A Few of Our Favorite Things:

A FEW APPS WORTH THE TIME & INVESTMENT ACCORDING TO US.

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As I write this, and as you read this, we find ourselves in a unique place in time.  More than ever before we are connected through the means of technology.  In the last six months alone we have found ourselves more dependent than ever on apps and programs to keep everything from our ministries and businesses moving forward, to simply staying in touch with our families and communities.  Programs and apps that were once reserved for only the most tech-savvy among us, are now being used by grandparents, college professors, and pastors who were self-professed tech-illiterates way back at the beginning of 2020. With the increased need for connectivity through technology come the inevitable growing pains, frustrations, and fears associated with this new territory.  There is also a legitimate and lingering concern that is associated with this growth and dependency.  Prior to the pandemic, we were already a people and a culture that was far too dependent on our technology and screens.  Has this electronic-exile only fueled the existing problem?

HERE ARE THE FACTS:

A company called RescueTime recently did a study of 11,000 (that is eleven-thousand) of their users to get a better understanding of their cellphone habits.  RescueTime is a program that users can install to help govern their time on their devices to ensure they aren’t wasting too much time on said devices.  After a six-month period of evaluating the same 11K users, RescueTime came up with the following statistics regarding cellphone usage in U.S. adults. 

• On AVERAGE adults in the study spent 3 hours and 43 minutes per day on their mobile device.  (That is roughly 50 days a year)

  Data can be tricky, so to help us further understand these figures, they broke it down even further.

• The data of 11,000 users shows the top 20% of smartphone users spend more than 4.5 hours on their phones during weekdays. 

• The data also showed that the average person spends more time on their phone during their weekday than they do during weekends. 

• Most people check their phones on average about 58 times a day.

• Most people spend (roughly) 1 minute and 15 seconds on their phones once they pick them up. On average, we pick them up roughly every 1 hour and 43 minutes. 

• 70% of the time we pick up our phones, it is for less than 2 minutes.

• 50% of the times that we pick up our phone, we do so within 3 minutes of the last time we picked it up. 

  And this isn’t just a fad issue with Millenials either.

• In its U.S. Users Screen Time Statistics Study, Apple Inc. found that Gen X spend around 169 minutes a day on their phone, and Baby Boomers aren’t far behind with an average of 136 minutes per day on their phones.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY:

What is the point of all of this information?  What are we to do with it?  I don’t highlight these statistics because I think anyone who reads them would be shocked or impressed.  I am convinced that we all know that these issues exist.  We are more distracted today than we have ever been.  There is no doubt that technology is one of the greatest distractions that we face, and all of us have access to it.  We not only have access to it, in many ways it has become a necessity for simply doing life.  It is how we stay connected and how we do the work we must do.  I have known many who, prior to the pandemic, had condemned many aspects of technology and those who would utilize it for the purposes of ministry.  I have watched as those same people found themselves depending on that very technology as the only means possible to do the work of ministry in days of distance and difficulty. We cannot just cut ourselves off or ignore the wave of technology. Nor can we afford to disconnect when our culture demands it, as it does in days like these. So where is the balance? What is the Biblical balance?

Biblically we are to guard ourselves and our time carefully and wisely.  As Paul would say, we must make the “best use of the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16).  We are also called to be stewards of our resources and of the gifts that God gives us.  Every good gift comes from Him (James 1:17).  That includes our time, resources, and yes even our technology.  In 1 Peter chapter 4, the Apostle is writing to those “elect exiles” (1:1) who find themselves on the fringe in a strange, pagan land.  He writes to them to edify and encourage them on how they are to walk and live as exiles in this place.  In chapter 4, he speaks to them about being stewards of God’s grace and demonstrating the hope they have in the Gospel through their words and actions. As he admonishes them to show hospitality to those around them, he says in verse 10: “As each has received a gift (or a spiritual gift, talent, ability, graciously given by God), use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied (or multi-faceted, diverse, faithful, unending, unsearchable) grace.” 

In an effort to do just that, we have collected a few of our favorite apps that we believe will help you redeem the time and utilize it for the glory of God to deepen your walk with Him and serve those around you.  Most of these applications are free, and those with a cost or in-app costs are affordable and worth the investment.  If you have any questions about these apps or would like to suggest other resources, you can do so by contacting us through the form at the bottom of this page.

Most everyone knows about “The Bible App”. It has been around as long as the term apps and is still one of the best FREE resources available. The YouVersion Bible App is available iPhone and Android users as well as through your smart speaker devices and at www.bible.com.

Already installed on over 435 million unique devices all over the world, the Bible App offers a free Bible experience for users across multiple platforms and online.  Users can read Scriptures or take advantage of the Audio Bible options and have the Scriptures read to them on the go, or while they work, or work-out.  Users can subscribe for FREE to daily reading plans, devotionals, and other resources.  The Bible App has prayer journal resources that users can keep private or share with friends.  Users can add bookmarks, notes, outlines, and more to keep for themselves or add for others to see and use.  Users can share passages on social media or through email and text with others.  Users can create images from passages to use as backgrounds, wallpapers, social media posts, and much more to encourage themselves and others.  With the network feature, users can add their friends, find friends, and even connect with local churches and events in their community.  Many of these features work offline without the internet or cellular signal and Bibles can be downloaded with the tap of your screen.

The YouVersion Bible App offers 2,062 Bible versions in 1,372 languages for free, and without advertising.

My only regret about the Faithlife Study Bible is that I didn’t know about it sooner. Like the Bible App, it is a FREE Bible application but the Faithlife Study Bible has a very specific focus and purpose to its format. Faithlife as a company started “officially” in 1992, but its founder was working on software to help the church be better students of the Word back in 1986. Now, Faithlife is a tech company that is dedicated specifically to the church and her ministries. With programs designed to help churches of every size with everything from websites and online giving, to live-streaming and presentation software, and many other resources in-between.

The Faithlife Study Bible app offers split-screen study features that allow users to read scripture in multiple versions, alongside rich commentaries or dictionaries, and more. In addition, your screen gives verse-by-verse study notes with the unique focus of revealing nuances from the original biblical languages for modern readers to help you engage with God’s Word. A great perspective in this particular resource is the depth of study offered in the digital study notes of a passage.  Rather than tell you what to think, the Faithlife Study Bible helps you learn how to think about a text and work toward deeper understanding. When tradition and scholarship present diverging views on a passage, the notes explain the interpretive options, encouraging you to reach your own conclusions.  

In addition, the Faithlife Study Bible includes over 400 full-color infographics, comprehensive timelines, photos, and videos to enrich your Bible study.  The Faithlife Study Bible is translation independent, so it’s designed to work with multiple English translations.  With the split-screen feature, users can easily compare versions and translations right alongside the FL translation while simultaneously taking advantage of the study notes in the app.  The Lexham Bible Dictionary is engaged in the app alongside The Lexham English Bible. Its transparent presentation of the original text is a faithful and helpful resource for a student of the Word. The LEB rarely departs from the flow of the original text, and words added to maintain English grammar are explicitly marked.

Blue Letter Bible is a favorite online resource for many.  But a lot of people may not realize that there is a Blue Letter Bible App available for iOS and Android users. The full Blue Letter Bible library is available to you in the palm of your hand in app form.  The BLB  app comes with three translations of God's Word native but allows for the download or use of more than thirty translations—and allows for split-screen comparison readings.  Beyond the rudimentary offline search capabilities, you'll be able to make use of the BLB's powerful search engine when connected to the internet. Word searches, phrase searches, and wildcard searches will make finding desired passages easy!

Just like the BLB website, the app has a number of tools with specific results tied to each verse. You'll always have access to the ability to view multiple versions of a single verse using the “V” button and you'll always be able to use the “L” button as you do online.  Even more, when you're connected to the internet, you'll have access to the lexicon tools and interlinear via the “C” button, as well as the text commentaries, dictionaries, and references through the use of the “L” and “D” buttons.  A robust set of highlighting tools allows you to organize your highlighting and categorize highlight colors according to the topic.  Take notes on your studies and save them or email them to yourself. Paste copied verses into your notes and create memorable studies for yourself.  Bookmarks, chapter history, and daily Bible reading plans will help you keep up with your reading experience and will help you in your Spirit-directed studies.

Read Scripture is one of the most unique Bible apps I have found in the app-mosphere (that was a terrible pun, I know). The goal of Read Scripture is to encourage users to not only read through all of Scripture but to do so with a deeper understanding of the big picture and message of Scripture. As the developers say: “HINT: It All Points To Jesus.”

Read Scripture accomplishes this by utilizing unique visualizations and pictorial narrations to help the reader see the context of scripture. Through a partnership with The Bible Project, users are motivated to spend quality time reading the Bible daily while learning how to read it in context with contextual videos that set the scene of each passage. These hand-illustrated Bible Project videos explain difficult concepts and themes alongside scripture text.

A brand-new Thematic reading plan constantly highlights the bigger picture so you can always see the big picture in your reading.  That “big picture” is Jesus.  Like other apps, Read Scripture helps users stay motivated by helping you track your progress of the entire bible by showing you where you've been and where you are going.  Reminders on your phone will ping you to help keep you on track.  This year-long reading plan is not only designed for the individual but great for families and groups.

Fighter Verses is the first of our recommended resources that comes with a cost.  But for the one-time payment of $2.99 for both iOS and Android users, it will be the best money you have ever spent on an application.  The Fighter Verses Program is designed to encourage believers to fight the fight of faith through memorizing God’s Word. Each week individuals, families, and churches are all encouraged to memorize a verse or short passage of Scripture together. The prayer of the developers is that: “God would instill your heart with the conviction and yearning to memorize His Word so that it becomes a life-long practice.”

To help equip believers in the practice of memorization, Fighter Verses has several incredible Memory Aids that are available for the users.  Each week, as users begin to commit a verse/passage to memory, within the app they have access to several built-in aids to help along the way.  They can use quizzes to test their progress.  These quizzes can be fill in the blanks, recite the passage aloud, or as simple as type the first letter of a word.  Anyone, at any level, can participate in the process.  There are trivia quizzes to test your memorization progress as well.  Users can use the current verse/passage as their Lock Screen or Wallpaper on their device so that it’s always there when they look at their phone.  They can listen to the verse/passage in various formats as well.  You can have it read to you, or even sung to you.  Learn the songs and sing along and before you know it, the verse is memorized.

In addition, each week has resources to go along with the particular passage to ensure that the user understands the context and meaning of what they are memorizing.  If an individual, family, group, or church utilized this tool for just one verse/passage a week, they would commit 52 verses/passages to memory every year.  With the unique methods employed by Fighter Verses, these verses stick with the user in ways that are surprising to even the most forgetful and unsure of students. Believe me, I know.  I have been shocked by the verses that I remember by simply utilizing this app.  We all know that we remember lyrics from songs we learned 30 years ago but often stumble over something eternally significant as scripture memorization.  This app utilizes the same repetition and memorization devices used to instill these important truths in our minds.

It never ceases to amaze me how relevant the verses are week to week.  As I memorize passages, the Holy Spirit will bring them to mind in moments of my own weakness or in divine appointments, proving over and over the absolute sufficiency and authority of God’s word.  I regret many app purchases over the years, but Fighter Verses is not one of them. 

In addition, you can visit the Fighter Verses Website for more tools, articles, resources, and information to help in your memorization.

The next in our recommended paid apps is Dwell - The Scripture Listening App.  Dwell offers iOS and Android users a free 7-day trial and then users will have to subscribe to the service by choosing one of two options.  The first option is the Annual rate of $29.99 per year and the second option is the Lifetime (one-time purchase) rate of $149.99.  So what is Dwell, and what are you getting for your money?

Dwell is first a Bible App.  Like other Bible Apps, you can read and study Scripture from multiple versions, download and share scripture and study from your device.  What makes Dwell unique are some particular features that are designed to immerse the reader in the Word in unique and creative ways.  Users can search for and “favorite” Scriptures.  When you discover new passages or familiar ones that the Lord uses to speak to you, Dwell makes it simple to bookmark them as favorites so that you can easily return to them day after day. Dwell also gives you the tools to not only listen to scripture but to memorize and meditate on it too.  

Dwell also has been called "the Spotify of Scripture" because of how easy it is to explore the Bible. Browse popular Bible verses or curated playlists that include select verses by theme. Use the Listening Plans to help you cultivate a habit of seeking God in Scripture every day. Or take the traditional approach: pick your favorite book and dive in.  Dwell’s listening to Scripture approach is its most unique and special features.  Dwell offers six recordings of the Holy Bible—each showcasing a distinct and inspiring voice—are currently available in the app (with new recordings in the works). Switch between voices and even background music on-the-fly without losing your place in the audio! Dwell’s background music, composed by Steinway Artist, Chad Lawson, will draw you into the text. Plus, Dwell also invites you to experience the Bible through art! Every book, story, playlist, and plan is accompanied by beautiful artwork.  

Click on the image above to find out more and to see pricing information.

Logos Bible Software and Word Search Bible Software have long been favorites of the serious student of the Word.  These computer-based programs serve as an all-in-one resource library for users.  Once users are established in these programs, the mobile apps give users access to the full range of resources available in the palm of your hand. Each program does come with a cost depending on the type of service you have.  From our Student Resource Page, you can find information about these programs and even discounts available through CTS.  

Logos Bible Software is a digital Bible library along with one of the most comprehensive and adequate Bible software packages available.  With the Logos Bible Software, the Bible student can do exegetical studies, word studies, topical studies, and has access to multiple Greek word studies just at the click of a button.

Word Search Bible Software is also a digital Bible library along with a very comprehensive and adequate Bible software package.  The student has access to word study programs, Bible dictionaries, and commentaries.  This particular software is available to CTS at a discounted rate and is already one of the most affordable Bible Software programs available. If you are interested in the discount you can email Dr. Gary Fleetwood by clicking his name (to the left).

Evernote is more than a note-taking app.  Evernote allows users to take notes, collect notes, organize notes, share notes, and do more with the information collected than any application I have ever seen.  It is great for reminders and scheduling to help students and those in the ministry make sure nothing falls through the cracks, but it is so much more than just a scheduling and reminder app.  

With Evernote you can capture a thought, an idea, a quote, a verse, a voice memo, and so much more in an instant.  From there you can organize those “notes”, whatever they may be, into folders, and organize them so that you can easily find them later.  Whether it is a passage of scripture, a prayer request, or a quote that you will use for a paper or sermon.  You can copy notes, share notes, and download them into different formats. You can create a folder for Bible quotes and specifically Bible promises and then look at them later in the day, or at a later time to remind yourself of what was especially powerful or precious in the reading that morning. So with just a click or two and that meaningful moment in the word is captured and those thoughts can be refreshed later on.

As you read and study, utilizing other apps and resources, you can copy and paste anything into Evernote. With a few highlights and pastes, you can quickly put a note in your Evernote file on various topics so that you are ready to go with those ideas or those texts.  You can utilize this app for your prayer time.  Sort your prayer requests, scriptures to pray through, and other items of prayer into your Evernote with ease and have it all sorted for convenience.  

EVERNOTE PLANS:  The basic Evernote plan is FREE, with Evernote Premium running $7.99 per month and Evernote Business coming in at $14.99 per user/per month.

To compare each plan and see what is included, follow the link here.

For more information about these resources, or to share your favorites with us, contact us through the form below. Stay connected with us for more resources and information to make your journey the best it can be.