Mobile Ministry Magazine

Think Smaller (via @compassion thru @ClydeTaber and #VSN)

Labels: children, evangelism, mission, VSN

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 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

The Nokia Conversations blog has highlighted an article and its source post speaking about internet etiquette education in [South] Korea. Being that mobile and internet use is very high in terms of use and lifestyle in [South] Korea, its almost appropriate that they would be one of the first to take a whole sale approach to addressing use and ethics for parents, youth, and culture.

This quote speaks to why this matters and why as a Body we need to jump in and learn/apply these same lessons:

...many children including myself go through the phase when they relate their identity to imaginary or fictional characters. i am no expert in this area so i do wonder how future children would discover and exploit the fact that they can be the imaginary character to a certain extent if they want to, aided by other ‘people’ in the digital world, not just by their own imagination while they are going through the blossoming age of developing their social perception and individual identity. it is up to whether the child will be able to master the delicate skill set of constructing and maintaining the perception of a world in a non-physical form...

This is a subject that begs discussion on so many levels, not the least of which is because the technology moves so fast that education can sometimes be seen as a chore and something that holds it back. I disagree with this notion, and therefore discussions and policies like these are needed so that we don't end up with a culture that has a jaded sense of what is real versus what is virtual - or in other words find their identity in more than just the social programs they are engaged in.

Check out the posts at Nokia Conversations and Nokia Design Researcher Younghee Jung, and then the original Korean article (its in Korean) speaking about these policies for more insight and backstory on this.

As leaders and parents, how do you teach ethics, while allowing the technology to be a place where imaginations can form maturely?

Labels: children, church, communication, community, computer, education, parenting, teaching, tech, teens

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

One of the things that I've liked about the N95 is that its let me get back into just browsing the Net, not just reading info. Granted, browsing is fun when there is nothing to do of dire importance and there is just loose time. So what did my rabbit hole bring tonite...

- I started at Jaiku. I wanted to see what some of my contacts were up to. I still think that an Opera widget and a mobile client for every other phone would make this an awesome application for a lot of folks.

- I peeked in on Darla Mack's blog via her Jaiku channel when I saw a post about Nokia's mobile web server. Now this got me thinking that I should move to a Symbian device, and then host MMM on the device. Besides accessible as all get out, it would really kick the mobile notch up a good bit.

- Continued on Jaiku and saw that there is a TUAW channel (for the Apple fans, they should know that site).

- Clicked there and read Robert Scoble talk about giving up the N95 and appreciating the iPhone.

- had another tab open stil to TUAW's Jaiku and got the idea via ijustine and The Remix of Children's Ministry (found via Robert Scoble's site) that its not the tech nor the availabilty that is the issue, just how we want to imagine using it to reach an audience and just going there.

- I managed to come out of the hole though to reinitate the full posts in RSS feeds, and at take a bit more of a thought to moving MMM completly mobile. If the right Nokia device were to come along (the N95's battery and memory issues are the only real hold up for this one), I'd probably do it; which would make that whole planning for MMM to be reinvented in MT4 go to waste a bit...sorry LJ.

- There's not much else that I can say other that since moving to Charlotte God's been heavy. God's been just moving a whole lot, from temporary residency to a job to a possible apartment. God's been extremely gracious and hence my heart being heavy for doing well with MMM. There's a whole lot out there, and God's saw fit to lead me this far - lead YOU this far. It's not like we deserve this, but He's so, so gracious. A few friends can testify to the fact that today I've never been more in awe, thankful, gracious of God's hands in my life. He says, "I know the plans I have for you." I've been walking towards Charlotte and more for 8+ years... there's just a whole lot that just browsing doesn't capture....things that God hands and flow just happen to roll with. I am so not ready for this IMO, but God has saw fit to just dump some grace notes on me. Heavy stuff.

Labels: accessiblity, children, devotion, iPhone, Jaiku, mobiles, N95, usability

One of the things that I've noticed in a good deal of the chruches that I've visited is that there is very little in terms of tracking that is done in the child-care areas. Either there is a rotating set of people looking at a paper clipboard, or there is nothing at all except parents bringing kids in and out without anything more than facial recognition to know who goes and does what. Many places would do well to have an electornic sign-in component that is a part of the registration process for child-care. Besides providing accountability to the organization, there is also a chance to use that data to better make use of volunteers and other support workers.

Of course, using a sign-in based component to navigating child-care in ministry settings is not the only way, but can be a very effective one -- especially in larger churches with multiple age groups. Expanding this idea to using the handheld component to also facilitate this growing population group in churches can make a more interactive process out of this, and facilitate the already existing human connections that we make when child-care ministry is used.

What This Could Look Like
The idea would be a set of shared handhelds (for the sake of demonstration I'll just use the Palm Tungsten E2) which are synced to a central server by the child-care admin. A database application would be created for use on the handhelds that mirrors the already existing paper forms. However, the database would be the just the adminstrator's means of checking what child was where, who dropped off/picked up, and when. The administrators would carry these single purpose handhelds with them at all times, making sure to check with child-care workers as to who is where. In larger groups this could be expanded to a person(s) assigned over a particular age group but who also floats room to room during the child-care time.

Other Possiblities
A system like this could also be adapted to taking pictures of the children and saving them into that same database so that there is some sort of recognition accountablity that is able to be kept.

Advancing this further would be specific check-in handhelds where parents would sign their children in on the handheld, and then signature capture, along with photo capture, would be used to idenitfy what children are where and when they were there.

Just An Idea, But Could It Also Be A Need?
This is just an idea to show other areas where mobile tech can be integrated into ministry settings, Church Tech Matters had done a whole series on check-in software -- which is where this thought comes from -- and its really good to know what is available out there that hasn't been thought of or used just yet.

Seeing that budgets to do more elaborate systems are not there, I've proposed something that would take less in terms of setting up, but would be scalable to something more robust -- unless something like this already exists. How would your church or organization respond to a system like this? And is such a system even necessary in such intimate settings?

Labels: children, community, mobile