Our Ministry and WORDsearch
Ralph & Yvonne Burrage

To begin to tell you the impact of this software program I must go back to the beginning. In the early 1990’s I began to look for help in the multitude of responsibilities attached to the life of a Minister of Education in a fast-growing church.

Part of my responsibility was to teach God’s Word, train God’s leaders and maintain my personal walk with God in the midst of a very busy schedule peppered with appointments and supervisory responsibilities. I was serving at the Calvary Baptist Church in Beaumont, Texas during a time of incredible growth and the time for preparation and devotion was constantly being challenged by the latest crisis. I first came in contact with the WORDsearch program at a personal growth seminar during a time of sharing and immediately purchased it and became an instant fan. Even in its earliest releases it gave you instantaneous access to scriptural reference materials, commentaries and other tools necessary for both personal Bible study and preparation in my role as a leader of leaders.

Soon my ministry moved to the First Baptist Church of Springdale, Arkansas where I served in a similar capacity but with a much larger staff and lay leadership responsibility. It was there that I realized the opportunity I had to share with others this wonderful tool for Bible study and personal enrichment. I purchased the basic program for all of my adult teachers and I still hear from some of them and compare software stories long distance.

One of the things I have always enjoyed about WORDsearch is the fact that about the time that I thought of a book that would really be helpful in an electronic format, lo and behold I would receive a flyer or mailout indicating it was now available in the latest release of the program. Each new release not only gave you more resources but also gave you and continues to do so an ever increasingly easy to use interface. I love the ability to arrange the books on my bookshelves within WORDsearch so that whenever I’m in need of a resource it’s handy. It’s also great to be able to hit F7 and have material that you find helpful appear in your word processor.

The move to CD Rom took all the difficulties of installation and upgrades to a whole new level of convenience. No more microfloppies to insert and eject with every new resource. This month I finally reached a milestone with this program, nearly one gigabyte of resources available instantaneously. I must admit I have always intended to learn all the neat things you can do with WORDsearch but after more than a decade of use I still get so excited about the resources I have failed to ever read the manual through.

One of the people I shared WORDsearch with initially was my wife, Yvonne. She is not the most computer literate person in the world but when she saw what it could contribute to her ministry as a freelance writer of curriculum and ministry oriented devotional materials as well as her speaking and teaching ministry she took the plunge. I’ve asked her to share a few of the things she has found helpful.

YVONNE
One of the most important things for me is ease of use. Like Ralph said, I get a little intimidated by software but WORDsearch saves me hours and hours of looking up references in multiple commentaries and concordances. To be able to click on a topic and review multiple references on that topic has greatly lessened time pressure in my writing and studying.

For Sunday School preparation I have found it so useful to outline my lessons on my word processor and to be able to open a reference or a commentary and copy it directly into the body of my outline. I love being able to copy a verse from several translations into my teaching notes – it is very useful for emphasis.

Finding several resources, which give questions to ask about scriptures, has been very helpful for Bible study preparation. Not only do I use them in my lesson plans, but also I use them as a personal study aid by answering the questions personally.

As a freelance writer and speaker it is so helpful when working on a project to have so many resources to expand my thinking about a particular subject. To have published articles to read illustrations to review, and writings of classic Christian thinkers has broadened my scope of understanding.

God’s Word Application and the Complete Book of Everyday Christianity are just two of the examples of the many practical tools available within WORDsearch to help apply scriptural principles to every day Christian living. These tools make my writing, teaching, and speaking more relevant.

RALPH
I presently serve as Senior Associate Pastor at First Baptist Church of Norfolk, Virginia where I have regular opportunities to share the tools I’ve found to be helpful from WORDsearch. I teach a Pastor’s Class and discipleship classes and am involved in mentoring men on our staff and lay leaders. The constant presence of a tool like WORDsearch gives me an assurance I have the tools I need when God gives me an opportunity to share His Word with large groups in preaching and teaching and small group and one on one work in mentoring.

I’ll close this review with some of my favorite tools.

• First of all, ZIPscript a built in resource that is available so that you might insert multiple versions or passages of scripture in any word processing document.
• Another of my favorites is the Preacher’s Outline Study Bible.
• The Discipleship Journal library is an invaluable tool in reading some of the finest articles from the choicest of God’s servants over the last two decades.
• Discussion questions available through the LESSONmaker program.
• The language resources available for those of us not expert in the original languages of God’s Word.
• Thousands of illustrations available for use in teaching and preaching.
• Classic and contemporary works of E.M Bounds, Jonathan Edwards, Josephus, Thomas a Kempis, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, the Confessions of St. Augustine, George Barna, Jack Hayford, Peter Wagner, and others.
• Tools like the Holman Bible Dictionary, Thompson Chain-Reference Bible, What the Bible is All About, and Wilmington’s Bible Handbook.
• The new practical word studies are terrific.
• Twenty versions of the Bible.
• Much, much, more.

I use WORDsearch every day.  I just can’t imagine teaching or studying the Bible without it. You need to see it for yourself. It’s phenomenal.

Ralph Burrage
Senior Associate Pastor
First Baptist Church Norfolk
312 Kempsville Road
Norfolk, Va. 23502

If you would like more information regarding WORDsearch and LESSONmaker products check out their website at www.WORDsearchBible.com.

for more information, contact

Randy Beck, WORDsearch Corp.
3006 Longhorn Blvd. #110, Austin, TX  78758   1-800-888-9898
rbeck@wordsearchbible.com

WORDsearch™, LESSONmaker™, Bible Explorer®, and CROSS™ are trademarks of WORDsearch Corp.  Other trademarks are property of their respective companies.