Category Archives: Effects of Mobile

Exploring A Different Kind of Mobility with the Samsung Gear S

Samsung GearS and Chromebook 11

For a number of years I’ve been of the persuasion that mobile will eventually get into wearable form factors. Over the past year the complimentary wearable, the smartwatch has been introduced. And while there are various options on the need for it, it’s hard to deny that it is a piece of fashionable and contextual technology that’s  just  opening our eyes to the next steps for mobile. I’ve reviewed the Samsung Gear S with a hope of figuring out the direction of the product and the space:

For some, the Samsung Gear S will feel a lot like an Apple Watch that isn’t as polished, or aPebble that needs a little more time in the hand before being skipped across the water. For others, the Gear S will shine a light on just how little of a conventional mobile phone is needed, and where the real meat of mobile computing lies. The Gear S fits and doesn’t because of these and other points — it needs just a bit more polish, just a bit more follow-through. And less reliance on Android to help it meet its eventual purpose of being a better connected device that keeps you connected without distracting you from the life around you you are connected with.

Read the rest of the Samsung Gear S review at Medium.

Resurrecting the Reasons for Mobile Ministry

Experimenting with A Different Mobile Filter

Its truly been a long while since writing a post of substance here. Part of that has been a sense of focusing on other channels. Another part of that has been a sense that MMM might have run its course. 10 years of discovering, observing, relating, and releasing this idea called mobile ministry is a long time. Others have stepped up in this space (very much appreciated to see the other voices), some have faded away. Mobile ministry is still a niche. And its still very much needed to be talked about. Continue reading →

Issue 3: Holy Week

This issue of Mobile Ministry Magazine (MMM) is deliberately begin set against the backdrop of Holy Week. The tools and technology should always take a backseat to the faith and its impacts, but as we find even in this famous week – the tools used (the whip, crown of thorns, nails, cross, and stone) speak just as loudly as the participants in the story.

Continue reading →

Issue 2: Envisioning

Welcome to the second issue of Mobile Ministry Magazine (MMM) simply titled Envisioning. There was a decent response from the year’s first issue and so we are going to continue down the same path with this package of observations and insights from the mobile ministry (#mobmin) space.

Continue reading →

2014 Issue 1: Making It Simple

Welcome to a refreshed Mobile Ministry Magazine (MMM). Starting this year, we are going back to the simplicity of the issue format. Each month we will be hitting on those points where you can discover, observe, relate, or be released into mobile ministry (#mobmin) efforts. It’s a packed issue, let’s get into it.

Continue reading →

Mobile Ministry 2013 Notables

At the end of the calendar year, its customary to have all kinds of lists going about where you summarize important things, or make notes towards what should be coming in the new year. To a degree, we’ll keep with that – we’ve got some resolutions to report on – but I do want to note a few folks who came to mind as having some kind of neat positive and disruptive effect towards moving #mobmin forward this year. We’ll just note them by their Twitter handles:

  • @jrgifford
  • @tck2g
  • @joelsam
  • @brettq
  • @heidiacampbell
  • @renewoutreach
  • @indigitous
  • @issacharsummit
  • @mobmin

Like with the Mobile Ministry Recommendations article, we’ll append this one as we think of a few more.

Merry Christmas, Is Near

Merry Christmas to you and your families, organizations, and communities.

Even though the 25th falls on a day we’d post something, we just want to leave you with that and an article posted via Medium a few days ago.

Read Is Near, Is Near at Medium

Have a Merry Christmas, and take the time to not just receive gifts, but reconcile to those whom you can – as that might be the gift some have been looking for all along.

Updating Outreach Tools

Over the years, some of the conversations about mobile ministry have started (and sometimes stalled) at the outreach tools ministries and individuals use for their efforts. A common thing I’m seeing now is mobile apps for rich countries and DVDs/SD cards for poorer ones. Its interesting, and somewhat disheartening.

When you get out of the bubble of being immersed in mobile technologies and behaviors, you start to realize that mobile has a long way to go – mainly because there are methods that media organizations are used to, methods that audiences are used to, and a ground that’s transforming beneath them.

Questions asked to media ministries whom are looking at mobile, but already have distribution methods include things like:

  • Is the content you currently producing/distributing able to be viewed on mobile devices
  • What kinds of mobile devices are being used where you distribute that content
  • Can your pre/post-production processes respond to mobile formatting and distribution
  • What kinds of metrics does your org, its donors, etc. require

And then there’s just that simple basic thing of culture. Does the content you are bringing to that community already speak towards their culture, or is there some kind of teaching involved to make some of those points translate cleanly? If so, do those outreach tools actually work for outreach, or are they access points towards education (an in-reach activity)?

When someone hands me a DVD or CD today, I as them if they are more interested in getting their message to me than in me being able to use it? I should be asked if DVD/CD is a method that I’m apt to receive for this kind of material (am never asked that). If/when I respond if they have it available to share with me from their mobile and they say no – I have to ask again if they are more concerned with their message than in me receiving it.

When mobile comes into the picture, outreach tools have to not only reflect the intent of the message, but the ears of the audience.

A Few in the Tabs

I’ve got a few pieces sitting in the tabs that I’ve wanted to expound on, but just haven’t made the time to do so. Here are some of those items sitting under that extended contemplation:

…One of the things I love most about technology is the space it allows us to dream and innovate. There’s always an opportunity for something new and people are hungry for it. So, if mobile technology has truly expanded to become a part of our daily life, how can we use this to reach people with the truth of Jesus Christ?

Read the rest of Mobile Technology and the Church at The Issachar Initiative

…Second, I’d like to point you to a great little book called Shaping a Digital World: Faith, Culture and Computer Technology by Derek Shuurman, a computer science professor at Redeemer University College in Canada…

Read the rest of TheoMedia and Other Great, New Books on Technology at Don’t Eat the Fruit

…Vision must be aligned to the company’s mission: What is great about the drones is that they actually make a lot of sense given Amazon’s core business model. As I wrote previously in Amazon’s Dominant Strategy…

Read the rest of Amazon and the Benefits of Vision at Stratechery

…this points to how important research triangulation is to make good decisions based on insights, not just data. Real insights are found at the intersection of different research methods. Not over in the corner with just one method…

Read the rest of Conversions Are Not People at Elezea

In the case of the touchscreen, the spatial and visual meaning is not exactly gone, but is now floating and inflated. The touchscreen has multiple screens—each screen, a unique landscape. The single smooth surface offers itself for multiple landscapes and constantly changing meanings. At one moment, a swipe will unlock the phone; the next, the same swipe will answer an incoming call. Same motion, same locations, different meanings. The touchscreen’s agnosticism permits multiplied meanings.

Read the rest of Unbuttoned: The Meaning of Buttons in a Touchscreen World at The Second Eclectic

…Digicel built its business model around going to small, difficult countries that larger companies would avoid. These countries are challenging environments that “you’d run a mile from” because they don’t seem to have the resources to afford mobile telephony, says Colm Delves, Digicel’s CEO…

Read the rest of This Company Brought Cell Service to the Remotest Countries on Earth — and Then It Ran Out of Places to Go at Quartz

These all might read like stars on a cloudy night. But, I’ve had them set because these all speak to various points about mobile ministry which might elevate opportunity, best practice, caution, or surprise. I don’t know what might consist of those items on your reading list, but these are just a few of mine. As you walk though the holiday – and a slower news cycle – perhaps part of what stays open in your tabs provokes your imagination or sense of opportunity.

Does Mobile Finish the Task

Through the recent MMF Consultation, we connected with the group Christ for All Peoples. They are one of very few organizations whose missional impact takes the perspective of reaching out to immigrants, and letting that influence put them in the position to go to various people groups around the world. During our time chatting, one of the pieces of information shared came from the website Finishing the Task which not only impressed the state of the missions movement, but also begs the questions if/when/how mobile can help finish the task.

Unreached People Groups (PDF) from Finishing the Task

Some years ago, we talked about realistically looking at the impacts of mobile. I think this dataset allows for us to revisit that question, and then ask of our methods and activities if we are engaging the technology and behaviors of mobile correctly in order to finish the task. As we stated on the panel at the MMF Consultation – information is not transformation. We cannot make a mountain out of distribution methods, and do nothing about lifestyle. We cannot just put a bible on a device and expect that literacy rates will rise and with that people will engage Christ. There’s something a bit more… detailed about the point of using mobile that our methods in mobile ministry have to speak towards. And when they do, then we see without a doubt that mobile ministry is truly effective.

So, for your organization, what about mobile directly or indirectly finishes the task of getting the Gospel to the ends of the earth?