Mobile Ministry Magazine

Following along our previous discussion about the mobile office, 1src explores the issue of mobile data security. If you have a mobile device and carry any amount of personal information on it, this is a very good article to get you thinking about tools and processes. Here is a snippet:

...Today’s mobile devices allow us to store gigabytes of data in them and on the tiny removable (read: easily lost) memory expansion cards that go along with them. When does having our data with us become having too much data with us? Should we be cramming our devices with our personal and business data? Should we be keeping everything on our desktops and corporate servers? Or, does the answer lay somewhere in the middle...

Read the rest of the article.

The 51st edition of the Carnival of the Mobilists is now being hosted at Tarek Speaks Mobile. The carnival is a weekly look at trends happening in the world of mobile technology. Aside from being a great collections of news and views, the weekly changing of the Carnival across several types of mobile websites lends to a different "personality" to each Carnival.

Enjoy, and stay informed via this week's carnival so that you know better where things are going.
- sent from Treo

EDIT: sorry about the links issue, that has now been fixed.

If some recent reports on mobile device use are to believed, then why would on even think about the concept and implementation of mobile tech for ministry purposes? Really, if carrying a digital camera and a MP3 player and a laptop and a Franklin Planner and a Bible and a...

Ok, so part of it is not the tech hardware, but it is the way we interact with it. Dedicated devices are a good deal easier for most, however one cannot deny the convenience of a converged device. So how do we better use these Frakenstein devices? How does the Body use mobile tech in such a way that is both simple and effective?
- sent from Treo

From Techwack:

Olive Tree Bible Software, in conjunction with Multnomah Publishers, has recently released three new eBook titles by John Piper: LIFE AS A VAPOR, PIERCED BY THE WORD, and TASTE AND SEE. You can now enrich your PDA library with one or all of these new Christian eBooks.

LIFE AS A VAPOR springs from James 4:14 –“You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” In these meditations, Piper discusses the idea that human life is but a vapor and eternal life is everlasting – we choose in this vapor of a life how we will spend our eternity.

Piper’s eBook TASTE AND SEE covers subjects ranging from current controversies like partial-birth abortion and gay marriage to deep spiritual questions about salvation and resurrection. Filled with poignant and practical answers to the tough questions of the Christian life and faith, each self-contained meditation tackles a topic and provides true and applicable answers or insights.

In PIERCED BY THE WORD Piper takes up thirty-one meditations on “real world” subjects which will lead the reader to a deeper understanding of God and a purer, stronger relationship with Him. Most of all, his approach shows how musing on God’s powerful Word can affect every aspect of our lives.

Visit OliveTree's website to download for your respective mobile device.

From Kyle (GospelShare);

I wanted to let you know that I have been working on a new web site - Christian Mobile Tech. Currently, the primary focus is on PDA's, smartphones, and Christian and other popular software for these types of devices, with periodic reports on cell phones, MP3 players and iPods(TM).

CMT is looking for writers and those who would like to advertise their services/applications on their site as well. Kyle is a great guy and CMT seems like a nice extension of what he has already been doing with GospelShare.

Taking the Ministry on the Road
I am sure that many of you are pretty well versed with many aspects of software, as well as the different types of mobile oriented hardware. But what about the process of taking one's ministry on the road? I was challenged recently with coming up with a mobile office solution foe a friend of mine and in the mist of my researching, I have been presented with some questions that I would like to share to stimulate some discussion:

If given the option of a mobile office, what would be your primary tool (laptop, TabletPC, smartphone, PDA+cell)?

Do you feel comfortable storing sensitive and non-sensutive documents in an online repository (online storage, connection to your server via a program like Avvenu, etc.)?

If you had no choice, due to budget and mission, to create a mobile office, what would your setup look like?

These are just a few of the questions that I have asked and entertained. Stay tuned for more explorations of this line of thinking as well as a Scriptural alleration.


- sent from Treo

I originally posted this on my own blog but thought I would share since this is so newsworthy...

Enjoy, Jay

Today is a great day!
How do I mean? Well, let me say that I have solved another long standing problem with mobile tech...
Actually, I discovered some solutions that are working well for me and so I have to assume they will do the same for you.
I am talking about being connected to a PC to access anything you need from a remote device. In this case, I am referring to my iPAQ 1930 Windows Mobile Pocket PC.
Why do I (you) need this? If you are in sales or running your own company, having access to necessary documents or media content is the difference between getting more business or not!
How so? By completing a "To Do" list before it is created, and not "dropping the ball". More business is lost (actually never won in the first place) due to no follow through...
How do I know this? PERSONAL EXPERIENCE!
Back to this solution and what it means to you; instead of always carrying a cumbersome laptop you can now carry a PDA or (better yet) a smartphone and have all your business related materials always with you.
The problem with these devices has been limited memory and the amount of data they could hold. If you just needed OFFICE documents, chances are, you would be fine. Being in media, I however need to carry files that are much larger than the standard Word or Excel document! Audio and video files can quickly eat up a hard drive's space. So by accessing them from the iPAQ via an internet connection, I no longer have to worry about getting them on the device itself.
Now, if I run into a prospect or a new customer wants a service, I can log into my Orb or Avvenu account and send them the appropriate file to close the deal on the fly.
Why BOTH accounts? Well, if I had a Windows Mobile 5 device, I could get away with just the Avvenu but the iPAQ is WM2003 (3 years old). Avvenu will stream audio and video as well as give you access to any file or folder on your PC. Orb, on the other hand is strictly for media files and will stream to older devices (provided on the internet connection). Both require installation of their applications to the hosting PC. That PC requires a broadband connection. This also means that neither application needs to install software on the mobile device (this saves memory on the mobile device), and you can log in from any other connected source.
So, go to http://www.avvenu.com/ and http://www.orb.com/ and give them a try! Did I mention both have FREE VERSIONS?
That reminds me, I need to call Sprint and remove my Personal Business Connection that I have been paying $15/month for since these new apps do it all and more for free.
Enjoy and tell your friends where you heard this info, Jay

I do have to preface that while I could access the Aveenu account from my flip phone, the Orb account would not let me have access. I suspect it could detect that I was using a phone that didn't have media capabilities.

Mobile ministry is all about ministering while on the move. Obviously. Of course, the challenge is in finding products and software titles to facilitate sharing the gospel.

When on the road, boy are we still in it. We can go retro, and get tracts on our handhelds. Having the Word accessible from a PDA is so yesterday. You can carry and share your favorite spiritual tunes. And when you get to your destination, you can access your pre-prepared message right in your hand.

But what about traveling itself? What tools can we use to keep organized?

SplashTravel is the new offering from SplashData. It is based on the premise that business traveler usually takes his/her smartphone or PDA with them.

SplashTravel is made up of 15 tools that help keep one organized during just about every phase of a trip.

The UI was bright and attractive, and the ticker function was a deft touch.

For the pre-trip, you have the Luggage category, which allowed me to get rid of my old Excel item checklist.

While on the move, you can use the Currency Converter. While it is not all-inclusive, it gives you the option of editing entries and adding new ones. Along the same lines, the Unit Converter gives you the ability the move seamlessly within units of measurement. Weight, area, temperatures, speeds and the like are listed, from avoirdupois units all the way to the Japanese tsubo.

The Check Splitter helps with the mind-boggling tasks of splitting those cumbersome eatery bills. It also has a built in Expense function, as well as a World Map and a Clothes Sizes Converter.

On the time management side, this program is stacked. It has a series of Clocks, which gives you the time simultaneously of five different locations. The Time Calculator expands on this function allows you to calculate times relative to another. This can be useful when crossing multiple meridians. You can also use the countdown Timer, the Stopwatch, or the Alarms function, which allows you to set up to nine Midi or Wave alarms. It also has a great Date Calculator, which calculates the amount of time between any two calendar dates. This is great when you need to a "physical" view of how much time you made, or have left in a given project or assignment.

The built-in Calendar lists the day (of 365) and week (of 52) in addition to the current month view. You can toggle forward or back and see, for example, if the annual retreat falls on a loved one's birthday.

In addition, the program boasts of listing of local and international calling Codes and Domains which lists lists US states, abbreviations and calling codes, and similar information for countries world wide.

After testing this program on an intensive trip, I give it high marks for innovation and utility. I found that it can be run from an external card. This eased the pain of the relatively large footprint. There is also an option to optimize the PRC files and "remove all unused resources", which helps in that regard as well.

All in all, SplashTravel can be a useful tool for you or that traveler you know with PalmOS device or smartphone. You can purchase it (along with the 60-day money back guarantee) or try it free for 30 days at the SplashData site.

Stay blessed.

from PalmAddict

link I do not own a PC, nor do I feel I have need of one. I have my TX instead. is a new post at Palm Addict that just shows where computing has come in the past many years.

For many people that I have talked to recently using a PDA or laptop as their mobile office is much more of a reality. While there are some compromises, it really is amazing as to where we can go with this.
- sent from Treo

Was doing some work this morning to type up a devotion, so I was over at eBible.com trying to find Scripture references. While finding what I was looking for, an ad sparked my interest so I clicked it and it took me to SermonCloud.com.

What is Sermon Cloud? It is a Web 2.0 site that allows practically anyone to search for sermons online by keyword that they can then download as MP3s. It also allows for users to sign-up and upload their own sermons to their library as well. Not bad for a free service, not bad at all. What's great is that you get an RSS feed for your site and it's podcasting ready to throw up on iTunes or Yahoo! podcasts.

I haven't looked at the ins and outs of this service, but it looks like it could be a great resource for churches who are looking for a free and easy way to get their sermons online for their members and the world at large. If you know of a church that is looking into podcasting and doing so at an affordable price, I highly recommend checking out Sermon Cloud. Shoot, I think I'll even start using it to publicize my Trailblazin Ministries Bible studies.

In the past two days, I have seen a few different means by which ministers carry their tech with them. One has two mobile phones (personal and business) and a laptop. From those he is basically able to keep work and business seperate and then also be responsive to matters no matter where he is. The other person has a desktop at home and another at work, but mainly uses their PDA as the information manager between the two of them.

Granted, there are products such as this that can make carrying a few mobile phones easier, freeing you up to carry a laptop. And also the idea of the PDA as the manager inbetween also has merits; but what does your tech setup look like and how would you change some aspect of it to better fit your needs?
- sent from Treo

Mobile Crunching
I am in the mist of an experiment of sorts to not be on my desktop unless I absoutely have to this week in an attempt to gain abck much of the lost quiet and rest times that I have been missing. To that end, most of the posts on my end will come from .my thumbs (I gave my keyboard to a missionary friend) and quick notes from my heart.

One of the other reasons for this reassociatiom with mobile compuring is that work committments keep me from going to the Mobile 2.0 conference. This conference will be bringing together many people hard at work pushing the mobile web and for me would have been an opportunity to see if there was a push in the ministry and lower economic areas of this growingly connected world.

I peraonally wonder if people and processes can really better utilize mobile tech if they knew about it. And at the same time, a mobile optimmization of aspects of the Body could be what the Body needs to remain relevant, and increase its effectiveness worldwide.
- sent from Treo

Island Labs has launched Zen Sudoku for Palm OS featuring:
- Unlimited puzzle generation
- Five difficulty levels
- Clever implementation of pencil marks
- Hint feature
- Custom puzzle mode, allowing puzzles to be entered from newspapers or books

Zen Sudoku for Palm OS can purchased for $12.95 from www.islandlabs.com. A free trial of the game is also available from the site.

Now having posted about a game, don't any of you go playing while teaching and preaching are going on ;)

Hey all;
Its been a slow week over here with the team getting some reviews under their belts ready to come in the next days/weeks and so we have all been trying to stay on top of some of what has been going on. Here are some snippets of some of recent notable news items that we haven't posted:

For those whose mobile tech is a laptop or tablet PC, using a web browser has been a question of the incumbant Internet Explorer, or the upstart FireFox. Both browsers have seen updates this week; both touting increased features/ease of use and security. If you are one who uses your laptop/tabletPC in public wifi hotspots, then you should most definitely upgrade to the latest of either of these browsers for safe and effecient browsing.
- Download IE 7
- Download Firefox 2

The Gadget Pastor has recently done a review of the newly released Google Maps PalmOS application. I have it on my Treo 650 and its about as close to having a GPS without having GPS as you can get. Read the review, then download Google Maps for any mobile device (just point to this link via your mobile browser and it will let you know exactly the download your phone/PDA/smartphone would need).

We chatted some about FaithMobile some time ago, I checked out the site yesterday and notiiced a slew of new offereing and downloadable content. Most of it is designed for normal phones (not smartphones) and the prices seem quite reasonable for the type of content being offered. Check out FaithMobile for you or someone you know who could use a phone-reminder of God's heart for them.

A good way to keep up on some of the more popular and infulential topics in mobile technology is to check out the Carnival of the Mobilists. This week marked the 50th carnival and it was hosted at MobHappy. Check it out for a ton of other mobile tech articles (many of which just blow my mind about what is being done in different parts of the world).

A last news item that caught my eye recently was the subject of mobile created content and how that would be that thing that drives people to using mobile devices more, and there being a market for things like mobile Internet and mobile services. Check out the article at GigaOM, and then the nearly at the same time posted article at M-Trends. There is most definitely something brewing in terms of mobile content delievery.

A final note is something that is a bit more hands on and local. Right now the MMM team is spread out pretty much across the US (its really neat how God made that happen - there are some blessed folks on this team). But what is needed is some people who are located in the Baltimore, DC, and possibly Philly areas to be team members so that MMM can start extending services to local organizations. If you are located in or near one of these metro areas and would like to know a bit more about what I mean about establishing a local team, shoot us an email and we will be glad to give you the details in email-print. NOTE: this doesn't mean that the current team is being disbanded, only that MMM is looking to take the next steps in being a resource that is touchable (not just readable).

GMPSoft has announced the release of Bible With You 7.0. Now the PDA Bible reader supports highlighting that goes beyond painting scripture texts in all the colors of your PDA to bring useful Bible study features such as arranging highlighted bookmarks in categories, jumping from highlight to highlight, attaching user notes and much more.

Bible With You is free Bible software that allows easy navigation in the Bible, features to study and personalize, auto scroll, one-tap links to Bible commentaries, Christian ebooks, Bible and English dictionaries. Available are popular Bible versions such as New American Standard Bible (NASB), King James Version (KJV), New Living Translation (NLT), New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

You can download fully functional trial products from GMPSoft

News curtosy of Brighthand.

Mobile Stewardship
One of those statements that I have commonly heard during the past few years has been that people are letting technology control them. To some extent that is true. I believe though that the push to using mobile technology us giving opportunity to take that control back. In simplistic terms, we get back to that point where we are once again excersing stewardship over things in the earth.

However, something that I have realized since being into tech such qs PDAs, blogs and email, is that if not checked, they can be areas of abuse. Paul said in a letter that he could do all things, but all things were not expeident to do. This was not a stastment of bondage, as some would have you believe, but one of freedom. Being thst he realized his freedom from sin because of Christ Jesus, Paul could fully realize what it means to be free, and at the same time exercise the control over things that before he only thought that he had.

In the same way we take tech at its advantages but we don't overdo it (if at all possible). So that the liberty that it gives us is not a noose (blackberry thumb, social networking all the time, always covetimg the lastest and greatest...) but is a mark where we step close to God and to each other, making more effextive the impact of the love of God in close and far areas (Acts 1:8).
- sent from Treo

Greetings all, while I am never a big one for contests, I am one who like exposure. Following a posting at M-Trends, an email-based site called Fierce Wireless is holding voting poll called FierceFavorites on your favorite blogs. You can hoose up to five of the nominated blogs and as an extra incentive, one voter will receive a Motorola Q in a random drawing.

So get over to Fierce Wireless and look for MMM on the poll (or suggest MMM if you don't see it yet there). Then check out the other blogs that talk about the mobile lifestyle on that list. It is a pretty impressive listing, many of while are far and away the leaders in talking and doing mobile technology worldwide.

I am a missionary in Mexico and a palm user for almost 10 years now. About three months ago a doctor in California donated his old Palm 515 pda to us to use in the ministry here. It had obviously been sitting in a desk drawer for a while, but after a night of charging her up I saw that it was live and functional.

I set up the Palm with Iambic Agendus version 7 in Spanish, thus replacing most of the English interface; and bought a couple of OliveTree Biblereader modern versions in Spanish (with the BibleReader interface in Spanish) and set up a session with a Christian Counselor who I thought would benefit from it.

Everardo is a Christian psychologist who runs a clinic that is focusing on restoring people who are wanting to leave homosexuality and training the Christian churches in Mexico to do the same. At the clinic the synchronization of Everardo’s agenda with the office agenda had always been a problem that a small bit of technology helped in a big way.

Currently Everardo uses the donated Palm to synchronize his appointments and we use the AirSet.com service to have an online version of the schedule at the clinic for other counselors to view from their homes. Everardo now reads his Bible on the Palm, takes his Documents-To-Go with him and is an awesome Mobile Minister!

~ by Paul G.

Visit Paul and his wife's website to learn more about the ministry he is involved in and how he uses his PDA to teach and equip other ministers in the area with theirs, and their other endavors in Mexico.

I was just visiting TreoCentral and was reminded about the website The 81 Day Experimnet. Pierre Khawand is conducting an excellent expriment to juedge the merits of some popular smartphones. He is on day #63 right now, and things seem to be getting interesting still. Here are links to the various models already looked at in this (quite comprehensive) overview:

- BlackBerry 8100
- BlackBerry 8700
- Motorola Q
- Nokia E62
- T-Mobile MDA
- Treo 700p
- Treo 700w

You will need a few days to read all of the past reviews, but if you are looking at the viability of a smartphone for yourself or someone close to you, this is as close to actually using a device as reviews get.

Marriage has been good to me. Almost a little too good.

Now, if you're thinking that I am going to blame the extra 60 lbs I've put on since getting hitched on being married, you're wrong; I put the blame squarely on whom it belongs: my wife!

Yeah, yeah... if there ever was a guy that could shift blame from himself to an angel, it would be me. On a more serious note, it is our responsibility to keep these temples as clean and as healthy as possible. And Handheld Diet Diary for Palm OS by CalorieKing Software aims to be a resource that helps you keep your temple physically spick and span.

Calorieking is an offshoot of the health education venture of dietitian Allan Borushek. Their goal is to promote healthly choices, and they do so admirably with this software.

When you access the Diet Diary, you are presented with your Personal Profile. Here, you put in your age, sex, weight and height. You also put in your daily activity level (for instance, sitting in an office versus manual labor). At this point, it gives you an analysis of your Body mass Index. Based on that, you decide whether you want to maintain, lose or gain weight. The program then sets a target goal of calories per day. It also tells how much you should expect to lose a week based on that caloric intake.

Now you have a live tool to help you make better choices. The program contains a huge (and I do mean HUGE) database of foods, all the way down to menus from popular eateries. For example, I found out that if I went to a popular restaurant by work for lunch and had my favorite entree, I was hitting 320 calories, 27g of carbohydrate, 6g of fat, 9g of fiber and 40g of protein. You can also search for specific food types with the search function, and then record the results.

All the while, there is a running percentage balance that tells you what you have left in terms of calories. It worked great at making me think of alternatives to eat that would keep me under my target consumption. I found that quite impressive

Periodically, you can put in a new weight, which allows the system to automatically adjust your target. The Reports section gives a snapshot of chartable weight progress from the individual's start date.

A true gem on this software is the CK Exercise section. It gives you estimate of calories burned by different activities (e.g wheelchair basketball). For folks who needs a mental push when contemplating a physical workout, seeing the end result in black and white would be highly beneficial.

As an extra, the Library section provides useful articles and information, ranging from "Eating Behavior" to "Ten Dieting Hints," all geared towards good health. This, as well as the database can be stored and run from an SD card.

In finality, it is clear that making healthy choices can be an invaluable testimony. Diet Diary can help in maintaining it, or making it a reality, if it isn't already.

For more information and to download the free trial, visit the Calorie King website (purchase for $29.95USD).

Nice testimonial here.

A recent posting over at the Mobile Gadgeteer talks about a new application for Windows Mobile smartphones called SLAM (Social, Location, Annotation, and Mobile). Much like Facebook or MySpace, SLAM allows for people to connect over various subjects and geographic areas.

One of the more interesting aspects of this is not so much that it another social network application, but that it is facilitated within the use of smartphones. In my opinion, applications/services such as social networks are only best used when you can connect with a person in person as well as online. A recent article that I read spoke about a person who had a lot of "friends" via MySpace, but that person just found themself at the computer all the time. They never were encouraged to actually go out and commune with people with those networks. By using a phone/smartphone as the agent for interacting with the application/service, a social network can then take on the personality of actually going out and being social.

Visit the SLAM website to download SLAM for your Windows Mobile smartphone and let us know what communites you get started.

Am I the only one who thinks that something like this could really make into a church of a different kind. Tis interesting...

Of the things that I love most about my T3, the video capabilities are very close to the top of the list. With TCPMP to play nearly every known format, I have been quite content to use my Palm as a video iPod--with a million bonus features! However, there have been those occasions where either the file that I wanted to watch was enormous and unviewable with my little processor, or the format was some crazy mix of letters that I was not able to put straight into TCPMP.

Enter RAD Video Tools (Bink & Smacker--you have to love the name!). This fine utility is the FREE Video Tool that you have been wishing existed. Prior to finding this jewel, I spent hours pouring over Google Searches for free video conversion only to find about a million for-pay apps that only did half the job, or didn't really support my format after all.

I don't want to claim more for them than is reasonable. However, this is one program that I have kept the installer safely backed up "just in case".

Here are a couple of examples of tasks with which Bink & Smacker have won my heart:

I subscribe to The Resurgence, a great blog that happens to occasionally do video podcasts to put skin on the audio message that they put out on their podcast. One issue that TCPMP has had in the past is using Apple's mp4/m4v video stuff. I'm not even learned enough to give you the exact extension (hence my thankfulness for anyone who makes this easier). In Bink&Smacker, I just open the file, pick .avi as the format (tweak the screen resolution to fit, and lower the fps), press convert...and BINK-SMACK: I have an .avi of that great video podcast that will fit on my SD card and will be greatly appreciated as spiritual manna later in the day!

There have also been occasions that I've downloaded a great video sermon from Desiring God and as I try to watch it on my Palm, it freezes because it's just too big a file. Enter...you got it!...Bink & Smacker. I can reformat that size and get it down small enough to fit several on the 1 GB card.

I whole-heartedly encourage you to check out RAD Tools today. It's also fair to let you know that they definitely are grateful for those who can contribute to them for their excellent solutions.

Most of us are not rushing out to get the latest and greatest PDAs. Sometimes we just need something inexpensive and solid just to keep us organized. Palm Addict's associate writer Sandro Correia (Portugal) has written an excellent compairson of two inexpensive and versatile Palm models: the Zire m150 and Tungsten E2. Here is a snippet of the review:

...However, this Palm device had two strong arguments that convinced me to buy one unit and ditch my Casio agendas and become a Palm user: the price (99$ in 2002 and 70€ in 2004) and the autonomy. Weeks and Weeks of battery life! In that time I just started my degree in University so I needed a single device with great PIM functionality (something that my Casio’s hadn’t), low price and trustful. In the first days I discovered lot’s and lot’s of software (HandStory was a must have) making the Zire my best friend...

Read the rest of the compairson; purchase these and other low cost models from the Palm Factory Store.

Some of you who are plugged into the latest news around about the web have probably heard that Palm has released a new model, called the Treo 680. This is an upgrade in some respects to the classic Treo 650 (to some its not an upgrade at all, but that is for other sites to argue) and refines some things and makes more accessable some others.

Probably one of the more interesting parts of the release of the 680 was an accompanying release of Google Maps for PalmOS devices. You were already able to download and use Google Maps on some other mobile devices, most notably Windows Mobile and Symbian smartphones, and even phones that are not so smart (to some) such as the freebie phones we can get with a contract & carrier.

The really impressive thing about Google Maps though is that it is a very intuitive working application. Besides the fact that you can get around pretty easily (and if your mobile device has a fast connection , it would seem just like the desktop version), you can also do things like get directions and identify points of interest. One could easily see this being used in concert with other services to identify places of worship or even organize evangelistic efforts on a city-wide basis.

Me, well I am crazy about maps just because they give me some idea of the detail that God went into when making the world that I live in. To have a piece of that on my phone is not only humbling, but also revealing of how much more my tech and life have to reflect living as designed by a Great God.

Sometimes, the little things are what keeps us rolling. When it comes to PDAs and smartphones, we talk a lot about the music, email, and Internet. But there are more basic reasons that we go about using our devices that are simple and effective. What are some of the basic tasks that you use your mobile device for? And can you see yourself using another technology (pen/paper for instance) instead?

In case you have not seen the post at Gotta Be Mobile, they are giving away a Motion Computing LS800. The contest asks you to submit a simple essay describing how you would use the tablet pc in your work and personal life. I have seen a LS800 in person and it is a great little package.

Rob Bushway, one the contributors of Gotta Be Mobile, also has formatted books and bibles for the tablet pc at Tabletbible.com. Check it out Tablet users. Rob is doing some great work through his families company Zoe Inc. I look forward to learning more about them and following Rob as he lives life out at on his blog.

As many of you who read Mobile Ministry Magazine know, the content and purpose of this site is very much one born out of a heart for enabling people with technology, and then also kickstarting those who have no idea about what and where mobile technology is going. Of course, being that most of the team is in the US, or view of mobile technology is admitidly a few years behind Japan, and about a year or a little less behind the rest of the world. This is not becaue of just the hardware and software, but different cultures treat mobile technology differently, and to properly use it, we should know what is capable of happening here and then how best God wants us to use it to enable His people to come to Him.

For myself personally, I have dove so far into understanding mobile technology much better that I find that many of the websites that I visit now are those of mobile tech and user experience desingers whom are located in places such as Western Europe and Asian interests. And some of the things that they do are not just impressive, but near culture changing.

For example, some of us might have heard of QR codes, and a few of you may have even used them in some industrial services. But in Japan, not only are they using them in consumer applications, but using them in order to enhance advertising and other communications that ordinarly would be just a simple ad. Neat right.

But then you have places like London where people are paying for parking with their mobile phones. Not too smart if you leave the phone in the car, but it does make for a nice means to carry one thing less (especially as a guy who carries only a set of keys phone and wallet).

But the point is that for mobile tech to really go forward in the Body, we really do need to see and use applications of mobile tech that are not just different applications of the same paradigm (sure a thinner smartphone helps, as does mobile blogging software); but something that is usable, and fits within, or even goes a lot further than what we coulde ever doing on the go.

And if that means we get a phone that's not as smart, but much more usable, then that is a step in the right direction for all users of mobile tech. But more than just that tech, we enable people to see and touch a world that they had not been able to before. That world, shaped in the love of God by Jesus Christ can be an excellent thing don't ya think.

Quiet Time w/God from Mobility
In a recently spoken section of teaching happening at my church, the subject of quiet time had come up. Essentially, this time is valuable as not only time to talk and listen to God thru prayer and reading the Word, but it is also meant as a time of setteling onself and recharging. One of the more freeing aspects of mobile computing is that these aspects of quiet time (prayer, reading the Word, and going to a quiet place) are much easier to atttain.

For me, a few pieces of software have become my daily quiet time companions. One is PocketTunes and the other is Devotions. And while I am pretty sure that most of you understand the idea of having some worship music (and therefore PocketTunes isn't so much the focus here), many of us have a hard time digging into the Word consistantly and so devotionals help greatly there. Devotionals has been a big blessing for me because of its simplicity in use, and the also that it is not 'overbearing' in leading me to develop a personal reading quiet time.

What is Devotionals? Its a devotional reader, similar to how Bible+ is a bible reader. Devotionals works with Bible+, Laridian's MyBible for PalmOS, and GMPSoft's BibleWithYou to help you set a conistant bible reading schedule. By offering a ton of both free and paid devotionals, Devotions does help one to set that daily quiet time to read, without being invasive.

What do I mean about it not being invasive? You see while some would enjoy the idea of a devotional that alarms for you that it is time to read, the fact that Devotionals doesn't do that puts it on you to remember and go to that quiet time. Sure, you can set an alarm in your todo list, but its not the same. Another way it is not invasive is that Devotions integrates with afroementioned Bible readers with just the tap of a link within Devotionals. Granted, Bible+ falls behind here in that you need to exit B+ to get back into Devotionals while MyBible and BibleWithYou are actually made to a part with Devotioals. I still found it easy to get from the verse back to Devotionals.

You can start your quiet time with a program such as devotionals, or just find your electronic Bible and a quuet place and just let the Spirit of the Lord teach you His Word. Just make sure that no mstter how you do it, that you take that time and let His Spirit refresh you. Whatever you do, just get out of the way off those things that distrsct you from concentrating on God and his heart for you.

Visit the Devotionals website for more information and to putchase for you PalmOS PDA or smartphone.
- sent from Treo

Was just over at Palm Addcit and a post was written about various email clients for PalmOS devices and some positivies and negatives of each. Check out the entire article and hold onto it as a reference if you are looking for a wireless email solution to help you within your ministry or organization.

A release that has been a long time coming is now available for those who use the Bible+ Bible reader program. GospelShare has recently made avaiable the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible. From GospelShare:

The ESV is now available for download in our new Download Center! The English Standard Version (ESV) Bible "is a new, essentially literal Bible translation that combines word-for-word precision and accuracy with literary excellence, beauty, and readability." For more information About the ESV and for Translation Details visit the ESV website.

EDIT: Apologies for not saying this before, but please be sure to at least give a donation to GospelShare for providing this download. GospelShare, the holders of ESV, and the programmers who worked on this for Bible+ should be compensated for this work they have done.

Was just doing some work on the Bible+ website and I saw a link that I hadn't remembered putting on there to some resources for eSword and Bible+. The really cool thing is that these are the types of resources that I use when in bible studies (as its not profitable to carry pounds of books on your back ever, but to have the resources is porfotable.

The resources are found at The Sword's eBible page. Really neat interlinear resources and some other Judeao-Christian resources that are all free to download.

What study aids do you keep for on the go studies?

I was excited to see another product from Iambic Software. They've hit many homeruns in the past for PalmOS users, in particular, the Agendus package. I got an email from them announcing YourCall, an interactive piece of software that activates itself immediately upon disconnecting a phone call.

I downloaded the trial version about a week ago and have been using it. Here are my impressions:

• The graphics of the program are excellent. Each activity, such as "Add caller to Calendar" is coupled with an icon. However, these icons would be easier to interpret if they had a small popup underneath them or small description. As it is, you have to immediately memorize what icon does what. They're not that self-explanatory. (Although they look good!)
• I've had some problems in particular with Add to Calendar. My first round with this resulted in a frozen Treo 650, although while I was shedding my silicone phone cover to hit the reset button, it finally opened the calendar. A little buggy there. I could have accomplished that task faster manually.

• I also am not particularly impressed with the popup window that happens after every phone call. You can train it not to do this, but you must train individually with every call that you make that has not been trained before.

One of the more interesting things about this time of technology is that there are still many different uses being considered and thrown away as we become more knowledagable within this mobile world. This is not at all surprising to some, but for the general populace, to see what is and what can be done via mobile technology is like a sci-fi show come to life. And in many cases, that realization can spark innovations and dreams all that much further.

For example, consider what is happening in Barcelona now with mobile tech (via M-Trends). Their city council is taking the high penetraion of mobile phones and mobile data connections (SMS and Internet) and making available services that are great for the short term needs of the government, but can have longer reaching effects for the people who use it and know that it is available.

Or consider services such as Zinadoo (org. posted at PocketPC Thoughts) that are enabling people to create the usable mobile web right in front of them on whatever device.

You see, its not so much that we want to stem the tied of using mobile tech. We want to use it responsibliy, and even more than that, effectively and within the context of being a lighthouse. We do that though by knowing the trends, and then getting them inline with God's heart for his people, the hope of an eternal trend - His love.

The Gadget Pastor has recently published an article on his site that talks about Bible tracts that you can use on your PDA. Now, unlike tradition tracts that you giveaway to people, this is something where you would use your PDA to present a gospel message. Many of these are downloadable from PalmGear.

Click here to take a look and download a few tracts

I recently experienced a problem with the power jack on my Palm Zire 72s. However, I thought the problem was with my charger. I purchased a new charger from the fine folks at PocketSolutions. Their prices are competitve and their service is fantastic. Moreover, they provide some of the best line up of PDA accessories on the 'net. I've purchased their products over the years and have never had a hitch. You can find out more about this great company here .

However, upon recieving and testing my new charger (which was excellent, by the way), I still had a problem with my PDA not properly charging. I checked online for someone who fixes PDA's and who had garnered great reviews for his service. I found an article written about a gentleman who fit that profile. Chris Short is a one-man show providing some of the best service around. He is based in the United States and he provides service for both US and international users at reasonable rates. Moreover, his response time is quick and always cordial. Most of Chris' work is from word-of-mouth or postings on eBay. His eBay ratings are very high. If your PDA needs a little fixing up, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you shoot Chris an email and let him know what your problem is. You can contact Chris Short via email at "ips at chartermi.net"


(Originally posted on PalmAddicts)

I have found that since owning a PDA, that I have really had the issue of what it is that I would use to get information into the device. There are multiple aspects of handwriting recognition (written recently about at Brighthand) and then there are keyboards. When I got a Palm T5 last year, one of the purchases that I got with it was an external keyboard; I wanted to do the mobile office thing because I was out of the house a lot more than in it, and the large screen gave me an opportunity to try mobile computing on a different level.

I then went to using a Treo and found that I liked the thumboard, but there were times when I needed to write a bit more and I had not gotten used to typing as fast as I think with my thumbs only. Therefore the external keyboard came back out and I found a new level of computing (anywhere access to email and Internet, plus I could type fast) and it made those more immediate communications a bit better, and then I was also able to find quiet places outside of a room and electrical outlet, gathering me towards people (or even a quiet place) but still able to get my thoughts down in the fashion that I wanted.

It was in this that I realized the value of having an external keyboard. While it is that they are not the best choice for everyone, external keyboards can prove to be very porfitable in both business and ministry. In business, one can use the keyboard/PDA combo to type notes for a team meeting and then send them to the team for review. Also, using a program such as DragonEdit, one can even edit a webpage without having to log into their computer (VPN or Terminal Services). In ministry, the reach of using a keyboard can be as simple as putting together a sermon or presentation, or as expansive as emailing various ministries around the world about what you are doing or for support requests.

Because of the compact size of many of these external keyboards, one can get away with carrying them and maybe a set of batteries and that is really it. Many PDAs are good enough to go a day or two with heavy use, and so that would only leave one charger to carry, and then an extra set of batteries which can give you about 2-3 weeks of hard usage (meaning more than 4hrs a day) or 2-3 months (light usage, 15min a week).

You have various ways to connect a keyboard to your PDA. Older keyboard models connect via a hardware connector, slightly newer ones connect using infrared (IR) and the latest ones use Bluetooth (BT) to connect to the PDA. Of the three, Bluetooth is probably the most battery intensive, yet not so much that you would need to worry about whether your PDA would last the day if you used your PDA and keyboard in (for example) a classroom setting.

Getting the information into your PDA is something to consider. And if you are anything like me and looking for warmer days and reasons to be outside, a PDA and keyboard can be a really convicing factor (there are other factors that IT people like to bring up, but we can let them chat and just ask them for the fun stuff :-) ).

Here are some models that work well with most newer and older PDAs (reference the websites for pricing information for your region):
- Palm Universal Wireless Keyboard
- ThinkOutside Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard
- Palm Portable Keyboard for Treo 600
- Brando Mini-Bluetooth keyboard

A PDA and keyboard may not be the best solution for all uses, but for those cases when you need to get down and write an article or just keep correspondance a bit longer than what a text message can do, an external keyboard could be an answer to a mobile solution.

Don't even ask me where that title came from. But it was something that just ran thru and so I went with it. There has not been a whole lot to post about this week, the team is readying a slew of reviews on some very interesting software, and so those are coming pretty soon.

There is also an extra MMM surprise to come in the next few weeks, and this is something that you won't be able to miss at all.

In terms of news, there are tons of new phones coming out, even more laptops and personal media players. But those are only hardware and not very effective without a system that will at least show you how to best use them. A great set of posts at Tony Dye's website talks about these and other IT related issues discussed at a recent IT roundtable discussion. This is great, especially when trying to manage a ministry or organization. But there is always growth to be had.

I have been learning the value of just taking more time in worship and reading the Word lately. A new program I have been using has been great in helping me there (the review is coming and so I dont wanna talk to much about it). But it has been great being focused on the Word day in and out via my Treo.

So yea, we are still rolling here. And there is news to come. I am pretty sure that tomorrow will be nice and news filled (as that tends to happen when I come out and say that there has not been a super amount of news to report). If there is something that you would wish for MMM to review or report on, just drop us a line and we will see about talking about your product as it fits the pupose of this ministry.

Personally, I have been digging a lot into the mobile web and considering moving to a new device that will extend my abilities to be more all the more. The only thing is that I really like using the Treo and it is well made (read: efficient) for the way that I like to work. The new models coming out do not really make a signifiant improvement, and so I am looking around to see if any are better for my needs. Probably nothing for a little while yet, b