Mobile Ministry Magazine

Hello all and welcome to a new week with Mobile Ministry Magazine, and more importantly with some more time to spead the Gospel to the nations. I hope ya go some time, because I am going to write on this one for a bit :)

This weekend, I went back to my alma mater (Millersville University) and spoke at a leadership workshop in an organization that I was once president (Bible Campus Ministry). It was really good getting my brain picked, and because of mobile technology, I was actually able to afford a better time speaking that I probably would have if I had a ton of books and papers in front of me. I used my work TabletPC as my "notebook" where I put my speaker notes. Using some techniques from Pat's Paperless Pulpit article, I was able to use it, but not make it the center of attention (though there were the normal "Antoine has another toy" comment or two).

I then went to Philadelphia to listen to a member of Cross Movement speak (this article linked is a great summary of what he talked about). Getting some more exercise out of my "toys" I was able to post in the Holy Culture Radio Forums (offline for upgrades at the momment) what was going on there for those who were not able to attend due to distance or other obligations. If I would have been a touch smarter, I would have had my folding keyboard and really looked like a reporter in the mist of that time. Afterwards, I used my Treo to take pictures and make a few phone calls seeing that members of the Cross Movment and I share a common friend from Lancaster.

On Saturaday, my technology use was limited to reading the Word while in church (Bible+ of course) and getting updates from ESPN on how my Eagles were doing (we win :) ). Besides that, calling various people and texting others that I was in Philly for a short time. I also helped my cousin (5th grade) set up some learning programs on a laptop that was given to him the last time I was in Philly. It was really kool seeing how anxious he was in wanting to get on the computer to play math and composition games (and they were good games too, I am kinda jealous). My day ended in traveling home, but passing text and phone messages while I was in Interstate 95 South traffic.

So why am I writing about my weekend and all the tech that I am using? Glad you asked :) Within this article at Mobile Read, BobR makes the point that there are some restrictions within the current software and hardware implementations of mobile technology.

Clearly, we have come a long way, but on many fronts, all we really have done is made the world smaller, not necessarly more effective/productive. My cousin playing his math games makes him productive and more effective when he is in class. Though the computer isnt "new", it does have good enough specs to give him a great user experience within the software that he is using. I would hope that us adults will also get that with our tools sometime soon. Not that mobile technology will not catch on further if it doesnt, but effectivness is a lofty and reachable goal that we should have; in use and in teaching others how to use this.

So for this week, I hope that you can really pine God for how best to use this gift of technology that you have. And if by chance you are able to do something that you couldnt do before because you have something new, send MMM an email about it and we will post it. I am sure that folks will want to hear more than just my view on how technology is changing the way we view and interact with the world around up.

Happy new week to all, and God bless.