Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Review Part 6: YouVersion - Reading The Bible

I've written 5 parts to my review of the YouVersion app and haven't yet talked about reading the Bible! That's always the danger... getting so involved in the technology about the Bible that we forget to actually read the Bible.  Duh! Let's correct that today.

The YouVersion app has a remarkably intuitive reading interface.  I use the Android version on my phone (pictured on the left) as well as the iPad version.  Each different version of the app has a slightly different way of going about this same function.  I'll describe the Android app here. However everything I will talk about here will be available to you also, even if you don't use the Android operating system. 

When you first click on the Bible app icon, YouVersion opens to its main menu.  The first thing you'll see is "Bible" in the top left hand corner of the main menu.  Click on the Bible icon and you'll see a screen that looks like the one on the left.

Along the top of the Bible Reader, you'll see three things: a drop down box on the top left-hand corner, the book of the Bible and chapter that you're currently reading, and your current version of the Bible in the top right-hand corner.  Tap on any of these three menu items to change them.  Let's talk about each one individually.

Review Part 5: YouVersion - The Miracle of Versions

When you think of miracles, what do you think about?  Great healings? Abundant food? Space travel? Crying statues?  I suggest that the smart phone you hold in your hand may be the greatest miracle! The YouVersion app, easily downloaded for free onto your mobile device, is a miracle unimaginable in the history of Christianity. 

Let's go back to the early 400s.  Latin has become the central language of the church.  The books of the Old Testament, most of which had been originally written in Hebrew, had for centuries been translated into Greek.  The New Testament also was originally written in Greek.  By the early 5th century a new version was needed for the language of the day.  Jerome translated the Bible into Latin - what is now known as the Vulgate.  He wasn't the first to do this, but he was the first to go back to the original Hebrew language for the Old Testament. This was controversial with Christians of Jerome's day, because the Greek translation (The Septuagint) had been considered to be inspired.  Despite this controversy the Latin Vulgate version of the Bible served as the primary text for more than a thousand years.

Enter John Wycliffe in 1382, an advocate for translating the Vulgate Bible into the common English tongue.  Wycliffe thought that English people should be able to read the Word of God in English!  Hear the cries of his enemies: "The jewel of the clergy has become the toy of the laity." Wycliffe was declared a heretic in 1415.  All his books and translations were burned.  Not satisfied with the fact that Wycliffe had already died, the Council of Constance ordered his remains exhumed and burned them along with all his written work.

John Tyndale was the first to translate the Bible into English from the original Hebrew and Greek languages and not from the Latin Vulgate.  Combined with the advent of the printing press the Tyndale Bible was mass produced... and mass destroyed by both the state and the church! Tyndale wrote much of his translation while running for his life.  He was eventually imprisoned, strangled, and then - though already dead - his body was burned.  His body's ashes were added to the ashes of his Bibles.

These stories of the great miracles of Bible translations are too many for this modest blog post. Each translation was hard fought and often cost the lives of the translators.  These men had one thing in common: their belief that the Word of God should be available for all men in all languages.  It's hard for us to imagine today, but at one time the Bible was chained to the table in the church so that it could not be taken and read by just anyone not properly trained to understand it.

Stop and marvel at the gadget you hold in your hand.  You thought it was just a smart phone.  Sure, it will make a phone call for you.  You can send a text or an email.  You can check up on the news of the day or watch a Netflix movie.  You could even read this Church Requel blog post!

The BIG DEAL in mobile communications is that you hold God's Word in your hand!   Any time you want - without any thought to personal risk against you or your family - you can read or listen to your Bible.  AND you can choose any one of 25 English versions and/or 44 different languages.   That adds up to "miracle" in my book!

Have you missed any of the other YouVersion Review posts?  Here are your quick links:

• Read Part 1:  Intro
• Read Part 2:  Downloading
• Read Part 3:  Getting Started
• Read Part 4:  Personalize Your Settings
• Read Part 5:  The Miracle of Versions
• Read Part 6:  Reading the Bible
• Read Part 7:  Bookmarks, Part One

Review Part 4: YouVersion - Personalize Your Settings

Have you ever shopped for a Bible and discovered just how difficult it is to find the right combination of features? You want a skinny Bible? You might have to squint your eyes. You want a Bible with large print and all the notes? How strong are your biceps?  Want to read it at night? Better pick up a book light too!

None of these are issues when you own the YouVersion app.  When you read your Bible in your YouVersion app, you have lots of ways to make it work just right for YOU! Maybe that's why it's called YOUversion?

Font Size and Shape. Most of these preferences can be set within the Settings menu, which we talked about yesterday. Here you can set the font (Sans, Serif, or Monospace), text size (from very small to very large.)  I love how the text size is set by a slider rather than trying to guess a number.  Setting the text size is a great blessing on many fronts. Do you have 20/20 vision and hate turning pages?  You could read Philemon in only two pages on the smallest font setting.  Or maybe you're on the top side of the eye chart.  Set the font to the largest size and you see two just verses at a time - but you won't be squinting!  

One note about using the slider for your font size.  Usually you can see the fonts of the text change as you move the slider.  However, when you get to the large and extra large font sizes, it looks like the font in your Bible isn't getting larger.  Be patient.  It may take your mobile device a little longer to process the larger fonts. Experiment with the fonts and find the smallest font you're comfortable with. Then move it up a notch.  That should be about the right size.  Remember - you can change this font size any time you want.

Show Notes... Or Not.  Many versions have text notes available.  These are not the extensive notes you may find in the Study Bibles.  These are the textual notes from the committee responsibile for the final translation.  For example, there will sometimes be a note about a particular word with an alternative that could have been used.  You have the choice to show these notes within your Bible or not.  Personally I love to see the notes.  But some people find them distracting and would rather just read without having to stop to check the footnotes.  It's YOUR choice.  Check the box in the settings and the notes will show.  Uncheck the box and the notes don't show.

Are you a rightie... or a leftie?  Left handed people sometimes feel like the world has conspired against them.  YouVersion is optimized for right-handed folks.  However, if you are a leftie there is a box you can uncheck in the settings. It's called "Navigation."  Now all those little menu options that used to be on the right hand of the screen magically show up on the left!

Low Lights or High Beams?  You may choose whether you'd prefer to have black text on a white background or white text on a black background.  Supposedly the latter is better in low light conditions.  The next time you're reading your YouVersion Bible in bed after dark, you might want to check out the low light option.  Not only do I like this setting, but I also turn down the brightness on my screen.  I find there is much less eye strain this way.

Setup Your Account. You also have the option in the Settings menu to setup your YouVersion account.  I wrote two days ago that you needed to do this when you downloaded the app onto your mobile device.  This was incorrect and I have changed the original post.  You have the choice of being a misanthropic hermit, who loves to read your YouVersion Bible by yourself with no one else ever knowing. OR you may choose to be the gregarious social butterfly and connect to other people with your YouVersion account. It's your choice!  One more thing about social connections - if you have a Facebook or Twitter account, this would be the place in the menu to make network associations as well.

Manage Offline Versions. We will begin talking about all your choices of Bible versions tomorrow. There are 25 English versions and there are 44 different languages available.  That combines to make a total of 144 choices!  All of them are available to you whenever you are connected to the Internet.  But what about the next time you're in the middle of Nowheresville... or on an airplane... or out of the country, and you want to read your YouVersion Bible?  This is where you set one or more versions to be downloaded to your device so you always have the opportunity to read your Bible.

Next Post: Versions, Versions, and More Versions! Speaking of Bible versions, tomorrow we'll talk about some of the different options you have and how to know which one is right for you.  Hmmm... this may take more than one post to cover.  Stay tuned!

Do you have any special settings you find works well for you?  Click on the comments below and share your ideas.  I'd love to hear what's working for you... and so would our readers!

Have you missed any of the other YouVersion Review posts?  Here are your quick links:

• Read Part 1:  Intro
• Read Part 2:  Downloading
• Read Part 3:  Getting Started
• Read Part 4:  Personalize Your Settings
• Read Part 5:  The Miracle of Versions
• Read Part 6:  Reading the Bible
• Read Part 7:  Bookmarks, Part One

Review Part 3: YouVersion - Getting Started

You've heard from a friend about this great new Bible app called YouVersion and you've downloaded it.  Now what?

You'll want to setup YouVersion on your mobile device so it's quickly available to you.  Find the app in your list of apps and then move the app icon to one of your main menu screens. 

When you open the YouVersion app you will see a main menu screen something like this photo of my Evo phone running Android OS.  When you see all the choices in the main menu, you'll know there's alot more here than any single Bible.  Let's take a quick look at our choices in the menu.

The top left icon is your link to your preferred Bible. Press it and you'll be taken to your last read location of the Bible. We'll talk a great deal about versions in the next couple of posts.  Here's a quick preview: You have 140 different versions available to you!!! There are 25 different English Bibles plus there are 44 different languages available currently.  YouVersion is the ultimate parallel Bible!

You'll also see a bookmark icon on the main menu.  Bookmarks are a great way to remember favorite passages and to memorize Scripture.  You'll also find a "Plans" link.  YouVersion has 150+ different plans, with options for customization and support to help you stay on track with a reading plan. This is a great way to make the Bible part of your daily life.

The 4th icon is the "Live" button, which gives you the opportunity to input your location (try your zip code.)  Unless you live in a large metropolitan area, or have a particularly tech savvy pastor, you may not find a live event in your immediate area.  Expand your search by typing in the name of your state - in my case, Ohio - to see examples of live events using YouVersion.

The 5th icon is the "Note" button.  Here you will have the chance to see your notes.  YouVersion gives you the opportunity to store your own notes AND ALSO gives you the chance to link to other resources connected to your reading.  This is powerful as we'll discover together soon.  These same notes can be viewed or entered on the YouVersion.com website, using your account.  Finally, you'll find the "Settings" button.  Press the settings button and you'll find several ways to personalize your reading and Bible Study experience.  We'll talk more about these settings tomorrow.

One final note.  This is the main menu for the Android version of YouVersion. Your YouVersion mobile app may look different in IOS, Blackberry, or Windows.  For example on my iPad - using IOS - the Bible immediately opens with all these other pieces of the software in different menu locations.  The important thing is to know that there are many resources here to assist you in your Bible reading and study. I plan on discussing each one in a different post!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post, when I'll give you some hints on setting up your preferences in the YouVersion Bible app so it will really be Your Version of YouVersion!

Have you missed any of the other YouVersion Review posts?  Here are your quick links:

• Read Part 1:  Intro
• Read Part 2:  Downloading
• Read Part 3:  Getting Started
• Read Part 4:  Personalize Your Settings
• Read Part 5:  The Miracle of Versions
• Read Part 6:  Reading the Bible
• Read Part 7:  Bookmarks, Part One

Review Part 2: YouVersion - Download The App

There are so many things I want to write about when it comes to the awesome Bible app known as YouVersion.  Before we talk about reading the different versions, or listening to the audios, or highlighting, sharing notes, making new friends in the community... before we talk about any of these great advantages, we must first get the app on your mobile device!

The first thing you need to know is that this is an app.  It's understandable that for some this might sound confusing.  After all most people think of The Bible as a book.  I was talking to my good friend and waitress, Sonnie, this morning about YouVersion. (She read the first installment.)  She asked me how to get YouVersion on her shiny, new Droid Incredible 2.  Don't look for this Bible app in any bookstore!

Go to the app store for your device and type in "Bible."  (The App Store is the "Market" in Android land.) Many different apps and versions will show up.  The one you want is usually the one that is tops on the list.  If you have any doubts, you want the one by LifeChurch.tv - these are the terrific folks who make this available for free!

From there follow the directions.  (I know.  Easy for me to say, right?)  Most of the download process is a matter of signing up for an account and filling in the required blanks.  (See UPDATE below.)  Some of my more cynical readers, who have been raised with Milton Friedman's view that there's no such thing as a free lunch, may cry "Aha! - They just want my info so they can try to sell me stuff."  

Not to worry.  I've had my account for over a year and can tell you that the good folks at YouVersion are respectful of your info.  They will only email you the things you sign up for - and you can always cancel any email notifications you set up.  And everything from them is 100% FREE!  (Sorry Milton.)

Still, you may wonder why you need to sign up for an account.  Isn't this just about reading the Bible? Actually, you'll find out there's more available to you - which is one of the reasons this is such a great app and why you should run - not walk - to get this downloaded ASAP! Signing up for an account allows you to save your settings, notes, and bookmarks, to use reading plans, to earn badges and to engage in community with YouVersion friends. We'll get to all of that in later posts.

Here's your assignment for today.  Download the YouVersion app to your device. Get your account started.  Start exploring - there's lots of rooms off the main hall.  Check them out.  Open the doors.  If you already have the YouVersion app on your mobile device, congratulations!  Go to the head of the class. While you're there, find someone else who doesn't have YouVersion installed yet and help get them started.  

Tomorrow - What's the deal with all the versions? 

UPDATE: I was wrong when I wrote that most of the download process requires you to sign up for an account.  This morning (9/20/11) my wife downloaded the app to her Android phone and did not need to sign up for an account.  You can get access to the Bible reader and many other functions without signing up for a YouVersion account.  However, in order to take full advantage of all the features - keeping your notes, highlights and connecting with other users - you will want to sign up for a free account.  More on this coming up in future posts. - Mark

Have you missed any of the other YouVersion Review posts?  Here are your quick links:

• Read Part 1:  Intro
• Read Part 2:  Downloading
• Read Part 3:  Getting Started
• Read Part 4:  Personalize Your Settings
• Read Part 5:  The Miracle of Versions
• Read Part 6:  Reading the Bible
• Read Part 7:  Bookmarks, Part One

Review: The Daily Has Become My Daily Habit

Reading The Daily has become my morning habit. I am a fan. I look forward to reading it every morning. The Daily is a daily newspaper that looks like a magazine and is designed specifically for the iPad. Why do I love The Daily so much?  It's a joy to read (watch, listen, experience - one verb doesn't do it justice).  It's priced right. It tells me all I need to know about the news of the day.

Reading The Daily is an experience. It's what newspapers and magazines should be, what they all eventually will be.  The Daily is designed specifically for the iPad. Each page can be viewed either in portrait or landscape mode. Indeed, the design changes depending on how you're holding the device. Embedded within each page is so much more than text with a picture. Often there's video or audio too.  

There's an interactive aspect to The Daily that's difficult to comprehend until you've experienced it. One does not just read The Daily.  When I'm holding today's issue in my hands, I'm touching, swiping, exploring, taking quizzes, participating in surveys, and writing and sharing my own opinions.

The Daily is priced right too.  New subscribers receive the first two weeks for free - without the need to "cancel at any time." After the initial two-week trial period, you as the new subscriber, will have a choice: either $0.99 per week or $40 for the year. This, in my opinion, is an incredible bargain. I don't know how they do it. Even at the more expensive weekly option I'm paying less than 15 cents an issue.  Take a dime and a nickel to your local newstand and see how far it won't get you!

Resources for Lust Talk This Sunday

Our next talk in the "Count It All Garbage" series is our conversation about Lust.  For the past month we've examined different garbage areas that can interfere in our relationships with God and with one another.  So far we've considered anger and busyness.  When we come to the topic of lust, we can make the mistake of thinking it a "worse" garbage area, but in reality anything that separates us from God and from one another is a big deal.  In this respect, lust is no worse than anything else.  Without correction, our lust - the evil desires we all possess, sexual or otherwise - is very isolating.

The question is what should we do about it?  As I write this on the Friday before I give the talk on Sunday, I urge everyone to come to the Church Requel service.  At the very least check back here next week for the notes, the audio and/or video versions of the talk.  As I've done with the other sermons in this series, the talk includes references to several resources that could be of help.  I don't want to be guilty of preaching against something without providing available resources for assistance.  In the case of lust - especially when dealing with pornography - there is much help available.

Books that Can Help.  Let's consider two categories of books here.  First, there are two excellent books if one is interested in understanding how pornography "rewires" the brain.  Consider The Drug of the New Millennium by Mark Kastleman as well as Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain by William Struthers.  The second category of books would be what to do when lust invades the relationship of marriage.  Again, there are two books in this category I would recommend.  I Surrender All: Rebuilding a Marriage Broken by Pornography by Clay and Renee Crosse would be my first choice.  It is written in such a way that it grabs the reader right from the beginning - a very personal story.  Also excellent is Hope After Betrayal: Healing When Sexual Addiction Invades Your Marriage by Meg Wilson.

Documentary Film.  Another resource, especially valuable for those not as oriented toward reading, is a 62-minute documentary, Somebody's Daughter - A Journey to Freedom from Pornography.  Three men and a husband and wife share their personal struggle with pornography confronting the lies and darkness of this addictive force with compelling honesty and hope. The DVD also contains four music videos and eight vignettes.  A 55-minute bonus CD is also available, which contains 9 original songs, stories, poetry, and scripture readings.

Accountability Software.  Finally, for those who would like to seek accountability with either a spouse or other accountability partner, x3watch.com is a website you should definitely check out.  Founder of XXXChurch, Craig Gross has made three products available on this site that can help you.  The first one, x3watch, is absolutely free.  It is an accountability software that will monitor all the websites you look at and then will send a report every week to your partner, either a spouse or a friend who has agreed to hold you accountable.  Knowing that someone else will be watching what you watch may be the key to keeping you from going to places on the internet you'd like to avoid.

These are only a few of the many resources that are available.  Remember that we can never do this on our own.  Our first step is always to call a C.A.B. - Confess to God our sin and inability to do what is right, Ask God for his help, and then Believe that He will help us.  I hope this as been of some help.  Looking forward to talking with you in person Sunday evening!  Pastor Mark

Medieval Help Desk

For the past three years I have been enrolled at Ashland Theological Seminary pursuing my M.Div. degree.  I only take one class at a time, so I have six more years to go before I finish.  The contrast is often pronounced between my actual work experience as executive pastor at a contemporary church and my experience in the classroom.  Currently I am taking a homiletics course, where I learn how to correctly prepare and deliver a sermon.  The other day we were learning about resources that can assist the preacher.  The entire talk was given on print resources.  When our teacher finished, I raised my hand and asked about software resources.  Personally, I'm an avid fan of Logos Bible Software.  All the resources our teacher had just taught us to use are also available electronically in Logos; it's just much faster and more efficient to use the software.  I can open twenty books to a topic in the time it takes me to look up and find one print reference.  Our teacher told us that he personally did not use software and preferred "the feel of a book."  I couldn't help but think I had time warped into the middle ages, which brings this video to mind.

Church Community Builder - Update #1

It's now been two weeks since we made our decision to purchase Church Community Builder as our church management system software.  I can't help but notice that when one googles  "Church Community Builder," that Church Requel is now fifth on the Google page.  Many other churches are watching our installation, so I feel some responsibility to let everyone know what is happening.  I hope to keep a running journal here of our progress.  These posts are those of a non-technical executive pastor.  If you'd like a more technical discussion, check out the blog of our I.T. guy (Jonathan, my son) over at CrewNeckTech.

After signing the contract with CCB, our first challenge was to get our database ready to transfer.  We are transferring from our Shelby database.  CCB needed us to transfer the data from Shelby into an Excel spreadsheet.  When we first looked at our database we were well under 5,000 people.  But when we got everything ready to go, Jonathan told me that we went over by a few hundred.  Consequently, we had to ante up another $178 (all part of the contract).  Jonathan spoke several times with the support folks at CCB and told me that they were there whenever he needed them.  So I give them kudos for that.  (Susie Fowler, we REALLY like you!) 

However, I'm not sure exactly how we would have done this if we didn't have someone who speaks "Geekese" like Jonathan.  In fact I'd say this is something for potential buyers of the software to consider.  As good as the tech folks are at CCB, the executive pastor better make sure he has someone with high time availability and I.T. competency and database management expertise.  In our case, Jonathan has many other I.T. duties and Magnification Department responsibilities.  Our management team made the decision earlier this summer to take away some of his Mag Dept. duties to free him up for the CCB conversion and the design of our new website (still to come).

Categorizing Membership for CCB

I received an email from our technology specialist today about our church database transfer to Church Community Builder.  In the past we have used Shelby Database, but we have made the decision to switch to CCB.  The question from tech was this: "How do you want to categorize the 4,000 or so records that we have in our database?"  He proposed four general categories based on a 2 row and 2 column matrix:

1) people who are active AND they are members

2) people who are active BUT they are NOT members

3) people who are inactive AND they are NOT members

4) people who are inactive AND NOT members

As I thought about it, I thought such a long description would become a linguistic nightmare.  Plus I thought of a fifth category, which I think every church MUST concentrate their efforts upon.  So here's what I'm thinking we will do.  Let me know what you think.  We'll categorize each person in our database as follows:

Logos Camp II

This past week I attended Camp Logos II in Houston, Texas.  Logos is a Bible Software program that uses the Libronix Electronic Library system to store and retrieve books and research on the computer.  Currently I have just over 1500 books in my electronic library, which I mostly use for research and sermon preparation.

Logos Camp II consisted of two days of training.  I learned how to access my library more effectively.  Our instructor, Morris Proctor, did an excellent job in helping me to organize my library.  While I have accumulated an immense digital library over the past two year, Morris accurately described my library as a black hole into which I reach to find books. 

Over the past two days I have arranged my library into two dozen different collections.  Some of the collections include English Bibles, Greek Bibles and Interlinears, Bible Dictionaries, Critical Commentaries, Pastoral Commentaries, and Devotional Commentaries.  I also have organized several collections by author.

I'm looking forward to better usage of my library.  Anyone who owns the Logos Bible Software really should invest further by attending by Logos Camp I and II.  It will be money well spent!