Author Archives: Mobile Ministry Magazine

About Mobile Ministry Magazine

Mobile Ministry Magazine (MMM) is online magazine asking questions, presenting approaches, and experimenting around stories related to the implications of faith and mobile technologies.

Christian Hackathon, 14 App Ideas Demoed

Saw this neat article linked through the #mobmin tag on Twitter (lots of good stuff posted there):

Code for the Kingdom brings a distinctively Silicon Valley angle to Christian tech. Its mentors and judges include a partner at the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz and Google’s head of Android partnerships, alongside more conventional mentors from charities and content companies. Reaching out to “techies, designers, and entrepreneurial starters,” organizers invited participants to “tackle the challenges confronting our society, our churches, and our spiritual lives” with “prayer and technology.” By holding an event, they are convening interest around this vision. By giving away $11,000, they are offering a small number of teams the possibility to start creating their idea.

While some of the ideas for these apps aren’t too far-reaching, there are a few approaches which should be taken and run forward. Take a look at the rest of the report at PBS.org and look into groups such as the Mobile Ministry Forum and WIP Connector who do hackathons and connect to developers, organizations, and opportunities.

Its Been A Long Time

Gosh, its been a long time since a post has gone up. More than a month really, and that’s not even counting that latest experiment with Dave Winer’s Fargo. Lots of thoughts about going forward, and in the meantime, trying to keep at task with some of the items at hand.

There’s a bit of a resetting to the entire site that’s being undertaken. I don’t even know that the blog will stay when its all said and done. I’m feeling that one of the original goals for MMM – to find out what the Body is doing at the intersection of faith and mobile tech – has mostly been met. And if so, its possible that MMM serves better in a capacity like MobMin.Info rather than the ruminations and observations of primarily one person.

Nothing has been decided yet. And like the tweet says, there are items still on the plate and things which need to be completed regardless of the decision. Its been a long time since simply posing the question and letting it speak for itself. Perhaps, this is something that time must now assign to my plate again as well.

At the intersection of faith and mobile, how do you respond?

 

The Mobile Lens According to Smartphones

I’m not really a big fan of the focus on smartphones. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of a mobile device that has a significant level of intelligence above the models that I had in pocket half a decade ago. But, overall, a lot of the push for smartphones really just comes from carriers and their stakeholders who see the ARPU higher with smartphone owners than with feature phone owners. If you will, it literally costs you more to own a smartphone, and carriers are milking that for all its worth.

That’s why I look at this recent image about the top countries for smartphones with a bit of disdain (from Textually). No, not that it doesn’t make some sense, because it does. What happens is that much of the marketing and focus for smartphones and those using it are not towards those folks at the top of this listing – at least by proportion of activities, marketing and development.

When it comes to ministry, and even some recent affairs concerning it that I put myself for, there’s this unhealthy focus on what can be done with smartphones, what can be done with English-first users with smartphones. We aren’t always looking at the cultural dynamics that make up smartphone… mobile usage. And that’s a mistake. Yes, there’s something to be said about looking at mobile and its transitioning happening in those nations that have had a deeper history of communication technologies and behaviors. But those folks that skipped a few things… man, there’s something rich and valuable about what the faith looks like in the UAE, SK, and Saudi Arabia. Are we developing towards those perspectives too?

Or, is the lens of our smartphone just confined to whatever media is pushing? If its Google-based, then the perspective starts in Silicon Valley. If its iOS, then its one part California, another part China. If its BlackBerry, its Canadian with a heaping of Washington DC. If its Nokia, then there’s the Finnish experience, with a North American attitude. And that’s not even to talk about the lens if we went with the largest carriers instead.

I wear tinted glasses, but make sure to take them off or look around the edges. Sometimes, what the world offers has a better color than what I’m usually seeing.

A Few Items in the Tabs

For a little more than a month now, I’ve been using a Chromebook. And ironically, during the same time, I’ve been collecting a ton of links to post. Collecting because many of these were supposed to be published, but you know… there’s that issue with the main website. Ah well, here’s my attempt to cull a few things and point to a few happenings.

Some days ago, the folks at Pew Religion & Public Life published some of the questions from a religious knowledge survey they did. They postured this as a religious knowledge quiz in its own right. It’s pretty easy, but don’t be like me and get one wrong.

I’ve not really figured out exactly how to describe it, but the NSA/Snowden situation is a pretty major one that effects current and future prospects for mobile ministry (#mobmin). Of one of the things I’m thinking about is how we clothe ourselves with data, and what that makes evident in our dealings in ministry and beyond. Alan Moore put this part of the conversation in better words than I can (at this point); here’s his piece: Are We Naked Without Data: Edward Snowden Asks A Big Question.

Logos has a mobile education suite. For those of you looking at expanding your use of their content libraries, this makes a lot of sense. For those looking for something a bit more packaged and aren’t using Logos, this also isn’t bad. Gosh, and all the work I do to pull all of this together on various mobile devices… look how far things have evolved.

I’ve often talked about mobile opportunities that demonstrate living by the Gospel, not simply preaching/teaching it. MAMA – the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action – looks to be an excellent example of this. I really wish that I could say that other ministries are taking part with this (I’m sure there are a few), but this is the kind of approach that’s widely missing in my neck of the developed world.

We’ve got that discount code for Mobilista Rockstars – find out how to get it.

That’s all the tabs for now. Please keep MMM in your prayers. I’ve got a few trips coming, and looks like one of them is in major jeopardy for not happening. The site’s getting worked on, and things are being fleshed out here. And… well, there’s always more to come. Stay tuned.

Mobilista Rockstars, Discount Code Too

Some time ago, Tomi Ahonen (or maybe someone else) coined the term “mobilista” to describe some of those folks who aren’t just mobile fans, but literally are defined by their passion, activity, and spirit that goes behind all that is mobile. I’ve been called that at times by Tomi and a few others, and its one of those terms that makes you put your chest out a bit – and then run to your nearest device(s) to make sure that you are practicing what you are preaching.

Nevertheless, such a term has its own share of stars, rockstars. And these rockstars are doing something pretty significant. They will be sharing the stage on three continents in one week for 3 conferences. The conference is called Mobilista Rockstars and will be happening October 7 – 11 in Hong Kong, London, and NYC.

Now, such a conference isn’t something you just walk into. There is a limited number of seats for each of them, and right about now, the best deal for the conference is quickly becoming unavailable. That said, MMM is proud to be able to offer a discount code for those registering for the conference. Interested in getting that code? Well, let us know.

You can let us know in two ways: comment to this post (make sure there’s an email address to your Disqus account). Or, follow us on Twitter (@mobileminmag) and then send us an “@” mention or direct message (DM).

Real simple, and frankly, these are the kinds of things you can do right from your mobile device.

So, comment or tweet, and then let’s see about connecting at one of these.

MobMin.Info As the Real MMM

This time where WordPress has been acting up has given me a good deal to think about in reference to MMM. Part of that has had to do with the actual activity that goes into MMM – from research, to networking, to writing. That’s a lot of work. But, this site, or at least an aspect of how things have evolved, has been as a destination and “searching-from” point. That’s meant for several changes and evolutions over the years, and with one change in particular that seems like its a better evolution for MMM than some other items: MobMin.Info

MobMin.Info started as a response to a few comments and questions from the conversations and meetings that ended up becoming the Mobile Ministry Forum. While there was not a lot of information about mobile ministry (#mobmin) out there, there was a difficulty in finding that information and then acting on it. I took a look at everything that I’d done with MMM to date, and then cross-referenced it with the actions of a few other notable sites that specifically focused on mobile ministry, and then created this (simple-ish) page. Its actually a page that can sit on one’s mobile device until they clear their browser cache (aka, it acts like an app even though its a webpage). This made a lot of sense.

It is a good starting point. I was able to take that work and even evolve aspects of MMM into its own HTML web app (replacing the attention we paid to making apps for each and every platform out there). Making that page also seemed to endear some good-will towards other folks who are doing mobile ministry activities, but not quite at that place of having something that was ready to be released. In a sense, they know if it was able to be found by something on MobMin.Info, they’d be found.

Then, earlier this week, a friend poked that they had an issue getting to MobMin.Info. I had not realized that some of the server issues might have effected that page as well – specifically many of the links that pointed to MMM’s content on that page. That made for a deeper look into why things are down, and a refreshed look the reasons for MMM and why MobMin.Info makes a lot of sense from a key-destination standpoint.

Many people just want the answer now. They want it packaged. And in some cases, they want someone else to have already done the work. MobMin.Info was a lot like getting to that point. It makes sense for the person who just needs to get on board quickly and have a contact point to move forward. As I look at what it will take for MMM to get back on deck, perhaps I need to also pay attention to resetting the starting point of the conversation. From there, being not just info, but info that points to the purpose of moving the conversation forward more directly.