How I Use an iPad for Preaching or Teaching

A lot of youth pastors are fond of technology, particularly iPads or Kindle Fires. We love to find new ways to utilize the apps and functions in order to help us share God's Word.

While there are a number of different ways to use an iPad for preaching, this is the method I use when I am preparing my sermon or youth group lesson.

1. Type your sermon transcript or notes in a word processing program. I personally use Microsoft Word for this step. I type out word-for-word what I am going to say. I then use the various tools to highlight and accent different areas of my transcript to help me know what sections are what.
2. Make a PDF of your document. I have a plug-in on my laptop called CutePDF. This allows you to "print" your document and save it as a PDF, color and all. Just make sure to save your original document in case you need to make changes to it later.
3. Upload your PDF to Evernote. Saving your PDF to Evernote is vital. It keeps you from the losing the file. I would also recommend uploading the Word document as well. After uploading the documents, be sure to sync your device to Evernote. This will ensure that your uploaded document can be accessed on your iPad. You should also open the PDF so that you are able to access it, even without WiFi.
4. Open the PDF in the Kindle app. This final step is optional, but it is the one I prefer. I read a lot on both my Kindle Fire and the Kindle app on iPad. I like the side-to-side scrolling from page to page instead of the top to bottom way that Evernote does it. This works best for me.

I realize this may be somewhat cumbersome, but I do it so often that the steps have become second nature to me. I hope that some of this technique can help you as well.

What tools or apps do you utilize when teaching or preaching from an iPad or other tablet?