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...use the Logos Community Forums!

With the launch of our most significant product ever—Logos Bible Software 4—there are bound to be some questions. As you can imagine, our phone lines are busier than ever with excited callers trying to either order the brand new collections, upgrade to the new packages, or get answers to some very common questions on this completely "new to everyone" product.

We’ve tried to answer some of the most common questions on our product pages, in our Technical FAQ, and in our General FAQ. As always, we are happy to try to answer any other questions you may have over the phone, but our lines are so busy right now (even with extended hours until 9:00 PM Pacific, additional staffing, and lots of overtime) that wait times are much longer than normal.

We want to be completely honest and up front about this new release: it's not just new to you, it's new to us, it's new to everyone. As we all know, "new" is exciting, "new" is scary, "new" is different... "new" will initiate many questions that may require some trial and error, patience, experimentation and hanging out in the user forums, tutorials, and support pages to learn more. Yes, our sales and support staff have seen the product and received training on how to handle the typical support issues related to installation and indexing, but we are finding that many of the calls that come in are more related to training than support or service issues. Typically these are calls from customers that have upgraded to a completely new software platform and their questions are related to how they would do things in the new software, where their favorite feature is located now, and typical new user training on a brand new platform after years of experience with the old one. Since our "service and support" staffs are only set up for "service and support" it can be frustrating for everyone involved when the only answer that we can give after an hour on hold is, "that's a training issue".

In order to provide the best possible service and training we place as much information as possible on the web. We are putting up more content, videos, and support all the time. The sales and support staff are so busy answering the flood of phone calls, that they actually have less time than you to read the information we are adding to the web daily. In other words, right now, you may be more of an expert on the product than any one random representative is (don't worry, as soon as we can come up for air, we'll pass ya').

If you don’t want to sit on hold for a very long time only to discover that just five minutes on the web could have answered all your questions, there’s a much faster way to get help. We have an active group of users in our community forums who do an amazing job helping new users and answering questions.

The quickest and best way to get your problem solved is to click on Forums in the top left-hand corner of any of our websites and search for the answer. Chances are someone else has already asked your question.

Here are some things you might have questions about that the forums could give you quick answers to:

1. How long will it take to download my base package?
2. How long will it take to install and index my base package?
3. Where is my favorite feature?
4. How do I do x, y, or z?
5. How do I install my base package on a new or additional computer?
6. How do I get Logos 3 versions of my new books so I can run both platforms side by side?
7. What’s the best way to uninstall Logos 3?
8. I’m getting an error. What does it mean? How can I fix it?
9. How do I get my books to show up on the iPhone app?
10. I thought Logos 4 was supposed to be super fast. Why does it seem to be slower for me?

Questions like these and many, many more are discussed and answered on the forums by some of our most knowledgeable users. Logos staff make appearances as well. The answer to your question may even come from our president, Bob Pritchett.

If you’ve searched but can’t find the answer to your particular question, feel free to start a new thread. You may be surprised by how quickly someone answers your question.

Already a Logos Bible Software user?
Visit our custom upgrade discount calculator to see what discounts you qualify for on an upgrade to a brand new Logos 4 base package.

Want to be a Logos Bible Software user?
New customers should visit http://www.logos.com/4 to learn more and see what discounts are currently available.

You should follow us on Twitter here.

English cleric and writer Charles Colton said, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” In this high-tech culture Colton’s aphorism might be updated to “Fidelity is the sincerest form of flattery.” Running into those true believers who use, love and cannot help but spread the word about Logos Bible Software is always flattering.

Meet Carl Bosma, ordained in the Christian Reformed Church in North America, church planter, leadership developer with Christian Reformed World Missions, Professor of Biblical studies at Seminario Presbiteriano do Sul, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Associate Professor of Old Testament at Calvin Theological Seminary, Th.D. candidate and Logos Bible Software user. In fact, Mr. Bosma wrote a very thorough and impressive manual for Libronix 3.0 that, although Logos wasn’t affiliated with, those of us who have perused it were very impressed.

I touched base with Prof. Bosma recently to get more information about this huge project:

Logos: How were you introduced to Logos Bible Software?

Prof. Bosma: I was introduced to Logos Bible Software by a student at Calvin Theological Seminary in 1991, shortly after my arrival at Calvin Theological Seminary from a church planting ministry in Brazil. The student loaded a copy onto my desktop and when I began to work with it I found the program to be very user friendly.

Logos: With your background, I am sure you are familiar with a variety of different Bible applications and software. What have you found particularly useful to you, personally and professionally, in Logos Bible Software?

Prof. Bosma: In comparison with some of the other Bible software programs, I found Logos to be very user friendly. It fit my style. Moreover, unlike some of the other programs, Libronix is a library that allows me as a preacher and teacher to add on commentaries and other theological books. Consequently, our aim at Calvin Theological Seminary is to prepare students to use this program to build their library. With their library on their laptop, graduating students do not need to rent a truck to transport a library to the church where they are called to minister.

Logos: Have you found that people who have had Logos for a while and attend your workshops are surprised at the number of features and applications that they were not using or were unaware of?

Prof. Bosma: In my workshops, I typically find that pastors who purchased Libronix and never had any training typically do not know how to use most of the resources of this excellent program.

Logos: What are some examples of applications that don’t get used and pastors are excited to discover?

Prof. Bosma: Here are some examples:

• 1. They are not acquainted with the note the taking feature.
• 2. They do not know about the resource association feature and other power tools.
• 3. They do not use the visual filters but once we introduce them to this feature and give them our customized filters they love it.
• 4. They do not know about the NET Bible or the Reverse Interlinears.

Logos: The user manual that you have created is a great resource. How much work went into creating it? And what made you decide to put that together?

Prof. Bosma: It took about 14 years to put this manual together. Once I started training students and pastors in this program, I decided to keep a record of all the examples that I used. As I was training, I had my student assistants take note. The first student assistant who began this process was Rev. Andrew Beunk. The assistant that really helped me give the manual its present format was Jonathan Luis Hack from Brazil.

I want to thank Carl for answering my questions and to thank him and the rest of you out there who are contributing so much to the Logos community.

If you have Logos software and you feel you might be missing out on some of its functionality I would encourage you to check out Carl’s manual and visit our forum—another great resource to augment your Logos experience!

You should follow us on Twitter here.

With the launch of the brand new Logos Bible Software Community Forums we have been seeing a bit of discussion on the topic of Logos Bible Software for mobile devices and ebook readers.

From multi-function devices like iPhone, Google Android, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile to dedicated readers like Amazon's Kindle, we think we have an idea of what people like—but before heading off in the wrong direction we wanted to hear from you too!

Since the forums are relatively new and haven't been discovered by most of our users yet, we wanted to bring the topic to the forefront with an open survey on Logos Bible Software for Mobile Devices to get as much feedback from as many people as possible.

If you would like your voice to be heard, this is your chance. Please take a moment to complete our simple 8 question survey about Logos Bible Software for Mobile Devices.

After you take the brief survey be sure to drop by the forums and take a look around, or start your own thread. If you have a Logos.com account, you are already registered—no need to start a whole new account and password—so take a look around and become part of the community of Logos Bible Software users all around the world today!

You should follow us on Twitter here.

UPDATE: Logos is now available on the iPhone as a free app! Visit http://www.logos.com/iphone for more info.

Since 2002 we’ve had an active group of users on our newsgroups. After much deliberation we’ve decided that it’s time to make the switch to web forums. We’ve been testing them with a small group for a couple of weeks, and now we’re ready to invite you to come join the discussions at the new Logos Bible Software Forums.

To use the Logos forums, you’ll need to be logged in to your Logos.com account. If you don’t have one, you can sign up for one now. Already have one? Sign in and head on over to http://community.logos.com/, or just click the new Forums link in the navigation at the top left of any Logos.com site.

If you happen to get an “Access Denied” message, your Logos.com cookies need to be updated. Most of the time logging out of your Logos.com account (top right hand corner of Logos.com) and then back in again will take care of the problem. If that doesn’t work, delete any *.logos.com cookies, restart your browser, sign in at Logos.com, and then return to the forums.

If you’re fairly new to Logos and are looking for some help learning the ropes, the forums will be the perfect place to get help from our top-notch group of power users who love to help others learn how to use Logos Bible Software better.

We look forward to seeing you at the Logos forums!

We do our best to listen to our users through a variety of channels: comments you leave here on the blog, emails you send to suggest@logos.com, suggestions you share in our newsgroups—and now in our new web forums—and many more. We read all user feedback and make sure it gets to the appropriate department for consideration. Some of our best ideas come from our users.

Thank you for letting your voice be heard. Listening to what you want helps us to provide you with the best Bible software in the world.

We also benefit by learning more about you. Are you a pastor, a professor, a student? Do you know Greek and Hebrew? Do you own a Kindle? This kind of information is vital as we make decisions about products to offer, technologies to pursue, and much more.

Over the years we’ve asked survey questions in the sidebar on Logos.com. We’ve recently added some new questions and put them all in one place. If you’ve never answered our survey questions, or it’s just been a while, visit www.logos.com/usersurvey and answer as many as you want.

There are 39 questions in total (you may see fewer if you’ve answered some in the past), and you can quit at any time and return later to pick up where you left off. You’re free to skip the ones that don’t apply or that you just don’t want to answer. Get started with the Logos User Survey now.

Jeff Straub, a seminary professor at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Plymouth, Minnesota, shares in two posts how he’s made (and continues to make) the transition from a print library to a digital library with Logos Bible Software and why he loves it.

It was a hard sell for me. After more than 25 years in ministry, tirelessly searching for books anywhere they might be found, hoping against hope to find good books at cheap prices, I finally switched . . . to a digital library . . . to Logos. And I love it! I travel a bit, sometimes overseas, and I love the portability of my digital library.

He goes on to talk about the “back-breaking task” of moving more than 100 heavy boxes of books to Minneapolis. I remember doing the same thing about a year and a half ago, but thankfully with only 40 boxes.

On the bright side, at least Jeff discovered Logos before his next move, and at least he didn't have as big of a print library as Rousas Rushdoony did. According to Wikipedia, Rushdoony had more than 60,000 books in his personal library (and read nearly half of them). Imagine what 1,600 boxes of books would do to your back!

Find out more about why Jeff is lovin’ Logos in these two posts:

• Lovin’ Logos
• Lovin’ Logos, Part 2

This week’s “My Story” comes from Paul Burgess, an undergraduate student at CSU.

I am a full-time worker and part-time distance education (correspondence) student studying for my Bachelor of Theology. I have found that I need the Logos software. I am working 50+ hours a week, and trying to study, with a family. I am 52 years old, and find I do not have the time to properly research things by reading through books. I need a system that is almost able to provide me the references before I ask for them (I know that’s impossible), but Logos software has almost that ability. 

By running a search on a word, a verse or a topic, I get exactly what I need: lots of information, commentaries that contain explanations or comments, and other references or cross references. These help me not only understand what I am searching, but its context. I could not get this straight from a book. Even a library as large as the books in my Logos package would not give me the understanding I need, because I would have to trawl through the books manually, or through the indexes manually, which would take hours or days. One quick and efficient search, and I have everything at my fingertips. 

The real benefit is the depth I can go to within minutes of starting the search. I can refer to books, commentaries, Bible versions and hermeneutics systems, including Hebrew and Greek versions, and have the understanding I need, in the depth I need for my course, or for my own understanding.

I find that the information that is available to me would be overwhelming, without the strong and efficient software that encompasses it. I own other Bible software, but I find that I use Logos almost exclusively. I do use the others rarely, just to look at another commentary, to ensure I am getting a well-rounded view, but I find that these other systems more often than not add nothing, but confirm what the Logos system has provided me.

I cannot recommend this system highly enough. 

I also must note that I had a few minor glitches when I started using the system, but the support team were quick to respond and were excellent in their diagnosis of the issue and rapid in their response to resolve these glitches, which were really my incorrect answering of setup messages. Living in Australia and being on a totally separate time zone was no obstacle to the Logos support team, who communicated with me via e-mail and also rang me to ensure that I had the answers I needed, in a timely fashion, on my correct times, which I find very gratifying. Too many companies ring when its convenient for them, not for the customer.

I bought the Scholar’s Library and am saving my “pennies” to buy the upgrade to the Gold version, because I am so impressed with this package. If I had found this package first, I probably would not have bought the other systems. I would strongly recommend that anyone considering a reference library consider Logos as a primary choice, because of the strength of the system, the depth of the books contained, and the ease of use of this powerful system.

I am sure I am using only a small part of the system, but it is easier to use and gets me the information I need better than any of the other systems, or a book based system. I also could not afford to buy a book based system, nor do I have the space.

I have recommended the Logos system to studying ministers, to ministers, and too lay people like myself. I would strongly recommend this tool.

Thanks for sharing your story, Paul. Enjoy your $100 worth of unlock credit!

Read more stories and find out how to submit yours on our Newswire page. If we use your story, we will apply $100 worth of unlock credit to your account as well.

One of our users from Brazil, Israel Cavalli, has done a great service to Portuguese-speaking Logos users by creating 17 training videos for Logos Bible Software. Israel teaches a free mini course on Logos at his university, and he created these videos in an effort to help even more people learn how to use Logos even better.

All 17 videos are hosted by YouTube and available online at his site Theocnologia.

1. Libronix 01 – Introdução
2. Libronix 02 – Instalação
3. Libronix 03 – Página Inicial
4. Libronix 04 – Visão Geral sobre o estudo da Bíblia
5. Libronix 05 – Escolha da Bíblia favorita
6. Libronix 06 – Opções de Guia de Estudos
7. Libronix 07 – Outras opções do “Guia de estudos”
8. Libronix 08 – Guia Exegético
9. Libronix 09 – Estudo de Palavra
10. Libronix 10 – Estudo de Tópicos
11. Libronix 11 – Plano de Leitura
12. Libronix 12 – Acesso rápido
13. Libronix 13 – Devocionais
14. Libronix 14 – Oração
15. Libronix 15 – Minha Biblioteca
16. Libronix 16 – Notícias
17. Libronix 17 – Blog

If you have Portuguese-speaking friends who use Logos or are interested in becoming Logos users, please let them know about Israel’s videos.

See also our Spanish training videos on our Spanish site.

It’s time for another episode of “My Story.” This one comes from Dr. Beau Abernathy, pastor of CrossPointe Church.

Dear Logos,

Words escape me to adequately express my appreciation to the Lord for you and your ministry!

As a bi-vocational church planting pastor, time is a premium commodity. How do I balance being a loving husband and father with work and church responsibilities? In order for a new church to grow, one part is that the people coming need to sense that the messages are excellent, challenging and life-related.

When preparing a message, in the time it would take me to get out of my chair, find a commentary (provided I own it in the first place), and get back to the study, I can flip through a dozen commentaries with Logos! It is the most effective, efficient use of my time to use Logos Bible Software when preparing messages, studying, and I have recently begun to use it with my quiet time with the Lord. The Word Study feature takes the years of Greek and Hebrew I took in seminary and condenses it into an understandable, usable format in seconds—something I could never do with the hard-copy reference books.

Probably the feature I like the most in Libronix is the “Copy Bible Verses” button in the taskbar. I use “Copy Bible Verses” on a daily basis so that I can paste passages from various translations into a message, church letter or pastoral letter very quickly.

Thank you again for providing this service for the family of God and for those called to shepherd God’s people!

Thanks for sharing your story, Dr. Abernathy. It’s always a joy to hear how Logos Bible Software helps pastors like you to be better pastors—and better husbands and fathers. Enjoy your $100 worth of unlock credit!

Read more stories and find out how to submit yours on our Newswire page. If we use your story, we will apply $100 worth of unlock credit to your account as well.

I love reading stories about how people experience Logos Bible Software for the first time. Just yesterday I read a glowing email from a professor who a few months ago had never used Logos and thought it was little more than a collection of PDF-like books. He was absolutely blown away when he first tried Logos and saw its powerful searching abilities and the quality of texts in the particular collection that he got.

We’re going to start a series of posts here on the blog featuring stories like this. In the past we’ve asked you to send your stories to NewsWire@logos.com and promised that if we used yours, we’d give you $100 worth of unlocks as a “thank you.”

If you’ve never told us your story, we’d love to hear from you. Tell us a little about yourself and how and why you use Logos. Include how you found out about Logos and what the main influences were that led you to purchase it. Include anything that makes for a good story. Write it up and send it to NewsWire@logos.com. Your story could be the next one to be featured.

Here’s this week’s story:

My name is Todd Smith. I am a church planter, pastor, father of three, husband of a home schooling mom, member of an ordaining council, and a denomination clerk for our state. . . . I have a BUSY schedule . . . most likely—JUST LIKE YOU. Needless to say, I need some time savers when it comes to preparing for sermons. I have used many different Bible Study programs in the past, only to get frustrated because they were not user friendly.

I was introduced to Libronix DLS through the purchase of a book that included a CD with the Libronix software, and it was then that I discovered how easy it was to use. I went on to purchase the Series X Scholar’s Library, and it was well worth the investment. Whether used on a desktop computer or a laptop, with the Scholar’s Library, an individual can have material at their finger tips that would normally take up a room full of book shelves. I can do now in a much shorter time what it would have previously taken me hours upon hours to do. Now I can enjoy my children, pastor, be a husband, and all the other things without feeling so frustrated! It’s a must to have!

Read more stories and find out how to submit yours at www.logos.com/newswire.

A week and a half ago we announced the Logos–Facebook Photo Contest and invited you to take pictures of yourself with Logos Bible Software and upload them to Facebook. The response to the contest was super. Nearly 900 new people connected with us on Facebook, and close to 400 photos were uploaded and tagged.

The deadline for entering was Sunday, March 1, but we allowed all photos submitted by the time we picked the winners yesterday afternoon. With so many creative and cool entries, it was very difficult to pick the winner for each category, but here’s what the judges came up with.

Most Creative

There were several really creative photos, but the award for most creative goes to Richard Flink.

Oldest Logos Stuff

The oldest actual Logos product in any of the pictures we saw was Logos 1.6, which I believe came out in 1993. (There were some pictures of CDWord from 1989 and 1990, but that was before CDWord became a Logos product, so we had to exclude them.) Five people had Logos Bible Software 1.6 pictured, but only three included themselves in the photos. So we had a three-way tie between Mike Monroe, Stephen Hustedde, and Dennis Martin.

Congratulations to these faithful, longtime users!

Coolest Setup

The coolest setup went to Tyson Heyn who has Logos running on an Intel Cord 2 Quad Q9550 CPU with 8GB of RAM and four monitors!

Most Unique Location

The coolest location was especially difficult to pick, but after much deliberation we decided to award it to Raymond Minot for his picture of Bible study on the balcony of a monastery overlooking the Swiss Alps. (Click through to see some nice shots of the Alps.)

Most Logos Stuff

The award for the most Logos stuff goes to pastor and Logos user Andrew Rappaport, who has accumulated over 325 disks and 4,585 digital resources! Wow!

Congratulations to all of you! If you were one of our seven winners, you may call 800-875-6467 to use your $100 unlock credit whenever you’d like on any downloadable books at Logos.com.

And a big thanks to all of you who participated. We thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of the pictures of you and Logos!

If you haven’t yet seen them, go take a look at all of the entries.

Today's guest post is from Andrew Pritchett, who works in our Ministry Relations department.

The other night I had one of the greatest experiences I have had working here at Logos Bible Software. On Tuesday night I stopped by my neighborhood coffee house. As I was waiting I noticed some familiar faces. One of the familiar faces was an older man I had always presumed to be homeless. We'll call him John. John wore a big white beard, a thick hat, and combat fatigues and carried all of his belongings with him.

As I looked around the room, something caught my eye on John's computer screen. It was the familiar Passage Guide in Logos. I moved toward him and said, "I like your choice in Bible software." John smiled and pointed at the logo on my shirt. He said, "This is the greatest thing I own." I thanked him, and he asked me a quick question about using the Compare Bible Versions tool inside the program. When I asked if he had time for me to update his computer, he said, "This is where I spend my evenings."

I reached into my briefcase and grabbed a media-only disc and asked him to insert it into his disc drive. As we waited for his computer to update to 3.0e, I asked him how he had heard of us and how he ended up with our software on his computer.

He said he was listening to Michael Heiser defend Christianity in front of a panel of UFO enthusiasts, and it caught his attention. During the debate, Michael Heiser said, "Logos Bible Software is the best tool for studying the Bible." So right then and there, John decided he had to have it. He pulled all of his money together, saved what he could, and then walked to the Christian book store and told them to give him the best Logos Bible Software package he could afford. And minutes later he walked out of the store with Bible Study Library.

On his way home, he realized that in order to use the software he would need a computer. So later he went to a pawn shop and bought the best laptop computer he could get his hands on. He didn't care that the computer was old, missing pieces and the keyboard was in German; he needed a computer to use his new software.

When I came into work the next morning, I told my boss, Andy, about my experience the night before. He was excited and encouraged by John's faith and dedication to God's word. He said, "Andrew, put in an order to update John to Leader's Library to get him the Greek and Hebrew Reverse Interlinears." Andy purchased the upgrade himself and told me to install it on his computer and give him a Christmas card, which some of us at the office signed.

A few nights later I met up with John and presented him with his card and gift. He was so happy to have me install the software on his computer. The last few nights have been great to spend with John, sharing the software and sharing a time of Bible study together.

I've learned a lot from John. I think we all can.

Last week I wrote a post about my Logos epiphany; that moment when I realized I can have my entire theological library with me all the time. Over the week many users posted comments about the time when they had that same realization. Reading the comments, I was deeply encouraged to see how having a Logos library has helped men and women serve their churches, ministries, and communities. Since I know that a lot of people don't often go back and read comments on old posts, I thought I'd share a couple that really impressed and inspired me.

Mark said, "In the fall of 2005, I deployed to Iraq as a chaplain with my bible and Logos on my laptop. I was able to do full exegesis and exposition in my sermons thanks to Logos."

Mike shared that his epiphany came "while teaching a new group of believers the Bible in the remote villages of southern Siberia."

Caroline, who serves in a ministry to senior citizens, said, "Having my Logos Library ready to answer questions is wonderful. It is difficult for a senior citizen to always have an immediate answer but my Logos gives a rapid response."

David is experiencing the difference in travel now that he has Logos. "Traveling between the US and India during the early 1990's to teach in a theological college for a few month meant carrying half of my luggage allowance in books. So about 70 pounds of books went with me. Currently I'm in India again; I brought a few books that are not in Libronix data, but much of what I need is on this notebook computer."

Eric, a missionary currently traveling around the country, said, "There is no way I could carry my "other" library around the country while I raise my support."

Sam said, "I realized this when I spent last summer helping plant a church in Northern China. I never could have carried enough books to do good study for preaching and teaching every week with me. Libronix made it possible for me to do a lot of study without luggage overcharges or lack of space in the apartment. And also saved me so much time giving me more to use teaching instead of studying."

Comments and stories like these remind me why Logos is such a special company and product. Logos is helping people to do in-depth study of the Bible and share its message around the world.

QUICK NOTE - Speaking of around the world, Dan just pointed me to a post from about 2 1/2 years ago that shows the shipping costs to send the print equivalent of a Logos library overseas. The crazy thing to note is that the shipping costs in the 2006 post were as much as $6,650. Since then, the USPS has increased international shipping costs by 13.8% in 2007 and plans to increase it another 8.4% in 2009. At those prices, shipping books overseas does not make sense. For that kind of money you could double or triple your Logos library!

Now, you don't have to be in a foreign country to appreciate Logos. Maybe you're like Caroline and ministering in your community, or like me and just doing Bible study on a bus. No matter what you do or where you are, having (and growing) a Logos library simply makes in-depth Bible study easier and more convenient.

I read with interest over the last month or so LaRosa Johnson’s 30 Day Challenge. He wanted to see if Logos was best suited to meet his Bible study needs.

In his own words,

The reason that I came up with this challenge is because my needs and wants for Bible software are changing, and doing so rather rapidly. When I first started studying the Bible and using Bible software, I was someone who only occasionally made use of commentaries and dictionaries, but never even dared to try to use the original language tools that I had available. . . . Now that I am actually learning to read the original languages (Greek and Hebrew), my desire to do more with this knowledge has grown tremendously. . . . With these changing needs, I figured that it would be best to evaluate which software applications would be best for making this happen, especially when taking into consideration how I study, where I want to go, and leaving an open door for growth.

What is the 30 day challenge? Well, the challenge is this: my goal is to exclusively use Logos Bible Software for 30 days . . . and see how well I am able to adjust to using their software and see how well it suits my needs.

He journals his progress in these six posts:

1. Logos Bible Software: The 30 Day Challenge
2. The 30 Day Challenge: The First Few Days
3. The 30 Day Challenge: More Thoughts
4. The 30 Day Challenge: Praises and Complaints
5. The 30 Day Challenge: A Few More Wants and Some Cool Features
6. The 30 Day Challenge: The Conclusion

At the end, he concludes,

For what I'm trying to do in my personal and academic studies, I have to wholeheartedly admit that Logos is the best application to suit my needs. In doing this challenge, the biggest thing that sold me was the ease at which I was able to study in the original languages.

Today's guest blogger is Elizabeth Sanborn, a Customer Support representative at Logos.

I’ve been working here at Logos for just over three months, and before I started—I’ll be honest—I was a little scared. Everyone has heard horror stories about customer support, so I was a little nervous about the people I would encounter on the other end of the phone.

However, my experience working here at Logos has been quite the opposite. During my time here, I have met hundreds of wonderfully kind customers, who ask me how I am doing (and care about the answer!) and display the utmost patience with me, especially when I first started working here and was still learning the ropes. I’ve had a variety of great conversations while waiting for computers to reboot, downloads to finish, etc. I’ve even had a customer help me with Christmas gift ideas for my brother. It’s quite encouraging to see Christians act Christ-like, even in the little things of life like customer service. So thanks, customers, for being so fantastic and making the jobs of Logos Customer Support reps such a great experience!

Sometimes we take for granted the goodness of electronic publishing. But some people still wonder why an author or a publisher would choose to put out an electronic edition of their work.

Dr. Robert Lowery, seminary professor, dean, and author of Revelation's Rhapsody, was recently asked why he chose to publish his first book both electronically (with Logos) and in print (with College Press).

Dr. Lowery shared his answer to this question on his blog...which he has generously allowed us to reprint as a case study on Logos.com.

My favorite quotes:

Simply put, Logos is the world’s biggest developer of Bible software, and if I believe that my book will be helpful to people, I want to reach as many as possible.

And:

How many of the readers of my book will actually look up all of the Scripture references? If they choose not to do so, my book will not be as helpful as I desire. How many will actually turn to the back of the book and read the footnotes, notes that I believe are as helpful as the text itself?! In the electronic edition, notes and Scripture references are quickly available, just a mouse hover away.

I find it interesting to read an author's perspective on electronic publishing and see how his priorities align with ours: get the book into the most hands possible and help readers get more out of the book.

But it only makes sense: labor-intensive details such as footnotes and Scripture references represent hours of wasted effort...unless readers actually use them! And making these features easy to use is one of the great strengths of Logos Bible Software.

Read more from Dr. Lowery...

The winner of the Logos-SBL syntax paper award was announced in Vienna at the Society of Biblical Literature International Meeting this week. Here's the announcement as posted at the SBL Forum: 

In September 2006, Logos Bible Software and the Society of Biblical Literature announced the establishment of a Technology Paper Awards program. The goal of the initiative is to foster creative biblical scholarship in the use of technology and to expand our understanding of the grammar and syntax of the biblical Hebrew and Greek texts.

A total of twelve awards were made possible, with the first-place awards consisting of $1,000 cash, a $1,000 Logos software credit, and a $200 SBL book credit.

Fifteen papers were received. After review of the papers by a three-member panel of SBL scholars, it was determined that a first-place student award would be given. In addition, all who submitted papers will be given a $500 Logos software credit and a $100 SBL book credit.

The criteria used to evaluate the papers were: (1) utilization of the relevant databases; (2) originality in framing a significant question for investigation; (3) creativity in using technology to address the question posed; (4) clarity of expression in presenting the study’s process and results; and (5) significance of the process and results for biblical scholarship.

The winning paper was written by Andrew David Naselli, who is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Theological Studies with a concentration in New Testament Exegesis and Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. The paper was entitled "A Test Case for Aktionsart VS Verbal Aspect Theory in New Testament Greek: Aorist and Imperfect Indicative Verbs Joined by Kai and Sharing the Same Subject." Congratulations to Andrew for his fine work. Logos and the SBL wish him success in his ongoing studies. Thanks to all who took the time to submit their work.

The awards will be continued in 2008 so look for the announcement!

I love a good story, and this one illustrates a couple of qualities Logos strives for and that we have touched on in previous posts: obsessive attention to detail and listening to customers.

A couple of weeks ago, Logos user Jerry Peterson wrote to suggest@logos.com to let us know about an oversight in our description of Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (24 volumes) on the prepub page:

Dear Logos,
I was elated to see that the Lange's Commentary set has moved into the developing stage. I am one of the pre-publication purchasers of Lange's 24-volume commentary. As I was reviewing the list of books today, I realized that the commentary on the Apocrypha is not included with this sale. I have the printed set. It contains 25 volumes with the Apocrypha as Volume XV of the Old Testament.

In the Preface, Philip Schaff wrote, "It has been deemed timely to issue, as a supplementary volume to Lange's Bible-work (which is confined to the canonical books), a revised version of the Apocrypha, with critical and historical introductions and explanations. Homiletical hints would, of course, be superfluous for Protestant ministers and students." The Preface was written on June 14, 1880.

Although I am a Lutheran pastor, I have appreciated having this additional commentary with my set. Please give serious consideration to adding this book to Lange's Commentaries.

Thank you for the consideration.
Jerry Peterson

Now this was news to us. A 25th volume...how could we have missed it? Clearly it was not a recent addition to the set, since it was published in 1880! This question hit particularly close to home since I wrote most of the original marketing copy for the product back when it was offered via Community Pricing.

It turns out that the publishers who reprint Lange's commentary today have dropped the volume on the Apocrypha. I can only guess the reasons, but I suppose it was considered of little use to a largely Protestant readership and would have expanded the series beyond the tidy dozen double volumes used to contain the whole.

Once Lange's "Lost Volume" surfaced, we had to decide what to do about it. The cost to order a copy of this rare book and digitize the additional 680 pages was not part of our initial cost estimate.

Fortunately, the decision was not too difficult. It would be lame to publish an incomplete set, if we could possibly do the whole thing. We found a first edition copy, printed in 1880, which I'm now holding in my hands and which will soon join its 24 brethren to be typed and tagged.

The price of the collection will not be changed by the addition of this volume but we'll feel better knowing it's complete...and trust that you will appreciate the additional material. I know Pastor Peterson will!

Dear Daniel,

A big THANK YOU for including the 25th volume! I SO appreciate the work that Logos is doing. I NEVER expected to have a library to this extent! And I have literally run out of book space in my regular library. (And then, needless to say, the ability to have so much research at your finger tips is wonderful!)

Yes, please feel free to use my email... Glad to be of help.

Pr Jerry Peterson

Today's guest blogger is Rob Haskell, who works in the Spanish department at Logos.

It’s been fun to find out through my work with Logos that missions is a growing theme in Latin-American Christianity. This is so much so that we have been able to create a collection of 40 books on missions from a Hispanic perspective called Biblioteca Digital de la Misión (Digital Library for the Mission).

According to COMIBAM, an umbrella organization for missions from Latin America, there are almost 10,000 Latin missionaries around the globe – many of them in the US! And that figure does not take into account the number of "non-professional" missionaries who emigrate every day from Latin-American countries to all parts of the globe, taking with them the good news about Jesus.

Last month an elderly woman approached our booth at a pastor's conference in Monterrey, Mexico. She was dark skinned and dressed in a sari so my initial thought was that she was East Indian. As it turned out she was a Mexican woman who was headed to India as a missionary in a month. She was outgoing, energetic and particularly excited because the Lord had just given her a laptop. Of course, the Logos booth was her next stop. Another person had also given her a crisp $100.00 bill and after applying all possible discounts she was off with her very own Biblioteca Pastoral – our largest collection of books in Spanish. Now she can take a theological library of 144 books in her own language to the ends of the earth.

This committed missionary woman from Monterrey is probably the most striking image I have of the growing Latin-American passion for world missions, but there are many other amazing stories and surprising statistics which all point to a growing movement. It will be interesting to watch it develop and see how Logos can continue to play a role in the Lord's work around the globe.

Here's a quick round-up of some Logos-related posts from the blogosphere...

Logos user and seminarian Patrick McCullough is Looking for more Anabaptists on Libronix Software.

He writes, "If you're a fan and owner of Logos Bible Software (aka Libronix Digital Library), and I am, there's a good chance that your particular theological tradition is represented in their available collections of historical works."

Patrick includes a great list of links to theological titles from the Lutheran tradition already available for Logos, then goes on to offer a big list of Anabaptist titles and authors he'd like to see in his digital library. As I've mentioned before, we're always eager to receive customer suggestions so keep them coming!

New Logos user HeavyDluxe tells the story of his 11-month search for the right Bible software and how he chose Logos Bible Software. It looks like he'll be writing a series of posts that would be helpful to anyone doing their pre-purchase homework.

One of the fun things about the world of blogs is getting to "eavesdrop" on conversations people are having with their family and friends (and random readers who drop by).

One blogger recently described her first experience using Logos at a relative's house and wrote, "Seriously, even if I couldn’t get excited about Bible research, I could still get quite giddy with the thought of using a program where I just have to click a link and I can see every commentary in the digital library on any specific topic or passage I require."

Could this be our new tagline?

Logos Bible Software: Making Bible students giddy since 1991.

Another blogger who is a self-described Bible study geek says she cried (tears of mourning, not joy) when Libronix DLS replaced the old Logos Library System back in 2001. But Logos 3, released in May 2006, has made her a happy Bible study geek again.

We always appreciate comments and links; we've said it before and will say it again: our customers are the best and we're privileged to serve you.

I received the following story from Rob Suggs, a reviewer and enthusiastic user of Logos. I share it with Rob's permission because of how well it illustrates the "aha" moment we love to provide for new users. 

If you want an easy way to help your friends and family discover Logos Bible Software, check out the Refer a Friend program.  –Daniel Foster

I’m attending a Saturday morning meeting of Bible study leaders. Since the topic is biblical interpretation, I’m planning on taking my laptop and doing a Libronix System X demonstration. I had lunch today with my pastor and told him my plans, asking, “By the way, are you a Logos user? What do you use to prepare a sermon?”

He gave me rather a blank look and said, “[Major Bible study site] on the Web.”

I said, “No kidding. How is that working out for you.”

He looked a little embarrassed and said, “Well, I click the passage, then wait for it to load. Then, if I want to compare another translation, it takes about six more clicks and waits to get to that screen . . .”

I said, “No kidding.” This pastor is not a remnant of the old days—he’s younger than I am.

I began to tell him about Logos. He asked, “Is it a Web site?”

I said, “No, it’s right on my hard drive.”

“Wow!” I’m seriously trying not to laugh here. This is my pastor.

I spent about ten minutes describing the things that take place within ten or fifteen seconds on my Libronix desktop; the quick reports and passage studies; the quick links to original language research. I happened to know that he studied at Trinity and his mentor was D. A. Carson. “Logos has a whole disk of D. A. Carson resources,” I said casually. “Most of his major writings, all of them searchable and fully integrating with the rest of your 25 or 30 Bible translations, commentaries, dictionaries, and other resources.”

By this time there was a serious line of drool extending from the lip of his mouth almost to the surface of the table. Other diners were beginning to stare at us.

As we left, he said, “Bring your computer. Show it all to me. I’ll bring my credit card.”

A Logos user living in Siberia recently posted his solution to an interesting problem: how to locate discussions of a doctrinal concept ("Preservation of Scripture") in his electronic library when that concept goes by many different names.

His solution was to create a search using the free Graphical Query Editor Addin which has been included in Logos base products since 2003. (If you don't have the Addin installed, open Libronix DLS, click Tools | Libronix Update, and select it from the list.)

His query includes a word list so that the search picks up variations on the name of the doctrine, such as "preservation of the text," "divine preservation," etc. This is a great example of how versatile the Graphical Query tool is...it's not just for biblical language searching!

I encourage you to check out the user's post. If you want to run his search against your own books, it's pretty easy to re-create from looking at his screenshot.

Or you can right-click on this link, choose to "Save Target As...", save the file to "My Documents\Libronix DLS\GraphicalQueries," then open and run it from within Libronix.

(Have I mentioned before that a cool benefit of the Libronix architecture is that most user-created files can be exchanged with other users via email attachments, just like any other computer file?)

I ran the search against my collection of journals and got dozens of excellent and relevant hits in 22 different articles.

We're always on the lookout for posts like this from Logos users. Let the world know about the interesting things you're doing with Logos Bible Software and we might blog you next!

Further reading:

Graphical Query Editor Tutorial

Chances are you have seen or heard about Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. The idea behind the Wikipedia is to allow creation and editing of articles by just about anyone. The underlying technology is something called a wiki, which is a simplified content management system that allows anyone to provide or edit articles.

For awhile now, Logos has hosted a wiki for its users. Ours is a bit more simplified than the Wikipedia, but it does the trick. The Logos User Wiki is a place you can go to for tips and even some detailed processes on reinstalling the software, compose feature ideas that others can contribute to or flesh out, or just browse around for ideas on different ways to use Logos Bible Software.

Check it out, and feel free to add articles or tips that you think might help the Logos Bible Software user community! We even have a newsgroup dedicated to questions about the wiki. So give it a shot!

UPDATE: The http://wiki.logos.com/">Logos Wiki has moved to a new location as of 11/12/09 http://wiki.logos.com/

Sometimes you hear a story that just sticks in your mind. Like the one about the pastor who preached through the entire Bible in a year, with his congregation reading along at a rate of 20+ chapters per week.

If you haven't already heard this yarn, check it out. With National Bible Week coming up later this month, it's a good time to think about what would happen if more churches followed this pastor's lead. And without spoiling the story, I should mention that Logos Bible Software plays a central role in assisting Pastor Bolender with his massive undertaking.

Here's an excerpt to whet your appetite...the full story is in the Leadership Journal archive.

In 2002, our church began an ambitious project: If the congregation would take up daily Bible reading again, I would teach scriptural surveys that covered the passages they were reading. By year's end, the congregation had read Genesis to Revelation, and I had taught 250 messages on all 66 books. I had to preach five times a week to keep up with the church (they were devouring 20-30 chapters a week), but a simple plan and some well-organized software enabled us to do it.

See also:

• Logos Case Study: Preaching Through the Bible in a Year


• Thru the Bible at Austin Bible Church (notes and audio in PDF and MP3 formats)

I have the utmost respect for anyone who takes on the challenge of learning to use a computer at an advanced age. I am of the sandwich generation (Gen X); growing up in rural Michigan, most of my peers did not have a computer at home and so were not exposed to computers until high school. When we got to high school, the "computer lab" still had a mix of typewriters and 286 IBM clones.

My family, however, owned a Commodore 64/128 (we later upgraded to an Amiga 500). The C64 was a great platform for games, but I can remember doing some word processing on it as well, using GEOS. Happily, I avoided ever having to type a paper of any significant length on a typewriter.