Before I begin highlighting tool number two, a word of clarification on the first tool…I want Sandy. I mentioned that one of the things I did not care for was receiving an e-mail reply on every reminder request I sent. I just felt it was one more e-mail to delete.

One of the team that makes up IwantSandy left a comment that let us know that the notifications can in fact be turned off. I went in and lo and behold, found a place to change that as an option. No more extra e-mails for me!

Now onto to the second tool….iTunes. I am not a big music fan, but I use iTunes to listen to podcasts and keep up on the sermons of my favorite preachers and talks from leadership experts. (I also listen to the best fantasy baseball podcasts available so I can dominate my friends!) Besides these topics, you can listen to podcasts on politics, to learn a foreign language, and expand a hobby.

The best way to get started with iTunes for podcasts is to go to the site, download the software, and then go to the podcasts section. From there you can browse podcasts in dozens of categories. When a new sermon or talk is available, iTunes will grab it for you and have it up for your listening enjoyment.

If you are not able to listen at your desk but take advantage of your drive time for learning on inspiration, you can simply take the MP3 file iTunes grabbed and load it onto a MP3 player or burn it onto a CD. If you have an iPod this system is gold. If you have a standard MP3 player, like I do, you can drop the file onto the player like you would any other audio file.

Students - Podium
Creative Commons License photo credit: m00by

One final note, while I have not attempted this, a few friends use Itunes Agent to get iPod/iTunes functionality on a non-Apple MP3 player.

I am a strong believer in personal development and learning in the pastorate and iTunes is a simple way we can learn via the audio lessons and sermons of others.