Press Releases

Pastor Preaches Sermons from a Paperless Pulpit

SPOKANE, WA – (September 19, 2005) – Taking a giant leap of digital faith, a pastor from Ringgold, Georgia has left the traditional leather and paper decidedly behind to preach entirely off of notes and text from his PDA. The main advantages of going paperless are not being tied to the pulpit/lectern, freeing up both hands for expression by not lugging heavy materials around and being able to avoid the PC, desktop and printer altogether.

“I am a mover when I preach or teach,” says Pastor Pat Horne, “so I may be on stage or out among the crowd. Were I to be constantly linked to the pulpit, much of this (mobility) would be impossible.”

Being an ex-programmer as well as a pastor, his pragmatic side knew better than to “go live” without good testing and solid backup, however. So before he launched his method in an actual production environment, he worked out all of the bugs in his office, function by function. Even though he is finally confident that he has most of the kinks worked out, he still keeps his leather Bible and sermon notes close by, just in case there is a system crash.

While taking the power of the Gospel into the digital age offers immense possibilities, it is not without its challenges. Two frustrations that Pastor Horne has had to deal with are pulling out the stylus (he prefers not to use it at all while speaking) and the PDA itself becoming a focal point instead of the Gospel.

“Nothing frustrates me like seeing a mouse pointer or Windows menu system during a ministry or business screen presentation,” he says, “It is a huge distraction from the message. The hearer’s destiny is on the line here, so I wanted to make certain that the message got delivered whether my geek factor got shown-off or not.”

But by following his suggestions and learning from his own experiences both of these issues can be greatly minimized. Also, by carefully implementing his step-by-step process, the handheld user can configure their own device to duplicate his methods for handling sermons notes and text, extend battery life, change the display screen, turn-off annoying sounds, program hard buttons plus other useful tips.

For a more complete guide to the software/hardware used to transition into the Paperless Pulpit arena, go to the “Articles & Reviews” section under “News” at www.OliveTree.com to view the entire article by Pastor Pat Horne. Or you may contact him directly at pastorpat@churchoflivingfaith.com if you have specific technical questions. You may also want to visit his home page at www.churchoflivingfaith.com.

About Olive Tree Bible Software

Olive Tree Bible Software provides Bible versions and study tools for Palm OS, Pocket PC, Smartphone and Symbian cell phones, and BlackBerry devices.  They publish over 80 electronic translations of the Bible as well as commentaries, dictionaries, devotionals, eBooks, and Strong’s numbering system.  The Bible is offered in various languages, including German, French, Spanish, Chinese, and many others.  Original Hebrew and Greek texts are also available.  Additionally, web and online cell phone (WAP) Bible search engines are provided.  Visit www.OliveTree.com.

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