Weapons of Choice

In the most reacent issue of Collide Magazine various church/ministry leaders (across various disciplines) were asked to list their favorite and most essential productivity tools. Naturally many listed their Mac Books, iPhones, and various software, apps, and programs they use on a daily basis. I’ve decided it would be fun to see what tools you all use. Here’s my list of “Weapons of Choice,” share yours.

1) Gourmet Coffee– I don’t function well, sometimes not at all, without a good cup of coffee to jump start my morning…and I do stress “good.”

2) iPad 32GB with WiFi– My iPad has become my new everything tool. It contains my calendar, my books, and various other items that I use on a daily, sometimes hourly basis. I take it everywhere and use it everywhere.

3) Facebook– This is my number one social connectivity tool. I stay in constant touch not simply with friends, but with ministry partners, congregation members, and recieve regular updates not simply on lives, but tasks and needs too.

4) Things App– This is my task organizer. It is the best app. I’ve found for helping me to keep up on all the things daily, weekly, and monthly that I have to do.

5) Google Apps.– Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Reader these are the tools of our staff which keep us all on the same page, organized, and interacting. I can think of nothing that is as far reaching and well structured to sync together as these apps are.

6) Kindle App– I love my Kindle app for iPad, I now have a stack of books and resources with me wherever I go and I don’t have to carry around a bag full of heavy texts. It has made mobile study an ease.

7) Mindjet App- Mind mapping is all the rage these days for organizing your thoughts and I too have found it a helpful way to brainstorm, organize, and outline ideas. This is my favorite app of its kind so far, though I confess to be far from overly familiar with them.

8) ESV Bible App– This is my prefered translation to read from at the moment and with this app on my iPad I have a Bible with me at all times. The app also allows for quick and easy word/sentence or text searches making the whole Bible accessible in seconds.

9) A Good Pen and Paper- For all my technophilia I still find a good pen and a notebook useful. I am not one of those suckers, however, who pays $140 bucks for a pen. I usually find a good Paper Mate and use it till it runs dry.

10) Vimeo.com- This is one of the best places to upload and watch videos. We use it at our church to host our Growth Group (small group) dvd lessons, and I’ve used to post other teachings for mass viewing. The site is easy to navigate and it allows you to upload materials without having to pay a hosting fee.