Pastoral Productivity

Embracing technology as the pastor: Use Bibleworks to explore cross references

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 21:41:00 +0000

Bible cross reference lists are lists of Bible verses that are similar to a specific Bible verse.

Cross reference lists are immensely popular and are contained in most major study Bibles.

Such lists are popular because any serious student of the Bible knows that the best way to interpret Scripture is by comparing Scripture with Scripture.

However, looking up the different texts can be tedious if you're working with hard copies of the lists and the Bible. You have to drag out the list and then look up the individual texts, patiently turning the pages of your Bible.

Whereas cross reference lists in a program like Bibleworks make life so much easier. Bibleworks has a cross references tab (called 'X-Refs') that when in focus will automatically load the reference list for your focus verse, and then display the list with the full text of each reference in your preferred Bible version. No more flipping of pages or even clicking of a link, the cross references are there immediately for you to use.

But Bibleworks goes a step further. The software has a 'Master' cross reference list which compiles all the cross references from many popular reference lists into one list. The references are then sorted into two sections, 'frequently cited refs' and 'less frequently cited refs'. Thus at the top of the list you will always see the most popular cross reference, which I usually find is the most helpful text I could look at in relation to my focus verse.

The important work of using cross references has never been so easy.

Embracing technology as the pastor: Use Bibleworks to export parts of the Bible

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Thu, 01 Aug 2013 10:06:00 +0000

Sometimes you want a complete electronic copy of a book of the Bible or even an entire Bible translation. That way you can manipulate it in a particular way.

The time I notice this need most is at the beginning of the year when I'm planning my devotions for the year. Each year I read through the Bible by reading from three different parts of the Bible - loosely following M'Cheyne's Bible reading program (I only use three columns though). I also try a different English translation each year. So I've found it useful to simply make a PDF for each of the three readings so that I can quickly bring up my Bible readings for the day by opening three files in my PDF reader that then remembers where I was last up to in my reading of the documents.

Also, sometimes you want to print out an entire book of the Bible so that you can highlight it and scribble over it for sermon preparation.

But to get a full copy of a Bible translation is not that easy. Unless you have software like Bibleworks.

In Bibleworks, you can quickly export to a text document all the parts of a translation you want using their 'Export Database' tool. Instructions are given here: http://www.bibleworks.com/bw9help/bwh28_Copying.htm

So whether you need a whole book or the whole Bible for you to use in your ministry work, Bibleworks comes in handy.

Embracing technology as the pastor: Use Bibleworks to make your own translation

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 21:29:00 +0000

There's nothing quite like making your own translation of the Bible.

One of the great joys for me at Bible college was learning Greek and Hebrew so that I could get even closer to God's word.

But the Bible is a big book to translate. So how do you keep track of your translations of different verses and work toward producing a complete translation?

This is where Bibleworks comes in handy - it allows you to easily make you own translations.

You can create a database in Bibleworks that then has the portability of any other translation you use in Bibleworks.

To make a translation, you don't need my advice. Just follow the official Bibleworks instructions and you will be making your own version in no time.

But I will give you some tips that I discovered that help make the job of translating faster and easier.

Firstly, pick a version you like (I used Young's Literal Translation) and use it as a base version that you revise. That way you save significant time that would be wasted writing out what you already agree with.

Now this does mean that you're not strictly producing your own translation, you're revising a version. Yet, don't be turned off. This is a faster but still legitimate form of translation work. After all most professional translations are not original translations, even the King James was based on Tyndale's work.

If you do use a base version, I would also advise that you make common changes to your translation using the 'find and replace' function in a text editor. For example, I replace in Young's Literal Translation all old English words like thou, cometh, findeth, seeketh etc, whenever I come across them. That way you're not revising the same words again and again - you hit them all in one go each time.

Secondly, translate regularly. I translate three verses a day from the three different Biblical texts that I read in my devotions. To make it easier, I have three different Bibleworks tabs dedicated to the three passages (find out more about using tabs here). I also update my version by translating the text I'm preaching on.

Thirdly, compile your database periodically. I did it once a week in the early days when I was changing a lot of old English words. Now I do it once a month. This saves time rather than compiling it every time you translate. Honestly, the changes to your version each time you work on it are not going to be that revolutionary - particularly if you are reasonably happy with the base version your are revising. So you shouldn't need to compile the version that regularly.

Embracing technology as the pastor: Use Bibleworks to cut and paste text

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 06:14:00 +0000

Copying out Bible text has never been too much of a problem for me. I have pretty much always had access to an electronic version of the Bible from which I can cut and paste Bible text into a relevant document.

So I can't imagine what it was like for pastors in the past who had to write Bible verses out manually again and again in their writings. They certainly must have begun to memorise verses much faster. But with any manual copying, there is also a great potential for error (as any scribe or text critic knows). Also valuable time can be lost due to one simply becoming a copyist for a good portion of each week.

So how do you cut and paste text to save time?

My initial dealings were with the free website Bible Gateway. Which served me well particularly before I became a minister.

But for serious pastoral productivity, you should have multiple versions of the Bible in a software program on your computer.

For example, from having Bibleworks on my computer, I can:
(i) access multiple translations much faster than through an internet connection;
(ii) cut and paste while offline;
(iii) load many, many versions at the same time, some of which are simply not readily available online;
(iv) export whole Bible books, and even the entire Bible, to a document;
(v) custom tag the end of my copied texts thereby saving time usually used copying out a reference, e.g. when I hit paste, the Bible reference and translation are put at the end automatically for me, e.g. Mark 2:1-10 (ESV).

Also I should give a quick exhortation to learn the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl +C (to copy) and Ctrl + V (to paste). They'll save you even more time. And you may also consider installing software that strips formatting like PureText.

So don't wast time typing out text yourself or laboriously copying it from a website. Get some serious Bible software.

Embracing technology as the pastor: Use Bibleworks to look-up lexicons and analyse words

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

One of the most laborious activities in learning a language is looking up a gloss for a word you're translating. You have to stop what you're doing, heave down your lexicon, recall the order of the alphabet, and then search for your word.

But with Bible software, the entire search is practically done for you. In Bibleworks all you have to do is hover over the word in the verse that you don't know, and automatically the gloss from your chosen lexicon is displayed in the analysis window. Searching BDAG and HALOT has never been so easy! And if you want to change lexicons, it only takes a few clicks to change the default lexicon.

I have to admit I started my serious Greek and Hebrew work while owning Bibleworks, so I'll never really comprehend how much shelf space and time I've saved by not having to look up words manually - but I can imagine it is a lot!

The only problem is, I never picked up the sequence of the alphabet all that well (but there are songs to teach you that for both Hebrew and Greek).

Moreover, not only does the gloss show up in the analysis window when you hover over a word in Bibleworks, words are analysed for you too. This means you don't have to do the heavy lifting of analysing your words and working out whether, for example, your verb is in the indicative or subjunctive mood.

Bible software may make you lazy, but if you're pressed for time, it is a Godsend.

Embracing technology as the pastor: Use Bibleworks to search versions

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 05:14:00 +0000

Concordances are time consuming and cumbersome things to use.

So one of the most wonderful things about Bible software is the ability to search the Bible quickly and efficiently.

For example, quality Bible software allows you to:
(i) search multiple versions, not just in English but in Greek and Hebrew etc;
(ii) search for keywords;
(iii) search for phrases;
(iv) search syntax;
(v) search for punctuation.

And that's only the searches off the top of my head that I commonly perform.

Bibleworks searches are incredibly diverse and can get quite complex if you want them to.

Basically if it's in a version, you can search it.

So, for serious searching of God's word use a serious electronic search engine.

Rest In Peace (or recycling bins) concordances.

Embracing technology as the pastor: Use Bibleworks to compare versions

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 21:19:00 +0000

One of the privileges for the pastor living in the computer technology age is the fantastic wealth of resources available for working with the Bible's original languages.

There are basically three big software packages on the market for working with Greek and Hebrew:
(i) Logos;
(ii) Accordance;
(iii) Bibleworks.

I was introduced to Bibleworks at college and have been in love with it ever since. It's always running in the background on my computer ready to be used throughout the day.

So as we wind up this series on 'Embracing technology', I'm going to give a mini series of posts explaining some of the primary things I use Bibleworks for.

Now most of what I do with Bibleworks I'm sure can be done with other Bible software, but as I only know Bibleworks, that's all I'm going to talk about.

The first and most obvious thing you can do with Bibleworks is compare Bible texts and versions in the browse window.

No longer is there a need for a massive Bible with multiple translations, or multiple Bibles in hardcopy, or an interlinear Greek or Hebrew Bible. You can have pretty much every major translation right in front of you at any given time.

For example, the versions I usually have open in my browse window screen and in order of preference are:
(i) GNT (Greek New Testament, 4th edition, eds Aland et al);
(ii) WTT (Codex Leningradensis Hebrew Text);
(iii) LXT (LXX Septuaginta edited by Alfred Rahlfs);
(iv) LXE (The English Translation of The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament by Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton);
(v) CSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible);
(vi) NIVO (New International Version 1984);
(vii) NIV (New International Version 2011);
(viii) ESV (English Standard Version);
(ix) NET (New English Translation);
(x) NAU (The New American Standard Bible 1995);
(xi) KJV (King James Version);
(xii) YLT (Young's Literal Translation);
(xiii) SCR (New Testament in the Original Greek According to the Text Followed in The Authorized Version, F.H.A. Scrivener; The Textus Receptus).

Occasionally I'll add to the mix the:
(i) RSV (Revised Standard Version);
(ii) NJB (New Jerusalem Bible);
(iii) NKJ (New King James).

I also use the following versions when I'm studying Latin for the day:
(i) VULM (Vulgate Latin Bible with morphology);
(ii) DRA (The Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition; Very literal translation of the Latin Vulgate).

So if you need to compare a verse in various versions, there's nothing like bringing all those versions up in one place on a computer screen. The alternative of looking them up in hard copies would be most time consuming.

Embracing technology as the pastor: Use a smartphone

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 22:06:00 +0000

I must admit that I was initially reluctant to buy into the whole smartphone market. It just looked like a way to waste time on games and checking your email needlessly.

But eventually I succumbed and have owned both an iPhone and an Android phone.

As a result, I have discovered that a smartphone is very handy if you have the self-control not to use it for time wasting practices.

For example I use my phone productively for:
(i) podcasting (including playing the audio at double speed);
(ii) listening to sermon mp3s;
(iii) listening to music through headphones and also on my stereo using Bluetooth;
(iv) playing internet radio;
(v) checking the weather forecast;
(vi) reading books when I have a spare moment (usually while waiting in lines);
(vii) checking blog feeds;
(viii) reading the Bible (including in Greek and Hebrew);
(ix) navigating in traffic (after trying various navigation apps I keep coming back to plain old Google Maps);
(x) emailing notes to myself so I won't forget an idea;
(xi) accessing most of my important documents immediately (using Dropbox);
(xii) tethering the internet to my laptop;
(xiii) making phone calls and sending text messages for free over wireless networks (using apps like Viber and WhatsApp);
(xiv) accessing my to do lists that I store in Evernote (very handy for shopping lists);
(xv) taking photos (and not just of people, but of things that I need to remember, e.g. a book someone shows me);
(xvi) showing photos of my family to people.

Of course I also use it for the usual things that most people use their phone for, making phone calls, sending text messages, setting alarms and timers.

Now some of what I use the phone for sounds laborious and fiddly to implement. But another beauty of the smartphone is that a lot of things can be programmed to work automatically. For example, my phone automatically (often wirelessly so I barely know it is happening):
(i) downloads new podcasts and deletes them once played;
(ii) rotates my least played songs onto the phone and rotates my most played songs off the phone;
(iii) copies over favourite family photos that my wife has put in a folder on her laptop (meaning from her laptop the photos are automatically synced to my laptop and from there synced automatically to my phone);
(iv) updates my to do lists from my computer so I have them at all times;
(v) puts photos I take with the phone back on my laptop hard drive.

So rather than my smartphone wasting my time, the phone is able to redeem the time. With a smartphone I have a tool that allows me to make the most of my time by giving me ready access to things that I would need to plan in advance to take with me (e.g. music, a Bible, my to do list, certain files) and saves me lots of time by doing many tasks automatically for me.

If you have the determination and ability to use a smartphone to its full potential, they're a wise investment.

Embracing technology as the pastor: Podcasting your church sermons

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 21:43:00 +0000

Many churches record their sermons. Many churches also put their sermons on their church website for free download.

But I'm surprised at how few churches podcast their sermons and thereby make it easier for people to subscribe to their sermons and listen to them every week.

So how can you podcast your sermon?
I've found that one of the easiest ways is using the blogging software WordPress.

Basically you start a sermon blog and then attach the sermon each week to a blog post. The blog feed therefore becomes the podcast feed which is then imported into people's podcasting software.

The feed can also be submitted to iTunes to show up in the podcast section of their store.

So how do you go about using WordPress on your church website?
Firstly, follow the official WordPress installation instructions.

Then once you have your blog/podcast set up, you need to install a WordPress podcasting plugin.

I use the Podcasting Plugin. If you want to do the same, then follow their instructions on how to make a podcast post.

How do you get your podcast on iTunes?
A fairly large proportion of the population will want to use iTunes to subscribe to your podcast. So to make it easier for people, submit it to iTunes using their instructions.

Should I burn my feed?
You can burn your feed at the Google owned FeedBurner site. Burning your feed gives you the benefit of seeing statistics about your subscribers and also presents your feed on a webpage that offers many useful links for different podcasting software. For an example of a burnt feed, check out our church podcast's feed at FeedBurner.

If you do burn your feed, make sure the feed you submit to iTunes is the FeedBurner feed, not your site's original rss feed. Otherwise you'll miss out on valuable statistics.

Embracing technology as the pastor: Cataloguing books

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 22:21:00 +0000

Most pastors are avid readers, which also means they will usually acquire a large number of books.

At first you can keep track in your head what books you own and where they are located in your library.

But eventually a tipping point is reached where this is no longer an effective practice. You particularly know you've reached the end of your mental capacity when you end up buying the same book twice, miss a book bargain because you think you have the book already, or spend inordinate amounts of time looking for a book on your shelves.

So eventually you should look at cataloguing your books. And computers make this task much easier.

There are many library catalogue programs available, but I got hooked on Endnote when writing my PhD thesis and never let it go. A popular alternative appears to be Zotero.

My only caution in choosing a cataloguing program is to make sure it has an export function to a standardised file type. That way if you ever have to migrate to another program, you can easily import your library.

Now for a few personal tips from how I catalogue my library:
(i) only include the author, title and call number in your catalogue, inputting anything more than that is a waste of time (unless you use your catalogue for referencing in professional writing);
(ii) don't use call numbers, have very broad categories (e.g. 'church', 'apologetics') and then simply order those categories on the shelf by alphabetical order using the author's surname;
(iii) label the books with only the first letter of their category - you don't really need to include any more information (e.g. author's initials etc);
(iv) for commentaries, label and order them on the shelf with the number that they are in the Biblical canon, e.g. Deuteronomy is '5', Revelation is '66';
(v) if you can, find a volunteer to enter the bulk of your library into your software (and don't overlook the abilities of children to do this rather mundane task);
(vi) export your catalogue to the internet somewhere so that you can find it easily on your phone whilst shopping (you never know when you may spot a sale);
(vii) maintain your catalogue - don't let things slide or you may as well not have bothered in the first place!

Embracing technology as the pastor: OpenDNS

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 22:48:00 +0000

Last week I spoke about the importance of blocking time wasting websites using Leechblock.

This week I want to talk about blocking websites that you should never visit.

The internet has been used by God to bring much good to humanity. But the internet has also been used by Satan to bring much harm to humanity.

As a result, there are many websites you should never visit. Ever.

But, sadly sometimes you will end up where you shouldn't be. It may be accidental or it may be intentional as your sinful nature rears its ugly head (much more likely).

Thus, pretty much no Christian should have unfiltered internet.

But how do you effectively filter the internet so that you cannot access web pages that are unhelpful? You should use a service that blacklists the most dangerous sites.

To do this, there are many programs that you can install on your computer. But if you're technically savy you can get around them fairly easily. They can also place a drain on your computer system's resources.

OpenDNS takes a different type of approach. It filters the internet at your router not at your computer (your router is often the device through which you receive your internet).

Such a method has a number of benefits:
(i) it is very difficult to get around (particularly if someone else has the passwords to the OpenDNS account and router interface);
(ii) it filters for all computers (including phones) which are on the network.

Oh, and did I mention that it is free.

So set up OpenDNS and protect yourself from Satan's abuse of the internet.

Embracing technology as the pastor: Leechblock

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 22:37:00 +0000

The problem with an internet connection is that there are a billion plus things you can be distracted by if you don't want to get on with your work. This a particular struggle for a pastor because his time is mostly self directed.

Now the first line of defence against procrastination should be getting more of the fruit of the spirit - namely that fruit known as self-control.

But the Spirit does give us ways to protect ourselves for anticipated moments of weakness.

LeechBlock is just such a tool. LeechBlock is an add-on for the web browser Firefox. It's purpose is to limit your access to certain favourite websites, for example at certain times of day when you're supposed to be working.

Now of course there are ways to get around LeechBlock, but at least it will slow down your access to time wasters if Firefox is your favourite browser. It will also trigger a reminder that you shouldn't be wasting your time when you may have conveniently forgotten.

If you're given to procrastination on the internet, I'd encourage you to read more about another Christian's experience with the program or just go and install LeechBlock straight away.

[For Chrome users, try StayFocused]

Embracing technology as the pastor: Church website tips

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 00:15:00 +0000

We live in an internet age and so a church website has become an issue of great importance. The truth is, many people will visit your church website long before they visit your church building.

So for the busy, cash-strapped pastor I have four tips that will help you get a church website up and running easily and for almost next to nothing.

Firstly, try signing up with the web-host FlexiHostings for free. They offer non-profit organisations free packages with generous data allowances. We've used them at Drummoyne Baptist for years without a hitch.

Second, find a free website template. Designing a website from scratch is hard work particularly if you don't really know what you're doing. Also, to design a 'good' website you need a bit of artistic ability. If that isn't you, why not let someone else do the hard work, for free! Many generous talented people give away website templates that you can use as your website free of charge (although usually you'll have to give an acknowledgement to the creator on your site). What templates are available? Simply punch into Google "free website templates" (or click the link) and see what comes up.

Third, you'll need a web design program to edit your template with your church's content. I use the freebie Kompozer. Wikipedia also has a chart of most editors.

Fourth, you'll also need a FTP client to upload your website. Check out a review of the freebie FileZilla and other possible clients here.

If you follow these four tips, I can't see why every church shouldn't have a good looking website.

Embracing technology as the pastor: Dropbox

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 22:59:00 +0000

If you've ever had a computer lose your work, you know that accompanying sickening feeling all too well.

Computers are not 100% reliable. Thus backups have become a vital part of any computer use if you want to prevent wasting large amounts of time when files go missing.

Yet backups take time to perform and so can often feel like a waste of time in themselves.

But thankfully with the advance of technology backups are easier to keep, meaning you waste less time maintaining your backups.

One of the most reliable ways of backing up your documents is by putting them into the 'cloud'. That means your documents are not only stored on your own computer, but copies of them are on another computer somewhere else on the internet. And that computer out there in the internet is usually more secure than your own computer from fire, theft etc.

So how do you easily and cheaply get your files into the cloud?

Dropbox has become one of the simplest and most reliable ways of doing this. Basically you have a folder on your computer that syncs automatically with the Dropbox company servers and so your files are always safe as soon as you finish working on them.

Your files are even safe from your accidental deletion or foolish editing as all older versions of files are kept for 30 days and can be restored easily enough. Which means if you accidentally delete some vital paragraphs from your sermon and then save your blunder, you can quickly restore an older version of the file with the paragraphs intact.

I also find that the Dropbox two gigabytes of free space is more than enough for my current important documents. For me, older documents that are rarely touched are backed up on an external hard drive. But if you want more room in your Dropbox, you can always pay for the privilege (or earn some extra free space).

So sign up for Dropbox today and have the assurance that your files are safe - and that you will never have to write a sermon twice because your computer ate it.

Embracing technology as the pastor: Lastpass

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 22:51:00 +0000

Since the internet came along, the sheer number of passwords that you're requested to choose has sky-rocketed (if there is internet in heaven, one thing I'll be grateful for is that we won't have to worry about security measures!).

Now you could choose to have a couple of passwords and use them everywhere, but it is a dangerous game to play. If one account is hacked, then someone potentially has access to all your accounts that use that same password.

So to be safe you should have different passwords for every online account you have. Moreover they should be difficult to guess, meaning they should be reasonably long, include upper case and lower case characters, numbers and special characters.

But how does one feeble brain remember all those passwords? It doesn't. Which is why you need something like Lastpass.

Lastpass is a free program that stores your passwords and then automatically fills them in on websites for you through an add-on to your web browsers. And in order to make sure your passwords are strong, Lastpass can also generate very strong passwords for you to use that you would never remember yourself.

Lastpass also stores other information like contact details and credit card information and so can fill in web forms for you thus saving you time.

Basically you dump all your sensitive information into one place, Lastpass encrypts it and then makes it accessible by one single password - which is the only password you need to remember. (Now of course, if someone hacks Lastpass you're undone, but their security is better than pretty much all websites you use - particularly as employees don't even have access to your account).

So I encourage you to use Lastpass, it'll save you a tonne of memory space and time.

But before I finish, I should also mention a tip on choosing passwords as a Christian. For passwords that you do enter in manually (such as the Lastpass master password), choose Bible verses you're trying to learn. This will give you a marvellous opportunity to regularly practise the verse. By using memory verses, you will also be tempted to regularly change your password, another good security measure. And to add to the strength of your passwords, include some chapter and verse numbers, even punctuation.

Embracing technology as the pastor: AutoHotkey

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 00:45:00 +0000

Many computer tasks require a few mouse clicks and key strokes to get going - which over years can add up to minutes and hours of clicking and typing.

For example to open a file, you have to open up a program like Windows Explorer and then navigate with a series of clicks to the folder you're after. Or to load a web page that you visit each day you have to open up the browser and then click in the address bar and then type in where you want to go, or at least select a bookmark. Or some emails you send out regularly to the same people but each time you need to type a lot of the content again even though it's identical to last time.

To save time on these mundane tasks, I recommend using AutoHotkey. It is a program that completes tasks that you have assigned to keyboard shortcuts.

For example, I use AutoHotkey to quickly load web pages, run programs, play music, open documents (including opening many documents at the same time) and write standardised emails (e.g. posts to twitter and Facebook about regular church events, minutes of meetings, orders of service). To do these things with AutoHotkey I just click a few keyboard buttons and everything is done almost before I can blink.

One of my hotkeys is particularly helpful every morning. When I start my day in front of the computer, I click three keyboard buttons simultaneously and automatically my prayer list opens up, five websites are loaded, three different books of the Bible are opened up to where I left off reading yesterday and several other documents are opened that I need to quickly look at each morning. I'm sure you would agree that to do that manually would take a bit of time but with AutoHotkey it is time saved every day.

But you may be asking how do you remember all the keyboard combinations?

Firstly I group batches of similar tasks with a similar hot key. So to open programs, I use Control + Alt + another key. To load websites, I use Control + Alt + Shift + another key. To open documents I use Control + Shift + another key. To play music I use Control + Windows Key + another key. Thus the first few keys are memorable because they are associated with the type of task.

Secondly, for the final key in the shortcut I choose a key that is memorable to the specific task, for example iTunes is opened with Control+Alt+i (i is for iTunes); the church website is opened with Control+Alt+Shift+w (w is for website); to open my morning devotions I use Control + Shift + d (d is for devotion); jazz music is turned on with Control+Windows Key+j (j is for jazz).

Also, once you run out of keyboard shortcuts, you can remember unusual keyboard combinations for tasks by using your calendar as a reminder. If you've followed my steps for getting organised, many tasks you will do because your calendar reminds you to do them. So get the calendar event to also remind you of the hotkey you have assigned to the task. For example, each Monday I check the statistical data of a number of my websites and have a reminder on my calendar to do so. But at the beginning of the calender reminder I have written out the hotkey that will load all the websites: ^!+- (which means Control + Alt + Shift + -). This loads over 10 web pages in one go.

Also, I would recommend using AutoHotkey for autocorrection. Common typos can be quickly corrected in programs like Word with its built in autocorrect facility. But many programs do not have autocorrection. That's why you should have a script installed that will operate anywhere. Get a list of common corrections from somewhere like here and make a hotkey script. Then add to the script yourself with your own corrections (for example I have all abbreviations of the books of the Bible set to autocorrect to their full names, so something like 'cor' becomes 'Corinthians' automatically which saves me a lot of typing time).

So if I've whet your appetite for AutoHotkey, check out a beginner's guide. And if you're after a particular hotkey script, make sure you search the AutoHotkey forums.

Remember, time redeemed with a keyboard shortcut allows you to do more work for the Lord elsewhere.

Embracing technology as the pastor: Google Reader

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 23:33:00 +0000

Most people know how to use a computer to create documents, maintain a calendar, check email and surf the web.

But to do such things can be laborious. So today I'm starting a series of posts about some lesser known ways that I use my computer to speed up my ministerial labours.

I want to start by recommending Google Reader.

If you want to keep up on what's happening in the world, blogs have become necessary reading.

But blogs can be a pain to check. In my initial experience with a blog, I regularly checked it with my browser to see if anything new had been written. This was a complete waste of time if there were no new posts.

So to avoid having to visit a blog to check for new posts, some people subscribe to blog posts via email. Every time a new post is published they are sent an email. But this means blog posts arrive in your inbox when you may not be in a position to read them. So you end up leaving the blog posts in your inbox until you have time to read them. But this means blog posts clog up your email inbox making it difficult to get your inbox to zero as I've recommended.

This is where Google Reader comes in handy. Google Reader allows you to add blog feeds to it and then keeps a record of which posts you've read and which you haven't. This means that you can check all your blogs quickly when you have time designated to do so.

You can also group your feeds together for different reading speeds. For example, I have blogs that I want to quickly skim but would rarely read in depth - so I group these together and zip through them quickly in one hit. Then there are other blogs that I will usually read in depth and so I group these together too and read them more slowly.

Another advantage of Google Reader is that it doesn't just keep up with blogs, it will subscribe you to any site that has an RSS feed. Thus I keep saved ebay searches in my Google Reader so that I'm alerted whenever a particular product I'm after comes up on ebay. I also subscribe to things like my local member of parliament's speech feed so I can quickly read a full transcript of every speech he gives in parliament.

If you want to quickly keep up with the latest information, Google Reader is a must.

Organising sermon preparation - Step 3g: Commentary - Reading speeds

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 00:44:00 +0000

Organising sermon preparation

Posts in this series

1. Prayer points

2. Memorisation

3a. Commentaries - A defence

3b. Commentaries - Make a commentary list

3c: Commentaries - Hard copy commentaries

3d. Commentaries - Soft copy commentaries

3e. Commentaries - Library commentaries

3f. Commentaries - Grammars, Systematic Theologies, Sermons

3g. Commentary - Reading speeds

If you kept up with my posts about commentaries, you may think that I'm either lying about how much I read for sermon preparation or I do nothing but read each week.

So I thought I should make a comment or two about reading speeds, particularly when it comes to commentaries.

Mortimer Adler has wonderful advice in his classic, 'How to read a book' (available from Amazon), on reading speeds:
Let it be understood at once that we are wholly in favor of the proposition that most people ought to be able to read faster than they do. Too often, there are things we have to read that are not really worth spending a lot of time reading; if we cannot read them quickly, it will be a terrible waste of time.

It is true enough that many people read some things too slowly, and that they ought to read them faster. But many people also read some things too fast, and they ought to read those things more slowly. A good speed reading course should therefore teach you to read at many different speeds, not just one speed that is faster than anything you can manage now. It should enable you to vary your rate of reading in accordance with the nature and complexity of the material.

Our point is really very simple. Many books are hardly worth even skimming; some should be read quickly; and a few should be read at a rate, usually quite slow, that allows for complete comprehension. It is wasteful to read a book slowly that deserves only a fast reading; speed reading skills can help you solve that problem. But this is only one reading problem. The obstacles that stand in the way of comprehension of a difficult book are not ordinarily, and perhaps never primarily, physiological or psychological. They arise because the reader simply does not know what to do when approaching a difficult-and rewarding-book. He does not know the rules of reading; he does not know how to marshal his intellectual resources for the task. No matter how quickly he reads, he will be no better off if, as is too often true, he does not know what he is looking for and does not know when he has found it.

With regard to rates of reading, then, the ideal is not merely to be able to read faster, but to be able to read at different speeds-and to know when the different speeds are appropriate...Every book, no matter how difficult, contains interstitial material that can be and should be read quickly; and every good book also contains matter that is difficult and should be read very slowly. ' (Page 39)

Thus I would advise with Adler that not all commentaries should be read at the same speed, and not all parts of a commentary should be read at the same speed.

Adler says that the way to read is to know what you are looking for - and so when you read commentaries you should be looking for answers to questions you have not yet solved and fresh ideas.

So on the first day that I read commentaries, I read the best ones first and I read slowly. This is because almost everything I read initially is helping answer my questions or is providing fresh ideas. But as I move from one commentary to another, I begin to read more and more quickly as most of what I am reading is already familiar to me from my earlier slower reading. But if I hit a patch of freshness or a discussion of a question I still have, I slow down. And if I then hit familiar ground again, even within the same commentary, I speed up. Thus by the time you reach your last commentaries you'll be reading very quickly indeed as most of what you're reading is not what you're looking for.

Also, when reading sermons on your text I would advise moving quickly. What you are looking for is big ideas and sermon structures, not so much the details of the sermons (unless it is really good and starts to become personally edifying).

Finally, I would also suggest skipping Bible references, particularly when they are given as full Bible text. Of course the exception would be if you're unfamiliar with the idea and surprised that Scripture says what the author claims.

Organising sermon preparation - Step 3f: Commentaries - Grammars, Systematic Theologies, Sermons

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Sat, 19 May 2012 06:20:00 +0000

Organising sermon preparation

Posts in this series

1. Prayer points

2. Memorisation

3a. Commentaries - A defence

3b. Commentaries - Make a commentary list

3c: Commentaries - Hard copy commentaries

3d. Commentaries - Soft copy commentaries

3e. Commentaries - Library commentaries

3f. Commentaries - Grammars, Systematic Theologies, Sermons

3g. Commentary - Reading speeds

There are a number of resources that the preacher should probably refer to in sermon preparation that are not technically commentaries.

Systematic Theologies
The Scripture Index at the back of Systematic theologies are a great way to see whether the text you're preaching on is a good proof text for a particular doctrine. This then can be most helpful if you suddenly realise that you have failed to give due emphasis to that doctrine in your sermon. Also many systematic theologies will give you a brief commentary on the passage which is usually worth reading.

But looking up the indices can be a pain particularly when you have a number of them and your text may often not be cited. So to speed things up, I scanned the indices of my systematic theologies, made separate PDFs of the images for each book, and now open them automatically with a PDF reader that remembers the place I was last up to (I explained how to do this here). That way I can quickly see whether a volume has a reference for my text.

Language grammars
I also find it helpful to look up where my text has been referenced in the major language grammars (e.g. BDF, Wallace, Robertson, Waltke & O'Connor, Jouon-Muraoka etc).

These grammars can often give you insight into how particular words are being used in your text. And although you may not explicitly mention subjective genitives in your sermon, knowing your own conclusion on the matter will definitely assist your exegesis.

But once again looking up the indices of multiple books consumes a lot of time. So to redeem the time I own all the major grammars in my Bible software (Bibleworks) which allows me to quickly click through from my text to the places in the grammars where the text is cited.

Sermons and other books
Certain books with scriptural indices should also be checked regularly for material relating to your sermon text. For example books of collected sermons from great preachers; or books like Carson's 'Exegetical Fallacies' could be checked to see if you text has a common exegetical fallacy that you may have unwittingly made.

Now, once again, looking up the indices of all these books can consume a lot of time. So I would encourage using other peoples master indices or make your own.

Examples of other people's indices would include the sermon index for Spurgeon's sermons and Martin's 'A guide to the Puritans'.

I also have made my own master index using Excel. I have columns for the Scriptural references, the names of the books and the page numbers. I maintain this index by adding new books during downtime in front of the TV.

Organising sermon preparation - Step 3e: Commentaries - Library commentaries

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 23:44:00 +0000

Organising sermon preparation

Posts in this series

1. Prayer points

2. Memorisation

3a. Commentaries - A defence

3b. Commentaries - Make a commentary list

3c: Commentaries - Hard copy commentaries

3d. Commentaries - Soft copy commentaries

3e. Commentaries - Library commentaries

3f. Commentaries - Grammars, Systematic Theologies, Sermons

3g. Commentary - Reading speeds

If you're blessed with a theological college nearby, then you really should take advantage of their library and raid their commentaries each time you prepare your sermon. The college library will save you from buying lots of commentaries, meaning you can spend your book allowance on other books that the library doesn't have.

Preparing to visit the library
Before you go to the library, if you've already made a commentary list as described here, then the only thing you need to do is sort the list by call number and print it off.

The printed list will save you significant time at the library as you won't need to use the library computers to find everything you need. And hopefully you have even been able to make your list by visiting the library's online catalogue so you don't need to use their (often clunky) computers at all.

Also, before you go to the library, take a stack of those cheap bookmarks I described here.

Visiting the library
Once you arrive, take your list to the shelves and get the commentaries that are currently there (this is the only drawback to using their commentaries - sometimes the best ones have been borrowed).

Then once you have read the commentaries, put bookmarks in the place where you were up to so you can easily find your spot next week when you visit the library. I've been doing this for years and my bookmarks have rarely moved. This is probably because the library is part of a relatively small college. But it may also be because I consult a wide variety of commentaries, whereas students tend to stick to the more recent volumes.

Finally, you should also have a quick look at the shelves of commentaries for your relevant book of the Bible whenever you preach on a book of the Bible for the first time, or have been away from it for a while. This is in order to find recently published commentaries that are not on your list. When you made your commentary list, you used recommendations from bigwigs like Carson, Longman and Spurgeon. But they are not always as up to date as you'd like (after all Spurgeon has been dead for a while now). Thus some recent high quality commentaries can slip through the cracks. If your quick look unearths some new reliable commentaries, add them to your list and print off a fresh copy of your list when you get back to the office ready for your visit in the following week. (None of this is to suggest that Carson or Longman may have nothing to say about these new commentaries, often you can use their recommendations on commentary series to tell whether a new commentary is worth checking. For example Carson says about the New International Greek Testament Commentary series: 'For clergy and others well trained in Greek and exegesis the series is the one to watch'. Thus if you spy a fresh commentary in this series, you'd be wise to add it to your list).

Organising sermon preparation - Step 3d: Commentaries - Soft copy commentaries

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 19:29:00 +0000

Organising sermon preparation

Posts in this series

1. Prayer points

2. Memorisation

3a. Commentaries - A defence

3b. Commentaries - Make a commentary list

3c: Commentaries - Hard copy commentaries

3d. Commentaries - Soft copy commentaries

3e. Commentaries - Library commentaries

3f. Commentaries - Grammars, Systematic Theologies, Sermons

3g. Commentary - Reading speeds

Now that your hard copy commentaries are in order, you need to sort out your soft copy commentaries.

Finding soft copy commentaries
Firstly, I should give some advice on how you can get soft copy (electronic) commentaries.

Of course, you can purchase soft copy commentaries from organisations like Logos.

But many older, yet reliable, commentaries are out of copyright and available for free on the internet. One of the best storehouses is the Internet Archive. Just punch into their search box the name of the author and book of the Bible you're after and many of the commentaries should show up as free downloads.

Another way to find copyright free commentaries is to get access to a hard copy of the commentary you want, and then type a quote from it into Google and see what comes up.

Reading soft copy commentaries
If you're like me, you can sometimes have over 30 soft copy commentaries to read in one go.

This can sound daunting. But I've found that if you streamline the process of reading them as much as possible, you can save significant time and get through many of them very quickly.

Firstly, I make sure that I store all my commentaries in PDF format. Often you will download commentaries as PDFs. But if they're not in PDF format, I'll convert them to PDF format using a program like PDF creator as a printer.

Once all my soft copy commentaries are PDFs, I keep them in separate folders on my computer: Whole Bible commentaries, Old Testament commentaries, New Testament Commentaries, and commentaries on individual Biblical books.

Next I make a 'Current' reading folder and dump into it copies of PDFs from those folders that are relevant to the book I'm working on. So for example I'm currently preaching on Hebrews and so in my 'Current' reading folder I have included Westcott's commentary on Hebrews, John Gill's commentary on the whole Bible and Henry Alford's commentary on the New Testament .

Now once you have all your commentaries in one location, I open all the files in my current folder at once using my favourite PDF viewer, Foxit Reader. Foxit opens the commentaries not as separate windows, but as individual tabs within the one window, which keeps everything nice and tidy.

Then I physically rotate my 20 inch monitor so that it is in portrait mode rather than landscape. This means one entire page of each commentary takes up pretty much the full screen and can be easily read. (I purposely bought an LCD monitor that would allow me to do this as I would not advise reading a large number of PDFs if you cannot view a full page easily on your screen - the less scrolling the better.)

Then once I'm ready to read, I quickly move through the commentaries on my screen, closing them automatically with the keyboard shortcut: Control + F4.

Preparations for future reading
I have enabled a setting in Foxit reader that it remembers where I was last up to in a document. This is of vital importance. Some commentaries are huge! For example, my Albert Barnes commentary on the New Testament is 5,850 pages. So hunting around in it for the book of Hebrews every week is a big waste of time. Whereas with this setting in Foxit, I only have to find Hebrews once and then Foxit automatically remembers where I was up to last time. To enable the setting, go to Preferences and then the History section. (The only limitation to this is that Foxit only remembers the last 200 documents. So if you take a significant break from preaching on a book of the Bible, Foxit will put you back at page one when you next open the commentary. To get around this, I add bookmarks using Foxit to my PDFs by going to the Edit menu and then Add Bookmark).

If you move to another book of the Bible and want to come back to preaching on the book you were preaching on in the future, I'd also advise copying your 'Current' folder back into the book of the Bible's folder as a subfolder. Then when you come back to it, you don't need to go hunting around in the Whole Bible Commentary folder etc for your book and copying PDFs again into the Current folder.

Conclusion
Now that may sound long-winded, but it is a system that works for me and keeps me reading a large number of commentaries fairly easily.

But if you have any tips on reading soft copy commentaries, please let me know in the comments.

Organising sermon preparation - Step 3c: Commentaries - Hard copy commentaries

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 23:15:00 +0000

Organising sermon preparation

Posts in this series

1. Prayer points

2. Memorisation

3a. Commentaries - A defence

3b. Commentaries - Make a commentary list

3c: Commentaries - Hard copy commentaries

3d. Commentaries - Soft copy commentaries

3e. Commentaries - Library commentaries

3f. Commentaries - Grammars, Systematic Theologies, Sermons

3g. Commentary - Reading speeds

Now that you have your commentary list, you need to group your commentaries for easy access.

In the week before I preach, I dedicate one day to reading hard copy commentaries, one day for soft copy commentaries, and one day for the local theological college library's commentaries.

The hard copy commentaries is the place I start on the first day. This is because I usually own the better commentaries in hard copy and so when I'm looking at the text for the first time I don't want to be led up the garden path from the beginning.

Shelving the commentaries
To read the hard copy commentaries, I firstly collect all the commentaries I own on the book of the Bible I'm preaching on and put them on a shelf next to my desk. They only remain there until I'm finished preaching on that particular book. The rest of the time I keep all my commentaries on a separate bookshelf well away from my desk. I find it's best to keep books that you need regularly as close as possible and keep those that you access only occasionally further a field - anything to save me walking around the office wasting time.

However some commentaries rarely move from the shelf next to my desk. This is because some commentaries don't just exposit one book, they include all the books in a testament or even all the books of the Bible. So, for example, the whole Bible commentary by Jamieson, Fausset & Brown never leaves the shelf next to my desk. And commentaries on one testament move back and forth as I move from preaching on the New Testament to the Old Testament.

Grouping the commentaries
Once my commentaries are on the shelf, I group them so that I read the more in depth commentaries first. So the commentaries are on my shelf in the following order:
(i) more in depth commentaries on the book;
(ii) less in depth (lighter, more popular) commentaries on the book;
(iii) commentaries on the whole testament;
(iv) commentaries on the whole Bible.

I then move through them in that order.

Bookmarks
When it comes to hard copy commentaries, I should also make a comment about bookmarks. I leave bookmarks placed in the commentary at the verse I'm up to in my preaching to save time when I come to the commentary again in the following week. But if you end up preaching on several books of the Bible at the same time and have a significant number of commentaries, that can mean a lot of bookmarks. So what I advise is collecting my favourite type of bookmark - business cards and train tickets.

I hate traditional bookmarks. Firstly they are usually long, so if it is a small book you end up with half a bookmark hanging out the top which is easily knocked out. Secondly traditional bookmarks are usually skinny meaning they don't separate the pages well enough so you have to flick a bit to find the bookmark if it is tucked in below the top of the pages. Whereas business card size bookmarks are the perfect size. And best of all, you often get them for free!

Organising sermon preparation - Step 3b: Commentaries - Make a commentary list

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 18:28:00 +0000

Organising sermon preparation

Posts in this series

1. Prayer points

2. Memorisation

3a. Commentaries - A defence

3b. Commentaries - Make a commentary list

3c: Commentaries - Hard copy commentaries

3d. Commentaries - Soft copy commentaries

3e. Commentaries - Library commentaries

3f. Commentaries - Grammars, Systematic Theologies, Sermons

3g. Commentary - Reading speeds

If you do use commentaries, the sheer number of resources that are available can be overwhelming.

In the past I think it was cost that prevented ministers from consuming vast amounts of literature on a sermon text. Hence Spurgeon's classic, 'Commenting and commentaries' (Available from Amazon or free here), was written to help you get the most bang for your buck. If you managed to avoid the dodgy commentaries, it was money saved for other commentaries.

However with the blessing of the internet, I think it is time that now prevents ministers from reading large amounts - you only have so many hours before the sermon is to be preached. Therefore there is still a place for being discerning with your commentaries - you must make sure you spend those few hours you have reading only the very best resources.

So how can you make sure you read only the best?
Firstly, still heed the advice of the Spurgeons.

Listen to those who have read the best and the worst and learn from their investment of time.

And secondly, reject those you doubt have the Spirit of God in them - if someone starts making dodgy conclusions, reading them is a waste of time when there are much better resources available.

So how do you organise your commentaries?
In order to only read the best, I keep a list of which Bible commentaries are good and bad.

To do this, I use an Excel spreadsheet with separate tabs for commentaries on different books of the Bible (e.g. Genesis) and commentaries that are on the whole Bible, Old and New Testaments, and commentary series (e.g. ICC).

I then have separate columns for 'Author', 'Call number', 'Critic' and 'Comments'.

If it is a New Testament book I am preaching on, I then sit down with DA Carson's book, 'New Testament Commentary Survey' (Available from Amazon), and fill in the 'Author', 'Critic' and 'Comments' columns using Carson's comments. If it is an Old Testament book that I'm preaching on, I use Longman's 'Old Testament Commentary Survey' (Available from Amazon). I then do the same with Spurgeon's 'Commenting and Commentaries' which covers the whole Bible.

Then in the 'Call number' column, I give the code 'Unsuitable' to all those commentaries that Carson, Longman and Spurgeon do not recommend.

I then go through and add the code 'Joel' to those commentaries that are left and which I already own in my own library.

I then add the code 'PDF' to those commentaries that I have downloaded off the internet (I'll speak about this more in subsequent posts).

I then add the call numbers to those commentaries that are available at my local theological college library (I later print this out and take it with me each week to the library).

Finally, I add the code 'Not Found' to those commentaries that are left without a call number of any kind and I haven't be able to locate. I periodically search for these again, usually once a year.

I then sort the spreadsheet by the 'Call' number column which neatly groups commentaries into relevant libraries e.g Joel, PDF, College library and Unsuitable.

The list is then maintained by adding new commentaries with my own comments. And sometimes, I even reject commentaries recommended by Spurgeon and Carson as I read them and add the 'Unsuitable' code to them.

The beauty of the list is that once you have the spreadsheet up and running, whenever you come across a commentary you can quickly see whether you are aware of it and if you have any comments on it.

To help you visualise what I am describing, below is an example from my spreadsheet for New Testament book of Hebrews.

Organising sermon preparation - Step 3a: Commentaries - A defence

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 00:38:00 +0000

Organising sermon preparation

Posts in this series

1. Prayer points

2. Memorisation

3a. Commentaries - A defence

3b. Commentaries - Make a commentary list

3c: Commentaries - Hard copy commentaries

3d. Commentaries - Soft copy commentaries

3e. Commentaries - Library commentaries

3f. Commentaries - Grammars, Systematic Theologies, Sermons

3g. Commentary - Reading speeds

The subject of commentaries must come into sermon preparation.

The use of commentaries can be controversial and so before I speak about how you should use them, I feel I must speak about why you should use them.

So in this first post about commentaries, I will defend the use of commentaries and then in subsequent posts I will outline how I organise my commentaries for sermon preparation.

I have often heard older ministers (even just last week) advise younger ministers to avoid the use of commentaries. Or at the very least, use commentaries sparingly.

And this is not a new phenomenon. Spurgeon mentions such people in his book 'Commenting and commentaries' (Available from Amazon or free here): 'In order to be able to expound the Scriptures, and as an aid to your pulpit studies, you will need to be familiar with the commentators: a glorious army, let me tell you, whose acquaintance will be your delight and profit. Of course, you are not such wiseacres as to think or say that you can expound Scripture without assistance from the works of divines and learned men who have laboured before you in the field of exposition. If you are of that opinion, pray remain so, for you are not worth the trouble of conversion, and like a little coterie who think with you, would resent the attempt as an insult to your infallibility. It seems odd, that certain men who talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves, should think so little of what he has revealed to others. '

I agree wholeheartedly with Spurgeon's remarks.

But I would add that I find that many who seem to despise commentaries are those who have been studying the Bible for decades. Thus it is all very well for them to sit down with the Greek or Hebrew text and ignore the commentaries, but what they fail to realise is that they are not working commentary free. I know from experience that it is very hard, even impossible, to turn off any commentary that may be running from my own memory. As you read the text, ideas gleaned from previous Bible studies, sermons and reading on that text replay constantly. Even the fact that you're reading from the original language demonstrates prior learning and a significant edge on newcomers to the text. Thus the 'wiseacres' that Spurgeon speaks of are using commentaries, they just don't acknowledge it.

If this is true, then depriving help from those who need it is not good advice - in fact it is hypocritical. Younger pastors are still very new to the text. Common misunderstandings are easily made and need to be rectified quickly. And if the young man does not consult the commentaries, he will often fall straight into such misunderstandings and then proceed to teach them on Sunday. I know, because I used to do it. But then I started using commentaries and thanking the Lord for them.

Organising sermon preparation - Step 2: Memorisation

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Radford) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:57:00 +0000

Organising sermon preparation

Posts in this series

1. Prayer points

2. Memorisation

3a. Commentaries - A defence

3b. Commentaries - Make a commentary list

3c: Commentaries - Hard copy commentaries

3d. Commentaries - Soft copy commentaries

3e. Commentaries - Library commentaries

3f. Commentaries - Grammars, Systematic Theologies, Sermons

3g. Commentary - Reading speeds

The second thing I think you should organise in your sermon preparation is making time to memorise the text you will be preaching from.

I always have a go at memorising the text each week as I have found it most helpful in getting very familiar with the text.

How do you memorise the text? Each day I prepare the sermon, I read through the passage twice with a card blocking the next line as I work through it. Towards the end of the week I should be getting better and better at knowing the text off by heart.

I also have repeating events on my calendars to remind me to memorise it twice each day.

Some other tips on memorisation:
- Memorise from the translation you're preaching from;
- Memorise from the actual Bible you will be preaching from (this helps when you need to refer to the text in the sermon, your eye will travel automatically to the location);
- Don't waste your hard work - integrate what you've memorised into your private memorisation revision schedule;
- Maybe get your church to join you in your memorisation as this blog suggests.