We polled our graduate residents, our alumni, and our coaches on their go-to, most useful apps and programs for doing youth ministry, and here are their favorites:
Administrative
- Evernote—use the cloud to your advantage: create and work on different documents on different devices and access them anywhere. Write your sermon at home and it will be on your phone or iPad once it syncs.
- Constant Contact, MailChimp, Emma—mass online email programs; explore their non-profit pricing options
- TxtSignal—group texting site
- Group Text!—an iPhone app that allows you to send mass texts to youth
- Notability—take either handwritten notes (with a stylus) or type, syncs with Dropbox and Google Drive
- Dropbox—sync all of your documents into a central folder, regardless of where you create them; share different Dropboxes with different people
- Google Drive—formerly Google Docs, upload documents to your cloud
Teaching
- Doceri—interactive whiteboard for the iPad
- Prezi—so much cooler than PowerPoint; check out the free option or two tiers of paid subscription options
- Splashtop 2—allows your iPad to remotely control you laptop which is perfect for using your iPad for presentation notes and to change the slides all in one.
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YouVersion—the go-to Bible app with tons of features; also, the app just hit 100 million downloads
Just for Fun
- PhotoCircle—a private photo sharing platform which is perfect for a photo scavenger hunt or to collect everyone’s photos from an event.
- HeadsUp!—the latest rage in fun group games, from Ellen DeGeneres
Bonus
- If you’re flying, check out TripIt Pro. If your flight is canceled or delayed, the app will message you with the information, plus give you options for changing your flight, among other handy things.