Recently I started using Evernote – for just about everything.
Somehow I was late to get on the “Evernote Train” because I found out other had been using it for sometime, but I just learned of its existence. However, once i read a bit about it I didn’t waste a second to signed up for a free account. I also quickly downloaded it on to my MacBook Pro and my Android phone. It took me a few weeks to learn just how convenient it was; having my notes all synced on all my devices was something I desired, but I was not used to working so seamlessly (In fact, I started using Gmail for this by putting stuff in “draft” mail for notes – crazy, huh!?)
A few weeks ago I thought what would it look like to use Evernote as a part of my sermon prep?I started experimenting and found the benefit to be fantastic! Here is how I use it:
- For capturing sermon illustrations and resource from the web. I downloaded the Web Clipper plug in for Firefox (my preferred browser) and with the click of one button I can add an entire webpage, or selection to Evernote. I save all my illustration in my “Sermon Notebook” and sometime will specify them for a specific sermon by denoting it in the title of the note. Otherwise I just allow these illustrations to build in that notebook to be used soon – I usually peruse this collection in the final stages of my sermon writing.
- For creating my study notes right in Evernote. For most of my sermons I have a few pages of study notes that compliment my sermon outline. This is where I do my main exegesis and collect ANY and ALL content that I may use for my sermon – this is the buffet from which I create the final meal of the sermon (the outline). I create my notes in Evernote and then transfer them to a Word Doc when the sermon is done to be filed and saved for later.
- For placing my working sermon outline in Evernote so I can work on it anywhere. I love this part! Right now I am trying to be about two weeks ahead in my sermon prep. I place the outlines of the coming weeks in Evernote and look at them and work on them wherever I am whenever I can. I make sure the sermon date, passage, and title/topic are in the title of the note.
This tool has been one of the greatest sermon prep tools I’ve found in a long time. For example – I was so busy on Christmas Eve this year; I was running last minute errands, waiting on my wife at the mall, fielding phone calls for all the Christmas Eve service stuff, and handling a church crisis. I wanted to be looking at and working on my sermon in my office, but that was not going to happen, so I looked at my sermon outline in the app on my phone every second I could. This was allowing me to refine my outline (so I could print it when I got home) and memorize it while I was out and about. I loved that!
How do you use Evernote? Have you tried it for sermon prep or writing? How it is working for you?
