Neatorama

Sometimes, you just need a little bump to get the creativity flowing. Neatorama is my favorite site for doing just that. No, it isn't about Jesus or God or faith, but it's a great place to stumble across some obscure photo, video or news item that would make the perfect illustration or introduction for a tired lesson (like this). And it's pretty clean to boot. There are multiple sites offering a smorgasboard of information, but I subscribe to this one, and every time I read it I catch myself thinking, "Neat."

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Sermon Spice

If you wanted creative video illustrations a few years back, you had two options: do it yourself or buy a pre-made DVD and re-write what you really wanted to say so you could use the DVD. The first one was often beyond reach. The second, if you were like me and had the idea a bit late in the game, you needed the video now--not after a week after you ordered it. Times have changed. At Sermon Spice, you can search by keyword, view an entire video online, buy it (and only it) and immediately download a full size version. Nice. And, they host videos from many places and artists, so you can find what fits your message and not have to re-work the message to fit the video.

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Bible Gateway

Although there are multiple Bible texts available online (see NET Bible), Bible Gateway is still my favorite. I often prefer it over opening the fancy software on my PC simply because it's so easy to access and simple to use. The site also boasts 20 English translations (including NAS, NIV, TNIV and NLT) as well as a slew of other languages.

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NET Bible

The NET Bible is a very important translation, not because it makes great strides beyond other modern English translations, but because of its ambitious goals and it's wealth of translation notes. The NET (New English Translation) Bible team (several are faculty at Dallas Theological Seminary) set out to produce a good, modern translation based on our best and oldest Greek manuscripts and to make it FREE so people around the world would have access both to it's text and the impressive set of notes accompanying it.

The reading version (with Bible books listed on the side) is easy to use and can be found here. However, the searchable version is now in a beta format. This format promises some great resources, but the helps and articles seem a bit unpolished at the moment.

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Evangelical Christian Library

This site (with a URL similar to the Christian Classics Ethereal Library) hosts a number of more recent Christian works (including books by John Piper, Jill Briscoe and J.I. Packer), each with the permission of the author. However, do know that many of these are out-of-print books. while this does not necessarily reflect on their merit, some of them may represent points of view no longer held by the authors or the former publishers. Their mission is here.

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Christian Classics Ethereal Library

A great source for Christian books online, so long as they are old! Almost anything written prior to 1923 is in the public domain and much of it has been scanned in. The CCEL is hosted by Calvin College and you can see their statement of missions here. Of special interest are the works of Augustine, Calvin and Jonathan Edwards.

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Catholic Encyclopedia

An online encyclopedia that indexes much knowledge from the Roman Catholic Church. The sheer volume of work here is impressive and most of the information is useful to multiple Christian denominations (for example, this article on Bethlehem), but the site is an excellent resource for all things Roman Catholic.

In addition to the Encyclopedia, the organization New Advent also hosts a site on early Church Fathers and the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas.

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Orthodox Wiki

This wiki (a wiki is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit) seeks to document much knowledge of the Orthodox Church but also remain useful to Christians of other denominations. Keep in mind, it is a work in progress, but it can be very useful both for information about church history and the Orthodox Church. A statement of intent is found here.

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Bible.org

Bible.org is a bit difficult categorize, but it's a very useful resource. Although the site contains the NET Bible (which I'll address separately at a later date), its biggest benefit may be the collection of articles and resources. These range from an excellent discussion about the celebration of Christmas to an index of articles on Grace. A statement of purpose can be found here.

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