Mobile Ministry Magazine

Just putting something out there for thought and possible discussion, so please excuse yet another rough thought spill...

Since receiving the N95 NAM as my prize for the Mobile Web Server Competition, I have been exploring aspects of mobility that I had only dreamt about. For example, one of my usual tasks these days is foregoing the desktop and Internet Tablet and connecting the N95 to my TV and Bluetooth keyboard and just working and browsing from there. Outside of a few niggles, it really does work very well.

Today (Sunday) though was interesting, I had to put my car into Pep Boys as it was smoky and as I waited for the oil change, I pulled out the N95, and it proved to work as something to browse, read, and just connect with the local environment.

I pulled it out when I got to church to turn the profile to the Meeting profile, and then used it to read along with the sermon. I made a note to blog about the sermon later and set up an appointment to meet with pastor.

Getting home, I then connected it to the TV to browse, writ that blog post, and catch up to some weekend reading. I realized that mobile wasn't the push so much as the context that it was used. And if the mobile's software and hardware works in concert with my environment, then I am better able to live and connect with the world around me.

That got me thinking about how using mobile devices allows us to better respect and use the context for the benefit of Christ and community. Where much of the other technology that we use is pervasive and stays that way, mobile devices have the ability to be pervasive first, but then meld into the background as they are more personal than other technology and media. If you will, its designed to be used in context with our environment, and from there we connect.

So I sit, composing this on my tablet as my phone is streaming music from last.fm, imagining what it willb e when my mobile responds to the environment much like a person does after being taught the ways of culture. For my mobile to automatically go into silent when I get to church, and then pull up the Bible reader with a prompt to download the pastor's outline and any church announcements to my calendar. I look forward to all that's really left for us to do is have the tech move out of the way, so that in the context of connecting and sharing the Gospel with people, we just are able to live without layers.

That is what I saw today in using my mobile. Context is where mobile makes its impact. Should be fun to see how this works out.

Another post created with the alpha version of WordPy for Internet Tablets; please excuse any issues as I am doing some application testing.

Labels: community, Context, mobile, Mobile Web Server, mobility, N95