This is an indirect refresh of a previous article (https://michaelmdiv.wordpress.com/2015/03/17/im-michael-baker-teaching-pastor-at-fridley-covenant-church-and-this-is-how-i-work-2/). I didn’t think the original article would be very popular, but I still wrote it because sometimes it helps to get my thoughts out on paper (even if it is digital paper). I discovered that it was more popular than I thought, and it was useful to churches checking on me for pastoral work, wondering “who is this guy?” Over seven years have passed since I wrote the original, so it seemed natural to update it. I was just going to do this once, but I realized that what I use and how I work are two different topics, so I will post something later that will refresh how I work more directly.

Computer setup: Home Office

My home office setup consists of a self-built AMD computer with Ryzen 5 5800X processor, 32GB of memory, 2TB of storage for games, and dual 24” Dell monitors. I love putting computers together, though I usually don’t have a lot of time or money to do it (special thanks to those who have donated parts to my hobby!). I also have a dedicated video card for gaming (GTX 1650 Super), and an Anker webcam for video calls.

Computer setup: Church Office

My setup in the church office is Dell Optiplex Micro desktop, with an 8^th generation Intel Core i7 processor and dual 27” monitors. I also have a Logitech webcam and desktop microphone for video calls.

Computer setup: Living Room

I have a computer connected to our living room TV, because it is a 4K display, and I use the computer like an Xbox or PlayStation. The computer itself is self-built with Lian-Li 205 Mesh case, AMD Ryzen 5 3600 processor, 1TB SSD for lots of games and 3060Ti video card. It is not for just gaming; my wife and I also use it for video calls with friends, so we have a Logitech webcam and a Blue Yeti Microphone for better audio quality.

Computer Setup: Laptop

When I am traveling or out and about working, I use my Lenovo laptop, with 10^th generation i3 processor and 15.6 display. I just upgraded to a Samsung 500GB SSD for more storage. I also have Windows 11 installed, so I can test it out before putting it on my gaming machines.

Computer Setup: NAS (Network Attached Storage)

My WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra NAS (network-attached storage) device with 4 TB of total storage is mirrored for data redundancy. It has a host of other features, including media streaming, but I have not tried those out yet. Right now, it is doing what we bought it for: hosting our backups, so we don’t lose data.

Microsoft and Google

Microsoft 365 Family

I don’t use all the apps that are included in this suite. The ones I use most are Word (for sermons and other ministry documents), Excel (my preaching schedule and numbers I need to track are in spreadsheets), OneNote (personal and professional digital notebooks), and PowerPoint (for the occasional sermon presentation; I don’t use it a lot). I am thinking about switching to Google for writing, spreadsheets, and slides, and just using the free version of OneNote, but I like the storage that comes with Microsoft 365, plus offline versions are nice when the internet is spotty.    

Google Chrome Extensions

Google Chrome is the web browser I use most. I don’t like the tracking and telemetry that is baked in to Chrome (and we need to talk more about this in our society), but Google makes it so darn easy to use. I have looked at other browsers (Firefox is getting better and better), but I haven’t devoted enough time to making the switch.

I am very picky about what extensions I install because most of them have full access to what you are typing, and they can also do horrible things to your browser or computer if weaponized. The two I have installed right now are Evernote Web Clipper, so I can clip articles to store digitally, and uBlock Origin. uBlock is a great ad blocker and I wouldn’t surf the Net without something like this (there are others if you prefer another ad-blocker).

Microsoft Edge

Google Chrome is my primary browser, but since I have a Microsoft account for both home and work, it helps to use the work account on a separate browser. Microsoft is obviously determined to get me consumers to use Edge, so I use it to sign in to office.com, so I can work on church documents away from the church.

Bible software

BibleWorks 8

I started out my journey with Bible software in seminary. BibleWorks was affordable ($350 I think) compared to Logos and Accordance at that time. Logos seemed (and still seems) more like Windows…very easy, user friendly, but it costs more money and requires stronger hardware. Accordance was like MacOS; in fact, it was written for only Macs at that time. BibleWorks was like Linux…command line searches, minimal UI, and a focus on speed, so it was cheaper and able to run on more computers. Sadly, BibleWorks is no longer, ending with version 10, but I still keep it because it has a few resources that I don’t have elsewhere.

Accordance Bible Software

When BibleWorks essentially went out of business in 2018 (their website is still up and they are still working on fixes for BibleWorks 10), I gave serious thought to never buying electronic resources ever again. Fortunately, Accordance came out with some very attractive and cheap packages for old BibleWorks users. I was able to get large chunks of what I had with BibleWorks for a fraction of what they would normally cost. Now, I have almost everything I had before and more. I have purchased some additional things like commentary sets, multiple resources for Greek and Hebrew, and even shelled out for the audio files for both Greek and Hebrew readers of the Bible.

If you aren’t interested in what specific modules I have, feel free to skip to the next section. If you want to know details, here they are:

BDAG Greek English Lexicon, Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the OT, Expositor’s Bible Commentary-Revised Edition, The NIV Application Commentary, Greek New Testament (both UBS5 and NA28), Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, Liddell and Scott (intermediate), Biblia Hebracia Stuttgartensia, IVP Bible Dictionary Series, and Theological Dictionary of the NT (Little Kittel). This is not an exhaustive list, so if you are curious and have questions, feel free to ask!

PC Software

Finances: My wife and I used Microsoft Money for years, but sadly, it is no longer, so we are trying to make the jump to Quicken. Quicken is the best for our needs, which are robust tracking and reporting, but more importantly, Quicken is not a cloud service, nor is it connected to the internet unless we want it to be (updates and downloading transactions). While that is not ideal, the number of security breaches make it hard to trust cloud services for sensitive data like financial records.

Content Creation

I sometimes make sermon clips or copy videos for use in worship, so I have some tools to help with that. (To be clear, no copyright infringement is intended or implied. I own copies of the content and my purposes fall under fair use).

I use 4K Video Downloader for YouTube videos. I also use WinX DVD Ripper Platinum to get clips from DVDs. I use Windows Movie Maker for editing (it has an easy way to fade in or out from black) and I use DVDStyler to make DVDs of worship videos. If I need an .iso file of a DVD I own, I use ImgBurn to make it.

Only one computer has a DVD drive anymore, but to play DVDs in Windows, I use VLC video player. Otherwise, I just use the built in video player in Windows.

Communication

To keep up with other humans, I mostly use Zoom nowadays. I also have used Skype a lot (although rarely now) and more recently started using Discord for gaming with friends. I am thinking about moving to Google Meet, so I can eliminate one more service.

Notetaking

I have three different solutions for digital notetaking. While that might sound complex/unnecessary, I use each of these solutions for a different purpose, so it works out pretty seamlessly (most of the time)

The first service is Evernote and I use it as a digital locker/file cabinet. Here is where I store all the news articles, blog posts, and more long form content. I tried Evernote premium, with the goal of using it for all my digital notetaking and more, but it did not really work as I wanted it to. Your mileage may vary; it just didn’t work for me, especially when it came to sharing.

The second service is OneNote, which is included in Microsoft 365. I use OneNote like a digital notebook. It is not good at saving and organizing news articles and blog posts, but it is fantastic for classes, seminars, business meetings, and other places I need to take detailed notes.

The last service is Google Keep and I use that like digital Post-it notes. When Keep first came out, it was so barebones, I couldn’t imagine anyone using it, but now you can not only take notes, but you can label them, use checkboxes, and set reminders for yourself. Neither Evernote or OneNote excelled at these tasks for me, so Google Keep fills that need.

Evernote is great at storage, OneNote is great at notetaking, and Keep is great at short notes with reminders. Again, this works for me, and you might find things work differently for you.

Utilities

I don’t tend to have a lot of utilities on my computer, but I have two that are invaluable. The first is Macrium Reflect. Sadly, they just discontinued the free version of this utility, but it is the only one that has made perfect clones of my bootable, operating system drives without any hiccups. It just works, and it does it very well. It is worth the money; I have just been spoiled by their free offer for so long.

The other utility is Samsung Magician. It doesn’t do lot, but it gets right what it does do. I keep track of performance, the amount of data written, and I can make flash drives that erase the SSD without harming it.

Online services

Notebird is an app for those who do pastoral care. I admit I was hesitant about it at first, like how much would I really use it, but it has been very helpful for keeping track of notes, birthdays and anniversaries, and reminders to check in with folks. It is a bit spendy ($10 a month if you pay for a year), but it is definitely worth it. It also integrates with some church management systems, including Breeze.  

Canva is a great content creation tool. Not only does it have helpful templates and prompts for digital graphics, but it does it without needing a powerful computer or device for media creation. It is another subscription, but super helpful if you are in ministry and need to make social media posts or content for the church website.

MileIQ tracks all my miles and I can categorize them for personal or business purposes, so when it comes time to submit them for reimbursement, it is super easy. It does miss a drive on rare occasions, but I guarantee I would miss more drives if I didn’t have this. It used to be included in Microsoft365, but is now its own thing, so you pay by (you guessed it) a subscription. Still $60 is not bad and the app does tend to pay for itself.

WordPress.com is where I have my blog posted (obviously since you are reading this). I don’t give this near enough love, but at least it is free, so I am not paying anything when I am not using it (unlike a gym membership).

The church I currently serve (soon to change) uses Breeze church management system to track membership, giving, and more. There are very few options for an offline program these days and Breeze seemed the best option for us. Easy to use, low cost, and lots of support, including free imports of our data. They are a fantastic company to work with, but they recently raised prices (around 30%), which has me thinking about moving to something else.

Ministrymatters.com and umcdiscipleship.com are two websites run by the United Methodist Church that have great worship resources. They have prayers and litanies if you are running the worship service, as well as sermon ideas if you are preaching, and content for kids if you need to do children’s church or messages. They also have the UMC Book of Worship online, which is great for creating your own order of worship/service.

Odds and Ends

Mobile

I have a Google Pixel 6 with T-Mobile, which is a good device that I got on a great deal, but it is a reminder not to buy the first generation of a new phone. Let them work out the bugs first.

The Pixel 6 has 128GB of memory, which seems to be the sweet spot for many people. I use a lot of storage with podcasts and sleep videos, in case I am ever caught without an internet or wireless connection.

I have Gmail, Messages, Settings, Chrome, and Camera in the dock. I have way too many apps on my homescreen, at least they are organized into folders. I have Google and Microsoft apps, as well as devotional (Pray As You Go, the Bible Project, and PrayerMate) and exercise apps (Loseit and Fitbit). I use Feedly to track news and other articles of interest. Audible is a recent addition for audiobooks and PocketCasts is my favorite for podcasts (I got in before the subscription). MarcoPolo is great for sending video chats to my boss, who demands all his pastors use it (just kidding Fred!). A few games here and there, but mostly my phone is a work device.

Wearable

Fitbit Inspire 3. I track Active Minutes rather than steps, so that I am focused more on my heart rate than just on activity.

Tablet

We have a Lenovo Duet Chromebook, but it is more for my wife as I use it very rarely.