Maybe that’s an overstatement. Maybe I could live without these tools, but it would make my life very, very difficult.
You’ll notice that all of these software titles are Mac programs. There’s a good reason for that!
- Bento — This is an amazing database program. It has a great interface and virtually everything is drag-and-drop. I use it to catalog our worship services so that we can search our history of music and readings very quickly and easily. I also use it to keep track of people I’m trying to place into small groups.
- Delicious Library 2 — This has to be one of the coolest apps ever! Need to catalog your books and CDs? Just hold the barcode up to your webcam and it will scan the barcode and insert the item into your catalog along with all the relevant info from the web. You can use it to catalog pretty much anything you want.
- Entourage — It pains me to put a Microsoft product on this list, but I have to say that I really enjoy this program. It’s the Mac version of Outlook (which means, of course, that it’s better than Outlook). My calendar, email, contacts, notes, tasks, projects, and just about everything else are all in one program. It’s very handy.
- Adobe Acrobat Professional — This one is by no means for sissies. Most people have Acrobat Reader on their computers already. You need it to read PDF files. But with Acrobat Pro, the possibilities are endless. I’ve used it recently to create a form for my small group leaders to fill out on their computers, then click a button and send it back to me. Acrobat automatically drops all their information into a table for me and can then output that information however I need. And that’s just one of the gazillion things Acrobat Pro can do.
- RapidWeaver — This is very inexpensive web design tool. It’s extremely easy to use with a small learning curve. The plugins available are very creative, and there are some great themes available as well. You can check out the site I designed with it here: www.suffolkphotowalk.com. The Suffolk Photo Walk was a community engagement event our church hosted. I’m hoping to build more websites with RapidWeaver that will connect and inform our people in creative ways.
What ministry software tools are indispensable for you?
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Will,
Thanks for the recommendations. I’d love to see some examples of your worship database. Sound very helpful.
Essentially I just input all of our readings in different fields and every song we do in different fields. I have a different record for every week. That way I can go back and look at any particular week or I can just search for a song to see how many times we’ve done that song in the last year (or whenever). It’s pretty basic right now, but it helps us.
I also use Bento to catalog sermon materials (e.g., illustrations).
Cool stuff.
I use MacSword (the new 2.0 is awesome). Crossway made the ESV available, but unfortunately the HCSB is not. (This is because MacSword is open source, so it can only make modules for public domain translations, or translations with the express permission granted). It also let you read some classics like the Institutes and Pilgrim’s Progress.
WriteRoom is very helpful as well, to help for focused writing without distraction.
Excellent, Ben. I was unfamiliar with MacSword. I really, really, really wish BibleWorks were available for Mac. I actually use it on my Windows side, and it should probably…no, definitely, be in this list. I could never get used to Accordance.
I’m with you on the BibleWorks front, Will. However, I’m using CrossOver and so far everything seems to run fine, albeit in a very unattractive Windows 98 look. You can get a free demo here (http://www.codeweavers.com/products/) and find out if the pain it is on the eyes is worth not switching back and forth with bootcamp for. It was for me.
Have you tried Parallels? I’m concerned with speed actually, because I have a few other pieces of Windows-only software, and I don’t want to compromise performance for convenience.
I did try Parallels, although it was several versions ago, and wasn’t pleased with how slow it was, both running BibleWorks and transitioning back and forth to the Mac OS. Is that what you are using? I assumed you were using Bootcamp since you said the Windows side.
I am using Boot Camp. I didn’t want to do Parallels, but if someone can convince me it’s good, I’ll give it a shot.