Mobile Ministry Magazine

I get a lot of email. Sometimes, I get too much email. Between work email, Brighthand email, personal email, newsletters, sales brochures, and forwards from everywhere -- not to mention spam -- there's a lot of information that come thru my eyes on any given day. In addition, I read 30+ websites a day keeping up with news from tons of subject areas. If you will, there is a ton of information around me and I have had some successes and failures in managing it all.

One of the reasons for using a smartphone was to help stem the tide of all of this info. So that instead of getting it in all at once at the end of a busy day, I am getting it in bits and pieces throughout. While its help me manage it, there's still a large amount of information. I've spent the better part of this summer looking at all of this information, and how to better navigate with it while maintaining some sense of balance in my life. And though I fee successful in some parts, there is never less information, always more, and the old stuff grows along with the new.

Mike Rohde pointed to a webpage which talks about this information overload, termed infomania, and why its such an important and neglected issue. Rather than get into the overall effects of this, I'd like to ask: how do those of you in information-centric fields deal with the deluge of information, and how do you keep it from becoming too overbearing (if you are able to keep it from being overbearing)?

Labels: reading, tech, usablity

From Olive Tree:

Olive Tree Bible Software announces the release of dozens of new products for Windows Mobile Smartphone devices. Currently, several of the popular phone models that use the Windows Mobile Smartphone operating system are the Motorola Q9m, Motorola Q, T-Mobile Dash, and Cingular 3125.

Over 80 Bible translations, more than twenty Bible study tools, and dozens of Christian eBooks and daily devotionals are now available for Olive Tree's rapidly growing Windows Mobile Smartphone platform. Recent changes to the BibleReader application included more features and an increased number of available resources. Among the items offered are the following: NIV, KJV, NKJV, NASB, ESV and ASV Bibles; IVP's Bible Knowledge Commentary, NIV Study Notes, Robertson's Word Pictures, Matthew Henry's Commentary, and other study tools; Daily Light, Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening, and other devotionals; and eBooks by numerous authors such as Andrew Murray, Hannah Whitall Smtih, John Bunyan, and Charles Finney. Now you can carry the Bible, several study tools, a devotional, and your favorite eBooks with you on your smartphone.

Visit OliveTree's website to download their Bible reader and accompanying resources.

Labels: mobile, Olivetree

Here's part of a blog entry I wrote discussing my woes trying to get my two Vista PCs networked.

...At the time, I had an XP laptop, and I was able to get the two networking just fine without any major issues. After selling that laptop and purchasing a brand new Vista laptop, I couldn't get the two to network to save my life. Now, this wasn't an issue when I first got the laptop because I wasn't worried about trying to network the two; my focus was on uninstalling all the junk that it comes with and putting on my desired applications (one of which being Windows Live OneCare, since I was giving that a try as my system's security suite, and had already been running it on the desktop). Once all of that was said & done and I was ready to network (to transfer files and setup the printer), I was unable to do so. Using Vista's network map, I could clearly see that my wife's computer was connected to the network & vice-versa, but I couldn't access them for the life of me...

Click here to read the rest of the entry & see how I finally got them networked

Labels: networking, onecare, vista

Most of the time when people in ministry think of email, the first feeling that comes to mind is "blah." Email has really gotten to the point where its a necessary item, and yet something that we at times can look at with a good level of disdain.

One of the reasons for starting MMM harks back to that specific feeling of email and how often emails would go unanswered or passed along to an administrative aide because of the volume or intensity. I prescribed smartphones and data packages that took advantage of the email aspect of what came in, so that the burden of reading and replying to email could be spread out through the entire day, not just given one large window (that a single email could easily discourage).

Tonite, I checked email after a long day and noticed that in a few of my email accounts, I had over 30 messages that I never downloaded to my device. Nevermind the amount, the fact that I did not read them was alarming. Here I was at the end of a Friday night, and I am cheking email. Instead of the chore being lessened, it was now amplified because I forgot to check it during the day.

Its in a situation like that where I look at solutions like RIM's Blackberry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Information Server/System and Microsoft's ActiveSync as viable options. Yes, emails come to you either timed or immediately, but the active noticing of them usually means that there is some part of your mind that will take a minute to look and discern whether the email is worth now taking time or later.

For all but one of my email accounts, I use a Push email solution, and it just happens to be on all of those that I fell behind. Email became blah when I saw how much to go through. To change that I've got to go back to setting a time when emails come in automatically, so that they are not left too long if important. And at the same time, have a more positive attitude about email, it just makes replying to the important ones that much easier.

Here are some solutions for email on the go that may or may not require a smarpthone, but do require a data plan on your mobile, or an active WiFi connection to work:
- Microsoft ActiveSync via MS Exchange
- Nokia Intellisync
- Nokia Mail for Exchange
- Yahoo Go for Windows Mobile and Symbian
- Mail2Exchange hosted MS Exchange
- Google Mail IMAP
- Yahoo Mail Plus

There are many others, and most are compatable with mobile devices and latops. The hosted solutions out there might also be a good idea for those of you in organizations that need to not only have email on the go, but a shared calendar, assignable meetings, and other 'big office' features, without the expense of an IT department.

As for me, back to reading email so that the weekend can really be a time of rest.

One of the barriers to using digital 'anything' as a tool within ministry settings is the fact that being any aspect of digital means that you have some level of affluence. Unfortunately, this does not speak towards the majority of those who need Christ, nor to many who are Christ-followers, and so digital 'anything' and 'everything' has to take a respecctive backset until it has its place.

For example, yesterday I was at the community laundry mat, and per my usual, I had something to eat while talking with a few (random) people. Somehow, and this time not my fault, we got on the subject of phones and a guy pulls out a Nokia N800 Internet Tablet. He says that he really likes it, but there was no one even at the store where he bought it that was able to help him.

Of course, Nokia's Blogger Relations helped to make be a bit knowledgable about this device and I was able to help him with his device, and then open a door to conversation that will hopefully lead to him not just deepening his relationship and convictions to Christ, but also making him a light to his community, family and friends.

If you will, we can sometimes be so digitally tuned, that we forget that there were social networks before Facebook, MySpace and Jaiku. Our voice, and the abilities that God has already given us to communicate the truth of His Son to everyone is right there. The digital element is to be used as a part of the speaking piece in the mist of that, not before it.

After that, we'll find that one of the digital hurdles are done. Now, as for the other one of actually digitizing everyone, I am not sure that soemthing like that is needed; but understanding the place for digital even in the lives of those that do not -- and then teaching them the difference -- makes for another part of this life that is a lot less of a hurdle than it was before.

Edit: fixed the spelling and tweaked a few sentences for clarity

Labels: mission, N800, tech

...just retooling. Lots of things happening now and so not much in terms of good postings to put up. There's a major change going to happen to the back end of things with MMM, and so I am also prepping that. So until then, do catch up on the archives and when this is all done, hopefully the ground here will be a good bit better for all.

This is a really good review of Jaiku at Symbian in Motion. Though the review really focuses on the mobile application for Symbian users, those looking to employ social networks as part of their outreaching activities can also get some good out of this.

Remember, you can also connect with MMM via Jaiku and keep up with us as we roll around the mobile tech world sharing our faithfulness to Jesus.

Labels: Jaiku, mobile, Nokia

The Carnival of the Mobilists has stopped this week at MobHappy. I've got a piece (unexpectedly) published in this edition of the Carnival, but by far there are other great reads in this edition.

Labels: Carnival of the Mobilists

As best as I can remember, MMM has talked about doing bible studies, but concentrated more on the tech and the software, rather than the actual study itself. So the question I have, while at a cafe waiting for a bible study to begin myself, is how can mobile tech enhance a Bible study? And, how can teachers use mobile tech to reach those to whom time or opportunity doesn't make them usual participants?

The first way a mobile can enhance a Bible study, is for one to have an outline or appendix of additional resources or notes availabe hours to a day before the study. By making this available, you offer a preview of the pending study, and in the case of some studies - such as a line by line study of Romans - those notes can consist of historical contextual notes that would normally be lost on the ears of some who might not be as tuned to history.

Another way of using mobile effectively is moving to a venue besides a church to have the study. From a cafe or library, you can leverage the wireless connection there to give group worksheets that can be done on a device. One can also make ice breakers such as scavenger hunts that use the cameras on phones to coincide with the coming lesson.

Getting people to come to studies seems to be a problem that all deal with. Obligations such as working late, family responsiblities, or just plain non-motivation keeps study numbers lower than some would like. Sure, you can addreess this by making topics more interesting or making it a membership "requirement," but a more effective thing would be allowing the study to be timeshifted into the place where it is most convenient. For example, if you church is large enough, and the budget is there, record the Bible study and have it on your site as a audio or video download. Adding that to a RSS feed will help drive users to your site, and potentially make for more outreach opportunities in your community.

Or even, somethign simple like a subscription based SMS blast of the vereses and subject covered in the study. A person who signs up for the study would expect to receive a SMS or email alert of what the study was about and the verses that went along with it. By tying into the study the reiteration of this content, you create coesion amongst the study, and make it easier for people to come into the middle of a longer study and not feel totally left behind.

Of course, none of this will happen unless you are stepping outside of your communities and comforts and looking for ways to make sure people are the focus of your efforts, not programs. In making "berean-like" people a aim of your study, you not only end up enriching the study, but the potential for those who learned and sat in that study to become teachers to others themselves.

I hope that you have had had a good week. Mine is going well, and this week I've probably had a lot of mental fun just going between my Treo and the N95 on loan from Nokia Blogger Relations trying to see which device works best for me, and where are some areas of applying and doing mobile tech/ministry can be. I'll admit, its kind rough as most of this I am just experimenting with, and from there making accounts and recommendations of what can or could work.

When I think about where we are in terms of the Body though, mobile tech seems to be the perfect intersection towards where we are. Between using social networks, mobile phones, and even IT summits; the ability to be a support or communication aspect to ministry is exciting.

I even get excited when I read about where mobiles are going. Just knowing that a "phone" device can serve as a computer, or creating a system were people can use their mobiles for communication and finacial services, its exciting.

Being in a new area of the US though, I am looking for ways where living by mobile can assist in the mobile outreach side of things. Whether that is something as simple as a bible study, or as needed as a mentor/mentee relationship, I'm looking for those ways were I can live in ministry, and what I do on a mobile device can really foster that healthly.

I think that items such as the Internet Ministry Conference and Church IT RoundTable are great because they really give some boundaries to where things are and where things can go. I'd really like to know more of what is happening around the world in this respect so that more "Body encoruagement" can happen in this world of tech.

So as you can tell, I'm one part loving the move, another part just watching and learning this new place. There's bound to be many areas where we move to or move from where some aspect of mobile tech has helped us to stay in touch with life around us. But when that mobile tech intersects with our faith, how we respond to the call will determine if we are really being challenged to live as vessils. I'm choosing that my mobile tech use should make me into a vessil of His glory. How that will effect the world around me, I can only hope it will be something that leads others to growing in their relationship with Our Lord.

Labels: ChurchIT RoundTable, devotion, Internet Ministry Conference, mobile, N95, Nokia, Treo 680

The Church IT Roundtable is something that has been done now for a bit more than a year if I remember correctly and is one of those areas where the Body really has mobilized behind the idea of what can be done with tech to make it a more usable tool in the hands of orgs and ministries. The Fall 2007 RoundTable is coming up and more details can be found at The Appian Way's website:

The roundtable format was inspired by Mark Stephenson, re-ignited by Jason Powell in September 2006, and taken to the next level by Tony Dye and Chris McGuffin in April 2007. Ask anyone who has attended any of these events and they'll tell you that they were energized by the infusion of knowledge, community, and encouragement. It's difficult to describe the feeling of having dozens of church nerds together in one room. The best metaphor I know for it is "critical mass" - it's a church IT explosion!

Read more and register and let your IT people know about the ChurchIT RoundTable too.

- thanks to Church Tech Matters for the link

Labels: ChurchIT RoundTable, community, IT, tech

According to a few posts at Symbian Guru today, the Nokia N95 multimedia computer (really, they don't call it a mobile phone), will be offically coming to the US in September in a version tailor made for US radio frequences and usage. This includes 3G (wireless broadband) and an increased battery capacity (because its not all that great now).

I'm pretty sure that it wil cost about as much as the iPhone, if not a bit more (but would be great at lower). According to the reports, its not known if it will be sold via a carrier or not. But normally, Nokia's devices in the US are best bought from someone like MobilePlanet or by going to the Nokia store and getting it there.

Now, pardon me as I try to figure out what TV would work best with the N95 as I doubt that I will want to be getting a new comptuer of the laptop sort seeing that "computing life" is possible via just the N95. All of my Bibles work with it so that's great (and I can even take advantage of some of the iPhone Bibles out there too).

The neat part of this is also that I could host parties at my apt (or elsewhere) and always have the music and video with me to play, or just stream from online. Nothing but a cable needed (and battery pack). Whooo hooo!

Labels: mobile, N95, Nokia

Normally speaking, when a company sets out an email talking about their entire software suite, its usually because there is a sale or something major is happening. Well, in Olive Tree's case, I am not sure that there is a sale, but there is a lot happening with the Bible Reader application across several devices that are worth taking note of.

For Palm and Pocket PC BibleReaders:
- Customizable toolbar
- Table of Contents Navigation
- Personal notes display on the main screen
- Autoscrolling
- Updated verse chooser
- Updated Search range options
- Bookmarks improved on Pocket PC
- 5-way navigation support has been enhanced on Palm
- Cascading Library list on Palm

For Windows Mobile Smartphone and Symbian Cell Phone BibleReaders:
- Updated Verse chooser
- Table of Contents Navigation enabled
- Topical bookmark support on Windows Mobile Smartphone
- Personalized Shortcuts
- More available resources

Olive Tree can also be downloaded on Blackberry smartphones, the Apple iPod (not iPhone), and any normal cell phone that has a Java client (meaning just about all of them). So, visit Olive Tree and get ta readin da Word ma'.

Labels: Bible, community, mobile, mobiles, Olivetree, phone

From Palm Addict:

I recently discovered a program to read the Bible in 90 days. At first I thought it was nuts!

After all, I know a lot of people who try to read the Bible in a year and give up. 90 days seemed impossible!

But the more I looked at the program, the more I realized that it was entirely possible.

The website explains that the amount you have to read per day is about 3.5 pages of The Wall Street Journal or 4 pages of USA Today. For me, I looked at the amount of text and realized it was far less than what I might read via email or RSS. (If you buy their Bible they say it’s merely 12 pages a day, but you can follow the plan using any Bible.)

It just looks like a lot because it’s all in one place. But to me, this was something important enough that I wanted to do it.

I started to think about where I do most of my reading. I realized that I read a lot more than I think about either on my laptop or Treo, or listening to audio books in the car. So I wanted to come up with a way to do all those things either on my laptop, or on my Treo, or in the car.

The good news (no pun intended!) is that you can do this for exactly $0 if you want. I have put together a free list of the Bible in 90 Days (aka “BIND”) readings, linked to an online copy of the NIV Bible. Feel free to bookmark that page or save it to your Treo or computer. You can use that to read your daily readings. (If you just want a plain list of the readings you can also get that in PDB, PDF, or MS Word format).

Read the rest of this post at Palm Addict, and get to reading :)

Labels: Bible, community, devotion, mobile, reading

This is what happens when I should not be peeking in on news from the Apple releases today...

Anyways, more than most things techie, music has been one that is mobile in both how we carry it and how it moves us in various capacities. Simply speaking, if music doesn't move you, then its not worth listening to.

So you can imagine a bit of a surprise when looking at the Apple front page seeing a news post about Gospel great Andre Crouch and Apple's Logic Pro software. It even goes as far as talking about how he is using it to teach:

Crouch is a preacher, and preachers love to teach. In the section of the church that he transformed into a studio/theater, Crouch plans to teach kids about music making and recording. And when they've learned enough, they'll get to perform and record in the space. "Most of these kids have never been to a professional studio," says Crouch. "We're going to teach these kids to run Logic and all this gear. They're going to record their own tracks and learn how the pros work. It's going to be great because we have some brilliant kids who already know computers like the backs of their hands and they want to make music, but they haven't put the two together."

Now, don't think me a musician by any means. I cannot play anything except air instruments. But to take technology that he knows and then put it in a position to extend the exisiting knowledge of youth is pretty encouraging to me.

I've always seen MMM as leading into that for myself at some point down the line. I've seen how others who have been in various web-based ministries have also gotten the chance, or soon will, to extend what they have been doing online and [if you will] make disciples through the teaching of the Spirit-led uses of talents and abilities. To me, that seems a great way to share and live the Gospel; even if it does mean an Apple is taken here or there.

Labels: Apple, community, gospel

Here's something that just came up in my Jaiku feed as something that I've nearly forgotten about in all of my moving and what have you this summer.

The Internet Ministry Conference 2007 is setting out to answer those questions. We believe that the internet has incredible potential as a tool of Christian ministry--but thus far, we've barely scratched the surface. Web 2.0, blogs, RSS, instant messaging, cellphones--these ideas and tools are revolutionizing the way our culture communicates. It's time they revolutionized the way we share the Gospel.

Are any of you looking to attend this year, or have attended in past years. This is something that I'd love to go to, but at the moment cannot see that happening. Nevertheless, its great to know that there are a slew of others who are intent in making sure that aspects of the web are usable for ministry.

Read more about Internet Ministry Conference 2007.

Labels: community, Internet Ministry Conference, tech

Greetings all, I've decided to play a piece of the discussion that I have been having with myself for the better part of the past 6 months on whether to move to a new mobile device or not. You see, I am one part very happy with my Treo 680 and the various means that it has enabled me to stay connected, on top of the Word and finances, and just flat out productive. I am also very aware of its limitations as in aspects such as non-universal hardware and Bluetooth abilities, a browser that doesn't take kindly to JavaScript (sometimes that's a blessing), and instability caused by programs that offer the kind of functionality that other phones offer by default.

I can and will admit that my time with the Nokia N800 and N95 have absoutely spolit me as well. Being able to use largely the same amount of music and document files (different types of memory cards in all three devices though); the ability to carry on the same bibles, and then use some other software that either doesn't work as well on the Treo, or doesn't work at all, has really made me think about not only what I want to use this tech for, but also how best it should be for me to use it.

And so I sit on one side of my debate:
To get teh extended OEM size battry for the Treo and then wait for the Foleo and exercise that type of "computing anywhere/anyhow"

or
To do nothing and wait for a touchscreen Symbian/Linux/but not Windows Mobile device that offers the same user experiences as my Treo, but the better functionality and usability that I have experienced with the Nokia devices.

To be blunt, I want a mix of my Treo and the N95 - but such a device doesn't exist (yet).

The other side of my debate hits the needs versus wants. I need for a mobile device to be my computer on the go as much as possible. Whether that is ability to knock out emials and posts, or listen to music, or give me directions, that ability needs to be in as few devices as possible, and yet as seemless as possible. The other part of that is I want for a device that I own to bee seemless and usable. For example, the TV Out on the N95 seems like a gimick to many, but instead of typing this on my desktop as I am now, I would be typing this on a BT keyboard to the N95 that is connected to my TV, allowing me to watch TV via Wifi and the N95's browser :) Yes, that all can be done, and the energy savings is even beter.

And so I ait my debate out there. I don;t know if any of you are running thru similar decsions in your computing needs whether hardware or software, but its good to really dign into these discussions with ourselves (or spouses if you have those that aren't as techie) and then make wise decisions.

Becuase really, for all I know, I might do nothing, and just purchase a new computer and spend all that excess electricity in trying to simplify things :P

While at a partnership meeting with the church that I am attending in Charlotte, a question came to me that I just want to put out there for discussion (for now):

"What if mobile ministry meant engaging and developing communities that vigate thru the various subcultures to display"Christ in" our lives?"

Greetings to all; I am in the mist of the first evening at my new apartment and for the most part I feel a lot like I am just starting the next leg of an incredible journey. You see, while it is that I have moved into a new place, I only have my Treo to play the role of computer, music player, and reading device. It's pretty much the opposite of where I thought that I would be upon making this move, but I like this as it is both humbling and freeing.

I started to make another one of those posts from my RSS feed list but decided not to because of how this one post (timbuktuchronicles.blogspot.com/2007/07/mobile-phone-reporters.html) really seemed to hit this particular moment. You see, in an area where making sure that knowledge is shared in a timely manner, there are people using the power and ability of mobile devices to spread and collect that news for great consumption and empowerment.

This is a good application of what can happen when tech and a problem meet head on and something new has to happen. On the side of ministry, I have always seen this kind of use of mobile tech as being beneficial in a Pauline-like manner, missionaries writing back to their home churches or church planters encouraging and keeping up with plants they have movd on from. If you will, I see the instant-abilitty of SMS and blogging on a mobile device to accent the already existing relationships that have been formed.

As I write that I kind of laugh to myself, I am in a similar situation in the respect that I am using a mobile to report on the world "around" me. Very funny how appropriate this is.

The question then to be asked is how this kind of application could be done in a societty like the US/UK/etc,? In these places, mobile tech is more defined by hotspots and high data fees, and so how can reporting and connecting be done effectively, and at the same time foster the kind of communities that are built in faith, not on fluff?

I believe that the answer lies in mobile social networks, or more effectively, taking mobile tech that is relevant (SMS, MMS, email, moblogging, etc.) and then applying it within the teaching of making disciples who truely see the world as reachable for Christ. We use these technologies as messages of encouragement, or followup to ministry so that bonds in Christ are strengthened.

Its my hope that my moblogging/email can be that for you. Its not at all easy in being in a new place and still knowing that there is a responsiblity to keep walking in those things we were called in. For me, this post is both a challenge and an encouragement that mobile tech is a part of what the Spirit of God has given us as power to reach to the ends. Now, I hope that you having been reached, can teach and edify someone else to do the same.

Found this neat tip/idea via Chruch Communications Pro (via the MMM Jaiku channel)

Google Maps (Google's local directory) has recently started showing user reviews in it's business directory listings.

First, off if you haven't listed your business in Google Maps - go here now and do so. Even if your business is in the listing take the time to sign up for a free account and enhance your listing. You can add product photos, hours of business, forms of payment, product lines. Great stuff for local searchers.

The above is from a post at Duct Tape Marketing.

Besides making your church findable via a normal web browser, with Google's empahasis on mobile services, you can also text, browser, or voice-call via Google to find several services in your area, or in an area you are moving to/visiting.

Side note: Subscribe to the MMM Jaiku channel in your RSS reader for news from MMM, Church Communications Pro, and other tech ministry sites. If you want to be added to the MMM Jaiku channel, contact MMM with your site address.

Labels: community, Google, mobile