Three Must-Have Apps For Youth Minisry

As a tech-loving youth minister, I'm always looking for apps that will help increase my productivity. Over the last couple of years, I've used a lot of apps, but these are the three I've used the longest. And every time I've tried other apps, I've always come back to these. 

So here's how and why I use these apps...

App #1 - Simplenote

I love Simplenote. It is what it says. It's just a simple note-taking app. It's quick. It's got some good tagging features (if you like using tags). It's clean. It's simple. And it syncs between my Android phone, my iPad, and my MacBook Air. Not to mention, the Mac desktop app is awesome. 

I actually write all of my Bible classes, devotionals and sermons in Simplenote. I'm even writing this blog article in Simplenote right now. It doesn't have any formatting features (especially like Drafts 4), but it works. And I'm not real big into formatting in my notes anyways. I usually do all of that when I move my notes to a document later. 

Simple note automatically saves whatever you type. It's backed up. It even has security features that can require a pin code to open the app. 

Simplenote is a great app for typing down quick thoughts, quotes, lists of students who attend events, Bible class & sermon ideas, and even writing out your notes for those classes and sermons you will teach. 

And it's a FREE app. Which makes it even better. 

App #2 - Evernote

I've had a love-hate relationship with Evernote for a long time. It's like the high school relationship that you keep going back to. You take a break for a while, then you get back together. That's me and Evernote. 

I used to use Evernote for everything. I wrote all of my classes & sermons in Evernote. I used it as a to-do list. Reminders. Everything. 

But I got tired of the mobile app. It has to run a lot of stuff, and so it became kinda slow. And that bothered me. Plus, I wanted to see the notes I was working on at a quick glance. And because I used Evernote for everything, I couldn't see what I wanted to see. 

Now I still use Evernote for everything, but in a different way. Here's how...

I back up all of my classes, devotionals and sermons in Evernote. I don't know if this is a good idea or not, but I don't have any physical copies of classes & sermons that I've done for the last five or six years. It's all in Evernote. Evernote is my digital filing cabinet. They are tagged for the series that I taught them in, as well as "Bible Class" or "Sermon". And I can search all of them by typing in key words. 

If I find interesting articles that may become good illustrations, I use the Evernote Web Clipper (both for Safari & Google Chrome). The web clipper is an awesome feature. You can save a simple version of the article, or the whole page (depending on which looks better). I always struggled with saving illustrations. Not anymore. I have hundreds in Evernote. Literally. I checked the other day. 

I back up any mass email I send to our parents. I back up notes from meetings. I keep a record of baptisms of students in our youth ministry. I keep records for tax purposes. I store previous camp curriculums, staff lists, activity ideas, and anything associated with the week of camp I direct. If my wife says she likes something that may be a gift idea later, I put it in Evernote. 

I use Evernote all of the time. Mostly for backing things up. 

And there's a free version of the app.

App #3 - Google Sheets

I use Google Sheets for two reasons. 

The first reason is because I keep a track of the mileage that I drive for ministry-related purposes. This is for tax reasons. But I use the spreadsheet and pre-enter a formula so that when I enter beginning & ending mileage, it automatically adds it up for me. Plus I enter the date and reason for the trip. At the end of the year, I print it off and keep a record of it (in Evernote) as well as giving it to our CPA for end of the year taxes. 

The second reason is because Google Sheets connects to our youth ministry website, which is a Squarespace website. When someone signs up for an event on our website, it will automatically dump that information into a Google Spreadsheet (which I can view on my phone or iPad too). I then create some additional columns to keep track of who paid. After a trip or event, I log all expenses on that spreadsheet and turn it in to our secretary and leadership. It saves me a ton of time and work creating and editing spreadsheets. 

And Google Sheets is free.

These are three apps that I use on a weekly basis for youth ministry. If you have any apps that you would add to the list, send them to us in an email to [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you. 

APPetizers #2: Evernote

Last week we started a blog series called "APPetizers", where we highlight one app per week. Click here to read last week's post. The intent of this series is to either introduce you to a new app, or possibly show you some ways to make an app more productive for your ministry. 

This week's APPetizer is Evernote.

Evernote is a very popular app. If you've never heard of Evernote, I encourage you to check it out. It has been very beneficial to not only my ministry, but my life in general. It helps me keep up with everything. 

For this week's installment of APPetizers, I thought I would give you five ways that I use Evernote in my ministry. 

1. Prepare lessons.
Because it has very good text tools, I prepare every lesson in Evernote. Sure...there aren't quite as many tools as in Pages or Word, but enough to get by. Plus I export all my lessons as a PDF, save it in Box/Dropbox, then upload it to my iPad to teach. It cuts out a step for me to not use a word processor. And preparing my lessons in Evernote means they are all searchable. 

2. Save illustrations & articles. 
The Evernote Web Clipper for Google Chrome may be the greatest reason why I love Evernote so much. Some preachers have filing cabinets filled with illustrations. I use Evernote Web Clipper. I clip articles, illustrations, and stories from the web that I think could be used in a lesson. Since Evernote is fully searchable and has a tagging system, it's like a giant filing cabinet. 

3. Plan youth trips & activities.
I keep notes for trip and activity ideas in Evernote because I can find them. Whether it's a tag or just a general search. If I need to make a trip itinerary, I will copy everything to a Pages file to have more editing options. But Evernote serves as my giant notepad or whiteboard for planning trips and activities. 

4. Keep notes & minutes from meetings.
I serve on a few boards and committees, and one of my responsibilities is to take notes and minutes from the meetings. I create and store these notes in Evernote because I know where to find them and they are searchable. When I need to send a copy of the notes to others, I simply export the note as a PDF. Simple and quick. 

5. Record baptisms & attendance for events.
For four years, I've logged every youth group member baptism in Evernote. How many times are you asking yourself, "Has this student been baptized?" This allows me to search for their name and I can see the date they were baptized as well. 

These are some ways I use Evernote in my ministry. I'd love to hear some other ways you've been able to utilize this app. Send me an email at [email protected]. 

APPetizers #1 - Remind 101

I've been throwing this idea around in my head for a few weeks to blog about different apps that I use on a daily to weekly basis for ministry. So I decided I would create a series called "APPetizers" and blog on one app each week until I exhaust my list. Some of these you may have heard of and use, and some you may not have heard of them or have never used them. Either way, I hope you find this series useful. 

The first app I want to highlight is Remind 101.  

I love this app.  

When Apple released iOS 7, it virtually destroyed all of my group texting apps. If you're a youth minister, you know that 90% of our communication about events & activities is through group texting. So I went on the hunt for a new app. And I tried them all. And none of them seemed to work.  

Until I found Remind 101.  

Remind 101 is a FREE app. it's available on iOS & android devices. You can also access your remind 101 account through their website (https://www.remind101.com/). 

Remind 101 was created for teachers to be able to communicate with students & parents without giving out their personal number. Remind 101 requires parents & students to "subscribe" to your messages. Parents & students can subscribe through sending a text message or following a link you can send to their email. You are able to see who has joined your group because it asks them for their first and last name. However, you cannot see their number, nor can they see yours. You might be surprised how many of your students and parents are familiar with Remind 101 because their school uses it. 

You can create up to 10 "classes" or groups as you want. And to my knowledge there isn't a limit as to how many people can be in each group.  

You are limited to 140 characters per text message. Remind 101 integrates with Twitter so you can tweet your message from within the Remind 101 app. 

Remind 101 gives you the ability to schedule messages to be sent, as well as send attachments with your messages.

Students and parents can't respond to your text message if you were asking for one, so it's important to remind them to send you a separate text if your message requires a response.  

What I like: It's free. It works on all platforms. It integrates seamlessly with Twitter to tweet the messages. Many of my parents & students were already familiar with Remind 101 because of school. 

What I don't like: Your audience has to subscribe to your messages, which can be a headache for not-so-tech-savvy adults. If you require a response, they can't reply back to that message. You are limited to 140 characters. 

This app has worked great for our ministry.  

If you have a group messaging app that has worked great for your ministry, tell us about it by sending us an email to [email protected].  

TECH: The Google Drive Update

I love tech updates. Whether it's a new operating software update or an app update, normally I love them. Especially when a company totally revamps an app and changes the UI and overall design. 

One of my favorite and most-used apps is Google Drive. I use Google Drive pretty much on a daily basis. I keep up with mileage for my taxes, money reports and budget stuff for our youth ministry, and I collaborate with a couple different people using their ability to share files and folders. Andrew Jenkins and I develop show notes through Google Drive for the I'm A YM Podcast. I also plan, organize, and execute an entire week of camp pretty much through Google Drive. 

What I love about Google Drive, and the reason I use it every day, is because you can create and edit documents and spreadsheets within the app. Everything syncs together. Not only do I store documents and spreadsheets within the app, but I can create and edit in realtime, all within the app. It consolidates a lot of things into one app...which I love. Google Drive simplifies my life and ministry. 

Last week Google Drive updated their iOS app. I was pretty excited to see an app update because it's like opening a present to me. However, when I opened the app after installing the update on my iPad, I noticed that it encouraged me to download two new apps: Google Docs and Google Sheets. Immediately I dismissed it because why would I want two more apps when I can do it all in Google Drive?! Or so I thought...

The latest update requires you to download Google Docs and Google Sheets if you want to create and/or edit documents saved to Google Drive. The reason they did this was to allow users to access documents offline. I can see some merit in that. But the downside (in my opinion), is having to download and use two other apps just so Google Drive is functional. 

Before, what set Google Drive apart from Dropbox, was the ability to create and edit files within the app without having to use third-party apps. Now Google Drive's iOS app has become just like Dropbox, requiring you to use additional apps to create and edit files, and turning Google Drive's iOS app into another form of Dropbox. 

Pros to the update: You can access files offline from my Google Drive.

Cons to the update: You must download Google Docs and Google Sheets to create and edit files in your Google Drive. 

At the end of the day, I will still use Google Drive just as much as I did before because I love this app. But Google Drive lost some of the distinguishing factors that set it apart from other cloud-based storage apps.