources: Classics of the Radical Reformation, the Anabaptist and Mennonite Studies Collection (PLEASE push this through; I pre-ordered it 12 years ago, and it's been in production for about 6 months or so), Fortress Press Walter Brueggemann Collection, Cascade Companion Series, Baker Academic Early Church Collection, and more.
Phil Gons (Logos) said:
What do you want?
- Logos
- Proclaim
- Logos Sermons
- Logos Mobile Ed
- Logos Video Library
Only Logos.
Phil Gons (Logos) said:Who do you want it for?
- Pastoral team
- Lay leaders/teachers
- Everyone else
Or should we just price it such that you get everything for everyone at a price that's too compelling to pass up and reduce the complexity?
For my church, there is no Pastoral team, and "Lay leaders/teachers" is equivalent to "Everyone else" since most of us are involved in leadership in some way, either preaching or leading worship from time to time. The only ones who aren't are the very young and the very old, and a couple of very new folks.
Phil Gons (Logos) said:We'd almost certainly need to layer on top of this the ability for you to purchase books, collections, or libraries at a significant bulk discount.
Yes.
Phil Gons (Logos) said:
Does this excite you? Is it something you and your church would be interested in?
Not hugely. I haven't had much luck getting anyone else in my church interested in Logos. However if the church paid for a subscription that whoever was on deck to preach that Sunday could have access to (actually, they'd likely need access more than a week before they preached, since because we have no pastor who preaches week in week out, each of us who preach can have weeks to prepare our sermons), they might give it a whirl.
Phil Gons (Logos) said:What value would you assign to the ideal solution? What price per member/attendee would you be willing to pay per year for some or all of the above?
What budget line item would it come out of? And what percent of that budget would it make up?
As I said, we have a pretty small church and small budget. I imagine this would come out of our technology budget, which has ballooned from virtually non-existent (well, just paying for our website before the pandemic) to covering our Zoom subscription and all the equipment we've needed to buy to make hybrid services possible.
I don't think we could imagine paying a subscription that would be some price per member/attendee. The only people who would need/want to access Logos would be people preparing sermons, and that might be maybe 4 people at a time working on sermons. So I could see us maybe paying a max of $40/mo for access to Logos + this customized library for up to 4 individuals from the church at a time, but not the same 4 individuals: the licensing would need to be able to be transferrable around to whoever needed it at the time.
As a long time Logos user with a HUUUUUUGE library, I'd keep my own access separate from that of the church.
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Phil Gons (Logos) said:
What would you be willing to pay for Logos for your entire church?
Please remember other currencies. The Canadian buck is worth 35% less than the American right now. This may entail a different sweet spot.
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Ok, it's the crazy lady again.
- If 'free' Logos didn't work, how will not-free work?
- Do Faithlife folks attend church? I'm sure they do. Did they have any success pushing Logos to average folks? It's not an easy sell.
- Where's Bible class support? Men's? Children's? Women's? They're different.
- Where's journaling, devotional, etc?
- Where's embedded integration to Proclaim?
- Church calendars?
It's like the last 10 years' lessons at FL didn't happen.
I'll be quiet.
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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DMB said:
If 'free' Logos didn't work, how will not-free work?
B2C free requires us to reach every individual, one at a time. This play requires us to reach church leaders and decision makers, many of whom already use and love Logos and whose job includes helping others know and love God and others better through Scripture—who make decisions about how they'll steward funds to accomplish that.
Free and paid also include different amounts of content and tool value.
Logos also needs to be easier to use, which has been and continues to be a top priority.
DMB said:Do Faithlife folks attend church? I'm sure they do. Did they have any success pushing Logos to average folks? It's not an easy sell.
Most do, yes. I've had good success. At our church in Bellingham before me moved to Indiana, I helped to get many into Logos. I've done the same at our church here. I've focused first on pastors, teachers, and aspiring leaders before targeting "average folks."
DMB said:Where's Bible class support? Men's? Children's? Women's? They're different.
Definitely work to do here.
DMB said:Where's journaling, devotional, etc?
And here.
DMB said:Where's embedded integration to Proclaim?
Deeper, bidirectional integration between Logos and Proclaim is focus area for us.
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Phil Gons (Logos) said:
Is there a critical missing piece of our platform / problem we need to solve before this could become truly viable and we could become the Bible study platform for churches?
The critical missing piece for our congregation would be dramatically improved usability for the "casual" user. I've consistently used Logos since 2011. My spouse has been leading a small group for almost that long, and I've tried to introduce them to Logos several times over the years, thinking that it would be helpful in their lesson prep. But it never worked - the learning curve is just too much. It's overwhelming.
Just recently my spouse found Olive Tree, and absolutely loves it.
And that's the problem. If we were to buy Olive Tree (or something similar) for the congregation, many of them would use it. But that's not true for Logos - it's just too durn much.
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Phil Gons (Logos) said:
Is it partner with RNM and offer their video Bible studies?
From my viewpoint:
- Logos bundled with (unlimited access to) Mobile Ed is very compelling enough.
- Partnering / Bundling with RNM would be very sweet, but not absolutely needed if M.Ed is included.
- Please count by number of registered user accounts (seats) per church, rather than the "congregation size".
- It would also be sweet if this offering includes Chinese edition (and other non-English platforms).
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PL said:
Please count by number of registered user accounts (seats) per church, rather than the "congregation size".
Do you mean "the number of those who take advantage of the offer" rather than "the number of people who attend?"
"The number of members" is problematic because some churches have much LARGER numbers of "members" than those that attend, while others have much LARGER numbers of those who attend than "members."
macOS, iOS & iPadOS |Logs| Install
Choose Truth Over Tribe | Become a Joyful Outsider!0 -
This is an interesting topic. We are in the first year of RNM for our church of about 40 attendees. They gave us a scholarship of $350 for the year and I jumped at it. $150 a month would be way too high. Currently we have about 10 members or households consistently using RNM. So here are a few thoughts:
- Logos would have to be way easier for the layperson to use.
- Offering denominational libraries would be a plus
- Having some kind of integration where my Logos sermon notes would go to the devices of folks in the church in real time would be cool.
- Each church package could include various tiers. The idea is that the church would have a certain number of advanced accounts to grant to leaders, then the more basic accounts to the rest.
- As a long time user, I would in no way want to mix my personal account with a subscription account held by the church.
- It has been mentioned, but some kind of integration of access the Mobile Study videos would help sell the church on the concept.
- We as pastors and Bible teachers understand the vast difference between E-Sword and Logos... so we spend the money. The average church member would not... so that is a hurdle that must be overcome.
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Phil Gons (Logos) said:
Does this excite you? Is it something you and your church would be interested in?
Not really.
I'm in a church of about 400-450, and about four of us use Logos, including the pastor and one of the two elders. That number is really about all that are interested in it. It's not like they don't know about it....I regularly use it when teaching and the pastor has mentioned it from the pulpit. Most folks just aren't as nerdy as the four of us who use it.
Eating a steady diet of government cheese, and living in a van down by the river.
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Phil,
I would love to see Logos implement a program that could be used church wide. While our pastoral team already uses logos, I could see a subscription level tailored to be used within a group setting.
Considering the 3 levels that you suggested:
Your pastoral team with level 3 - LOGOS FOR GROUPS PRO VERSION – As above, with tools to help coordinate usage for the church as a whole.
Your lay leaders/teachers with level 2 - LOGOS FOR GROUPS INSTRUCTOR VERSION – This level would include tools to help leaders/teachers prepare and share with members of their particular groups/classes.
Everyone else with level 1 - LOGOS FOR GROUPS STUDENT VERSION - this would include an easy-to-use addition to a free version of Logos.
A partnership with RightNow Media (as well as a number of other media companies) would be a good idea. I don't believe that offering their videos would be the best course for Logos, but instead Logos could be a vendor of the books and worksheets that are connected to many of the video lessons found in RightNow Media.
For example, let's say we're doing a RightNow Media lesson series on Galatians and this series includes a link to purchase books and worksheets. Logos could be an option for purchase of these books and worksheets, along with tailored layouts for Logos for each level within the LOGOS FOR GROUPS tiers. This would then make it easy for Level 3 and Level 2 users to plan for their lessons, and hopefully make it incredibly easy for Level 1 users to use Logos - as the layout is already created for them. For many Level 1 users, this may be as far as they go, but for others they would be able to explore further into Logos.
This idea would not have to be bound only to RightNow Media of course. It could also be used for many other publishing houses that create VBS and Sunday school programs.
Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection. - Colossians 3:14
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JT (alabama24) said:PL said:
Please count by number of registered user accounts (seats) per church, rather than the "congregation size".
Do you mean "the number of those who take advantage of the offer" rather than "the number of people who attend?"
"The number of members" is problematic because some churches have much LARGER numbers of "members" than those that attend, while others have much LARGER numbers of those who attend than "members."
Yes, agree. So if our church's membership is 200, weekly attendance is 100, but we only expect 20 users to use Logos once our church signs up with Logos, then we should pay for the 20-seat tier. Once we outgrow that, we should then upgrade to the next tier, e.g. 50-seat (and that's a good thing that Logos would like to see and encourage, so you should offer favorable bulk-pricing as the tier / # of seats go up).
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Phil Gons (Logos) said:
Is there a critical missing piece of our platform / problem we need to solve before this could become truly viable and we could become the Bible study platform for churches?
You are in a decreasing competition space. Logos has been geared to seminary students and serious Bible students and pastors. To get to a general audience, you are going to have to be broader in scope.
Phil Gons (Logos) said:Is it partner with RNM and offer their video Bible studies?
I would say yes because RNM has beat you in this space. It is now considered the Netflix of Christian video curriculum. Competing with them would require Faithlife to provide something that incentives the church to purchase, which I think is going to be hard to do. Most churches simply don't have the finances to pay for more. In this case, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" is the best option.
Phil Gons (Logos) said:Is it allowing pastors to seamlessly convert their sermons into lightweight digital curriculum with reflection/study/discussion questions to use for personal, family, and small group studies by connecting the sermon outputs from Sermon Builder to the mobile app for attendees to have instantly on the phones and structured for their use between weekly gatherings?
That sounds like lots of work. I don't use Sermon Builder to make my presentations in Proclaim. It's too tedious and difficult. It is easier to just copy and paste from my Word document. Unless you make it a simpler process, I am not sure how effective this will be.
Phil Gons (Logos) said:
Is it enabling custom curriculum creation and delivery and leadership and ministry training more broadly?
Yes. Lifeway tried to do this with MinistryGrid. The problem is that Lifeway created multiple apps you had to download on the phone for every different kind of curriculum. When you did use MinistryGrid, it was more like church volunteer training and technical training, which is similar to what Logos has provided. Again, I think it is going to be simpler to partner with RNM than to create something that is competitive and worth purchasing.
Phil Gons (Logos) said:
What are your biggest pain points that are well aligned with our core competency of facilitating deeper Bible knowledge?
Or is Logos at the right price point compelling enough without anything else?
Proclaim is a great tool, but it is a bit pricey. I like the option to use different kinds of media for presentations and I appreciate that it connects with Song Select. (So, a church is paying for Song Select and Proclaim for just worship presentation.) Add to this, asking churches to pay for Bible software (when they get it essentially for free elsewhere), and then trying to provide curriculum and the price for churches adds up dramatically. My church simply wouldn't pay for it. Many churches are not large enough to cover the cost. If you want churches to convert solely to Faithlife, then you need to provide a suite of options that they can afford. Or your individual products need to be cost-effective enough to justify purchase by individuals or churches. Group discounts might be an option. Perhaps making family sharing bundles for one cost are the way to go. But if these products are like the streaming channels of today, people will most likely drop your product when it is inconvenient, or when it costs too much to maintain.
The other dynamic is that as church populations decline, and as fewer pastors enter the ministry (which is the trend right now), Logos will have to shift its focus to broaden its scope of products to appeal to a wider general audience. It can't just be a product for (evangelical) pastors. However, by doing this, some of these same loyal customers may have difficulty with the shift.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jimerwin/ - a postmodern pastor in a digital world
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Let's say level 3 is for laity. What they see from the app will need to be viewed on their phone, a small screen.
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scooter said:
Let's say level 3 is for laity. What they see from the app will need to be viewed on their phone, a small screen.
I was thinking Level 3 would be the higher level for ministry staff, but I get the point. The LOGOS FOR GROUPS model would need tailored layouts for desktop, as well as Android and iOS mobile. These layouts would need to be purposely created for the specific study in question as opposed to a generic layout.
— Purposely created by Logos as part of the subscription, not created by ministry staff. That would be a main selling point.
Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection. - Colossians 3:14
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Sam Shelton said:
I was thinking Level 3 would be the higher level for ministry staff, but I get the point.
Ok, Laity is Level 1. Most will bring their phone to the study.. Some won't have a phone, so church could print them out materials.
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I'm a lay person. I love Logos and use it daily. I tried to get our youth pastor interested in Logos because he was the youngest of the staff. No luck getting him to try it.
I got the feeling that if you were not introduced to Logos in your seminary and you've learnt to use tools in print version, there is too much cost in learning software to do the same thing that you think you can do much faster using print resources.
I think Logos should have an Apple approach. Our local high school loaned Apple laptop to all high school kids for the 4 years. Now she is an Apple fan for life. Now in college, she uses Apple laptop for assignments etc. and iPad to take notes in class. Me and my wife ain't going near Apple laptops because there is no need to learn something new to accomplish the same things we do with Windows laptop. Moral of the story with one data point...Logos should go all in to get their product into all seminaries. Forget making profits with these seminaries. These new graduates are your best sales people you'll ever need over their years in ministry after graduation. They might be able to get old foggies in their respective establishments to give Logos a try.
I believe in a Win-Win-Win God.
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1Co10 31 has a good point. I believe Logos has already been trying to get into seminaries but just like individual users, once a seminary (and its tenured professors) are set with a particular set of tools (Accordance, print tools, other software... BibleWorks probably still works on computers), it's really hard to get them to switch. Same with any company switching their software systems.
One added benefit of introducing Logos during seminary: There's a built-in learning/training/support ecosystem (IT dept, professors, other students) that provides troubleshooting and Q&A, that most churches trying to introduce Logos do not have.
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