Mobile Ministry Magazine

One of the pitfalls that I run into when thinking/doing mobile happens to be one of the more notable items illustrated here: there are approx 4 billion registered mobile devices (3.5-3.75 billion mobile users) but only 1-1.2 billion of them access the web on their mobile (how big is mobile). See what I see? 25-33% of mobile users are online, how does one develop a ministry with mobile when its more than just the web that's needed?

Now, its been noted (by Google's Eric Schmitt) that mobile can be a magic wand - of sorts. If you will, its not necessarly the fact that the mobile is connected, but because of its various sensors and the analytics kept with them, a mobile device could unlock interactions where there was none before. This is what I wish to get to get you - the mobile thinking minister or org - to ponder, plan, and do.

Imagine a church with this stance. The doorpost into the church was a digital bulletin board where people posted dates of their salvation, healings, disciples, etc. Bibles in the pew were just as often read as they were photographed and then messaged to those who couldn't be at the sanctuary (mobile camera with OCR, send as SMS, MMS, or email). Sermons and studies were recorded, transcribed on the spot (speech to text on the mobile), and then posted (online) and messaged (SMS, email, IM) for other communities to interact. And instead of tracks/pamphlets/leaflets, people received cards with pictures or barcodes on them to which they could not just read The Gospel, but are encouraged to share the card with someone else so that they could interact with the Gospel - read, SMS for prayer, map to local church(es), etc. - and be called to the action of sharing that card with someone else.

Its these kinds of interactions that mobile allows us as a Body to work with. The key is to not get stuck on the web. Yes, there's a signifiant portion of mobile that means "web." But, we can't get stuck there if we are going to be applicable to those persons who's concept of web is the spider they greet every morning.

Take a good look at this video of a CSI spot where they talked about using a QR Code to crack a case. Note how many interactions, both web-based and not, that were facilitated - with the mobile as simply a wand. Then, try something similar in your ministry/org and let us know how it fares :)

Labels: innovation, Internet, mobility, Web

I wish that I could have written this a bit earlier, but my friend Tomi Ahonen posted some really neat stats about mobile devices the other day. Here's a quick summary:

• More than 3 billion people in the world use SMS;
• The total revenues for SMS has passed 100 billion dollars, which is more than the combined total of the global music, global video gaming, and global movie industries!
• 31% of mobile phone users use the mobile web (over 4 billion registered mobile phone users globally);
• A little over 1 billion PC internet users versus 1.2 billion mobile internet users

Personally speaking, these numbers are amazing. And just point to the sheer impact that mobile devices have been over the last 10+ years.

That's not to say that the PC will go away, but mobile means a lot more to more people than PC does. And we are just getting started.

Labels: global, Internet, mobility, SMS

Got an email some days ago about some updates happening with the Internet Evangelism Day website. Here's a small summary of those happenings.

Web Evangelism Speaker Panel

The creation of an international panel of speakers and knowledge-leaders which will address a large range of issues and opportunities related to digital evangelism. Several of these persons will be available for interviews, Skype/web conferences, and other workshops and Q/A sessions. Read more about this here.

There's also an open invitation to those with experience in digital evangelism to contribute to this effort and become a panelist. If there's some one that you know who would be a good canidate, then make sure to send them to this page to learn more.

Digital Evangelism Issues Blog

A new blog called the Digital Evangelism Issues Blog has been started to engage more discussions on more digital evangelism issues and resources. Content of the blog can also be viewed using any RSS reader.

The Internet Evangelism Day site also offers a slew of digital resources such as free articles, stories, MP3 talks, Power Point slides, and video clips. All of these are free to be used for digital evangelism news and efforts. You can even your story to be included within this basteon of resource materials.

Who knew that one day could last so long in effectiveness ;)

Labels: evangelism, Internet, internet evangelism day

If there is one thing that we can gather of these days and times, its that the Internet, and to another avenue mobile devies, offer kids the ability to deal with stresses differently than our parents might have.

When we looked before at parents and mobile kids (Part 1 and Part 2 of this series), we identified how differnt kids are from parents and how both groups need to come together towards working out how usage is different for each generation. Essentially, there are expections that each has of the other which may not be totally realistic, and at the time time, they are relevant towards shaping family life.

Another aspect that's only recently being looked at is the effect of using mobile and web services as a means of managing stress. We know that all people have a means of sheltering out the rest of the world, focusing on some object, and then dealing with the stress. But what we don't know is the relevance of such activities in a mobile/web context.

Thankfully there is some research being started in this area. Louis Leung, Ph.D. Associate Professor & Director of the Center for Communication Research at the School of Journalism & Communication at The Chinese University of Hong Kong actually did a study where he looked at over 700, 8-15 year olds to get an answer to the question of how does technology help or hinder our lives when we encounter stressful life events and become upset.

Here's a quote of one of the conclusions of that study from the website The Next Great Thing:

What did Dr. Leung find? He found that when kids are stressed they use technology to help moderate their emotions. That is, when kids in his study found themselves under stress, they interacted with technology to both moderate their moods and access social networks. Through the Internet, they accessed entertainment and information and sought “social compensation” through recognition and relationship management.

Consistent with good mental health, they recognized the need to seek help. The more social support a subject was able to access, the less impact stress had on their lives.

Looking at this quote, we can see that as before, previous generations of adults dealt with things in the same way, just not with the immediacy of the Internet or the funnel of a personal mobile device (Game Boy, mobile phone, etc.). And while there is most probably some cultural leaning that can also be said of the study - for example, possible fewer technological distractions - one can see that there is a healthy trend here towards managing stress, even though its different.

In light of this, what is something that parents and kids can do though to bridge the gap of what might be misintrepreted communication? First off, establish early on that the Internet and mobile devices should not be an "escape place," but a place of "simmering down." Emphasize the need to verbially and face-t-face address issues, using mobile and web technolgies as initial ice breakers towards opening those lines of communication.

Another possiblity here is alloting time for those "distractions" so that parents and youth alike can have a transistion moment from a stressful environment (school or work day) to a different one (home life, afterschool activities, etc.).

I would also emphasize that the kids be encouraged to also do things such as art and music, with and without connected devices, so that they are dependent on just one method of dealing with stresses.

Again, there's a lot to be learned in respect to how mobile and web technolgies are reshaping how we think about the world around us. And at the same time, its really all the same as its always been. The key as always is seeing what the basic needs are, and then making sure that the tools stay as tools, and the people stay as the focus.

Labels: children, community, discipliship, Internet, mobiles, parenting, Parents and Mobile Kids, teens, youth

In Part 1 of Parents and Mobile Kids, we talked about how parents and kids have a view of mobile technology that is sometimes contrary to one another. We gave a few positives though that both groups can take from these opposing viewpoints, along with some suggestions towards how to bridge the gaps. Here in part two, we'll talk about the negatives and how the changing views of mobile and Internet technology has to meet at Christ no matter what the output.

Concerning the pace of technology, there are some notable negatives towards the perspectives of parents and their children that might not be clearly seen: the pace of mobile technology adoption and development, the openness about the lack of privacy*, and the ease at which one can be addicted to aspects of mobile and Internet technology.

Unfortunately, the research on some of these negatives is still being researched, and conclusions are somewhat hard to come by. However, there are some things of note that can be stated here.

Mobile technology is a phase of media, communications, and technology that will continue to evolve. Its more personal than PCs, more interactive than radio and TV, and just as immersive as writing on paper. Because it crosses those other media areas so easily, the lessons from all of those apply and don't apply at the same time.

In terms of privacy, there has never been privacy in any communication-based media; however, there has never been the amount of blatant openness about what about you would be used against you with communication-based media as it is now in mobile/Internet technologies. Teach your children about how they should present themselves (Romans 12:1), how they should speak and behave (Titus 2:1-10), and how the Internet is not different than the offline world in these respects. In their lives, more than anytime before, the intersection of faith and technology will cause them to have to respond in maturity and wisdom.

In addition, there are laws about privacy that many youth are not aware of. Please, please, please make sure that you understand what is lawful, and then teach it responsibly. Kids need to know that this is very serious (See the report of a recent case on kids passing undressed/nude pictures and the sentence given to them by a judge, via Cellular News).

Mobile and Internet addiction is a touchy subject. Its a very real psychological item, at the same time it is not understood. Teach appropriate times and boundaries for using mobile and Internet devices (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8), but allow time for exploration and discovery. Be open to what they want to learn, but also seek to make sure that a Christ-aware framework is present as a means to direct those energies and talents.

And most of all, understand that like you, they will not agree with everything that their parents have said. They will want to push and push, pull and pull. You might not have the time as a parent to learn everything about each mobile device, Internet website, or associated technology, but you do have their mouth (as they have your ear). If they want to use it, have them teach it to you so that you have some awareness about the technology that is being asked to be brought into your homes. After all, we are told that we are to govern our own houses, and hearts, and minds, all in Christ Jesus.

*Privacy will be an increasingly important issue, and something that as a community MMM will try to guide and direct where possible. However, due to the amount of laws that govern cities, states, and regions, there is no way that we can cover everything. The responsibility to understand the privacy laws of your region does lie on you. But from that learning of policies and use at a high level, one can be a point of wisdom and instruction for youth and other parents. Please make sure that whatever you get into (mobile, Internet, otherwise), that you understand the scope of the privacy laws that apply to you and that usage. Only then can you teach your communities appropriately about mature and wise use of this technology.

Labels: addiction, children, Internet, mobility, Parents and Mobile Kids, privacy, teaching, teens, youth

Outside of game systems and High School Musical, it seems that mobiles have arisen to being near the top of the list for many kids. They see the ability to text, game, personalize, and connect online as being fruitful elements to how they enjoy childhood. Their parents might even see mobiles as an extended safety net, a means to teach sound financial principles, or an area that their kids need to show maturity before being given a rope.

No matter how parents and their kids are seeing mobility, both groups understand that its not a question of "if" kids will get their mobile life rolling, but "when" and "how" will it effect parents and themselves

So lets talk some about the benefits: applicable communication and technical skills building, grace versus allowance, and sound financial discipline.

The biggest benefit of a child getting involved with mobile communications today has to do with the immediate future value. Sorry parents, the way you communicate is a lot slower and more antiquated than how your kids will. Engaging them towards using mobile devices and services now prepares them for that soon to come paradigm shift when they are leading things. Besides just learning the technology, they are learning it as it relates to how they communicate with others, and this is a decisive advantage over any other media and lessons that they could be learning right now.

Another benefit has to do with the idea of setting boundaries, or what I like to call "grace versus allowance." As we learn as adults, there are many things that God has given us the grace to be able to do and achieve. At the same time, there are many roads we have wandered due to our ignorance that God has allowed us to travel, and may later have proved to be valuable lessons to share with others later. Mobile devices and technology can become a speaking point for you (parent) and a learning point for them (children) towards these areas of grace and allowances that lead them into a better understanding of how to fit within the world around them.

The last lesson is probably the most important, the issue of financial discipline. Mobile devices can be used as a jumping board for teaching sound financial discipline. For example, if a youth wants a mobile device, you ask them to research it. Having done that, you then ask them if they can afford it? If not, you ask them how they can go about purchasing this with what skills they are able to do (chores, outside work, etc.). You then get into teaching how to give and save, with the mobile device as the backdrop to this lesson. If there is a mobile phone involved, you can use the idea of putting money on a pre-paid mobile plan (I never would recommend a youth do a post-paid mobile, its pain for the parent). Using the model of pre-pay, you can teach them the difference between credit and debit budgeting, giving them a heads-up when they get into college and are bombarded with credit-only marketing.

This is a lengthy topic and so please stay tuned to part two (Wednesday) where we will talk about the negatives and an appropriate view of this technology with our changing times.

Labels: children, discipliship, education, Internet, mobility, parenting, Parents and Mobile Kids

You will have to forgive the lack of commentary on this from my end. There are a lof of directions that I can take this, but none of them speak anything more than a slanted opinion that does not help anyone.

From Cellular News via Phone Report 2.0:

The Vatican has warned that mobile phones are bad for your soul. The Pope's spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi warned in a weekly address that modern life is not leaving time for people to cultivate their spiritual dimension. Without a spiritual life "you will lose your soul" he said on the weekly Vatican TV programme, Octavia Dies.

Father Lombardi, who is the director of the Vatican press office added that "today this is a very grave threat, and it is the most irreparable misfortune."

"There is an interior and spiritual dimension of life that must be guarded and nourished. If it is not, it can become barren to the point of drying up and, indeed, dying" the Jesuit priest said.

The only response that I'll say to this is that if the Body doesn't adjust and teach people how to cultivate healthy spiritual lives, then statements like this really will live as truth.

Labels: Internet, mobility, Vatican

Sometimes, we need to do more than just think outside the box, we need to think beyond it:

...Last summer, Chipchase sat through a monsoon-season downpour inside the one-room home of a shoe salesman and his family, who live in the sprawling Dharavi slum of Mumbai. Using an interpreter who spoke Tamil, he quizzed them about the food they ate, the money they had, where they got their water and their power and whom they kept in touch with and why. He was particularly interested in the fact that the family owned a cellphone, purchased several months earlier so that the father, who made the equivalent of $88 a month, could run errands more efficiently for his boss at the shoe shop. The father also occasionally called his wife, ringing her at a pay phone that sat 15 yards from their house. Chipchase noted that not only did the father carry his phone inside a plastic bag to keep it safe in the pummeling seasonal rains but that they also had to hang their belongings on the wall in part because of a lack of floor space and to protect them from the monsoon water and raw sewage that sometimes got tracked inside. He took some 800 photographs of the salesman and his family over about eight hours and later, back at his hotel, dumped them all onto a hard drive for use back inside the corporate mother ship. Maybe the family’s next cellphone, he mused, should have some sort of hook as an accessory so it, like everything else in the home, could be suspended above the floor...

Read this entire article in its context at the NY Times.

Can we really say that we are using the Internet and its associated technologies to the benefit of others and to the glory of God in light of examples like this?

Labels: community, innovation, Internet, mobility, poverty, wealth

This week, I had the honor of giving one of my pastors a Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. It was something that he had been looking at getting for sometime and after seeing me with my N800 (the previous model), he would ask of me questions and such about it.

Well, after receiving a bit of an extra blessing from some work over the past month, this was something that I ended up being able to purchase (from another friend) and then present to him. It was really neat just seeing his face as he opened the package and was able to take that next step towards enabling himself to "get out of the office and minister more." Given that his office is kinda everywhere (virtual), this aspect of getting out will get some additional play.

That got me thinking this week: considering the economic times, and the fact that many are tightening budgets, what can we do to enable people to better position themselves (with or without mobile tech) for ministry opportunities. Whether that is something as simple as doing some PC support to a person's computer, or taking some of the extra server space a business is using and renting that out to a ministry who is looking for a web presence.

Even further, what can ministries do with the mobile and web tech that they already have to make it easier for those who might not be able to come to a facility? Can the addition of virtual ministry outposts such as delayed video blogging, podcasts, and even discussion forums help facilitate some of the community involvement that ordinarily would be missed?

It's increasingly important that as the Body we have as few layers as possible to people interacting with us. Even if that makes us a bit uncomfortable that pastor's office is now the local coffeeshop, we have to adjust with the times and give the opportunity for people to be met by Christ no matter where they are. Personally, I like to be the kind of church that goes out to people, mobile tech helps me do this; and giving mobile tech even more so.

Related note: Celio is still offering the Redfly smartphone companion device for $199 (till the end of the month). If your pastor is like both of mine, mobility is just as important as content. Smartphones are great for this, but the screen and input methods can be a bit limiting. This opens things a good bit. Consider asking your pastors and others in leadership if this is something that would work for them, and then go bless them with it. You might find that a little enablement might go a long way towards helping all of us keep mindful of God's needs during this time.

Image by Allen Qu on Flickr

Labels: community, devices, gifts, Internet, internet tablet, mobility, N800, N810, Nokia

Over at the Digital Sanctuary, a post and conversation has been going on entitled 10 Challenges facing the Church in Cyberspace. Now, I'll not take her points and just reiterate them here. Its better (for our needs) to look at these challenges within the lens of mobile technology and see where challenges and solutions might be a bit more of a behavior change than a technological one.

(1) Accept the Virtual World's significance:
Its not just virtual, its mobile and virtual. Content is not respective of the tool anymore, and therefore the church's response needs to accont for this. Not just a mobile version of a website either, integrating SMS/MMS, and teaching about security and safety online needs to be areas where the church steps into and innovates.

(2) View online expressions of Christianity as valuable extensions of real world faith:
Take this how you want to, but frankly speaking the current and next generations of Internet users are not living two lives (online and offline). The two intermingle and therefore what they do online with faith has just as much importance as what they do offline. In other words, get on their phone and see what they are living out from what you are/aren't teaching.

(3) Embrace the opportunity for Church without borders:
This should go without saying on a mobile site, but think about it. If you are mobile, time and geography are only contexts, they are not content. Learn to get out of the idea of content and context (in terms of location) being the same and see how the Church can and should engage people outside of traditional locations.

(4) Welcome the presentation of God's Word in the vernacular of current culture :
Ok, so we aren't going to be using IM chat in the mist of a service (all the time), but understanding how language is changing within the context of mobile and Internet will help you decode how best to engage people with Christ.

(5) Respond to the globalization of the planet with hope:
Nuff said; its all possible. Let's just show folks how God's folks can bring the hope of the Gospel with it.

(6) Develop and maintain an online presence purposefully populating cyberspace :
How do you do this with mobile? Easy, get out of the house and create a mash up map where you let people know that they can engage you and Christ and utilize healthy boundaries (presence notifications in phones and common sense with people) to emphasize that you are reachable as well as available. Mobile allows this more than any other medium, and its getting better.

(7) Establish virtual outposts for evangelizing, preaching, equipping & training :
Ok, the cynic in me says get a Mobile Web Server and do something fun :) But this is as simple as just making sure that your mobile tools are not just tools for being productive but also an outlet to teach. Our best reference is Inner-Linked; taking what we've learned from using the tech and making a place to teach usability and accountability in the forfront of that use.

(8) Create interactive portals for experiencing Church (streaming media):
This is the same as #6 in terms of mobile. Everything about being mobile is interactive, take advantage of it (as the kids with the PSPs and DS Lites how to do it if you aren't sure).

(9) Practice spiritual disciplines in the global online conversation :
You are not immune from laws, nor can you claim that ignorance is a calling card. From end-user-license agreements, to service agreements, to warranties, to local and international laws, we are responsible for upholding those things that God has allowed rulers to establish. And from there, we find innovative ways to address Christ-less-ness in areas where those laws curtail the freedom to believe on Him. This also includes personal boundaries towards use and being connected; learn how to disconnect and make engaging people the point of mobile tech, not just falling in love with the shiny-shiny.

(10) Encourage strategic investment in the iGeneration:
Donate, set up scholarships for execllence, teach, develop programs, work alongside those that already have programs, or simply just connect with people and families in need to knowing that digital is life-next.

Now, its your turn. Go and teach all, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You've got mail to deliever.

Labels: children, church, community, computer, content, culture, Internet, mobile, mobility, stewardship, sustainability, website

This year, one of my biggest struggles with just about everything has been to remember that there's a good bit of relevance that must be undertaken with everything. And especially in the field of mobile technology where things just move faster than people want to even write about, its important to remember something I've been told often, technology is only relevant when it is personal. Some recent thinkings have put me in a position though where I realize that I have to do a lot more evangelism than just using this stuff in order to make this point clear.

I can start with the example of my use of Nokia's Mobile Web Server. Frankly speaking, this is probably one of the most far out things that I use and one of those things that people go "ooh" about, but just don't understand. Without repeating the entire post that I wrote up on my personal website, I will say it like this: using a web server on your mobile phone, or even just the idea of having a web server in your home gives YOU control of the information that you put on the net. Not Google, not Nokia, not anyone. You administer it, and you say how it gets anywhere, if it goes out at all.

The mobile device that's that and adds the ability to associate that personal information with the context of your environment. Its not just an IP address, its an IP address that's attached to a photo of a place or a contact person or a a mesh of all of those and more. That's not the web virtual, that's a literal web. And its already something in your hands. Imagine knitting the Body together with that kinda stuff.

Or about about mobile devices in general? Most would say that while they are enabling, that they offer no real benefit over other computing situations. That might be right, until you consider the cost of powering devices. The wastefulness that we display as a computing culture is crazy. Slimming down to the bare essentials should allow us the time to develop more accessible and renewable solutions, while making all of those previously stated connections all the more fruitful.

Connecting: I want to be the kind of parent who has the "key" for allowing his household to be online. If you will, I'd like my mobile device to be the gateway for my family. This way I can see and interact with what my kids are doing, and my wife has an accessible and open means to keep me accountable. Far reaching? Nope. Using something like this soon to come software and a solid smartphone this is not just possible, but probably advisable.

Look. I am not saying that we have to do this. I am saying that the technology is relevant if we look at it as being so. I still think that a partnership between churches and developing nations could do more for increasing technical competencies for both sides than just doing nothing. I still feel that solutions like Earthcomber should be used by more urban missionaries to share and live the Gospel. I still see the need for people to put these devices down and interact with one another being an important part of using these devices. I just have a problem with just letting it sit here. I'm made in God's image. I'd like to believe that somewhere in me beats the ability to be relevant with whatever is in my hands and life.

For me, it just happens to be mobile tech and its various applications, intersecting with my faith, in a way that just happens to push the green light out a bit longer.

Labels: accessiblity, Bible, children, church, community, computer, environment, innovation, Internet, Mobile Web Server, mobility, networking, OLPC, smartphone, software

I had an editorial/article posted at Brighthand that also has some merit here in terms of getting a bit of an understanding as to where computing is going. The subject is called "cloud computing" and is usually characterized by applications, data, or some combination of both being stored on a network and accessible through the Internet (wired or wireless connection). While many in corporate settings might be familiar with this, other than email, most people are not aware of some of the positives and negatives, nor of the types of cloud computing options.

This article is more of an overview than something very technical. But especially for parents, teachers, and those in IT settings, you will want to understand this so that you can use and point those under your influence in a direction that speaks towards their needs, moreso than towards the market's desires.

Here is a snippet:

A term being bantered about a good deal since Apple's iPhone 3G release has been that of "cloud computing." Essentially cloud computing is when the data that you work with -- contacts, bookmarks, email, calendaring, etc. -- is accessible though an Internet connection and with several devices.

There are three ways of taking advantage of this idea of cloud computing: data completely in the cloud, local applications that utilize some data in the clouds with some local, and being your own cloud where you provide the local data from your device to a service.

Read the rest of The Three States of Cloud Computing at Brighthand.

Labels: communication, community, information technology, Internet, software, tech

Ok, so I've already blasted the fact that we don't get out enough and just commune with one another. The fact is though that there is sufficient mobile tech out to help these matters in these times. Applications such as Earthcomber and Google Maps have been around for a long time helping us get from point to point. And how Nokia Maps 2.0 joins the fray as another solid entry that gives you n excuse to be sitting still (lest you are reading MMM).

Nokia Maps 2.0

Nokia Maps 2.0 was previously a beta application in Nokia's Betalabs. It has recently been made an official release and adds several new features for those who are unaccustomed to using GPS, maps, and location-based services in their mobile device. And to those who are familiar, there are a few new wrinkles that can be explained in the terms Drive, Walk, and Discover

Drive, Walk, Discover

Drive is similar to how many use GPS devices when in automobiles. Nokia Maps 2.0 adds an improved Car Navigation component which adds PND-level car navigation experience with faster routing; an updated User Interface featuring a new navigation carousel with pre-defined navigation views such as navigation, arrow, and bird-eye views; and enhanced navigation features such as signposts and multi-stop route planner which are usually found on top-of-the-line GPS devices.

The Walk feature is designed for use when walking instead of moving quickly over terran such as in an automobile. Walk features a pedestrian navigation system which uses visual guidelines, contextual information about the surrounding areas, and in supported devices, the direction being walked. The Walk features public transit information for 17 cities with localized icons. For better performance, Walk uses advanced multi-sensor positioning using A-GPS, and pedestrian orientation using the compass feature (specifically to the Nokia 6210 Navigator device).

Discover takes advantage of the fact that there are areas to be discovered in traveling. This feature offers satellite images with hybrid rendering overlays for selected cities; a "one-box search" for places, addresses, restaurants, nightlife, outdoor, accommodation; and premium multi-media city guides including features photos, video, audio streams.

Use and Availability

Nokia Maps 2.0 uses vector-based maps provided by Navteq and TeleAtlas which cover over 200 countries and over 70 of them navigable. Maps can be downloaded over the air directly to selected devices or by using the Nokia Map Loader on a PC. A new beta version of the Nokia Map Loader is available on the Nokia Betalabs website.

Nokia Maps 2.0 is a free application, however some features may have trial-then-purchase limitations. Nokia Maps also uses data services in order to view and update map data. An unlimited data plan, or Wi-Fi connection is advised for use.

To download Nokia Maps 2.0 and more information, visit http://www.maps.nokia.com.

So, Get Out A Bit

Even if you do not have a Nokia device, that is no excuse to not get out a bit and see the community around you. Besides being able to interact with people, you can also find out about places to eat that you've not see and sow into local businesses. And you never know, you might end up going out and about and catch a crime in progress that you'd be able to report. (LINK HAS QUESTIONABLE AD CONTENT)

Get it? Use that mobile tech and let that faith intersect with someone :)

Labels: church, community, Earthcomber, Google Maps, Internet, maps, people, software

I was reading through RSS feeds when I noticed a post talking about the church's response to the rising gas prices. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't see much wrong with that posting, nor with what some churches are doing to get people to fellowship in the mist of this. I just wonder if there is a solution towards things that we've kind of missed a bit.

After these things the LORD appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. (Luke 10:1-3 KJV)

There are a few ways to look at a crisis such as this. Either we have to continue in the ways that we are used to, and make every effort to continue what we know. Or, we take the situation as a chance to do something different and effect change differently.

What I have seen (in the USA) has been much more of the former and not enough of the latter. Innovation in these times looks like carpooling, cell groups replacing Sunday services except for once a month, and localized community outreach. There is more than enough ability with the Internet and communication technologies to fill in the gaps until the crisis is no more, or if it is more, we are effectively going out into our communities and becoming an agent of Christ, changing an apparent crisis into an opportunity.

Think about it like this: you have an opportunity to drive less, walk more, and team up with believers in your immediate vicinity for the sake of demonstrating Christ. Do you really need to continue driving 20 miles to church instead of literally being His sheep amongst the wolves that also appear in a time of crisis?

Labels: church, community, Internet, tech