Mobile Ministry Magazine

I sit online most of my waking hours, and that really takes me out of the loop sometimes with what people want in the real world. Sometimes, to quote my fiance, people want technology that just works. I cannot blame folks, I am the same way. If I have to do a lot of customizing and detailing, then the experience might not be as fun (at least in the short term). But this is ok, here at MMM we can help make some things a bit easier for you when it comes to this [wacky, technical, confusing, exciting, and exotic] field of human innovation.

How do I choose whether I need a laptop or a PDA like a Treo?
Decide if you work away from your desk often or not so much; if you can handle paying an additional $15-$45 per month in data costs; can use a smaller screen and more portability; need to develop full page layout items or not; correspond with people immediately or on your own time; or need instant connection to the Internet. If you find that you are on the go a lot and need information in a fast-accessible means, then chances are that a PDA would work for you. If your needs are only for working on the go, but not so much being connected to the Internet all the time, then a laptop would be a better call here.

If I buy a PDA now, will it be out of date next month/year?
Despite what commericals and websites might tell you, NO. If a PDA (or any computer for that matter) meets your needs and you find that there is minimal maintenance that needs to be kept up on your item, then you do not need to upgrade. The key is making sure that the device meets your needs, and then meets your wants. If you purchase something just because it is the top of the line model, you might find that later on that you did not get your money's worth because you didn't understand the full capability or use the full capability of the device (plus the money you save by purchasing smart could go towards something else of need).

How important are things like extended warranties, service plans, and insurance?
Really, this depends on the person. If you frequently misplace keys, children (just joking), or anything else, then a service plan or insurance might be of a helpful incentive. They are never cheap, and really point more towards the commission of the person who is selling you the device than the actual cost of the device. Warranties are not too bad, but if you have the chance to insure an item under a personal articles plan, then go for that. That will take up where your warranty does not in many cases.

I purchased a mobile computer and have no idea what else it can do for me, help!
No problem, stay tuned to MMM as we will be pointing to reviews of software that will work great for your endavors. And if you are a company who does Bible related software, MMM is an excellent place to speak about your product as we have a great group of readers who are always looking for ways to make this tech better serve the King.

Those are just a few of the questons that I come across, do you have any questions that you would like MMM to answer, or a comment of how to imporve our offerings. Click on the Discuss link below and share with us how MMM can better serve you.

The last many days have seen me more in metitating on the Word than what I can do with technology because of it. Not so much a bad thing, sometimes we need that time to really get in close with Dad and listen some. In the mist of my listening, one of my younger brothers in the Lord from my alma mater wrote an excellent article for the college paper (that was published in its entireity). He sent it to me and I thought it great to share this as another devotional for the MMM side of things. Take a read.

Can you imagine being the son or daughter of a very filthy rich Father? On the natural, I wish I had a billionaire Dad who could pay all my rent, bills, loans, and food expenses without flinching. Nevertheless, I do not, but I still love my Dad. Well as a Christian, I do not have to imagine. Believers in Christ know or should know that in Christ, we inherit all that our Heavenly Father has for us. How is it so? Let us look at the story of the Old Testament patriarch Abraham.

Read the rest of the devotional.

Don't Forget March 11
If you are going to be in the Annapolis Maryland area on March 11th then don't forget about the MMM Meetup. Look forward to some good conversation as well as the usual tech and ministry talk.

There has not been a second meetup scheduled yet. so if you want to have MMM meet in your town, chruch, or assembly, send us an email so that we can get that set up.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
- sent via Treo

What is a mobile ministry?  That’s a question I’ve been asking ever since I first found out about this web site.  (One thing you’ll find out about me if you follow anything I’ve ever written is that I ask myself a lot of questions)  I’ve thought about that in terms of a ministry to mobile, technical people.  I’ve also thought about that in terms of a technical ministry, which is mobile.  And I think in the instance of this web site, the answer is both of those, and a couple of more things put into the mix.

Mobility has been an interest of mine for some time.  I think that the ability to move quickly allows one greater flexibility in how they serve God.  In Genesis chapter 12 when God told Abram to go, he went, simple as that.  He didn’t have to sell his house first and make arrangements to cover the difference in cost of living from one place to the other, or worry about family or anything else.  God said go, and he went.  I admire that tremendously and pray for that kind of faith.  Abram is the best example of “mobile” that I can find in the Old Testament, but the examples don’t stop there.  In the New Testament, in Matthew 8:20 and Luke 9:58, Jesus tells us that he himself had no place to lay his head.  Probably He would have been considered mobile as well.

So when I consider these examples from Scripture of “mobile users” if I can say it like that without sounding disrespectful, the thing that impresses me is that there wasn’t anything that tied them to a particular home or location, or if the example were modern day, no piece of equipment tied them down either.

That’s kind of what I think about when I think about mobile ministry.  I think about being able to be where God wants me, when He wants me there.  Part of that includes keeping my life in my shirt pocket on an iPAQ and having a folding keyboard and a small Bible in my backpack.  There are people I know, even some I work with, who couldn’t do their job without their specific desktop computer.  Either the applications installed are so specific, or they’re so inflexible in their setup that working on another computer actually seems to hinder them.  Or they require three or four computers stacked around them to do their assigned task.

I prefer to travel a little more lightly.  I work off of two laptops, and one of them doesn’t even have a mouse.  My configurations are so very vanilla and generic that it could seem to someone who casually looked at them, like they were “out of the box” configurations.  Similarly, on PDA’s that I’ve used, I’ve forced myself to work for a period of weeks or months without any third party pieces of software so that in the event I need to do a hard reset and my stuff isn’t available for install, I’m not hobbled in my ability to use a device.

There are a couple of things I’ve seen recently which are most intriguing to me with regard to being portable and mobile, one is a Linux solution, the other is Windows, but they do very similar things.  The Windows solution is from U3 and you can find out more at their website: http://www.u3.com/ but basically, your applications and a profile are build on a USB flash drive and you can carry it from one Windows computer to the next.  Similarly, there’s a Linux solution called Mandrake Move, which is a distribution of Mandrake Linux on a bootable CD.  When you start the machine Mandrake automatically mounts a USB flash drive (that’s one of the features of this distribution) and will load settings from a profile on that drive.

I haven’t worked extensively yet with these solutions, but I hope to be working with them in the near future.  The idea of being able to carry my PC with me from place to place on a CD and a USB flash drive is really very attractive to me.  But I’d like to hear from others about what their idea of a mobile ministry is and whether or not they’ve heard of or had any experience with things like I’ve talked about in this post.  I’ll look forward to what others have to say.

Grace and peace,

A. Jay

In a question asked in the forum, a person wanted to know how some of you who are ministers use PDAs and mobile technology. Please post your responses here.

Originally posted here, this is a continued thought

For one reason or another, I manage to stay connected to the world around me without much effort. Between the morning alarms and text messages of weather, to my end of night email and sports website checks, in between I really have seemed to remain connected to the world around me. Its not a bad thing, as I have been able to be skillful in many applications because I knew what is going on in the greater context of issues.

However, being connected for me has come at some price. I have (since that original article) always seems to take the head of making sure that there is balance in my life between when I am connected (either getting an email via the Treo, or sitting in front of the computer period) and when I am connected (spending time with friends, family, and most of all in worship). This balance, while at times hard, is very much something that many who are in full or part-time ministry struggle with. And it is for that reason, I would offer some suggestions, based on what has worked for me.

First of all, don't be afraid to turn the tech off - whether that is your phones, computers, radios, cars, televisions, or even taking a day off from work. You have to spend some time away from those items and make a concerted effort to refocus yourself on the things concerning Dad's heart.

Secondly, make a scheduled and honest effort to include Dad's decsions in your daily walk - whether you take a few minutes in the morning to ask God how to deal with a person at work, or you take time in the car to listen to a sermon that you have downloaded, make sure that you are setting aside the time and prominence to hearing from Dad. Things work out better when you have His council.

Finally, surround yourself with people who are concerned with your total well being, not just what you can do for them - it sounds easy enough, have honest and honorable friendships and associations, but it is not really that simple. Putting yourself in Dad's hands also means that for those people that He sends around you, you have to be willing to pour into their lives. People that allow you to pour into their lives are people who are (IMO) concerned about you. Think of it as a shared ministry, sometimes you give, sometimes they give, all the time God gets the thanks and glory.

Greetings from the heartland!  Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m A. Jay, the newest member of the MMM team.

I live in the middle of Iowa with my wife and our young daughter, where I’m a network administrator for a local ISP.  I also do a little web work here and there.  I’ve been working in IT since 1992 when and have had many and various opportunities.  I’ve supported mainframes in one of the larges data centers in the country, installed networks, managed classroom PC’s in Hawaii’s largest computer training facility, was a field engineer repairing PC’s wherever they broke, worked in a very large international relief ministry, and installed laboratory computer systems in hospitals all over the country.

July 13, 1996 when I was visiting my brother in Hawaii, at a Saturday evening service at Calvary Chapel, Honolulu, I ask Jesus Christ to come into my life, to be my Lord and Savior, and forgive me for my sins.  I accepted what He did for me in dying on the cross to take away the penalty for my sins by faith, understanding for the first time that there was nothing I could do, in and of myself to “earn” my way to heaven.  I recognized the state of my soul as wretched and hell bound and trusted Jesus Christ to save me from eternal separation from God in hell.  To say that was a life changing experience would be an understatement.

The churches and ministries I’ve been involved with have been almost as diverse as the jobs I’ve had in the computer industry and have run the gamut from extremely liberal to hyper-conservative but I’m grateful to God for all the experiences both computer and church related that I’ve had and for all the things that He’s shown me along the way, and for all that I continue to find out about technology and the Bible as I grown in the knowledge and love of Him.

For the past several years, I’ve enjoyed hand held computers as well, and I’m fascinated by the technologies we have today that allow people to go around the world from their keyboard and have broader reaching ministries that they’ve ever had before.  It’s uses can be as diverse as the jobs I’ve had in IT, or as the churches I’ve been involved in, and it can be as sinister as anything that’s ever been, or it can be a tool that helps to shine the glorious light of the Gospel into a lost and dying world.

Somewhere in between my love for my Savior and my fascination with technology (or maybe it was just a broken Palm Pilot…) I stumbled across Mobile Ministry Magazine and formed a fast friendship with Antoine Wright whose brainchild this ministry has been.

I’ve never actually met Antoine (when my young daughter was learning to say his name, it sounded like Ant One, which made me mindful of the passage in Proverbs 30:25 where it says “The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer.”) but the things we have in common made it easy for us to get to know each other, electronically and across the miles, the knowledge he’s accumulated, and his heart for people, his desire to minister with the gifts he’s been given like it says in 1 Peter 4:10 are all part of the reason I was flattered to be asked, and I’m blessed to accept the invitation he so graciously extended to be a part of the MMM Team.

My prayer is that in some way, I’ll have something to share that will either encourage someone or answer a question for them, or help them consider a technology or a passage of Scripture in a way they hadn’t before.  If that’s the case, the blessing will be all mine.

Grace and peace,

A. Jay

One of the more principal things that I have seen with mobile devices and many new users of mobile devices is addressing issues of conflicting software and going about some solid steps to fix those problems. Unfortunately, because of the varying degrees of computing knowlege that various users may have, asking (in a catch-all fashion) for people to be able to fix an issue is something that just isn't done. Its for this reason that there are system utilities and other wizards on our desktops. It makes it easier for users of all skills levels to fix issues, and that's a good thing.

However, because the mobile device field is quite new, there are not as fancy/clean of programs that would be able to do the same thing. However, within specific devices, there are some manners to go about assessign issues that would pertain to your website. In an excellent post at Treonauts, Andrew makes some good points, and gives some good steps towards assessing issues with his Treo 650 and a conflicting program.

Other websites such as PocketPC Thoughts, PalmFocus, and BargainPDA (and many others, see the right side links) have forums in which you can ask a question about your device and get some kind of solution that may be a bit more timely than calling tech support and listening to elevator music and an ad a few times.

Hello all;
I am in the mist of work I am posting this, so please excuse the brevity in it. There are some new team members (plus more on the way) to MMM. See the right side of the page for their names; links to their websites will be coming soon as well.

There is a three pronged effort that MMM looks to do:
- Reach the mobile user with the tools/resources/instruction that would help them use their mobile device as a tool to enhance their relationship with God, or their relationship with others thru Christ Jesus
- Encourage the use of mobile technology within ministry fields to simplify or further efforts within current ministry endavors by consulting and training
- Create a means for imparting to those who are in need because of their specific missional function, the mobile tools/resources/skillsets needed for their particluar tasks

It is in these three items that MMM seeks to serve you. If you would like to learn more about MMM and how we are accomplishing these efforts, feel free to email us and we will do our best to answer your questions/comments.

In a recent support call, I was helping out a person who was using Bible+ get the program working nice and stable. Once we ironed out many of the questions of making sure that the latest PalmOS updates were had, as well as other 3rd party programs, we looked to get Bible+ back and running. For this person, what we needed to do was make Bible+ as fresh and clean as possible. This of course meant that we needed to delete it and install it from scratch.

However, if you delete the Bible+ program, you will also delete any notes, bookmarks, and other configuration options that you may have set up. And if you are like myself, there are some things that you take time to do and do right that you don’t want to do again. So think of this guide as (1) a way to save those notes, and (2) a way to keep mindful of some backup issues that pertain to Bible+ and many other PalmOS programs.

First off, if you are not familiar with Bible+, it is a Bible Reader for PalmOS devices (Symbian also can use Bible+ bibles thru a port of the applicatoin; Windows Mobile devices are not at all supported). Because it’s a free Bible reader, limitations in using it extend to not having the ability to read copyrighted bibles (unless you receive permission directly from the publisher to make electronic versions). One of its really neat features is that you can take notes while reading. The note feature (by default) is keyed to the rightmost hardbutton (you can change this within Options > Set Controls).

So basically, you are reading along, and then you find that you want to write a note. So you clck the button for notes (or if you have a Treo hit the 'M' key) and then start writng notes. Simple right, and then when you are done writing for that session (maybe right before the sermon or bible study is ended), you click the Export button, and then the notes that you just wrote are automatically exported to the MemoPad. This will then sync with your computer when you next do a sync, giving you a backup and copy of your notes on your computer. Kool right?

But what if you have a problem with your device and you need save your notes, well, the really kool thing about PalmOS devices is a part of the experience called a HotSync. Basically, this does two things, syncronizes your information between you PDA and computer (so they have the same info), but it also backs up on your computer (most) of what is on your PDA. In the case of Bible+, there are a few files backed up that might be of good importance to many of you (PBLPBookmarks.pdb, PBLPConfig.pdb, PBLPHistory.pdb, PBLPKeyboardmap.pdb, and PBLPSnapshot.pdb). Don't worry too much about the names except to note that the the Bible+ notes are in that list. In other words, to make sure that you always have a backup of your notes from Bible+, export and then sync.

As a note to the second point of this how-to, most every file on your PDA is backed up in a folder (Palm/(your username)/Backup) and if you ever find that you need to do a hard reset, but want to get things back to normal, or delete an offending program, you can install from that folder, or delete from that folder the file and then it will either appear or not. Just remember, not everything is backed up. For your Bible+ notes, save them to Memos and they will be there just in case.

Back on September 18th I heard a sermon that I've wanted to relate here for some time, only it's just recently come back to my mind. I didn't make a note of it in my iPAQ like I should have or I'd have done this sooner.

I love it when an expositor can take a very small portion of Scripture and pull a tremendous amount out of it. And that was the case this day. The passage is a simple one; Job 31:35.

Oh, that I had one to hear me!
Here is my mark.
Oh, that the Almighty would answer me,
That my Prosecutor had written a book!

Click here to read the rest of this devotional from A. Jay Sutton

I happened to be at my local chain bookstore today as I was looking to purchase some new books to add to my library. I started in the computer section trying to find one book in particular (Hacking Movable Type), but they didn't have it in stock. So, I journeyed over to their Christian section, which shamefully has a better selection than the Christian bookstore down the street.

Anyway, I saw a book by John Piper titled "Desiring God" and I thought about purchasing it. Well, I decided not to purchase it because I had remembered visiting his website before and having seen the same book as a free download. So, that's what I wanted to share with you today...

John Piper, a very eloquent preacher of the gospel, has made all of his books available on his website as free downloads in PDF form. The only difference with these books is that they are broken down into groups of chapters instead of having the entire work in one file. This actually works out rather well if you're pressed for space on your PDA because you can load the chapters that you need at that time.

You can download his works @ http://desiringgod.org/library/onlinebooks_index.html. I highly recommend picking up "Desiring God," and then getting others as you see fit. Also check out his site because he makes his weekly sermons available as free MP3 downloads.

Care of PalmAddict:

Handmark announced the release of The New Oxford Annotated Bible for Palm® handhelds and Treo™ smartphones and Windows Mobile™ Pocket PCs and Smartphones. Offering the insight, commentary and supplemental content of the Oxford University Press hardcover version, The New Oxford Annotated Bible for Palm and Windows Mobile gives church members, students, academics and professionals a powerful tool for research and personal study.

Read the rest of the release and purchase from the Handmark website.

I get emails from a friend throughout the week that are usually just a verse to think about as I go about the day. Today's verse spoke to me a few times, and even moreso after responding to a question from another website asking if I would call the person in order to help with an issue they were having with their Treo.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-23 ESV
12We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle,[a] encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 15See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19Do not quench the Spirit. 20Do not despise prophecies, 21but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22Abstain from every form of evil.
23Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

At one time, I was very active in many forums and web-doings and made a strong effort to at every chance say something or be in the middle of everything. It was me being unlearned about the dangers of tech abuse and really putting myself in a posistion where the Spirit of God (which led me to using the Internet and its accessories) was being slighted because I too much figured myelf as the focus of everything. It wasn't until seeing this proper focusing of the net and its accessories that I could hold better to understanding what the point of ministry online would be. Its not about one site over another, or one person being more favored than another. Its about the Word of God being shared (broken if you will) via a different medium than it had before. Its about making available to people by the net, PDAs, computers, etc. the ability to not think/worry about administration, but to concentrate on their giftings and where Dad wants them to go.

And so I urge you, no matter how you are looking at MMM or any other website/web tool that is out there, focus your doings here on Christ and where He has called you to use these items. While you may not be elegant in speaking, you may be in writing (so do it for His glory). Where you may not have a lot of friends offline, make yourself aviliable in vairous places online (as a person of sound wisdom and understanding, recognizing that Dad can use you as an example even without being "seen"). Do the work of Christ with this net and prove it to be not only a mission field, but a mission tool that Dad will use to draw people to Him.

I am sitting here at work right now and I have to say that I don't really care for it too much. Yes, this is the job that pays the bills and fills my stomach, but I cannot stand just being in front of the computer and so little interaction with folks. I like going and doing training and tech support calls. Those interactions keep me lively and thinking.

And that is why I have seen the place for mobile computers in ministry as more of an intent of using a computer of any kind. For example, with my Treo I can write articles, read and reply to nearly all my email, surf the web, post here and on my personal site, and even play a game or two...while able to take and make phone calls. Its a nice means of managing my computer usage. And with some things more or less automatic, like getting email, I can take the "task" out of getting email and spend that thought-cycle on something else.

But the other reason I like my Treo is that it pushes me into fellowship. I go to bible studies and the Treo is a means to document the contact info of new people, but most of the time is spent in convo. I have a MMM meeting and while we talk tech and take views of different things, we talk more than we sit infront of a light-box and that makes for personal connections that go beyond what can be typed or iconized (smileys).

I do admit, I am probably motivated by the fact that I think that mobile computers CAN do everything (with a few compromises here and there). And hearing how people have use simple mobile phones to spark cultural movements just amazes me even the more. But with this walk, and this ministry, its about being in the lives of others. And no matter what the technology or none, if Christ cannot be preached, His love cannot be felt, His Word being...well, His Word; then its all for naught.

How do you feel about this? I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.

From the forum:

We've been using an iPod since September to record our messages in our worship service. It's a thing of ease and beauty. Using Griffin Tech's iTrip, we plug the iPod directly into our soundboard. After the service, we drag the created mp3 file into Audacity (freeware for Mac), edit it, and then post it on the net in our podcast link. It's amazing how easy it was after you get past the first couple of hurdles...

Jeff from Notes from the Trail wrote in on that one. What are some ways that you have used mobile technology to make it easier for people to catch on to the Word in your community and abroad? Discuss in the forums.

Hey folks, hope that snow and cold weather were not disheartening to you this day. As for me, my body does not like the cold, but sometimes one has to brave the cold before a spring of life can come ;)

But on a more serious note, MMM is asking for your help. We are looking for some stories of how mobile technology has been used by you (or by associations) in ministry applications. Part of this is to get an understanding of what has already been done. The other part is in order to further encourage, instruct, or equip, or correct the uses of technology so that the Word can be more effectively preached, and that people would easily hear the call from God into a relationship with Him by Christ Jesus.

So click on the discuss this post link and let us know where you have been. MMM wants to hear from you :-)

Hey folks, a slight change has been made to the front page posts here, the Discuss link now points to the Front Page News section of the forum instead of Blogger's comment feature. This is in part to get folks into the forums and foster some discussion, as well as to open the doors to questions and comments that you may have.

So don't wait until something peeks your interest to come in and visit :-)

We, as Christians, are to be a light to this world (Matt 5:14). So we should be shining in the darkness as beacons of hope and love... but are we? As I thought about it, I realized Christians (myself included) easily get caught up in Christian circles; which is great for building up one another (as the main point of church is to encourage each other for the following week), but ineffective for reaching those in the darkness. Have you ever driven down a dark road and met another car going the opposite way? What do you see in those moments before they pass you? The light blinds you, and the objects in the dark are very hard to see. I think we as Christians are like those two cars... we are shining our lights toward each other, and blind ourselves to those outside of the light who really need help. What we really should be doing is going out into the darkness side-by-side so that we can even more clearly see those who are hurting. The main questions I want you to ask are: Am I being blind to the world? and What can I do to let my light shine in the darkness?

Submitted to by ihenni
Discuss in the forums

Was reading this article today and all that I had to say was that am guilty of letting technology rule aspects of my life that God should more than have control over. I enocourage all of you to take a read and then take some time this weekend (if you are like me and getting some snow, then you would have time) to meditate on how to better serve God and not yourself with your technology.

Article snippet:
So you flick over to have a quick look and then a friend says "Hi!" on an instant messenging program, before you can reply the mobile rings but you know that even if you ignore the call it will go to voicemail so you can call them back later, and if you're getting out of breath by now imagine how you'd feel if you did this all day every day plus evenings and weekends.

Welcome to the world of "always on" where being connected to the network and having our work and social lives delivered digitally is part of the daily routine. An ever growing array of consumer technologies can put us in touch with the boss, your partner and some client you don't really want to speak to at 7.30am on Sunday.
Read the rest of the article.

This is way off the beaten path of articles here and is by no means the direction that articles are heading (staying tech and ministry), but due to its shear importance on a world scale, it is being also mentioned here as a item for discussion and prayer.

Snippet: Researchers, including a BYU scientist, believe they have found a new compound that could finally kill the HIV/AIDS virus, not just slow it down as current treatments do. And, unlike the expensive, drug cocktails 25 years of research have produced for those with the deadly virus, the compound invented by Paul D. Savage of Brigham Young University appears to hunt down and kill HIV. Although so far limited to early test tube studies, CSA-54, one of a family of compounds called Ceragenins (or CSAs), mimics the disease-fighting characteristics of anti-microbial and anti-viral agents produced naturally by a healthy human immune system. Read more...

If this is done, this would be one of the biggest medical breakthrus in a long time. Please keep this item in prayer, and if you are in the position where you can encourage the people working on this project, please do.

From PocketPC Thoughts:

If there is one thing that has made me appreciate connectivity, it is essentially the fact that I can use the Internet to find me where I am and get me where I am going. With MSN Virtual Earth Mobile, this ability is extended (in a very nicely displayed graphical fashion) to Windows Mobile PDAs and smartphones.

Read the rest of the PocketPC Thoughts report (with more screenshots) and then here to download the latest release that gives some neat functionality.

Imagine for a second longer that Paul used his blog (epistle) as a means to foster the budding Christian communities he either founded or ministered in. What would that kind of encouragement look like? And more so than that, how would it have helped those communities grow?

Let's look at a community like Galatia. A community that had a number of Jewish Chritians as well as a growing number of Gentile Christians. Connecting to these groups while being on the move could have been a lesson in PR delegation. But instead with a blog, we see a Paul, not only bolding correcting and exhorting, but people using their mobile phones to respond to his posting. I know, tis a weird idea to say that people would respond with their phones, but for Paul to have a blog, we have to assume that the rest of technology stands as well.

Back to Paul; this blog is not just a matter of Paul writing for people to listen. Its an interactive exchcange of faith and fellowship. Its a merging of Paul's conversion experiences, along with the many who can associate with him and the others who walk with Paul. It is an extension of the ability to communicate the goodness of God, just in electronic form.

How does a church today take this idea of a Pauline blog in order to foster, minister, correct, and instruct? Well, analyizing the needs of your community is a start. Its a given that many people have mobile phones and some even have PDAs. How many of those would appreciate a message from their pastor once a week just encouraging you on how things are going? Better yet, what if that text your pastor sent you can be responded to from your phone and then a whole discussion/blog conversation can take place? Kinda neat. Its just making use of a need to commune.

What about discipling? Well, personally speaking, that is something that I am learning to do better with. But basically its using phone, email, text, and instant messaging to foster friendships and accountability in such a way that a great community can be developed.

I know its not a new idea, but if we want to make the most of this mobile opportunity, then we need to make the efforts to learn this technology to best serve teh body. Look forward to some how-to documents as well as other training materials that would help you and your church minister away from the sitting position :-)

Recently, I have begun using a piece of software that’s had a significant impact on my life and I wanted to share it. It’s called Covenant Eyes and it’s what they call an internet accountability program.

Basically, what it does is generates log files of where you go on the internet, and generates reports that are sent to ‘accountability partners’ once a week. In my case, I’ve designated my pastor, my wife, and a couple of men in the church to receive reports on me. You see, I do a lot of work on laptops that are connected directly to routers and use the browser to access their web-based interfaces. I imagined I would have all kinds of problems with this tool, but I rarely even know that it’s on.

By the way, you cannot turn the program off, there’s no real reason to anyway, it doesn’t interfere with anything at all that I’ve found and I’ve used it on three different browsers. I have it installed on three computers also, two at my desk at work, and one at home and it just sits quietly in the back ground, doing it’s logging.

And here’s another nice thing, once you’ve signed up, which is either $6.99 a month, or $75 a year if I’m not mistaken, you can install it on as many computers as you like and it will log data from all of them.

In the event that you DO want to uninstall, you’ll need to contact customer service and get an uninstall password, but even uninstalling the program is logged.

One more nice thing that I discovered quite by accident is that it can function as sort of a way to password protect the internet. Notice I did not say Internet Explorer, cause it would block whatever browser you were trying to use. I know a family with seven children and when they got broadband internet service in their home, they were kind of disappointed that there seemed no way to lock it out, so that if they were not home for example and their children wanted to use the computer, they’d be able to do that without having access to the internet. Covenant Eyes does not allow internet access unless it is logged in. On my computer, I have it remember my user name and password so that it logs in automatically whenever the computer is started. It’s as easy as that.

I think this is a remarkable tool and is invaluable for anyone who has concerns or apprehensions about the internet, or for people with young children. The price is right, there’s nothing intrusive about the software. If you’re not doing anything on line that other people shouldn’t see, you won’t be bothered by being “monitored”. On the other hand, if you’re doing things you know you shouldn’t do and you know you’re being watched, you might be more careful to avoid going certain place. And for the peace of mind it brings to a family cannot be under estimated. Whether you’re involved in things you shouldn’t be involved with or not. It’s cheap insurance for our families, that’s for sure!

Submitted by A.Jay. Sutton

I know that its now the end of the SuperBowl for many of you and so here is something more to chat about in our after the game talk, care of MobileRead.

The basic premice of the discussion is that e-ink technology is on the verge of making a very profound jump in being a major player as display technology. To review for those that do not know, e-ink displays are thin, electronic screens that (currently) show black and white text and images as good (and in some cases better than) actual paper. Beisdes being easier on the eye to read, e-ink displays are also incredibly energy efficient, only needing power to change the screen, but not to maintain the display. The energy savings alone are enough to have many places say that this is the next big thing in computers. In my opinion, if the user interface is there, this could be the next big thing that actually changes the way we interact with our world.

Check out the discussion at MobileRead and share your thoughts (this one effects you more than you think).

Good weekend to many of you. I am at a friend's place as he is getting married in less than 2 hours and have been keeping track of some news on the Palm Treo front of a new model that a person apparently purchased and has made some interesting/important information availiable. This post was one of a series of other posts where a group of people, waiting to hear the next new model becuase the current model wasn't good enough, just couldn't stop tuning in to this thread. What struck me more so that the people asking questions, giving not so clean commentary, and the truth reporting was the fact that in such a small group of people, the next "thing" was so anticipated that everyone would dial in to see what was going on (@ 2:11pm EST, 849 replies, 66,888 views). Wow!. One little device can do that to people.

Now, just imagine if we could offer the Word to people in such a way that they would flock to televisions, radio, and Internet in such a way that a new Word from God would garner that much attention. Wouldn't it be kool if the whole body was that dialed in? Something to think about this weekend perhaps...how can we maintain a worship relationship with the creator of new-to-us Word and create excitement not only for those who have heard it before, but for those that never knew such a "technology" existed?

Something to think about, something to dial in and ask Dad about ;)

Hello all;
I finally figured out why many who have emailed have been shot back mail errors in their replies. To that end, there is an alternate email address for MMM now:

mobileministrymagazine {at} gmail {dot} com

If you have the old address it can still be used. All email though will process thru this address for accessiblity. MMM may have another email address soon as well (as soon as I can get there).

And yes, soon we will be able to chat over GoogleTalk with this addy ;-)

Part 3 of 3 of A.Jay's iPaq review. Read Part 1 and Part 2.

One additional thing about the iPAQ that I don’t care for at all is the case, which is a bulky black nylon sleeve. Nothing as nice or as simple as Palm’s “flap” which has long been the butt of many jokes, but I always liked the flap, mostly because I carry the devices in my shirt pocket. If I’m carrying the iPAQ in my shirt pocket, I frequently cannot leave it in the case, and I’m always concerned about scratching it or something. I’ve seen some nice belt cases but have not had the opportunity to try them out.

For the price of the iPAQ, I would like to have seen a cradle as well. The sync cable is this awkward thing that plugs into the USB port on the computer, but if you connect it to the iPAQ and set the device flat on a table or desk, there’s a power connector on the bottom that makes it so it doesn’t set flat, which isn’t very convenient. Out of the box, this is the only way to charge the device, although an adapter is available which connects the power cord directly to a plug that goes into the device so you can charge without the USB cable, but it still won’t lay flat. I’ve found setting the iPAQ on a CD jewel box gives it just about the right height to clear the power connector and still not put any stress on the port where the cable goes into the iPAQ.

I should also comment on ActiveSync. In some ways, ActiveSync is kind of creepy. It always seems to know when you make a change either on the device or on the desktop and will sync itself immediately. It accomplishes this in part by leaving the device on, every time you’ve got the cable connected to the device. I really rather prefer the way that Palm does this, where when you connect your device, via cable or cradle, it will charge, but doesn’t try to sync right away unless you hit the sync button, then the device powers on, syncs, and powers off after the pre-set time. In the back of my mind, I can’t help wondering if this wouldn’t contribute to the premature death of a screen or something like that, and there are probably settings in ActiveSync that I can change to make it behave in more the way I want it to, but I haven’t explored that yet. Partly because the device lacks a sync button and you would have to initiate sync from ActiveSync app anyway.

Well anyway, these are a few of my thoughts on the differences between devices, preserved here for posterity. I don’t claim that any of this is right or wrong, merely an opinion from someone whose opinions are generally pretty insignificant.

Trailblazin' Ministries is finally back up & running. The site now has a renewed focus and mission to reach the hip-hop culture. With a new design, Trailblazin' Ministries now offers album reviews and is focusing a lot of its teachings on reaching those who are affected by hip-hop culture. As always, Christ is the head, and there will inevitably be talk about tech!

Part 2 of 3 of A.Jay's iPaq review. Read Part 1

I’ve found that programs for the iPAQ are considerably more expensive than they are for Palm and because of that, I’ve not been using as many third party apps, which is kind of good anyway, because I like to get used to the iPAQ in it’s native form before I go tearing it up with a bunch of third party stuff. But among the third party apps that I’ve seen, a co-worker of mine compressed the movie “Office Space” into divx and put it on a 128 megabyte SDIO card and it played wonderfully in landscape mode. It was like having a little movie theater in the palm of your hand!

But to be fair, having been a dyed-in-the-wool Palm advocate for so many years, I’ve amassed a rather large number of third party apps and have carried them with me from one Palm to the next over the years as one dies and another takes it’s place. I wonder how much luck I’d have trying to use a “naked” Palm now too cause there are very many “must have” apps for it that I put on a Palm before it goes in my pocket the first time.

I don’t care for the way that iPAQ uses memory. I’m still a bit foggy on that. Unlike a Palm, apps actually stay running when you switch to another task, and actually I guess the Palm did too, but this takes away system resources. Frequently when you see you’re getting low on resources you have to tap the icon of the memory chip and go to the “running programs” tab and “stop all programs” which seems a little odd. But you get used to it. It’s Windows after all…

For Bibles I’m still using Laridian, although I’ve tried QuickVerse, but it wasn’t fast enough. That could simply be my bias for Laridian Bibles coming out however. The program Memorize, also from Laridian, works considerably different than it does on the Palm and that’s taken a bit of getting used to.

I love the fact that each of the four hardware buttons has a “press and hold” feature. Like if you press and hold the calendar button, it changes the screen from portrait to landscape. Pressing and holding contacts by default launches ActiveSync, Mail, launches Windows Media Player and the wireless button launches IE. I’ve found a couple of those to be very helpful.

Navigation is generally not as easy as it is on the Palm in many respects. I like the fact that when you turn on the Palm it comes up to a main screen with icons on it and you can launch whichever program you choose. With the iPAQ the opening screen is something akin to the agenda screen in Palm’s calendar, which has some benefits of it’s own. It’s nice to be able to see outstanding tasks and appointments in a clickable format on the screen when you first power on, but to get to any other applications you have to navigate for it, and they aren’t always very easy to find.

The other sticky point with the iPAQ and me is the way you move things around. Generally you have to cut and paste, but it seems you can’t do that right from the programs group, you have to first go into file explorer and find the shortcuts to the programs you want moved here or there. And then it seems to give you warnings that moving a program might render it inoperable, so I guess you aren’t actually moving shortcuts at all. I may not have said that very clearly, my lack of familiarity with these devices is evident in the fact that I haven’t learned all the right lingo yet.

When it’s all said and done, I think that if PIM functionality is all that you’re after, you still cannot beat the simplicity and ease of use of a Palm. If you’re looking for something more like a mobile office, where connectivity is a big issue (especially wireless connectivity) and you’re looking to do more with Word and Excel documents, I’m thinking I’d favor the iPAQ. And document management is something I hadn’t addressed to this point, but support for native Word documents and Excel spreadsheets is an absolute dream and isn’t something that should be glossed over the way I’m doing here. That deserves some serious accolades.

Seamless integration with Outlook (including e-mail if you choose to do that, which I don’t because of the volume of Spam I get, I stick with web based e-mail like Hotmail and Gmail) is very nice also and is also one of iPAQ’s assets.

Battery life is something that I should comment on also. The iPAQ can’t stand up to my Tungsten E2 in the battery life department, and you won’t want to go far without a charger. Although there are extended batteries available, they add considerable bulk to the device.

From the press release at Olive Tree's website:

In partnership with Tyndale House Publishers, Olive Tree has retooled the original PC iLumina Gold version to support Pocket PC and Palm OS devices. iLumina MOBILE is now available as the market's first digitally animated Bible and encyclopedia suite-right in the palm of your hand.

"What impressed me most about the handheld is that nothing of the original essence of the PC has been lost. If anything, the graphics are brighter and crisper in the scaled down version," says W. Victor Kore, Marketing Manager from Beers Publishing Group Tyndale House Publishers. "The user interface is well thought out too. From the main page, you are only a tap away from the Bible, the encyclopedia, timeline or multimedia. It is not only functional, but a pleasure to look at."

iLumina mobile - a software suite that takes PDA Bible Study to a new level. The combination of material included in the package gives the user a wealth of information to enhance their Bible Study experience. Included in the mobile version is the addition of the NIV along with the NLT and the KJV Bibles, and a select number of video animations and tours, along with maps, timelines, and other useful information resources. The specially designed user interface works wonderfully to make this wealth of information just a tap away!
###

Read more about iLumina Mobile and download for your PalmOS or Windows Mobile PDA.

Part one of a review of the migration to an iPaq from a Palm Tungsten E2 by A.Jay Sutton

I’ve been disappointed with Palm as a company recently. Their level of service especially when dealing with warranty issues has fallen off so sharply that despite my 8-year love affair with Palm in all their various flavors, I’ve faced some difficult choices recently and made a decision that Palm is no longer a company I’m interested in doing business with. The quality of the devices seems to have gone the way of their support in my experience over the past year, and for all the heartache I’ve had to deal with trying to get devices replaced under warranty, I’ve decided with much regret to part company with Palm.

Early in January I moved away from the Palm platform in favor of a Windows Mobile device. My device of choice was an iPAQ rx1955, chosen for its size and the fact that it has integrated WiFi.

I thought by now that I should take a moment to share a more comprehensive review of my thoughts on the iPAQ rx1955.

I'm getting along with the iPAQ a lot better than I anticipated by this point. I've been using the device now for not quite a month and I'm getting exponentially more comfortable with it.

I've recently acquired a used keyboard and am using that extensively, which goes a LONG way to making the device more practical especially as it relates to wireless things like e-mail. One thing I especially like about the keyboard as opposed to Palm’s universal wireless keyboard is that it doesn’t require batteries, and the battery drain on the iPAQ seems minimal

I'm doing things on it that I never did on my Palm, especially the wireless stuff, and that's kind of weird and different, but I'm liking it a lot. I’m using Hotmail more and more and Microsoft has a new thing they call the Live Mail (currently in beta), which is quite nice.

With regard to web surfing, I’ve found that while it does actually pull up most web sites I try to hit, it’s remarkably more practical if you stick with the mobile portals of which there are a number from which to choose. This I found to be true using the WiFi card on my Tungsten E2 also, but I pretty seriously underestimated the usefulness of the wireless connectivity.

PIM functionality I find to be pretty kludgy, and trying to use MS Money on the iPAQ... well, the functionality is considerably less than what I was used to using Ultrasoft’s Pocket Money on my Palm. But I can enter transactions when I’m out shopping, and they do sync with MS Money when I get home, so I can get by with that, even if it’s a little bit of an adjustment.

With calendars and contacts, I find I'm relying on the iPAQ as more of a way to look and see what's there as opposed to managing the whole calendar creating appointments and managing recurring tasks and what not. Creation of new contacts is also not as smooth as it is on the Palm for me but to be honest, I never found it all that smooth on the Palm, I’d just gotten used to the way Palm wanted things and would always go back to Palm Desktop or Outlook to straighten things out.

Mostly, I do all the appointment and contact creation in Outlook, and the iPAQ is just a convenient way to carry it around sort of.

So I'm using the device as much as I used my Palm or more, and relying on it every bit as much, but I'm using it in a different ways.