Evernote is one of those programs that, once you start using, you wonder how you ever worked without it. Evernote is a memory capture and recall app; you can save any type of file into Evernote and easily access it from a wide variety of devices. I have been using Evernote for youth ministry since August 2008, and it quickly became an essential part of my workflow.

Here are 3 ways you can start using Evernote today in your youth ministry:

• Track Budget. I create a note for every ministry expense. In the note, I provide a description of the expense, as well as where and when I spent the money. I take a picture of the receipt with my iPhone, which I can also attach to the note, so that I keep a copy of the receipt. If I need to be reimbursed, I include that in the note, along with when I receive the reimbursement.
• File Illustrations and Ideas. When I am online I am always looking for new ideas for ministry: creative advertisements, potential youth events, and sermon and lesson illustrations. I try to save anything that could be useful. What’s great about Evernote is that I don’t have to worry about saving space; my sermon illustrations would fill up a filing cabinet drawer alone! Then when I am doing sermon prep, I use Evernote’s search feature and user-defined tags to find any relevant material.
• Keep Previous Years’ Communication. I try to keep every handout and every event description on Evernote. That way, if I am trying to figure out what year we went on a certain trip or covered a certain passage in Youth Group, I don’t have to wrack my brain – the answer is just a few keystrokes away. I have also tried to write a brief recap of the event right after it happens, so I have an even better grasp on how it went and what to change.

For more tips on using Evernote, I highly recommend Michael Hyatt’s Evernote series – I learned a great deal from this series. Evernote also has a great library of intro videos on their website.

Question: How else do you use Evernote in youth ministry?