Mobile Ministry Magazine

I can't tell you how long I've been looking for a means to do this, but it seems that I might have finally found a way to enable you - the reader - to keep up with MMM without using an RSS reader.

Check out this beta service called Pingie. Pingie is basically a service that turns RSS feeds into SMS messages (read more). No app needed, and definitely painless to setup. You simply create a profile and then that's it. The service also supports plenty of mobile web and SMS-based commands to get some better use/admin out of the service.

Currently, Pingie supports US carriers only (possibly Canada, the website wasn't clear on this). I'd recommend Google Lab's SMS Channels for those in India and supported countries as an alternative to Pingie. For either, you'd need to have an account, so do be sure to read all of the terms of service, and make sure that your SMS plan fits this kind of use

For more information about Pingie, check out their website. Here's the direct link to add MMM to Pingie or you can add your mobile number in below to get the SMS updates.

By the way, if you know of other RSS to SMS services, do list those in the comments below. We'd be happy to post about them, or just create a massive connect page for these items :)

Labels: Pingie, RSS, SMS

Despite the anemic pace of posting, there have been a number of items of note that have passed via my RSS reader which are worthy to note. Here's the rundown:

• The ESV Online Study Bible was released this month alongside the hardcopy and is free throughout the month of March (via Biblical Studies and Technological Tools). Its available for a slew of mobile devices too (such as Olive Tree), so there's no excuse for not having a suitable read-reference with you.
• Carnival of the Mobilists #163 (via Golden Swamp).
• Don't forget to register for MinistryTECH and BibleTech.
• A Microsoft-proposed vision of of computing in 2019 (this is what kids will know as normal).
• The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelism in Cape Town South Africa is going on in 2010. You can submit your choice for those you'd want to attend (via Sacred Digital).
• A person who is using a Palm Centro smartphone for Greek and Hebrew learning (via Palm Addict).
• The responsibility of parents to not allow kids to follow trends of mobile technology without first establishing guidelines via the Word (via Baptist Press).

That's all for now. I'm busy as ever and trying other new things with a mobile while working on a few articles and reviews. Back to the sea of life around me, hoping to catch a few ;)

Labels: BibleTech, Carnival of the Mobilists, children, ESV, Greek, Hebrew, innovation, MinistryTECH, Palm, Palm Addict, parenting, RSS

If there is one thing that I wish that more churches and ministry organizations were able to take advantage of it would be the use of RSS. Not just for things like knowing when the pastor's blog is updated, but for everything (calendars, announcements, contact lists, etc.).

Think about it. Most of the information that you need from an organization is either very static (contact information) or very dynamic (dates to events). What if RSS (and XML in general) was leveraged as a means to get people this information. So, if you will, instead of just going to a website and having to wade through various menus of content. One would go to the page and simply see static information such as the contact information, and the rest would be RSS subscription buttons.

Why strip the data down to the bare essentials you ask? Simply because we can and it would mean that more people could access it the way that is best for them instead of the way that we content producers think is best.

A more indepth, yet similar proposal has been made to the US government (via Ars Technica). If effect, instead of having a ton of websites that are hard to maintain, rarely accessible and standards compliant, just give the information and let the user get to it as they wish. Essentially making portals of information just that. Portals of information - leave the presentation (look and feel) out for the applications that interact with it to take care of.

Given that many of you read MMM though some kind of RSS feed reader, this is something that you are already doing. What kinds of thoughts do you have towards this, and is this something that many churches could really get away with doing in order to streamline their online presence, and allow for more than just the best hardware to engage with them?

Labels: church, community, mobility, RSS