A couple of weeks ago I was accidentally introduced to something called SketchNotes". The idea intrigued me for my sermon notes so I did a little research. In doing so I found this book by Mike Rohde
So what ARE SketchNotes??? This is an explanation from Mike Rohde himself. . .
"Sketchnotes are purposeful doodling while listening to something interesting. Sketchnotes don't require high drawing skills, but do require a skill to visually synthesize and summarize via shapes, connectors, and text. Sketchnotes are as much a method of note taking as they are a form of creative expression."
The idea is that when you engage your creative skills, your listening skills, and your physical (writing) skills, along with your visual skills, you learn and retain more. It also makes your notes more user friendly, helping you to go back and find main points and re-enforce what you heard and learned. Apparently business people and students are doing this all over the country these days.
I found a ton of really cool examples online, which made me refine my search to "Sermon SketchNotes" and I found this book by Marsha Baker
I also found a ton of great examples of SketchNoting just for sermons! Here are a few of the ones I have found so you can better understand what it is I am talking about here . . .
Aren't they cool!!! They range from really busy to really clean and simple - colorful and black & white, lots of text, lots of icons (doodles).
So, I decided to give this a try. But I did not use a live speaker - instead I rewrote my sermon notes I had already written and here is my first one
I got 6 pages of notes down to these 3 pages and I lost nothing! I also can quickly find the info I want to revisit through the use of the icons.
See the difference in being able to find something in your notes?
They suggest you make yourself up an icon dictionary of little doodles etc that help you identify things so as you are doing your SketchNotes you don't have to come up with a doodle - they become part of your written vocabulary like regular words. So here is my little Icon Library I made up
So, next up on my quest to learn more about this was a Face Book group - that's right there is a group on FB - it is called Sketchnotes Community. It is a closed group but if you are interested in this I suggest you ask for an invite. I have found a lot of inspiration there and have found the small group to be very nice and helpful. In particular there is a gentleman named David Dial that has been so nice to answer questions for me and make encouraging comments on the things I have shared. But the best part is seeing his notes - Oh MY!!! They are great - beautiful to look at but more importantly they are just chock full of information! Take a look at some his work. . .
Aren't they AWESOME!!!!
So one day I asked David this question -
"I am very new to sketchnotes and I was
wondering if you would answer a couple of questions for me? Do you actually do
your SN live during a sermon or do you just do bullet points and create at
home? If you do this live how to you stay up with what your Pastor is saying -
any tips? One last questions - what pens do you use?Thank you for letting me
pick your brain a little."
and here is his answer complete with examples -
Marta- Glad you
joined. This little group is here to encourage and inspire any way we can.
Thanks for the gracious words. To answer your 'live' question: the attached is
the live pencil version I do during service, in my Moleskine sketchbook with
dot grid. I then sometime Sunday afternoon I adjust the layout and Chk my
spelling by inking it with farber caste ll brush pens and good old bic colored
felt tips.
Content is only good as the speaker and the
source. We get an outline our bulletin but I just let the Holy Spirit guide how
he is inspiring me that AM. Thx for the questions and happy sketchnotes.
Blessings.
Before
After
I have yet to do any "Live SketchNoting" I am still trying to find my groove in all of this. But I am rewriting all of my notes from our last sermon series "Reboot"
And I keep them in my little binder with my Sermon Cards I have been making.
I hope you will at least think about giving Sermon "SketchNoting" a try - you might like it???
More importantly, you might retain more of what you heard on Sunday morning!
Until we meet again, Be blessed and Be a blessing!!!
So, I have been helping out at the church office on Thursdays stuffing the bulletins (like 500+ of them),
and last week our assoc. Pastor Daren and I were talking and I mentioned my Psalm 139 Lady that I had made and he of course didn't know what I was talking about so I showed her to him on my blog. He really liked her and had lots of questions about the symbolism etc. He asked if I would bring her in next Thursday (today) so he could see her in person. We ended up taking a little "art tour" on my blog that day and he was surprised at what all I had created. He asked if I sold my art and I told him no - this was God's gift to me and so I love to share it with people but I struggle to sell it - that is not what God has intended it for (not for me anyhoo).
Well I went back to my bulletins and I had this overwhelming desire to create something just for Pastor Daren - was it God putting that desire on my heart????? So I asked him what his favorite scripture was. He explained that Jonah was his favorite book of the Bible, and that he loved the Psalms and was really studying Psalm 119 right now and that of course he loved Psalm 139 (who doesn't!). He asked why and I told him I wanted to create a piece just for him. I told him not to expect it by a certain date but that it would come.
When I got home that day I read the book of Jonah, um. . . no inspiration there! So I read Psalm 119 (all 176 verses - did you know this is the longest Psalm and the longest chapter in the Bible and that it is right in the center of the Bible? just a little trivia for you) and then I read Psalm 139 again. I wasn't feeling very inspired (artistically that is) by any of these. I just left it in God's hands - "what do YOU want to create through me for Daren Father?" this was my prayer.
On Monday it was like a bolt of lightening struck me - I knew exactly what the Father and I would be creating together - it would be Psalm 119 with and emphasis on verse 11 -
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
I gathered up my supplies and started laying it all out
Then I started "rusting" and aging stuff and painting the framework. This piece sits inside an old chess set that I got from Goodwill a couple of years ago on my birthday junque trip with Rooster (thanx Rooster!). I ripped out the velvet lining and painted it black then scuffed it all up so it would have the beautiful "old" look that I love so much!
That red, plastic heart that was left over from last year's Valentines Day (that I stole from my granddaughters - bad Amma) had to go!!! So it was transformed into this cool "metal" heart. The white plastic signage letters turned into the black letters on scrabble pieces (real Scrabble pieces don't have numbers!)
A coat of modeling paste and some paints and inks were next. Then the "final" layout of all the little pieces. Am I happy with it? Father is this what you had in mind?
Okay then let's glue it all down!!!
Ta Da! It is finished by Wednesday evening - just in time to take it to Pastor Daren on Thursday (today)
He was really surprised and he looked like he really liked it (which made me happy!). He had me explain all the symbolism to him - and I knew he would so I was prepared with a typed explanation for him. I walked out of his office to get my camera (I wanted a picture of him with it) and when I came back in he was standing there smiling just looking at it (again, this made me happy!).
Before I left for the day he already had it hung on the wall in his office and made me pose for a picture with him and the piece - I wish I had gotten one of those pictures!
I have to say thank you to Pastor Daren for inspiring me to get back in my studio to get messy and create something
and most especially thank you to the Holy Spirit for working through these hands of mine!
If you are at all interested in the details here are some more pictures and explanation. . .
Element - Meaning - Verses
Heart
Seeking with
my heart, praising Him with all my heart, Setting my heart on His laws,
Obeying with my whole heart, and so much more!
2, 7, 10, 11,
30, 34, 36, 58, 111, 112, 145, 161
Computer Board
Remembering
and storing knowledge and love of the Word.
11
Rulers
Laws,
Statutes, Precepts, Commandments, Decrees, Word. This comes from something Pastor
Ray says - How do you know what is right or wrong? What is your measuring
stick?
Too many to
list!
Cross
Salvation and
His promises
38, 41, 81,
94, 123, 166, 174
Arrow
Following
3, 14, 33, 80,
106, 166
Clocks/Clock Parts
Eternity and Everlasting,
and Time
62, 89, 142,
160
Coins
Silver and
Gold
72, 127
Light Bulbs
Lamp &
Light
105
Key (Fortress)
Refuge
114
Key (Master)
I am God's
Servant
6, 11, 17, 38,
49, 65, 76, 84, 91, 125, 140, 144
Pad Locks
Learning,
Understanding and Teaching
34, 100, 104,
124, 125, 130, 135, 152, 169, 171
Compass
Path, Walk,
Way & Steps
1, 9, 30, 32,
33, 35, 45, 59, 101, 105, 133
You will
notice that there are two hearts, 1 BIG heart and one little heart. The Big
heart represents God's love for us and the little heart is ours.
I will be back soon with some more Sermon notes to share. . . till we meet again. . . Be blessed and Be a blessing!!!!
Well, in my last post I shared with you all HOW I take my sermon notes and study my Bible so that I can then create my sermon cards. Today I am gonna share some FUN news about that. . .
All of my copious notes are going to turn into a small group at my church! It is all still in the planning stages at this point, but we will meet weekly and go over the notes Pastor Ray provides in the bulletin, study the scripture references and then create some art and do some journaling!
I have always believed that each one of us is CREATIVE in some way because our Father is CREATIVE and we are made in HIS image!
“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27).
If you had any doubt that God is creative or that He passed on the creative ability to us, I’d ask you to notice that the word “create” appears three times in this single verse!
Here is another verse that I just shared with you the other day -
“For we are His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them”(Ephesians 2:10).
When we think of this verse, we usually think about “good works” as spiritual disciplines and the ways in which we serve others, and that’s true. Remember though: creativity can be a spiritual discipline, a way to honor God and worship Him and it can also be a way to serve others - sharing your creativity and art can serve to inspire and encourage others!
One more scripture for you. . .
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving(Colossians 3:23-24).
So "whatever you do" means everything you do , including your creativity/art. You should do it with ALL of your heart! Let’s always remember who has given us our creativity and who we use it to worship!
So here is my art for today - this will be the "logo" if you will, for the small group. I made this one a little bigger than usual so that it would fit on the front cover of my binder. I am so excited to get started with this group and I pray that God will use me and be glorified through this group and that it will be a blessing to the ladies at my church.
let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies
This is something my Mom always says about me - and not always in a very flattering manner I must add! When she first starting saying this to me I was pretty sure that copious meant "a lot" but to be sure I looked it up and I had to laugh at the sample sentence they used
"I had been a little too copious in talking of my country"
Well, it is true - I do take copious notes - always have and always will I am sure.
Tonight I wanted to share with you how I take my sermon notes since I have been sharing with you all my journaling cards from my sermon notes lately. I have added a lot of pictures to help explain what will sound like a lengthy process, but is really quite easy and convenient for me anyways. For those of you that know me, you know I am really organized and really anal and I really LOVE binders!!!
So let's take a look at how I take my notes and really absorb God's Word spoken to me through my Pastor and my Bible each week. . .
This is all of my equipment -
A = my binder that holds my church bulletins for the year (yes, I save them all)
B = my binder that holds all of my journaling cards (both binders are A-5 or 1/2 sized binders)
C = my church Bible all dressed up with it's "Bible belt" that I made
D = my journal that I make more detailed notes in
This is the inside of my binder for my bulletins.I keep each one in a page protector and use dividers to separate each sermon series so I can easily find them. I use the page protectors so that I don't have to punch holes in my bulletins and I can see both sides easily.
This is the Bible I take to church. It is a thin-line ESV Bible (I am typically an NIV Bible reader but my Pastor preaches from an ESV and I get distracted when he is reading from one translation and I am reading another). Because it is so thin it easily fits in my purse so I am not having to carry a bunch of stuff to church. I buy a new Bible every December for the upcoming year and I only use this Bible for my sermon notes. It serves as a great way to keep my notes on scriptures as well as a sort of spiritual journal for the year. This particular Bible runs under $15 so I can easily justify a new Bible each year just for this. Also if you see the 3 skinny ribbons at the bottom - I add those to the Bible because I hate bookmarks but like to be able to flip back and forth. They are easy to add and I take them out and reuse them in my next Bible each year.
This is my "Bible Belt" that I made and all of it's goodies. I LOVE this thing!!!
A = the belt its self - it is made out of some fabric, wide elastic and velcro. It has little slots that hold all of my tools securely to my Bible and ensure I have everything I need when I go to church or am sitting at home ready to study.
B = Is a card I make each year that helps me make markings in my Bible that identify each sermon series at a glance. (more on this later)
C = a highlighter - for highlighting special stand out words on my bulletin and in my Bible
D = Bic stic-pen - for writing on my bulletin and in my journal
E = Micron 02 Pen - I use this to write in my Bible because it doesn't bleed through the thin pages and I have to write so small in my Bible and it gives me nice clean lines and the biggest plus is that it doesn't smear! I used to use a regular pen and it always smeared - YUCK!
F = Crayola Colored Pencil - I use this for highlighting full verses and notes in my Bible. I change the color of the pencil for each sermon series so that I can easily search my Bible for notes and scriptures from a certain sermon series. I use a pencil because you can't see it on the back side of the page like you can with a highlighter and it allows you to still clearly read your Bible - I love these!!!
This is what my Bible looks like on it's way home from church. The little belt also holds my bulletin nice and tight on the way home so it doesn't get wrinkled or lost. It also stays right there until I finish my notes and put it in my binder.
Okay - so those are all of my "TOOLS" now I will show you how I actually use all of them. . .
This is a more detailed shot of one of the bulletins. Our Pastor always has "fill-in the blanks" to help with note taking and always adds lots of cross reference scriptures for us to look up on our own (it is 2-sided so there are more fill-in the blanks etc on the back). All the scribbling you see in pen are the notes I take during the sermon while I am at church. But there is always soooo much more to write but I cannot keep up during service so I make little notes and also write things like "listen to this point again".
All of the blue markings you see are the cross references he gives us - when I get home and actually study I color the scriptures with the colored pencil showing that I have looked them up and marked them in my Bible. This way if I have to stop for some reason I know where I left off.
This is my journal that I take all of my "copious notes" in. Remember above I said I make notes like "listen to this point again"? Well, on Mondays (sometimes not until Tuesday) the church uploads the sermon online (complete with the bulletin to print if I have to miss a Sunday) and I watch it again. Now I am in CONTROL!!! I can pause Pastor Ray as many times as I need so I can write my notes and make full thoughts instead of just scratches!
This is what the inside of my journal looks like - I always date it (I use the sermon date not the date I take the notes) and I list the series name and sermon title as well as the main scripture at the top of the page.
mostly I do bullet point notes
This is the inside of my Bible and you can see there is little bit of highlighting to draw attention to that word/phrase and then you also see that there are some red and some blue markings as well as handwritten notes. The red is from the first sermon (not a full series) of the year. The blue markings are the current sermon series "Reboot" This is a 6 week series so for 6 weeks I will use the blue pencil for my markings and then I will change colors. I also band my handwritten notes with the colored pencil so that I know what series those notes came from. Often we will reference a scripture in more than one series of sermons and this keeps my note easy to understand and relate to the topic that was being studied at the time the notes were taken.
At the top of the page you see these little marks with the red and blue pencils. These are made using the card I made that sits in my Bible belt - you can see a close up of it below. I slide the card under the page I am reading and the one behind it making sure it is even with the top of the page and then I color a little vertical line that corresponds with the lines on the little card I made. This way I can easily fan the pages of my Bible and see where all of the scripture references are for a particular sermon series. The card is not necessary I guess but it keeps all the little lines in the same place on each page which makes the fanning better - you can see this is a picture towards the bottom that shows last year's finished Bible.
I make this as soon as I get my Bible and color in every other line with a different color. Then as we start a new series I add the series title and the date started in that colored in area. When we finish the series I add the finished date.
This is the back of my Bible. My Bible has 6 blank pages in the back and in the front. I use the front for more notes and I use the back to log the different sermons. I write the date and the title, the main scripture reference and a short description. I color code this too!
So, once I have gone to church, got my bulletin, listened to the sermon, listened to it again online, made my notes, read and marked all of the cross references I get to draw! There is always something said in the sermon or a certain scripture that really resonates with my spirit. Something that I really want to sink in deep - something to chew on all week, the big take-away from the sermon. Those are the things that end up on my journaling cards. I try to pray and meditate as I draw - but if I am honest I am not always successful at focusing only on the meaning - I often get distracted by the actual process of drawing.
So that is how I work what God has to say to me through my Pastor down deep into my heart and into my mind. I am very disciplined about this. Even when I am feeling spiritually dry or struggling with issues in my life - I do not neglect doing this. I especially need to do this when the hard times arise. I need to fill myself up with His Word and His presence even when I don't feel like it or when I don't feel Him close by!
I also don't think God asks us to go to church and merely sing some songs and warm a pew and check it off of our to-do-list for the week. I think He wants us to worship Him, fellowship with other believers and I believe it is essential to our spiritual growth and strength!
Hebrew 10: 23 - 25
23Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
I know that while I was away in California this summer for my Granddaughters treatments for her brain tumor I MISSED being at my Church and having that fellowship with my church family! But I was so thankful that my church cares enough to have each sermon online so that I could still be fed that way. And yes - I did this while I was away too. It was harder to do but I needed it!
My hope and prayer is that each of you reading this has found a church family of your own that preaches the Word and feeds you well each week!
Lastly - this is last year's Bible and Bulletin Binder. The little card is all full - the binder is full and the Bible is really full! (this picture shows the blank pages in the front of the Bible that I fill up with extra notes)
This is what the edges of my Bible look like when you fan the edges. There are 9 different series represented here!
I love how colorful my Bible looks by the end of the year - and I love going back through it and remembering all that I learned that year.
There are 2 more pages of this in the back with all of the sermons listed. So even if I don't have my notes or my bulletins I can easily go back and find the scriptures I need to find and refill my tank!
And when i put my Bible on the shelf when the year is over I just paperclip the marking card to the front cover.
I hope you enjoyed seeing how I take my "copious notes" and I hope it encouraged you to dig a little deeper in God's Word!
