What guided study options does Verbum offer?

Note: Available to all subscriptions and in all legacy packages Starter and above.

Workflows offer guided instructions for a range of tasks like sermon preparation, word studies, study methods, family worship, and more. Each Workflow offers unique prompts to help you think, reflect, and respond to whatever passage you are working on. When you’re finished, Verbum records all your responses so you’ll always have access to your work.

Plus, started Workflows will be automatically added to the Get Started section of your Dashboard so you can quickly pick up where you left off.

 

Skip ahead to:

• Get Started
• Find your Workflow Notes
• Workflow Descriptions
• Custom Workflows
• Sections That Require Features You Don't Have
• Additional Resources

 

Get Started

Verbum has many pre-made Workflows as well as an option to create a custom Workflow tailored to your process and needs.

1. 1. Click the Guides / Workflows icon on the main navigation and select a workflow.
   2. Enter the person, place, or passage you want to study in the search box and press Enter. The Workflow will open to an outline of the overall process and show all of the steps to complete.

      Note: The Workflow is broken up into major steps and minor steps. Each major step has a description of what to accomplish and is designated by a number (ie. 1, 2, 3). Minor steps are where you will record your notes and reflections. Each minor step is designated by a decimal point. For example, step 1 in section 1 is 1.1.

      
      
      

   3. Follow the prompts in each step. Anything you write will be saved in a new notebook and automatically titled “Name of Workflow | Passage or Person”. Each note field in the Workflow represents a unique note saved in the notebook.
   4. Click Continue when you finish one step and want to proceed to the next. Click Skip if this step is not necessary for you. You can close the Workflow at any point and Verbum will remember where you left off so you can pick right back up again later.

      Note: Links to tools and resources typically open new panels, tabs, or floating windows depending on the type of resource being accessed. Some guide sections, however, can be accessed from within the Workflow itself. Click the undock icon to open content in a new panel.

   5. Orange circles mark your current location in the Workflow. These change to check marks after you click complete and proceed to the next step. If a step has several sub-steps below it, the Workflow will display your progress by filling a portion of the ring to the right of the step’s name. Grey circles indicate steps you’ve skipped.

      

 

Find your Workflow Notes

As you move through the Workflow, many steps will prompt you to record your insights. You can access your Workflow notes through the Notes tool or by opening your completed Workflow.

Each note field is saved as a separate note within an easily identifiable notebook. By default, the notebook title will contain the name of the Workflow and may also display the passage being considered. So notes from an Inductive Bible Study Workflow on 1 Corinthians 4:1-6 will be saved to a notebook titled "Inductive Bible Study | 1 Corinthians 4:1-6" by default.

Note: You can rename notebooks however you choose using the Notes Tool.

You can also use filters to find all of your Workflow notes in the Notes tool. Open the Navigation Menu  in the Notes tool, and type Workflow in the filter search box, or scroll down the list of filters until you find Anchor > Workflow. Passage-based Workflow notes are also anchored to the biblical book. For example, notes from a Passage Exegesis Workflow on 1 Corinthians 4:1-6 will be anchored to the book of 1 Corinthians.

 

Workflow Descriptions

There are many pre-made Workflows to choose from but they break down into three basic categories. There are Workflows for Devotional Study, Bible and Topic Study, and Homily Preparation. You can read more details about each Workflow when you open it.

Note: The following describes some of the basic Workflows included in most Verbum packages.

Devotional Study

Workflows in this category include Devotional, Lectio Divina, Praying Scripture, and Sara Hagerty’s Adoration Workflow. These Workflows will guide you through your devotional time, giving structure for your time in the Word and prayer.

 

Bible and Topic Study

Workflows in this category include Basic Bible Study, Biblical Person Study, Biblical Place Study, Biblical Theme Study, Biblical Topic Study, Inductive Bible Study, Michael Heiser’s Bible Research Method, Passage Exegesis, Ralph West’s Weaving the Textual Web, Ridley Rosner’s Regular Reading Routine, Theological Topic Study, and Word Study (Original Language).

These Workflows will guide you through studying a particular passage, person, topic, or theme. The Workflow will pull together your relevant resources, guides, and tools from your Verbum library so that you’re working with the best information available to you.

Use these Workflows for your personal study time, in preparation for small group discussions, or for a research project you’re working on. Additionally, any Workflow attributed to a specific person (ex. Michael Heiser’s Bible Research Method) has been designed to walk you through the same process they use(d) in their own study!

 

Homily Preparation

Workflows in this category include Bryan Chapell’s Christ-Centered Sermon Preparation, Dr. David Allen’s Text-Driven 12-Step Preaching Method, The Expanded Christ-Centered Expositor Workflow, Expository Sermon Preparation, Haddon Robinson’s Ten Stages for Preparing Expository Sermons, Power in the Pulpit (Jim Shaddix), and Topical Sermon Preparation.

These Workflows will guide you through widely recognized steps to prepare a sermon or homily. While each Workflow is unique, they will all help you move through the homily writing process in a consistent fashion.

 

When you're finished with your Workflow, you can easily find your insights in the Notes tool and begin to work on your manuscript or homiletical outline in Homily Builder.

 

Custom Workflows

While there are many pre-made Workflows in your Verbum base package, you can create custom Workflows to fit your specific needs. This is a helpful option if you find yourself working on a similar project on a regular basis (i.e., regular sermon preparation, small group discussion, etc.). The more comfortable you are with Workflows, the more you’ll be able to take advantage of the customization.

To create a custom Workflow:

1. Click the Guides / Workflows icon .
2. Click New > Make a new Workflow.
   
3. Choose a kind of Workflow to create.
   

   Note: As prominently addressed in the Workflow editor panel, once you have chosen a Workflow kind, you cannot change it. If you select the wrong kind, you will need to restart the process.

4. Name the Workflow in the top left corner. This will allow you to easily find your Workflow in the future and be able to share it with the Verbum community.
5. Click Add under the first major step to include detail about this step, add more Major/Minor steps, or add specific tasks to complete. The Add menu features a search box to help you find particular tasks to include.
   
6. Below the section to add new steps, you will find options to include user-generated content such as:
   
   • Document: This section allows you to create or open a specific document in the Workflow.
   • Expandable Text: This section is the same as the one above, but the content is displayed in the Workflow as a more link that will only display its content after the link has been clicked.
   • Question/Answer: This section offers a question and space below to answer it.
   • Share Media: This section provides a link that opens the Media tool to a search on the entered person, place, passage, or event.
   • Share Text: This section allows users to enter text (such as observations or reflections) and share it with others using the links below. 
   • Text: This section allows free-form text entry. Its intent is to give an overview of what the step involves, but users can enter whatever text they wish.
7. Below the section for user-generated content, the Workflow editor displays specific tools and guide sections. Each of the available tasks will automatically display content on the entered person, place, passage, event, or topic.
   
8. Each step or task has its own panel menu icon where you can Move up, Move down, or Delete this action.
9. Click Done in the upper right of the Workflow editor panel.

Note: If you need to delete a workflow you've created, right-click the workflow in the Guides/Workflows menu and select Delete.

Sections Requiring Features You Don't Have

As you move through a Workflow, you may come across sections that require access to features that aren't included in your Verbum library. These sections will show a brief description of the feature and a link to a training video. If you run into this situation, you can click here to compare feature sets or packages to determine if upgrading Verbum is right for you.

 

Additional Resources

Verbum Help: Workflows