Mobile Ministry Magazine

In light of all that I read and get thrown my way in terms of software/process opportunities, it was a nice heart-check, ego-stomp, and reevaluation of priorities this article that put be back in front of the Father appropriately.

Labels: development, stewardship, worship

Caught up with this neat piece of news from Laridian the other day.

...our RomansRoad eTract is now available for the iPhone. RomansRoad eTract is a Scripture-based discussion guide to help you share your Christian faith. Based upon the familiar "Romans Road" series of verses from the book of Romans, this witnessing tool uses a unique question and answer format to provide a framework to help you share your faith. As each new key verse is presented, probing questions and explanatory answers are also provided to help you both explain the Scripture and answer common questions that arise.

Pretty cool idea for software, though I will caution that its not enough to just get people on the road to salvation, you also need to take up the mantle of teaching/disciplining them through this walk.

Download the RomansRoad eTract from the iTunes Store. Note, it doesn't require PocketBible to use, but it does help the discussion if you have a Bible app of some kind handy when walking down the road with others with this.

Labels: discipliship, Laridian, salvation

This post is simply a reflective question. But, its something that has been sitting on my mind and heart for sometime, and a recent post at GigaOm concerning President Obama pretty much lead to this point.

Here's the piece in the article which sparked things:

So what does it mean to have a U.S. president who is comfortable (or even familiar) with that new multi-directional, distributed reality, who seeks out his own sources of information wherever they might be, and makes connections directly and in real time, rather than always waiting for a report to be delivered or for a chief of staff to smooth the way?

And here's the question that has permenated my thoughts daily/hourly for the past months:

So what does it mean to have believers who have instant access to multiple resource and communities, who seek answers to the questions of faith and life, evaluating sources in real-time through online and offline relationships, instead of waiting for a sermon or preacher to smooth the message

Have we adjusted to the change in how we live this Gospel?

Labels: devotion

My best friend keeps telling me that it only takes one phone call, and I think he was (again) spot-on with this.

Last week, MMM was contacted by Jamillah Knowles who is part of the team that does the BBC's Pods and Blogs. This week's topic is Religion, Art, Time, and Space and I (Antoine) was interviewed to talk about Mobile Ministry Magazine.

Suffice to say, it was fun being interviewed, and even more to get a bit more word-of-mouth-and-mobile out about the site. MMM comes in at about the 12min mark, but you really don't want to skip as the two others profiled before MMM have some great approaches of their own.

Here's the direct link (MP3) to the podcast. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Labels: BBC, interview, media, podcast

It the last weekend in January - when a number of churches on the East Cost of the USA have canceled services due to snow and ice that has blanketed the region. What follows are my thoughts on getting around the weather to continue the fellowship in the respect to biblical models and traditions.

Sitting on Twitter, I saw that my former church had canceled service due to the snow/icy conditions that hit Charlotte. This makes a lot of sense, and I'm pretty sure that many churches are doing the same, since the conditions don't make it pleasant to drive safely.

However, I did have a question in respect to the sermon. Many people attend church for the sermon and the fellowship. Missing one of these for a Sunday usually isn't a problem, but both of those present a bit of a challenge for many believers. And so I ended up tweeting the following (two messages):

Given the state of mobile/web, weather shouldn't impact the ability to preach a message (tweet)? But weather can and does impact the ability to fellowship; how does the church create/use virtual ties when impacts happen (tweet)?

Now, Wellspring's pastor did say that he would be recording and posting the sermon - and this is good. But the second question remains, how can we skillfully and appropriately use mobile/web technology in order to keep the ties of fellowship when weather or other conditions dictate otherwise?

I've got a few ideas:

• Skype or other type of video/conference call
• Sharing an iTunes/Pandora/last.fm/Spotfy/last.fm/etc. playlist at a certain time for "praise and worship," - adding the element of an accompanying blog post on the church blog for those who'd like to post their prayers, "amens," etc.
• (Nearly)-Live streaming of the small groups who are able to meet in the home for worship, fellowship, and prayer

Do any of you employ these methods when weather or some other circumstance interrupts the usual flow of fellowship/worship? And if so, what have been some of the positives and negatives of doing this?

Weather is indeed a limitation of fellowship in the traditional face-to-face sense. But, is the traditional means of fellowship strong enough to deny the versatility of the technology that's now at our fingertips?

Note: I'm not specifically asking about a full internet church experience or internet church campus. I am speaking specifically towards using the mobile and web arenas when normal fellowship and worship methods are interrupted. When we speak on an internet church, we can start talking the fun stuff like location-displacement of elements of the fellowship - which is a good bit different when it happens on a continual basis.

Labels: accessiblity, church, communication, community, flexibility, tech

Apologies for the post out of sync with the usual posting schedule, but after reading the Washington Posts' views on the Pope's message, I figured that a response from MMM would be most appropriate.

To those who have been following Mobile Ministry Magazine, you know that we've always advocated the use of technology (mobile and web computing) when it intersects with the daily interactions that we have with life around us. Whether that daily interaction is person-to-person, person(s)-to-community, or personal devotions, there's a response to the intersection of faith and technology that's demanded as part of the context of the times that we live in. There doesn't need to be an official statement from anyone on it - this is the DNA of walking in this Christian faith.

That being said, the challenge is to walk not in the ways of others when it comes to the use of this technology. We are defined by our intense love for God and one another - therefore we model our use of this technology after that, not in light of what others are doing.

Personally, I think that its great that others in the Body are coming around to understanding mobile and web technology. However, to just understand it now, and then dive in without understanding of its implications is foolhardy. There's nothing worse than when the Body of Christ puts on something and it looks like a bad copy of what someone else has already done. And then cannot account for the consequences of that display or presentation. We've got to model not just contextual use, but continual maturity.

I'd like to believe that pastors/layleaders have the shared spiritual and technical understanding to use this tech - but history present and past dictates that not being the case. Those are who enabled in the Body to teach spiritual truths need to come up beside those who are technically able to use the tools of this age and together build on our faith. Sorry, we can't wait for a generation of pastors to come forth who have this shared knowledge - it will be too late.

The voice of Christ will remain constant and truthful in every generation that earnestly seeks Him and His Kingdom. On this site, we've espoused this in our asking of you to take a look at your lives at the intersections of faith and mobile technology. We've already responded to the call and demonstrated the ability He's endowed us with. The next steps are to enable others to preach, teach, and live this Gospel. Anything short of that is just a bad attempt at secular marketing.

Note:
This post is based on the message recently shared by Pope Benedict XVI at the 44th World Communications Day event and the resulting article at the Washington Post (via Smart Mobs).

Labels: devotion, discipliship, faith, innovation, mobility, tech, Web

I'm writing this on the day the Apple iPad was announced. Meaning that I've probably come back to this post a few times to clarify and to rethink sections - and at the same time, it might just stay very raw.

First off, a blanket opinion - this is a device purely for affluent audiences. Its not addressing a need to anyone except those who've already got mobile solutions, and the wallets to enable them. That's not to say its a bad thing. In light of my first thoughts to any device or service - does it meet a need or a want - its clearly something in the want category for many, and therefore illusions about what it would enable have to be filtered accordingly.*

That being said, its a good idea, and one that has been talked about here before. The tablet does present itself as an interesting, albeit more content-laden solution for those who would like a reader-style device, but would like some measure of productivity with it. The included iWork and iTunes suites make sense here, especially since its meant to consume and lightly annotate, content. The need for adapters hearkens back to the age of PDAs and accessories as the driver for specialized needs - this could have been handled better, but Apple is making a play for a broad range of profit generation here.

I mentioned to one person that this would be a great device for preachers (being semantically specific with the term here). Paired with a wireless network, the preacher would essentially have the slides, notes, text, and ability to control what is on-screen right in front of them. Yes, this can be done with any PDA/smartphone/netbook/laptop (and as been) - the form factor of a slate/tablet device works well here. And the size is nearly that of an A4 envelope which keeps it mobile for preachers who move much.

The other neat audience is of course education. And while Apple specifically spoke towards this area in its announcement, the price is a big bite. A student in the market would have to choose the tablet, and the dock-keyboard accessory in order to make this work. That says nothing for the lack of an expansion card to backup papers/content (hello online services). The prepaid aspect works very well here as an incentive towards working in order to be connected - though WiFi use would most likely reign in this setting.

Thinking from my own point of view: well, I use a smartphone. My N97 plugs into my TV (w/Apple Wireless keyboard) for major tasks at home. On the road, I plug it into projectors for presentations (hint, hint), write a few articles, listen to music, etc. In other words, aside from the larger screen - which would be helpful for the amount of books I read - its not worth the cost to me as I'd need to purchase several accessories in order to meet the basic functionality (and I lose the voice calling aspect). Its a nice device, and similar to many. I would have preferred to see an interface like the Mag+ Concept or 10/GUI Concept, or further ahead like the hardware+interface of the Microsoft Courier Concept. The iPad isn't far enough in the user interface design to significantly enhance/change how I do computing. It may be different for others, and I'd love to hear how as that perspective is needed.

I am looking forward to seeing what Bible publishers will do with iPhone apps that use the larger user interface. Ideally, they would not just copy what a 3.5in screen is doing on this 9.7in one. It would be good to see some richer interactions with content, as well as finger-based interactions that are physically not as efficient on the iPhone/iPod Touch.

But, that's just my thoughts on things. What about you? What are your thoughts? Is it going to be a purchase for you or a friend/family member. What areas do you see as great, and what needs work? And lastly, how did you manage covetousness before/during/after the announcement?

Labels: Apple, internet tablet, iPad, iPhone, tablet PC