It’s All about Having the Right Tools for the Job

I remember a very important lesson my father taught me growing up. Having the right tools for any job was the difference between success and failure. Coming from a man who had spent the last 30 years of his life in the construction and aerospace industry, I stopped and listened. This lesson was particularly applicable when my father was teaching me how to restore my first car, a 1967 VW Beetle. Even the simple task of changing a spark plug required the right tools. And if you’re rebuilding the motor from the ground up, having the right tools is all the more important.

As the years have flown by, I’ve realized more and more how important my father’s lesson was and how much I appreciate his wisdom. I see the value of it in the mundane aspects of life, like restoring a 1967 VW Beetle, but I’ve also found that it’s true when studying Scripture. Having the right lexicon, commentary, Bible dictionary, or other resource can be the difference between walking away from the text unchanged and discouraged, and discovering a truth that I had skipped over before.

If you’re a pastor (formally or functionally), time is a hot commodity. Counseling, discipleship, board or elder meetings, sermon prep, and other responsibilities conspire to make extra time a luxury. Therefore, you need the right time-saving tools that are going to get you what you need, when you need it.

With Logos, we have been intentional about creating tools that will help you dig deeper than ever before, with more efficiency and more effectiveness—and, dare I say, with time to spare.

With Logos, students of the Word are equipped with the tools they need to gain insight like never before. If you’re looking to take your study to a new level, prepare sermons more efficiently and effectively, or write an academic paper with some of the best scholarship and sources available, Logos is the tool you need.

Logos base packages will change the way you study the Bible, prepare sermons, produce academic papers, and much more! It is unparalleled in the features and resources it offers. I want to take a minute and highlight a few for you.

Getting started when you don’t know where to start

The Logos Courses Tool offers guided learning for those who don’t know where to start, or for those who want to set a scheduled study and track their progress. In the Courses Tool you can see all of your Mobile Ed courses in one place (various courses are included in Logos base packages), and study preselected material by author or instructor, biblical passage, or preaching theme.

With the Logos Courses Tool, you’ll be empowered to learn at your own pace and to study what you want, when you want—you decide!

The right tools for preparing sermons

Pastors have been raving about the new Sermon Editor. Randy Brown, of BibleBuyingGuide.com says, “The Sermon Editor is a game-changer,” and Brandon Hilgemann of ProPreacher.com states, “The new Sermon Editor is unlike anything else on the market for sermon preparation.”

With the Sermon Editor you can create slides automatically, insert a verse text, and create handouts and review questions instantly, and most importantly do it all in a single application. Furthermore, the Sermon Editor allows you to export your presentation to PowerPoint or Proclaim and you can even share your manuscript with the members of your church by using Faithlife Groups and SoundFaith.com.

With the Sermon Editor in Logos, you can produce and deliver a biblical message without ever leaving your research platform. When it comes to saving time, the Sermon Editor is the tool you need to get the job done!

Having all the right tools at the right time

Our product team rebuilt Logos libraries to include lots of new resources that haven’t been included in base packages before. These are some of the most exciting packages Logos has ever produced.

Now, this is typically where folks stop me and say, “I already have more resources than I need!” or “I don’t even use all the books I have. In fact, I don’t even know what I have!” Let me start by saying, I get it. In fact, I’m in the same boat. Personally, I have over 11,000 resources in my library, and I can assure you, I haven’t read a tenth of them from cover to cover.

You might be interested to know that in all my time as a Logos representative, I’ve never spoken to someone who has read everything in their library (or even half), and here’s why:

The value of having a vast library is in the accessibility of a resource when you need it—even if you didn’t know it was there.

Let me give you an everyday example. If you’re like me, you love study Bibles. I love their strengths and simplicity of use. Yet, I cannot count how many times I’ve read a passage of Scripture and looked to the notes section to gain some additional insight into the text and, lo and behold, there’s no note. Even the best study Bibles will come up short at some point because there’s not enough space to answer every question someone might have about a text. What’s great about Logos is that you never have to worry about being left stranded without an answer.

Here are just a few of my favorite resources in some of our Logos base packages.

Tyndale Commentaries

Of the 49 volumes included in this series, 38 are ranked in the top 5 best commentaries ever published according to BestCommentaries.com. The Tyndale Commentaries include endorsements by scholars such as D.A. Carson, Craig Blomberg, and Donald A. Hagner. It also contains commentary on both the Old and New Testaments, along with a section-by-section examination of the biblical text. With its concise focus, this commentary is a must have for any student of the Bible.

Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary

Whatever your reasons for Bible study, be it in a professional, scholarly, or personal setting, you won’t want to be without the expansive knowledge contained in the Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary. Boasting over 7,200 pages of content, and 6,000 entries by 800 authors, the AYBD is a tremendous help for in-depth exploration of the Bible. It gives you the best information on the people, places, and culture of the biblical text.

Hermeneia & Continental Commentary

Within the Hermeneia commentary series, you will find one of the best critical and historical commentaries ever produced. Widely known, and recommended by scholars around the globe, Hermeneia is designed to be both international and interconfessional. The Hermeneia and Continental Commentaries (69 vols.) is a fantastic collection for students, teachers, scholars, and professors.

These are just a few of the rich new features and resources in our Logos packages to help you to continue to grow in the light of the bible.

Logos is going to:

• Help you gain back the lost study time in your day.
• Equip you with right tools for any biblical endeavor.
• Answer your questions without hours of frustrating and fruitless searching.
• Provide you with teaching from leading, world-renowned pastors and scholars.
• Empower your Bible study with the most powerful Bible software in the world.

Give one of our resource experts a call at (888) 670-3148 or visit logos.com for a personalized base package recommendation.