Tech for the Local Church
Mobile
Interface Transformation: Things to Come “As the Ruin Falls”?
Oct 23rd
What will we call them when portable computers aren’t really meant to be “laptop-centric” anymore (as in that point in the near-future we can call ‘a week ago, last Thursday’ — last February, actually)? That “when” has already arrived, of course, but the ‘future-then’ was just a hint at the reality of the ‘future-now’.
Several of the particulars covered in our first podcast went well beyond my personal experience and technical expertise, but they were all things I’m glad I learned more about. Actually, the subject of “bringing your tech-friend to church” was especially interesting to me, in part because it’s a geek-factor game for me to guess what tech might be like in in the future-soon.
Now, here comes engadget.com with their usual, ahead-of-the-competition, insider-esque reveal of a game-changing development in the hardware we’ll be using to make precious little bits (and bytes) rain down on us from our connection(s) to The Cloud.
Up Next: No Screens is Good Screens. The story goes like this …
Agapage: Good Call!
Oct 9th
Ladies and Gentlemen, we give you Mr. Jared Folkins (and friends), mastermind behind an ingenious example of elegant solution-ware™ called Agapage.
It’s possible to feel the love just from the name alone (esp. by you Greek-freaks out there– you know who you are), but it gets even better when finding out what it means and does.
caveat lector: when you see it for the first time, please take my recommendation to tightly hold a large nerf-ball (or similar soft object) behind your back with both hands. This safety measure may prevent a serious injury when the immediate reaction is to perform a rocket-force, mark-leaving, mild-concussion-inducing, ‘coulda-had-a-V8′-on-steroids face-palm. The kind that says, “Why didn’t I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I think of that?!” White-knuckle that nerf. The forehead you save will probably be your own.
Why the risk of this kind of quasi-self-aggressive response? It’s simple. It works. It helps.
It can also save a truckload of money (literally) for churches currently using or planning to offer a ‘parent-contact’ system to attenders.
Logos Bible Software
Dec 17th
For those who don’t know Logos Bible Software is the power house of Bible Software Packages. Although I have read many mixed reviews of the changes that have been made in version 4, Logos is still the most comprehensive and powerful software on the market. Logos has recently added a iPhone/iPod app. In a society that is on the go, it is very important to have access to your bible tools where ever you are.
The biggest downfall with Logos software is it’s price tag. You are easily going to spend $1000 to get one of their robust packages.
During Christmas they are running a 25% discount code: DECKTHEHALLS
If you were thinking of purchasing Logos Bible Software, take advantage of this discount!
I wasn’t checking email…I promise!
Sep 20th
Bible Gateway, a great resource for online scripture, among other things, recently noted that the greatest amount of traffic to their mobile site, mobile.biblegateway.com, is none other than Sunday morning during church.
It was comforting to know it’s not just me.
Should we be encouraging people to use their mobile devices to access the Word on Sunday mornings (or whenever they worship) in order to help them become aware that the scripture is often no further away than their belt clip or purse during the rest of the week?
P.S. If you’ve not seen Bible Gateway’s Bible-in-a-year via RSS and email, you may want to take a look. If you have trouble keeping yourself on track, having your reading show up with your regular news reading could be helpful.
Make the Shift…
Sep 4th
The culture and industries are making the shift to social media.
Has your church?
Spotlight: FixMyMovie
Apr 25th
Tired of videos recorded from your mobile phone looking pixel-ly when you upload them to YouTube? Check out FixMyMovie . It’s a web-service where you can send videos from your mobile phone, it will automatically correct pixel-ation and it then allows you to push the video to your YouTube, Blogger, and MySpace account. You can also download your videos to a Quicktime, WMA, or Flash file.
Below I embedded a video of my daughter, Selah Joy, drinking coffee.
Click compare in the menu to see the video before and after pixel correction.
You can also upload digital files from your computer.
Tired of Buying Ring-tones
Apr 21st
I know this isn’t directly ‘ministry’ related. However, for those Youth Ministers who spend half of their paycheck on the newest ring-tones, this could be a life-saver.
Mashable has made a list of 10 tools to create your own ring-tones.
For those of you who make your own ring-tones…
What programs do you use and do you distribute them to others?
Google Calendar unplugged
Jan 23rd
My biggest frustration with Google Calendar is this: I’m too cheap for a data plan and the cool phone with which to use it. This means my GCal is tied to online access. While there were rumors that Google Gears was spotted lurking about the GCal app, nothing has transpired in the months since.
So, this is how I cope:
1.) Print a paper copy when I know I need to schedule an appt with someone offline (I hate paper, but sometimes it’s necessary, even in places other than the john), and add it to my calendar later.
2.) Use SMS messaging to send an event to GCal. Set up your phone in your calendar’s settings and simply text your event to GVENT (48368). I have a separate calendar set up to receive my new events via txt so I can quickly spot them and put them in the right category* (work, family, etc.).
3.) Use Jott to send events. After this is set up through “Jott Links” (so easy!), simply call Jott, say “Google Calendar” when prompted, then say the event, date, and time (e.g., “lunch with kevin friday at 11 AM”).
There is an SMS option for viewing upcoming events, but that is limited to a one-day look ahead, so you can’t check whether you’re free two weeks from now. I’m hoping that with Gears functionality for offline use, will come better options for syncing to handhelds and other mobile devices making it possible to see upcoming events without the need for a printed copy to go.
*Since GCal doesn’t really support categories in the same way as other calendars I’ve used, I have several different calendars to sort and color-code categories of events: one for work, one for tentatively scheduled work items, one for personal/family, one for keeping track of when people will be absent for worship team, and one for events I Jott or txt in.
Happy New Year from Church 2.0 – the blog
Dec 31st
It has been a fun undertaking this year to write for Church2.0 – the blog. In addition to opening up a channel for talking about some of the more interesting ministry-applicable tools, it’s been fun working as part of the C2.0 writing team.
It’s not easy picking a favorite post. Like Kevin, I also like Jott. I spend a lot of time on the road in my day job and find Jott incredibly (as in what did I do without it?) helpful for noting ideas and making reminders that I’m sure I’d forget before I get back to the office.
“My nominee for favorite tool is Remember the Milk.”
[Chad Lemon, Contributor, C2.0 - the blog]
Included as a gadget on my iGoogle page (along with Jott and a couple other Google tools), I use Remember the Milk daily to keep track of upcoming tasks of all kinds and recurring tasks like bills.
RTM has an unexpectedly extensive list features – you can even use Jott to add reminders directly to your RTM to do list – two of our favorite tools playing together!
Find out more about some of the neat RTM features in RTM’s end-of-the-year wrap-up. Firefox and Gmail users won’t want to miss the RTM in Gmail extension for Firefox.
Update 1.2.08: Working on planning for next Sunday, I became keenly aware that I can’t afford to leave Planning Center Online off my favorites list for the year. Even though I don’t use it everyday, I would sorely miss it if I didn’t have it. So, Planning Center Online is officially my second nominee for favorite tool! Hey, nobody said I wasn’t allowed two.
C2.0 Pick of the Year [2007]
Dec 31st
Happy New Year!
While celebrating the new year the C2.0 staff wanted to highlight some of their favorite tools/products of the 2007 year.
“My pick of the year has to be Jott!”
[Kevin Rush, Creator/Contributor of C2.0 - the blog]
Jott is an easy and very powerful voice to text communication tool. Several times earlier this year we featured this powerful Web2.o application. Since these posts we could easily have done two or three additional posts on all the new features the Jott team has added.
Here are my favorite ways to use Jott…
- Leave yourself a note (both voice and text messages)
- Transcribe your voice to a blog or send it via email
- Update your Google calendar & social networking sites
- And much more [check out Jott Links]
Jott has changed the way I use technology for ministry. You should be using it. What a great tool!
Pinger is a close runner up to my pick of the year.
[Previous C2.0 posts on Pinger]
Cellphones Email Address
Nov 5th
Every cellphone has an email address assigned to it.
For example – if my cell phone # is 555-555-5555 and my cell phone provider is Verizon Wireless, then my cell phones email address is 5555555555@vtext.com. You can email it from any email provider [hotmail, yahoo, outlook, gmail, etc.]
To get you started, here is a list of the most common cell phone providers domain names.
- AT&T = number@txt.att.net
- Nextel = number@page.nextel.com
- Sprint = number@messaging.sprintpcs.com
- T-Mobile = number@tmomail.net
- Verizon = number@vtext.com
So start TXT from your email! For a step by step tutorial click here
Discipline of Sermon Prep (via blog) Bonus
Jun 13th
Only thing better than one Web 2.0 tech, is two 2.0 techs working together, thus:
Since Jott can transcribe to an email address…
and, since most blogs accommodate posting via email message…
and, since your notetaking blog is private, so exact transcription isn’t critical…
you could use Jott to post a thought directly to your blog.
Pinger vs. Jott
Jun 2nd
Having posted on how great both Pinger and Jott are, the next logical question is “which one should I use?” In a Pinger vs. Jott match-up, here’s a run down pound for pound of each, as I see them. I’ll weigh both, the pros & cons, and I’ll suggest who I think the winner is depending on the scenario. Let’s go to the score card.
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Pinger - wins hands down, if you are sending to cell phone users to leave a message for a large group.
Pros
- Best service for sending voice messages to cell phones
- Reply, Reply to All & Fwd feature is great for instant confirmation/discussion.
- Clear and easy to use when receiving a Pinger via cell phone.
- Ability to post to MySpace is slick.
Cons
- Doesn’t transcribe & it’s not very easy to leave yourself a message
- Not as good as Jott when leaving email messages.
———————————————————————————————
Jott – will take home the victory, if you are sending to email users and/or you wish to leave a message for yourself.
Pros
- Best service for sending voice messages to email addresses.
- Transcribing voice to txt is a great feature.
- Clear and easy to use when receiving a Jott via email.
- Ability to post to Blogs is slick. [some additional setup is required]
Cons
- Doesn’t have performance or features when receiving messages via cell phone.
- Jott is mainly a system for leaving messages.
- Confusing when you get a Jott message via cell phone, SMS txt msg.
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Similarities:
Both can leave messages for email address and cellphones, have a great website to use to set up and manage accounts, allow you to set up small or large groups to message, both are free, and are easy to use.
Basic differences:
Pinger does messaging and allows for some interaction from the cellphone users, where as Jott is best used to leave messages (both transcribed and voice) for yourself and other users (better result w/ email addresses).
So ask yourself two questions:
- What kind of users am I going to message? (ex- cell phone users, email users or myself.)
- Why am I going to voice txt? (ex – quickly inform/discuss, make an announcement that isn’t urgent, taking notes, etc.)
In my case it’s a draw, I use both. Pinger to leave messages to Cells (messages/announcements that need to get out quickly and may need a response) and Jott to leave informative messages to myself and/or email addresses which aren’t as time sensitive (a good example is family announcements, “it’s a girl!”)
Jott
May 29th
I’ve been using Jott for a month now and it’s sweet. Jott is very similar to Pinger except it also allows you to transcribe your voice to text, and it’s easy to leave a message for yourself which is sent to your email address.
Check out this video of a small business owner who uses Jott.
Doesn’t he sound like a pastor? Always on the go, meets in coffee shops, scribbles everything on little papers, can’t stay organized. I find Jott is a great way to remind me of things I might otherwise forget.
Future Post: Pinger vs. Jott
Txt from Your Email
May 7th
Option 1: Use An Email Account to Send SMS-Txts
Every cell phone has a email address that allow you can send texts to. (ex- Verizon wireless is the cell#@vtext.com). Here’s how I recommend setting up a list of your students to text.
- Create an email account to send text and receive requests from users. (ex- text@church.org)
- Have your students/users send a text message to your email using their phone with something generic in the message field (ex – “add me”). Something that identifies they want to be added to your text messaging list. Once your students do that you will get an email from that text. Save the contact to a contact list.
- Reply to original mobile email you received with a generic message. (ex- “You have been added to the ______ where you will receive ______. To be removed at any time text “remove” to <<text email address>>.)
- Now you are ready to send texts from your email address. Remember to put your contact list into BCC: field and not the To: field.
That’s it! Good luck.
Pinger
Apr 5th
Need to leave a message for your whole staff or team? Use Pinger! A friend and Youth Pastor at a Mega-Church showed me how this works. He told me, “I’m in love with Pinger! It will change your life.” Here is two videos that will explain it better.
User’s Explain How They Use Pinger:
Creator’s Explain How to Use Pinger:
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