I’ve long been enamored with the idea that the preaching/teaching of Bible and bible topics should be more interactive than what models are currently used. Even with those groups who employ text or Twitter questions during/after a sermon/lesson seem to get it, but not really pushing things as far as they ought to go. So, you can imagine the thoughts that went through my mind as I watched the latest Android/Chrome webcast from Google and one of the products released was the Chromecast.

The Chromecast is a USB-memory key-sized HDMI connector that connects to a WiFi network and allows for a TV (and perhaps a projector) to stream content from Netflix, YouTube, and other Google properties, however its all controlled by a mobile device (Android, iOS, ChromeOS, Windows, Mac OSX). For $35 USD, you get a pretty neat device that has the potential to disrupt the living room, as well as some methods of teaching that previously were in the hands of our a/v & IT staff only.

Now, here’s the immediate thought that I had that I shared with my friend at Olive Tree with whom I was speaking when this was announced:

psst, integrate Chromecast API into [the] Bible Study app and get rid of part of the IT team that makes sermons get on screen… make pastors more responsible for communicating clearly, thru a preferred app, and using mobile devices

So, let’s review what I just said there:

• Using the API for Chromecast that Google’s made available, append an existing application that’s meant for studying
• Divert the people and resources that designed and supported media-sharing interactions to other areas of the ministry
• Make pastors/teachers responsible for coming to service/study with a Chromcast and host-controller device
• Pastor/teacher doesn’t just teach the text, but also responsible for teaching how to interface through the app/service for spiritual gain

Essentially, disrupt the pulpit as we know it.

I don’t just think its possible – I’ve done it on a much more technical level – it’s time to do it.

When you make the presenter responsible for delivering the content from a shared network resource, then you open up the ability for everyone to use their personal device(s) for more than just consuming content. When you free up A/V and IT staff from paying attention to the quality of what you are putting through a pipe, they can get fed with the same stuff at the same time the rest of the community is – making the development of social skills “something we do as part of our DNA.” When you make the pastor/teacher empowered to teach the tech as well as the theology, they are less likely to see information technology as a support exercise, and more like the gift to the Body that it is – which can only be great for those in IT who want to be involved with evangelism, missions, etc, but are looking for the theology to catch up with the tech.

When we look at what’s now and what’s possible, these are the kinds of questions and approaches we should be asking. And then not just asking, but putting into practice, even on a small scale. If the application/service developer can put it into the product, we can ask is it possible that this can have a needed/positive/negative effect towards ministry practices. And we do experiment… often. So that we can answer the better question of “what happens at the intersection of faith and tech” – and if we are a signpost when people get there, or a part of the street that’s long been ignored for something else that makes a louder noise when crashed into.

For a number of years in looking at mobile ministry, there’s this question of “where are the opportunities in mobile or ministry” that comes up. And lots of times, identifying these areas aren’t so simple, mainly because we look at defining opportunities in the terms of fulfilling an organizational mission, not a personal one.

But, we live now in a time where people are connected and more apt to resolve to initiatives that come across them directly. Starting from just the simple point that we look at our mobile devices several (tens) of times each hour – its logical to think that if ministry opportunities were as readily available as the moment we touch devices, there could be more opportunities capitalized on – without the red tape of vetting through every organizational process (some are necessary, I will admit). See these stories recently published at Businessweek towards a shift in temp work that’s happening in metro areas in the USA:

• My Life as a Task Rabbit
• Gigwalk Does Temp-Worker Hiring without Job Interviews

In our context, that would just be accounting for those people who are looking for ministry opportunities That might not be all too many of persons in the grander scheme of things. So, could another recent note about an Android lock-screen app point to how ministries could get in front the the eyes of these mobile and connected opportunity points?

• Locket Puts Ads on Smartphone Lock Screens, Pays You to Use Your Phone

So here, we are utilizing some of the unique characteristics of mobile devices to not just make folks known about ministry opportunities (broadcasting), but we are also taking advantage of the time and spatial constraints in which mobile performs best. And at least in the case of Locket, people are being compensated by just making themselves open to seeing ministry opportunities on their mobile screens a few times each day.

We’re not saying that a person has to be compensated for acting on a ministry endeavor, but it doesn’t hurt to do something like that. What we are putting forth is that it should be a lot easier, given the depth and breadth of connected devices and the spaces we inhabit, to make those ministry opportunities known – without needing to wait until the Sunday church announcement, or being pushed to a Facebook page. Shouldn’t some aspect of how we do digital evangelism make it easier for me to see that if I went to lunch a few blocks away from where someone in my community was in a hospital, that they would be open for a visit? Shouldn’t organizations and behaviors like BeRemedy be normal to the way we function in this digital, missional age?

I wonder what it would look like for mobile ministry, or just online ministry in general, if opportunities were able to be found and acted upon like someone would do temp work. Those articles in Businessweek and TechCrunch showed how the presence of mobile-connected devices are marking the way towards a new type of worker – could similar be done here?

As mentioned during the ICCM coverage, we’ve been given some impressions on Givelify. They were kind enough to loan is an HTC Evo 3D to use while looking at their service. That might sound a bit like stacking the deck in their favor, but I actually found that the device they lent a perspective into how Givelify will be used that’s not usually seem when the reviewed tool is one of the layers or greatest models (my personal phone is a Nokia N9, which at this time is unable to run this app, but could do a mobile web service in a future iteration).

So what I looked for are two moments when giving to a church makes sense: when we are asked during service and a day or two later (or if we missed service that week).

During A Church Service
My first try with Givelify had to happen in a live setting. That would make sense and be a method that many probably would engage it for the first time. Things I looked for were:

• How long does it take to download then sign-up (the church I attend does a tithe/offering message to give folks time to prepare)
• How long before the church lets me know that they received the gift

Unfortunately, I was not able to do these things. Not even use the app. In the church that I usually attend, getting a web connection is a hit-or-miss affair. That Sunday, it was a miss. I was not able to create a connection that my loaner mobile could use. It was also assist-installed (side loaded from Dropbox), so that aspect of testing was not able to be validated.

Clearly, there might be a bit about setting up Givelify when you aren’t in service that could work. Our, perhaps tech-savvy churches could host the app download on an internal network so that people don’t have the hurdle of bandwidth or costs. Still, you need a data connection to make Givelify work best. If members want to give with this but don’t have our want to use their personal data connection, then it might be a good time to have that infrastructure conversation.

Outside of A Church Service 
Having only a few days before the release to finish my impressions of Givelify, I wanted to put the app/service in another situation where many find themselves: forgetting to give our away from the church you usually attend. To do this, I actually waited until I needed to go to the laundromat – as I get a number of reflections about what mobile should look like from that perspective – and looked to utilize the free WiFi offered there to spark my interactions towards Givelify.

Once I got the Evo 3D authenticated to the WiFi there, Givelify was able to spring into life. Of note, I only noticed that it would pull in the listings of (registered) churches that were in about a 2-3 mile radius of where I was sitting. Meaning, the church that I normally attend on the other side of town, I had to search for.

Searching wasn’t all that complex, but I did notice I couldn’t simply hit Enter/Return after typing my search query, I had to hit the magnifying glass in the search box for it to find what I was looking for. Based on the data that Givelify pulls from Google, Yelp, and any other publicly available data sources, I pretty much had to nail the name spot on in order for it to be found. If you didn’t nail the name, or just wrote a partial name, you had to search through an alphabetical listing (couldn’t constrain or refine search by distance from me as far as I could tell).

After selecting the church, you get a bit of location information about it. Here’s where Givelify has a decent chance to help churches basically know exactly what people are seeing when they are being searched online. For some churches, all I saw was a name, address and phone number. Some didn’t have a phone number. It was really unsettling to see that even 10 years after making rants and building decent church websites that many still don’t have the basics covered. Besides seeing the information about the church, you can select to make that church your home church or mark it as a favorite (if you’re like me and visit several, this actually isn’t a half bad feature).

You click the [green] button marked Tithe and Offering and then are taken to a screen asking how much do you want to give. I like how its pre-populated with amounts, but you can always select “Other” and put in the amount you think fits. No, you can’t put in a negative amount. After the amount, you are asked to designate the gift (tithe, offering, or other), then a screen to confirm what you are giving.

Now, in my case, the church I selected doesn’t have a profile registered with Givelify, I was given a note that the church wasn’t on board, but that they’d receive the gift anyways. I could choose to just invite them to Givelify, or make the gift.

You then put in your credit card info as you would any other online payment. Given the increase on those things related to privacy, I was surprised that one couldn’t use an existing PayPal, Square, Amazon or other payment method. I know the reasons why, just a small surprise that’s all. You need to put all the info that’s asked for – including the address the card is attached to. Then click to pay and you get the confirmation page. About the only change that I could see here is to put the receipt over the sharing methods (though, one could ask, in light of Matthew 6, why you would tweet/share that you gave).

Other Notes
There’s an area where you can review the past donations that you’ve made – and the churches you’ve made that gift towards. There’s also a profile screen where you input your avatar, contact information, and view any saved payment methods (credit cards). I ran into an issue with updating my avatar – which was probably due to the service not being in beta when I did my testing.

According to the folks at Givelify, it takes about a week for the ministry to receive your tithe/offering/gift from Givelify. When they are a member of the platform, they’d have access to a dashboard that notes giving trends per member, and allows for the sending of reports to members. The church is essentially receiving the gift from Givelify in your name. The receiving church will only see the dashboard when they sign-into Givelify, and only as basic report of the gifts if they don’t.

Conclusions and Thoughts
When I was initially introduced to Givelify, it was refreshing. Many of the apps that get pushed my direction have a sense of inspiration, but not as clear a sense of focus. In hearing what motivated the folks at Givelify to get started, I could see what went into every corner of the app/service. And even if its a cultural component that some in mobile ministry might not see in their local assemblies, the hurdle of e-commerce to local communities seems to be a tougher nut to crack than even adventures years ago would have made it seem. Givelify is a mobile-first approach to this, and it makes a lot of sense – when the parts of the experience that Givelify can’t control are working.

For more information and to participate in the public beta for Givelify, visit their website.

See the gallery of images that correspond with this review on Flickr.

Appendix: The Giving Culture
Money is a very tenuous topic in the church. Its been that way for a long time. You can bring up instances such as Jesus paying taxes using money found in fish, to debates the Apostles had with persons who got paid to teach/preach, to the church nearly splitting on the subject of receiving funds from the Roman government once the faith became accepted, to the many scandals of our age wrapped around tax evasion, loose accountability, and even using checks and paper bills instead of coins (yes, this was an issue less than 100 years ago). When we speak towards giving, it takes on another characteristic, one that’s slow to change at times, and slower to be understood across the various cultural expressions within the Body. Some churches do giving lines. Some pass the basket. Some don’t ask at all. There’s a mosaic of activity around giving that’s very much wrapped up in the culture of how we believe God uses finances in ministry.

Givelify reminds me of part of the tradition of the faith where financial giving is as much seen a part of the public worship experience as singing, dancing, or preaching from the text. And as such, the app/service tries to not disengage that practice from the normalcy of church behavior, even if the technology can do it differently – some would argue, more efficiently. For at least a decade and a half, e-commerce systems for churches have asked the culture of public worship to think differently towards giving, and not always successfully. And yet, some churches just simply want to get by by having an “online donations” button or a “giving kiosk.” Those may fit the tradition, but probably not the culture as it was intended to move forward in time and tools.

Its important to remember, with app/services like Givelify, Gospel Funder, PayPal, Square, Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, and others that its not simply another method of paying towards the upkeep of a sanctuary and its staff that we are putting forth. We are asking people to separate content (the gift) from presentation (the public behavior) in a way that’s going to be uncomfortable. Part of this can be helped by reteaching how the church has done giving in the past, what’s changed when money changes hands, and how giving transforms the community socially, spiritually, and economically. If these services can be used and taught through sound theological, historical, and economic lessons, then we move forward gracefully, and in unity. When these services are put at the front, and teaching is left to personal pursuits, we often will end up with a disunity that doesn’t just cause ministries to fail where the funds were clearly present, but a witness of the faith also fails, where Jesus instead prayed for us to shine as an example to the world around us of the Father’s purpose with us (John 17:20-26).

The latest in our monthly videoblogs; this one was taken while taking a trip to visit with a participant of the Mobile Ministry Forum.

Check out other videos – and especially the Mobile Ministry Videos listing (should we have more added there?)

Its easy to just see mobile ministry as an evangelical or missional practice. For many of us, the forwarding of traditions and behavior of the faith looks only like broadcasting, teaching, or proclaiming the faith. What about other avenues of ministry? For example, this illustration in James:

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:27 ESV)

Looking at avenues of ministry beyond those normal streams can open us up to opportunities which might not be seen normally. As such, this story republished by Time of a homeless man who uses his mobile to be better able to blend into his surroundings, while trying to work out of that position, probably sheds light on a ministry avenue that merits a conversation or several:

He ordered a coffee, carefully counting out coins on the counter. He sat down at the table near me and pulled out his phone, just like nearly everyone else at the shop. He punched in a few numbers and began talking in a low voice, discreet but urgent. I was only a few seats away, but I couldn’t help but overhear his conversations.

Did someone have some cash jobs for him? Could he crash at a friend of a friend’s place? Could he get a ride out to the soup kitchen? After a few calls, it became clear: he was homeless. A homeless man with a smartphone…

Read the rest of A Homeless Man and His Blackberry at Time

Some years ago, a friend who was having some hard times stayed with me for a few weeks, and aside from lodging, the only thing that I could offer him was a mobile phone and a month of voice and data on a prepaid card. In a few weeks, he was able to attain both work and a new place to live. Not exactly like the situation above, but the Time story reminded me of that moment and how at times the mobile can be a knot on the rope to pulling up in life a bit. There’s a study being undertaken to even see the validity in such an approach. Even if in limited applications, this could be very good for some ministry moments.

Do you have stories like this were a mobile played a role in elevating someone out of a negative environment?

There are certainly a lot of thoughts on the subject of using mobile web over mobile apps. But, the point that native apps are faster isn’t merely a debate, its a benchmarked fact. The problem is that unless you walk in very techie circles, the reasons why aren’t so clear. And if if you do figure out the reasons, how do you adjust your mindset as a developer, expectations as a project lead, and vision as an organization to the fact that the mobile web (as a platform) is slower?

Simply put, read Why Mobile Web Apps Are Slow at Sealed Abstract and find the answers that really have escaped many for some time.

Consider this a companion resource to the previous post we did on mobile web problems.

One of the areas that we try to bend towards here is that in learning what works and what doesn’t is that we experiment a good bit. Over the past year, we’ve experimented with using the Kindle Fire HD as a productivity tablet, and learned some good lessons about what works and what doesn’t  – both about Android and the 7in form factor. But, that’s for something that kind of a normal experiment. Its those far-out experiments and prototypes where we find some of the other kinds of questions and answers that don’t always reveal themselves too easily.

For example, when we did the Mobile Web Server Experiment it was more about the capability of the person using the mobile device to design and foster an environment than it was the technology or the developers/company who enabled it. Other projects have had a similar aim. How much of the person authoring the experience is central to the experience, rather than the tools or even methods used?

I get these kinds of ideas from looking at other industries and the kinds of design experiments that are done there. In an article at Wired Magazine, there was this concept design of a one-handed First-Aid kit:

…The designer’s compact first aid box unfolds to reveal an entire suite of salves, not only giving you the things you need to treat cuts, scrapes and burns, but offering guidance on how to treat them, too. And the best part? You can use the entire thing with just one hand. The concept cleverly brings together a few key improvements over whatever kit is likely collecting dust in some long-unopened kitchen cupboard…

That’s a really good design exercise. And profitable to a problem not just with the messaging of “what do you do when there’s an emergency,” but, what a person is capable of when they get there.

While we do understand that much about mobile ministry is an exercise in seeing what works from what we’ve done in the past. Occasionally, we’ve also got to make some room for the experiments that open us up to the perspectives that might not be as easily seen. Not so that we can teach, preach, or evangelize more. But that we can get out of the way so that others who are seeking for answers in this faith have the capacity to encounter God (perhaps even a theophanies) for themselves.

Just a quick heads-up. The Christian Leadership Alliance class that was cancelled for this Summer is on deck for the Fall. You have up to September 3 to register. The class will start on Sept 9.

Learning Objectives

This course is designed to provide participants a better understanding of mobile technologies used in ministry practices. Upon completion, the participant should have a better understanding of the current information that is known in this space, be able to ask/answer questions of that information, and then generate new questions that will lead to sound research and applications of mobile technologies in ministry applications.

Module Overview

This course intends to lead the participant into an understanding of mobile technologies and behaviors which influence faith practices within Christian and other religious spaces, with the goal of creating a theological and sociological framework for analyzing, discussing, and leading local/global communities in mobile interactions. The participant will have the knowledge and foundational skills to supplement existing ministry activities, or start new ones which utilize mobile technologies, communications, and/or behaviors.

You can register for Creating a Mobile Ministry: Mobile Ministry Introduction and Relevance at the CLA website.

An article making its way quickly around the web has pulled together many of the thoughts I’ve seen previously, but states them much clearer than I can recall. First, a quote:

In other words, your customers’ relationships with you are the only relationships you have as a business and you think a lot about them. But you’re one of a thousand things your customer thinks about in a week, and one of dozens of businesses. And they probably have their own ideas about how they want to engage with you (though they wouldn’t put it in those words) – assuming they think about you at all.

This applies even to Google or Facebook (which brings me to the title of this post). There’s lots of data showing the high proportion of online time that people spend using Facebook, and the high volume of web searches that they do using Google. Facebook and Google are important. But that doesn’t mean they’re everything.

Read the rest of Glass, Home and solipsism by Benedict Evans

There’s a bit more to it. This quoted section says all that needs to be framed for any conversation about mobile ministry (#mobmin). Specifically, just because the content is about faith, it doesn’t mean that people will be as into it as you are – even if you are so evangelitical that your mission wants to override whatever else is going on in their lives.

When you are living in a digital Bablyon, you can take the posture that you are leading the natives into understanding what makes the most sense for them. Or you can the posture that you are an equal part of the story, and what you have adds color to them, and what they expose adds color to you.

The biggest challenge with mobile ministry is sometimes that we have to pay attention to the fact that ministry means we participate with others in their story of faith. They aren’t users, nor our customers. If anything, the posture is that we serve them the right content or direction when its needed, so they see just how much grace was afforded to them.

Church Web Strategies is a website poking at the digital methods churches can use to improve sharing the Gospel online recently posed the posture of a church that goes digital by default. They posted four methods that can be taken forward:

• Announcements
• Bulletins
• Prayer Requests
• Feedback/Questionnaires
• Music Sharing

Read the rest of Be A Digital by Default Church at Church Web Strategies

There are some nice starts to ideas here, but having been through this topic several times in the past, there are definitely some considerations that each of these listed methods. For example, all of these methods start at what the church does administratively to push traditional messages. There’s nothing happening in these which are truly digitally native expressions of parts of the church, service, or community experience. And that’s because we are talking about folks who are not native to digital themselves – we’d need to look towards church communities where access to digital tech, not just use of it, is something that’s normal and embedded within all of the community. Digital as a layer only works for so long.

An example of digital native expressions could be a bible study where the outline and associated materials are shared first through SMS/MMS and social networking services between the attendees. Once they connect in person, the study leader enables his preferred study environment that also opens for those in attendance. For those who cannot attend, they get a remote connect link (thnk: WebEx or remote desktop with audio stream) to the class. Clicking on Scriptures in the notes opens to your preferred reader (think: bib.ly). Each person has their own digital notepad in which this saves into. Those who want it printed send it to their home/office printer or have a service like FedEx deliver it printed by the next morning. And then there is a mandatory “share this lesson” button where each attendee is asked to share the lesson with another and those metrics are shared with the entire community – the study leader able to see trends in how the lesson is shared over time (but not whom it was shared with). Lastly, all attendees have a dashboard where they can map their studies over time, reviewing topics, categories, and historical correlations to what they’ve been studying against commentaries, devotionals, and church history.

That’s just an example. And the kind of digital experience that lends to a bit more to native interactions that aren’t just digital by default, but hopeful towards transformation.