Mobile Ministry Magazine

Mobility to Solve A Pastorial Problem
In some respects, I have to ask that you all pardon me for writing today. I intended to take the day off from writing here, but with finances really really low, and nothing yet heard on the job front, I really don't want to sit idle and let my heart continue to be discouraged. There is way too much God out there for me to be discouraged anyways, right :-)

Well, onto the subject at hand: mobility to solve a pastorial problem. In a recent project that I have been working on, I am looking to see how a Treo will enhance the ministry of my senior pastor. You see, it was a gift and he wants to use it. However, wanting to use something and then maintaining the use of something are two different things. As Jay Noggle likes to say, "technology is only relevant if it is personal." So with that in mind, I wonder about the office of pastor, and how mobile technology can be relevant

One issue that I have seen many a pastor deal with is that of countless weekly meetings, however, not an easy way to stay on top of those last minute changes without a call from the secertary (if there is one), or the hassle of having to type it into one's PDA to get it down. To cover the first, I found via the latest issue of PDA Essentials a program called Emoze that would push your email right to your device (just like a coorporate BlackBerry setup would do) at no cost. Neat! And it would also do your contacts and calendar as well. Seems to me a really good solution, especially if you have a lot of emails or meetings to attend to that change date quite often.

NOTE: Emoze currently only support some Symbian and most Windows Mobile/PocketPC devices. PalmOS and some flavors of Lotus Notes, Mozilla Thunderbird and other programs are not yet supported.

Of course, there is the other side of that using mobility is that one has to use it. Many a person has had a PDA at one time or another, but then stopped using it because either the battery went dead and they lost all the info they put in; or, the handwriting part wass too difficult; or, just that paper was a better system then and there is resistance to change. That is ok. There is always a personal barrier to embracing a new technology or way of doing things. The main thing to note is that if you are in the area where you get to "sell" the tech to your pastor or someone else "at the top" then you have to sell them on something simple that they can maintain a grasp of. For example, if your pastor cannot afford Verizon's all you can eat data plan, then you cannot say that email on the go will make their life easier. Start at another area, such as the calendar. Get them into the philosophy of making sure that in the morning and evening that they sync. Its an extra step, but while that (1-2min) sync is going on, they can be in prayer refreshing themselves.

Technology is only relevant if it is personal. While it is that we are mobile ministers (all of us, not just us with PDAs); we do have to realize that the arena of mobile technology can and will open our abilities to minister, as well as open our clocks so that we can spend more time relating to people, not administrating them.
- sent from Treo