hey guys Pastor Tanner here coming at you with another logos video in this video we're going to start a short Series where I go over all of the libraries that are coming out with the new logos subscription model on the 21st in this video I'm going to be going over the new category called leader libraries they start from starter and they go all the way up through gold I want to talk about some of my favorite buys here based upon what I'm seeing in these upcoming libraries now before we jump in I want you to know that all of the information in this video is technically subject to change okay these libraries haven't gone Fully live yet they still might tweak them here and there but as far as I know all of the information I'm giving you today is accurate first of all you might be interested in the pricing on the leaders libraries in this table you can see that from starter up to Gold the leader libraries actually take a pretty dramatic jump going from bronze to Silver so the leader starter library is $39. 99 retail the leader bronze library is $89. 99 but jumping up to Silver $349.
99 and then finally gold is $849. 99 now something else I want you to see that at launch they are doing a discount based upon if you are adding on a library with your subscription and not only that the first Library purchase you make is going to be 30% off now it's important to recognize this can be done for multiple libraries but they've got to be in that first purchase you make so you're going to want to decide upfront which libraries you want put them all together in your initial purchase so you can get 30% off however if you do decide you want to add on a different library after the fact those are 15% off okay so you still get a good discount if you decide you want to supplement a little bit later on so you can see the 30% off and the 15% off obviously really helpful especially as you go all the way up to the gold library now before I get into the details I just want to give a highlevel summary regarding what you're actually getting in these libraries typically so you know what you're paying for now nine times out of 10 the big libraries have big commentary sets in them so that's often what you're paying for when you're distinguishing between each library that you want to get you often want to look at the commentary sets that are available because that's where most of your dollars are going Bottom Line here is that if you don't like a commentary set in a given Library you probably don't want that library because you want your dollars going to work on a commentary set you're going to enjoy secondly this year they are focusing each of these libraries on the types of commentaries that are being offered so I told you this video is reviewing the leader libraries well these libraries are directed not so much at an academic or a scholarly level so if you're looking for those really in-depth rigorous exegetical commentaries you're in the wrong Library set in order to review leader libraries are targeted at lay leaders interested Bible students and many of the resources that are in these libraries are full of discussion questions they're perfect for running a study and kind of prompting your own thoughts so if you find that you like to do a lot of personal study and ask a lot of questions of yourself or you're running something something like a Sunday school these are the libraries that are aimed at you to this end I think they are generally aiming at users who are interested in the premium subscription with these libraries as an add-on now jumping into the libraries I want you to know that I'm not trying to be exhaustive here okay I'm just picking a few resources that jump out at me from each of the libraries because I think that is where a lot of the value lies so first let's go to starter at the $39. 99 level you can not expect many resources in this library but I'm going to tell you I was actually surprised at the res es they selected and what they included first of all I want to highlight the Layman's commentary I believe this commentary came along with their acquisition of word search sometime last year and this commentary is really good I enjoy it very much and it strikes a nice balance Mark stross and trer Longman are some of the editors for many of these volumes and you can see that the standard they hold themselves to are coming through in these commentaries now these commentaries are pretty good they give a nice thorough treatment now they often Target a somewhat larger paropy set so they're not getting down into the fine granular detail and here you're getting good decent info not too in depth but you're covering a lot of the most important stuff so overall this commentary strikes a good balance and it's a great addition in starter because I think it's like a 12 volume set pretty nice value now the second resource that jumped out at me in starter is the ne with the ne first edition notes now if you're unfamiliar this is the new English translation it's a good translation but the thing that's most valuable here is the notes this resource essentially functions like a study Bible but I want you to know that the notes that are embedded in this resource are some of the only notes of its kind on the subjects that they cover I actually featured this Resource as a sleeper resource in one of my videos click the link up here if you're interested in looking at that video where I cover this resource in more depth but I am so impressed with this resource and the fact that you get it in starter is very nice so those are the two standout resources for me you do get a Good Handbook a good study Bible a single volume commentary Etc to either trying to use this library to flesh out your base subscription but it's a pretty good level all right moving on to leader bronze I think this is going to be one of the most polarizing levels out there and I think for good reason because bronze at $89.
99 is a fraction of the cost at Silver but you can really see that in the resources that they target I told you before that most libraries focus on commentaries not the case here for leader bronze now you do get the applied Old Testament and New Testament commentaries this is a resource I really like it's kind of like a single volume com commentary that's been placed into two and I reference these from time to time I enjoy them but again it's not like you're getting a huge multivolume set here this is not where a lot of your dollars are going in the bronze Library instead you are getting an upgrade in the area of lexicons and dictionaries it's at the bronze level that we receive the dictionary of biblical languages both for Hebrew and for Greek and I want you to know Guys these lexicons are actually really good they are a nice supplement to the subscription Library options because in the subscription libraries you're getting a lot of older more dated perhaps public domain works such as theirs such as ginius but in James Swan's dictionary biblical languages you're getting a really nice upgrade that is actually still really accessible I want you guys to know that the DBL for Hebrew was the required lexicon for me for my Hebrew classes at RTS and the dictionary biblical languages is actually much more accessible than your standard lexicons in the field sure everybody touts he lot everybody touts bdag but the fact of the matter is if you aren't an expert or you don't need an exhaustive in-depth answer DBL is going to be one of the first lexicons you turn to even when you have a very large Library so I'm happy to see it included here in bronze leader now on the dictionary side you get the new dictionary of Christian apologetics this is about 800 pages and I believe it's new to the logos ecosystem I don't think it's been here before I think it's been added on in this generation with the subscriptions now this was published in 2006 by ivp UK I haven't had a chance to review it yet because it's not out yet but I'm looking forward to digging into this one and I think you're going to find a lot of interesting articles most notably the articles in this dictionary come from multiple authors multiple contributors so that's actually pretty handy because you're getting a multitude of voices you're not just getting that one individual voice like some other dictionaries of this kind all right let's move on to Silver leader and now we're getting a big bump up in commentaries to come along with that $349 price tag let me highlight four commentaries that jump out for me first the teachers outline and study Bible I have enjoyed both the teachers outline and study Bible and the preacher outline and study Bible before I am not sure these have ever been offered in any library in the past it's really good to see them here in leader silver these come from leadership Ministries Worldwide I love their outlines and I love the way they treat the text and the sorts of questions they ask very helpful in handy when you're trying to dissect a passage and one of the cool things about the teachers outline in Study Bible is they actually have each of the sections broke down into individual lesson plans so again it leans into that teacher aspect because you can probably grab one of these make some slight modifications and run with it in order to run a pretty good bible study this is a great resource that has good conservative summaries and breakdowns I think you're going to enjoy it quite a bit the next series I want to highlight here is the opening up series and these are put out by day one now the opening up Series has brief comments these aren't super in-depth but the reason I like referencing these resources is the section for further study and the section to think about and discuss each of these sections has great questions that are going to prompt you for your own personal study help you to dig deeper by chasing down different rabbit trails and things like that and also helps you to facilitate some great conversation with others because you're going to be able to ask some really good questions that cause people to think and reflect this series is fantastic for leaders who are looking to put together some good studies next I want to highlight the series The ESV expository Commentary series now some expository commentaries are basically just printed sermons and don't get me wrong I'm happy with that at times sometimes that's all I want they're fun to read They're enjoyable I get anecdotes and stories and they keep me moving along but one of the things I really like about the ESV expository Commentary series is they aren't that this series is actually more of a one-size fits-all kind of commentary and I really like how they treated each of the sections they have section overviews they have outlines and then they also have some really good comments and these comments are not surface level these are actually going into a very intermediate range where I think you're going to be really prompted with some of the discussions here I mean these are fairly in-depth they're not referencing the original languages but they're often alluding to them I think you're going to appreciate the level of depth that these comments have and then finally the response section is really good too because it provides good application that I think you're really going to enjoy finally in silver we have the weby Bible studies series and the weby Bible study series is actually pretty neat they reference often the B series of commentaries that Warren weby has put out prior so this Study Bible series actually has quotes from his commentaries and then seeks to expand upon those quotes going deeper so this study reads through specific sections and then focuses on key words or ideas in those sections it gives you opportunity to take some key notes and it gives you an opportunity to reflect on the text as well so again matching a theme this is perfect for putting together a study or doing some personal reflection yourself all right let's go to leader gold and of course at Gold you are getting a massive price bump up to the $849 level but that also comes with a massive amount of resources again just a brief over Overview at the resources that are jumping out at me first I'm looking at the Tindale commentaries I have often said that the Tindale commentaries represent some of the best bang for your butt commentaries out there they're really well-rounded and I think you're really going to appreciate these because they're scholarly without being too terribly academic they strike a really nice balance in this sense I think that having the Tindale commentaries is really valuable for somebody in the leader Library set because again you're moving away from those in-depth exegetical commentaries the are really nice cuz they give good comments still accessible if you are subscribed at the premium or Pro level you might want to consider gold because you're not getting the exegetical commentaries that come with Max on the other side of the spectrum we have the well win Commentary series I really like this Commentary series these have great devotional thoughts they encourage and spur you on to actually read the text for yourself this commentary is actually one of the only commentaries I've read cover to cover because I found it that good and that engaging the welln series is Fant fantastic for sparking your own devotional thoughts your own inspiration and giving you some good illustrations and applications for your study now the next resource is really important for me to highlight and this is the isbe the 1979 Edition Okay the reason I wanted to highlight this one the 1915 Edition is actually offered at both the pro and the max level so you're double dipping a little bit there having both the old version and the new version but if you want the new version it's available here in Gold it's a good upgrade because this is is one of the only in-depth dictionaries that's offered in these leader libraries and this one comes from a particularly conservative background next I want to highlight the Bible speaks today themes series now the Bible speaks today is in the subscription libraries themselves and so they wanted to give these at the Gold level to supplement the commentary itself so this actually fleshes out your base subscription no matter which level you got by giving you the themes which these are really focused on more systematic theological ideas or concept these themes books are really interesting because they're not the sort of thing you would reference in a commentary but are instead the sort of thing you would look into if you're doing a topical study or you're getting some good hits with smart search each of these books acts kind of like an individual monograph with thematic articles written on certain topical themes that's the idea the next set of books I'm really excited to highlight is called the sessions series they're titled sessions with Psalms Etc and one of the reasons I'm really excited to highlight these is they are new to the logos ecosystem here we have 24 volumes soon to go live with the new launch and these look really cool to me they just look like nice expository lessons that I think you're really going to enjoy especially again at that leader level because you're getting good questions good comments good things to stimulate your own study or your teaching there are plenty of other resources at gold for individual Bible studies group Bible studies great for putting lessons together this level is chalk full of resources for being a good leader all right what are some of my final thoughts and and Best Buys well like I said I really like all of the levels here and bronze in particular I think is going to be polarizing just for that level make sure that you like all the resources that are being offered and you don't have a desire for more or additional commentaries if you already have plenty of commentaries then this might be a good level to pick up well what are some of my buying recommendations well my first buying recommendation has to be the premium subscription melded with the gold leaders library and here's why many users have said they hate the subscript sction model they don't want to go to it Etc well I argued already in the past that the two best features in the log off subscription exist even at the premium level that's the smart search and the smart search synopsis for the user that really hates subscriptions here you get the bare minimum level of investment in the subscription itself and you get the two best features that it has on offer and then you lean primarily into your purchased library in order to round out your logos experience now this approach has two weaknesses first there are no really strong exegetical commentaries in this set so if you want to lean into something a little more academic or scholarly this might not be the right approach for you instead you might want to go to the max level or you might want to consider the research libraries which hopefully we'll be doing a video on very soon the second weakness of this approach is that you are missing the pro sermon assistant tools so if you are preaching or teaching in that way you are missing the illustration and the application generator you might want want to go to the pro level in order to get those now my second favorite buy is the exact opposite of what I just recommended that's to go to the max subscription and actually go down to the bronze library now the reason I say that is here you are utilizing your subscription library in order to flesh out all of your commentaries and then you're leaning into that cheaper bronze level in order to give you the additional lexicons and the additional dictionary this is a cheaper supplement to a good subscription level and that supplement is not commentary focused so you're really just fleshing things out in a couple of other areas finally if you want a good value option I see the premium subscription plus the starter library to be pretty good here I like the starter Library especially at the $39.
