The Dead Sea Scrolls Online

It's time to brush up on your Hebrew (and Aramaic), the collection of writings known as the Dead Sea Scrolls are now available online for all to peruse. Thanks to Google and the Israel Museum, these ancient texts are searchable and viewable from anywhere in the world. 

My one year of Hebrew education doesn't enable me to translate the text. It uses a different script style and lacks the vowel pointings that make reading Hebrew possible for me (and most non-native speakers). However, this treasure is available to anyone who has the time and ability to work through the text. 

This is similar to the digital copy of Codex Sinaiticus, but pre-dates that text by as much as 800 years. The digital revolution is not leaving behind the heritage of a script-based world, but rather making them more accessible.

Poll Everywhere

My friend Mark Adams pointed me to a product called Poll Everywhere. It allows to create and see the results of a poll in real time. This could be a fantastic way to manage feedback during a sermon or presentation. One of the nice things about this is that you don't need to give out your personal number and manage the incoming information while trying to present. You can simply set up the poll and get the text number and let Poll Everywhere do the rest. On the downside it does cost a decent amount for even a moderately sized audience (250 people for $65 a month). I really like this idea, though.

How could we use this to increase the power of our preaching?

Align the Font with the Message

The short video below explains in clear terms how the font needs to align with the meaning of the logo. When we're communicating, we need to understand and do our best to control the messages that we're sending.

For example, if you are presenting on the sacrifice of Jesus you shouldn't use comic sans serif (just don't use that font at all to be safe). Visual communication is about more than just pictures.

How do you align your text with your message?