I’ve been a fan of the iPad since it came out. I’ve owned the original and the iPad 2 and I began to use it over two years ago when I preached. I even wrote an e-book, Maximizing Ministry with your iPad that you can download free by clicking this link: ipad ebook final. However, I experienced a few limitations so I purchased a mini-iPad that I thought might address those issues. I preached for the first time with it recently. I loved it. Here are some highlights from that first experience.
- The smaller size made it easier to hold while I preached. With the regular sized one I had to leave it on the lectern or the table and had to return to it for my next point. However, I was able to hold the mini the entire time and my hand never tired. It’s like holding a slim Bible.
- Since the back of the iPads are quite slick, I needed to improve the grip. I bought a Poetic ThinShell Back Smart Cover Partner Case that worked great with just the extra tackiness I needed. At $8, you can’t beat the price.
- I also purchased a new stylus. I paid a bit more, but this one is great. It’s more responsive to my writing. It’s called the amPen New Hybrid Stylus.
- Finally, I now use a new PDF markup app that is superb. It’s called Notability and as of March 18 it was only $1.99 in the iTunes store, a steal.I create my sermon in MS Word, save the doc as a PDF, transfer to DROPBOX, and open it in Notability. I then can easily highlight and mark up as needed. Simple. One pointer: play with the font size until it’s large enough in the PDF for your eyes. Since the real estate is smaller on the mini, I had to make my font larger for my eyes.
If you use a mini for preaching, any apps or tricks you recommend?
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Charles, I tried using the iPad but as I moved around the lights in our church reflected off the screen and caused distracting reflections on the wall. I switched over to the Kindle Paperwhite for that reason. Have you had an issue with reflections with the iPad Mini?
Ward, haven’t seen much of a problem. thx
Thanks for sharing your experience and research. The link to your PDF book was dead, but I found it through a Google search. It was helpful. I started using an iPad mini about two years ago. Now I use an iPad Air 1. I just leave it on the podium and glance down at it like I would a piece of paper. I type the sermon on my laptop and then save it as a PDF in Dropbox and then read it right from the Dropbox PDF viewer. I use 18 point font. This is about as close to having a piece of paper in front of me I have found. I like the Dropbox PDF viewer because I can just scroll up with my finger and see the half of the page I am on and half of the next page. This process is very fluid and has really helped me as a communicator. I love to preach the Word, but I have always had issues with my presentation. Using the iPad has really helped me stay more focused on what I am preaching at that moment and not get lost on the paper or forget a key point.
One other helpful tool has been using Proclaim presentation software instead of Powerpoint or Keynote. This has saved me and our worship leader hours of time each week.
Great insight, sorry about the dead link. I will look into it.
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