Open.LifeChurch.TV

Brothers and Sisters,

I strongly encourage you to investigate and consider using the free resource at Open.LifeChurch.tv. What a blessing it is for LifeChurch.tv to share these freely (you do have to agree to a license agreement, but it's still free). Beyond the surface of the free videos and background images, there are also entire message series, outlines, supporting materials, and small group discussion questions.

Retreat Tips

Retreat Tips

Don't avoid retreats.  It's very easy for a pastor or a church to become self-involved.  It is important to look up and out to meet with other believers and fellowship, worship God together, and pray for each other.  When at the retreat, contrive ways for your tribe to mix it up and mingle with other tribes in attendance.  Challenge them to sit in different spots for each chapel service.  Challenge them to sit with other groups during at least one meal.  Challenge the older students to "adopt" a younger student for the event, having them look out for the younger ones and encourage them.

Update Twitter/Facebook with blurbs and pictures of what's going on so that parents at home have some connection.  Use this ability to solicit prayers so that the greater congregation has a connection to the students.

As the leader, take advantage of the time with other leaders.  Ask about their gatherings.  Talk about books you are reading or podcasts you listen to.  Talk about fundraisers, outreaches, gathering formats.  What are your students studying?  You might learn a great idea of how to accomplish something that has been a challenge for you.  It's really easy to start spouting off all of your great ideas.  Instead, really work on your listening.  Let God pour into you through others.

As the leader, set the example for your tribe.  When something needs to be done (chairs moved, garbage picked up, etc.), be one of the first people to jump up and do it.  If you bring other leaders from your tribe, require them to do that same.  These are the examples of being servants that build credibility.  If there are option breakout sessions, make them required for your leaders and students.  If there are no breakout sessions scheduled, have your leaders put together something for a daily meeting with your students.


Continued...

Discipleship / Study Tools - YouVersion.com

YouVersion.com is a an online Holy Bible from LifeChurch.tv. Actually, let me be more specific. It is, in fact, 17 online Holy Bibles. And that's just the English version.

Platform

You can get to YouVersion.com from your web-enabled laptop, PC, Mac, or smartphone. It's a website. There are also mobile apps for various smartphones if you so desire.

Key Features

The reading plans are helpful. There are 31 different plans available. I completed the Gospels in 30 Days plan. It was simple. 89 chapters, a planned 3 chapters a day, and it was over. I managed to complete the plan in 15 days by reading an average of 6 chapters a day. It does let you read ahead. Now I'm working my way through the Psalms. There is also an accountability feature for the reading plans. With this, you can have another member of YouVersion keep you accountable for your reading. I haven't tried this.

From what I can tell, YouVersion does not allow you to create your own reading plan. For example, I would love to go through the Gospels chronologically. This reading plan doesn't exist. It seems that you have to have some pull with the developers to get that going.

You can select from any number of versions, and there is a "Parallel" feature so you can read two versions side by side for comparison. It is helpful for comparing The Message to the NASB, for example. There are no Strong's numbering, so it is not possible to look up the original language and meaning.

Users can "tag" one or more verses and take notes on them. These can be in a private online "journal" or be "community contributions." I haven't found the "contributions" all that helpful, and I turned them off from my display. The contributions I am looking for are from Matthew Henry, Wesley, and their contemporaries. For those, I'm still required to use BibleStudyTools.com.

Overall thoughts

I really like YouVersion, but primarily for the reading plan. Overall I find it very buggy. It logs me out unexpectedly, so it doesn't always save my progress. I stopped using the journal feature because after I would enter something, I would find it hadn't saved because it somehow logged me out.

YouVersion also looks very good-- which will go a long way with getting your smartphone toting students (and leaders) to use it. It's really simple to use.

I think that this would be best for having a searchable and user-friendly Bible on a smartphone, or for a reading plan. The ability to quickly scroll through scripture is fantastic, and something that is missing from other online Bibles. YouVersion has no Strong's numbering, so word studies are out entirely. Beyond that, stick with Google Docs or a notepad for your journaling.

For serious study, find your way to www.BibleStudyTools.com-- it doesn't claim all of the features of YouVersion (not they always work with YouVersion anyway), but it is far more robust. I'm hoping that YouVersion will catch on and add Strong's numbering so that I can really help students learn to look up the original language and understand that intent. In the meantime, maybe its simplicity will increase Bible literacy.