FYI: This is a very old article, written in 2011. I no longer use Evernote, but you be you.
I’ve been converted to Evernote. Evernote is a note taking application that enables you to capture and organise everything. It’s available on pretty much all devices that you can think of, from phone to computer and syncs all notes up into the cloud – sounds heavenly doesn’t it!
Anyway, i began to use Evernote around 12 months ago. Within a month i had moved to a premium account which gives me much more space to upload per month, image recognition, and offline notebooks for my phone to name a few.
I have found Evernote has revolutionised the way i store and organise information that comes my way, everything from paper to verbal communication to ideas that pop in to my head. As a Youth & Young Adult Pastor i have found Evernote extremely valuable and so below i have noted 10 ways in which any Pastor would be able to use the application.
1. Create Prayer Lists
With Evernote it is simple to organise items that need prayer. Lists can be made, even with little tick boxes if you so desire, that can continue to be used for prayer. These can be lists of people within my congregation, topics or events that need prayer, and praise points that have occurred over the last couple of weeks/months.
2. Store Contact Details for People or Organisations
I find that almost every person who works within a mission, a church, or some sort of para-church organisation has a business card. Also, websites, music artists and bands as well as community contacts all have details that i need to remember. Evernote gives me a great space to keep all these details. I can simply take a photo with my phone and instantly their details are uploaded which i can access in a number of forms. It certainly saves me mucking around with business card holders and random little bits of paper on my desk
If you were really keen you could also PDF your church’s contact list/directory and store it on Evernote. It then becomes completely searchable and easily accessed wherever you are.
3. Keep Note of Personal and Pastoral Conversations
Being a Pastor requires meeting with many people during the week and talking about a variety of things. Sometimes these may be about particular pastoral issues that are important to keep in touch with, other times it may be about deciding on what’s happening in the coming months regarding some program. Either way, Evernote enables me to take note of these conversations and keep them organised so that i can look back and see what we talked about in preparation for the next catch-up.
Another way of entering this sort of information can be through the voice functionality. Through my phone i can make a verbal note that will be uploaded to Evernote which i can listen to later on. This is also relevant for a number of these tips.
4. Give Space for Creative Ministry Ideas
Through conversations with those who come to the church or perhaps while reading articles and blog posts i quite often find ministry ideas floating around my head. Rather than have heaps of little notes on paper or in different text files i simply enter them into Evernote and tag them with relevant triggers. Even though some of these ministry ideas may not be able to begin now they can be kept for future reference.
5. Write Up Sermon Notes
While the feeling of writing notes in a journal is great Evernote helps in storing all my sermon notes together. When working on a message from a particular passage i can again tag them with relevant references. While reading a commentary i can transcribe notes from it for future reference. I can keep writing and thinking without having to delete the notes later or store them in mucky files on my hard drive. They are all kept together in one note and notebook and are completely searchable using Evernote’s amazing search function. My work on main points, structures and notes from parallel passages or other resources come together in one place. I can even write the whole sermon in a note and then copy and paste it to a document later on for printing.
6. A Place for Sermon Illustrations, Quotes, Links, Blog Posts, etc.
How often do you think of a sermon illustration or see a quote that you like and have nowhere to store it? Evernote is perfect for storing these sorts of little notes, quotes and illustrations that can be used for this week’s sermon or one in the future. They can all be kept in a notebook or be tagged with the appropriate reference. When i find a great quote, read a great article or blog post or find a picture that could be useful i clip it into Evernote and then tag is with the author’s name, the topic or theme and classify it as a ‘quote’ or and ‘illustration’.
Due to my use of Google Reader i find that emailing in blog posts to Evernote an especially good feature. I also find that scanning or taking pictures of illustrations from magazines or newspapers very useful.
7. Organise Events, Programs and Services
So, Christmas is coming up and there are always heaps of ideas about what carols to have, who’s doing the readings, how the children can be involved, and what items are available for the service. If you have a particular program, event or service that is coming up Evernote helps you organise all the information into one place. This could range from what needs to be done in order for the youth group event to go ahead to what topics should be up for discussion at the next deacons meeting.
With this comes the topic of weddings and funerals. Evernote enables notes, thoughts and ideas to be put down in one place that helps in structuring the weekly gathering, a wedding ceremony or a thanksgiving service.
8. Reading Heaps Means Lots of Notes
A Pastor is generally a reader. From commentaries to theologies to dictionaries to Christian living books, Pastors are usually across a variety of books. I find that i can copy down quotes and ideas that are significant in a book and then keep that easily accessible through Evernote. I find that taking a picture or scanning a couple of pages can then be easily searched through Evernote’s OCR capabilities.
9. Clip Links and Other Electronic Information
Evernote allows easy clipping of websites. While having time to search for youth group games or find a few youth ministry websites i come across a lot of information i’d like to keep. By clipping the site and the information into Evernote i have it forever. I can always go back to the site, as it keeps the link, and also search for particular games or information in Evernote. This means Evernote becomes a solid bookmarking application as well as storage for notes.
10. Take Photos of Books, DVDs and Other Resources
I can’t afford all the resources that are available at my local Christian bookstore. Books, DVDs, CDs, music resources and more are quite expensive. However, i do come across some very good resources that i might be able to use in the future. Many times i have taken a picture of the cover of a bible study guide or a DVD series that we might go through and its immediately uploaded to Evernote.
That’s my conversion to Evernote, I’m not sure how you use it, but it’d be great to hear how it helps your ministry too. The more i think about it the more ideas on how Evernote can be integrated into ministry come to me.
If you’d like to read more about Evernote i have also written Evernote Tips for Youth Pastors
Life and Faith 