5 smartphone apps that can enhance your ministry

I first became aware of the potential of mobile technology in ministry years ago as a budget-strapped youth pastor who craved the ability to harness simple technology to enhance my work.

Looking back, it's funny how things have changed in such a short time. Back then, the paperless pulpit was barely out of the concept stage. Now, pastors oand leaders are living it.

So, for people looking to truly use their PDAs as MDAs, here is a list of software apps that can make the job easier.

Bible software: Duh! There are a couple of options here. If you have web access and/or a data plan on your phone, the options increase substantially.

Laridian (along with Beiks) provides Bibles to Windows, iPhone, and BB users. Olive Tree does as well, and tosses in a free reader program as well. Got a Palm and/or Treo? Well, you have an additional option: Bible+. Each of these programs gives you the ability to have your bible on your device. Some even give you the option of saving books and related devotional material to an expansion card. E-sword is yet another option for limited platforms.

With web access, you can use YouVersion or the Bible.com, amongst others. Both are free; YouVersion has dedicated ports for BlackBerry and iPhone.

Point is, there are numerous options for the smartphone man or woman.

HanDBase: One of my favorites... database management at its best. Once you use this award-winning offering from DDH Software, you'll wonder how you got along without it. Has an optional (but indispensable, IMHO) desktop companion. Bonus: DDH's founder, David Haupert, is a christian artist. Available for WinMo, Palm, Symbian, iPhone/Touch and BB.

Remember The Milk: GTD, here we come. RTM is a great task manager. It is primarily web based, and it has an iPhone port. It also has optional sync abilities with WinMo and BlackBerry. For BB users, check out the free port beta BBRTM.

RTM integrates with Google Calendar and Twitter.

Documents To Go: Docs2Go is a household name amongst palm enthusiasts, and is becoming one for BlackBerry users as well. For good reason, too. Having the ability to access, edit and create MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents is priceless. Dataviz has this for BlackBerry, Palm, Symbian, and soon for iPhone/iTouch and even Android.

Google Mobile: Wow. Gmail, Google Sync, Maps, Mobile Blogger, Search, Docs, etc. And available for EVERY major phone platform, including Nokia and of course, Android.

Great resources for the mobile ministry professional.