OTD Quick Tour

The purpose of this quick tour is to familiarize you with OnTrack Devotions as a tool for learning the skill and discipline of effective daily Bible study.  Think of it as a quick start introduction…  In each section, you can click on the associated thumbnail image to enlarge it.

1.  The Cover

We try to stay creative with our cover art.  Even the best covers lose their luster when you have to look at them for months at a time.  Each year we gather themes from each month’s content and send them off to Lance Young of ygraphicdesign.com so he can invest his God-given creative genius to the process.  Lance creates cover art that is a sort of impressionistic rendering of a theme of the book.  Some months are more of a stretch than others, but that keeps it interesting.  As you can see with the sample to the right, our little fish friend is ditching the old way, gaining a new identity and moving aggressively to his new life.

The more pragmatic layout elements include the top bar that contains the issue month with the book(s) covered dropping down below it and the big OTD logo at the bottom.  In case you forget where to find OTD online, the website is on the back.

2.  Inside Front Cover – Prayer Sheet

The inside front cover is a static element in each month’s layout.  The top half of the page contains a place to record prayer requests and outreach goals for the month and to record God’s provision for each.  Using this element, OTD users can track requests and answers to prayer and connect them to relationships around them as a regular discipline.  This helps connect the study of the Word to the big picture of what God is doing in their lives and relationships.

The bottom half of the page is a quick introduction to how to use the devotional booklet… a nice little starter for those that are new to the process.  It gives a quick overview of the 4 levels… how to approach each day based on how remedial or advanced the user is in their Bible study skill.  This accentuates the ability to implement OTD across a ministry or ministry group where there will always be a variety of aptitudes and skill levels.

3.  Monthly Commitment Sheet

Commitment and accountability are powerful tools for effective Bible study!  We are God-designed to live and grow within the Body of believers.  The first actual inside page of each month contains the Monthly Commitment Sheet.  This is a place where users can set some goals for key elements of their spiritual walk, including personal devotions, church attendance, Scripture memory, outreach and other relevant activities.  There is a little variation between the Adult Edition version and the Student Edition version as it relates to age-specific commitments.  Also understand that not all church ministries will have the same programs (i.e. Sunday PM service), but there is enough flexibility for some customization.  This is a great accountability element for users to share with mentors, their small group or to use for incentive programs like scholarships or other types of recognition attached to growth and achievement.  Use your creativity!

4.  Devotional Day Pages

The meat of OTD is, of course, the devotional days.  Each day contains a top bar with the day of the week, the date and the key passage for the day.  The key passage represents the focal point of the whole context which is found in the Xtra Reading bubble at the bottom outside corner of the page. There is also a short title that summarizes the topic for the day.

The devotional thought for each day is designed to model or seed the inductive Bible study process so the reader is primed before they head into answering the questions.  It does not feed answers… it discusses the text and begins connecting it to the reader’s own life context.  This is a key element of the secret sauce of OTD, the one that frames a mindset of discovery each day.

Finally… the questions.  OTD uses a four-question progression each day that walks through the inductive Bible study process.  Say What? (Observation), So What? (Interpretation), Now What? (Application) and Then What? (Implementation) are our own way of trying to make the progression memorable and meaningful.  Note that on the first page shown the subtext questions are specific and pointed, while on the second page shown the questions are  generic. The author transfers back and forth between these approaches from day to day to both model the process and to stretch the reader to invent their own questions and begin thinking inductively as they engage in conversation with the Word.

5.  Inside Back Cover

This page contains some housekeeping elements, including the issue sponsor, information about the author of OTD, copyright information and contact information for questions and subscriptions.  Our monthly sponsors help us to produce and distribute OTD at reasonable costs because they believe in the power of God’s Word to transform lives.  Many of them are ministries that also invest directly in training and developing the next generation of ministry leaders.  If you appreciate OnTrack Devotions, take some time to check them out.  They may have resources that will be of benefit to you or to your life and ministry.