Mobile Ministry Magazine

There have been a few items sitting starred in Google Reader that I've been meaning to post. Sharing some of those, and hopig to spark something that will get you and I to think a bit more as the week goes on the place of mobile and tech in faith.

• ESV and NJKV for MS One Note (Bible Studies nad Technological Tools)
• When Should Parents Purchase a Mobile for their Children (Just Another Mobile Phone Blog)
• Research and Note Taking Tools, and the follow-up article Bonus Items for Research and Note Taking (Bible Studies and Technological Tools)
• Mission Field Money Crisis (Chruch Relevance, Charlotte Observer)
• Blogging Ministries (Church Communications Pro)

Got any news that would be of value to the Mobile Ministry Magazine community? Use our Contact page to send it to us.

Labels: annotating, Bible, church, device, education, mission, reading, review, software

I write this a good bit before writing Part Three of the MMM Mobile Experiment Report but this is a great article posted at the Biblical Studies and Technological Tools blog about thinking about what technology and faith will look like given what we have seen happen in other media and lifestyles in the Western church.

Without going too far into things on my end, here is a snippet of this great thought-piece:

I am also wondering, then, if we might actually become more dependent on private resources/devices rather than network resources. I.e., it will be lots easier to secure a personal device not connected to any network, and I will be more confident in working with guaranteed secure resources not based on the network. This does mean that I believe that someone will still be developing and providing technological resources for biblical studies, but I also suspect that the choices will be greatly reduced. We are already seeing the convergence of best features of the various Bible programs, and as this trend continues, the only differentiating factor will be cost. I just hope we aren't all buying Wal-Mart or Google Bible software after they buy up every other current company in this field

Read the rest of the post The Future of Bible Studies and Technological Tools.

Related Articles:

• New King James with Microsoft OneNote (Palmsolo)

Labels: Bible, church, community, education, gospel, mission, mobile, mobility, networking, phone, purchasing, software, stewardship, study, tech, urban, worship

I am one part a member of Nokia's Blogger Relations team, and have recently been invited to be an S60 Ambassador. Essentially, I speak about Nokia's products to people when I see that there's a need for them. In some cases, I'll get devices or services to try out and then report those findings back to Nokia. For them, it's an effort to see how people are using their devices and services. For me, it's a chance to see how mobile technology can enrich and empower lives.

The better part is that there are relationships that happen. Being able to live in Christ around them makes having opportunities like these presented by Nokia and other companies kinda neat. Here are a few of the recent reports that I filed to Nokia's S60 Ambassador's program. For those of you looking at ways to see how mobile tech fits, this is how I go about learning and applying.

Episode 1: The Young Mother

I went to visit a friend of mine on the other side of Charlotte as she has a 1yr old kid who has provided for several great photo opportunities. She and I talked about her e-learning class that she is taking and some directions that she could go with content for her blog. I recommended the idea of the phone as the literal center of the Internet for the school by using the Mobile Web Server.

First, I had to explain to her what the Mobile Web Server is and what kind of functionality that it opens up. Then, I told her that I could show her what it would look like. So I pulled out my N75 and turned on the Mobile Web Server. We navigated through each of the pages on her laptop that was in front of us, and I showed her how such a setup would make for a different take on distance learning ventures.

She was amazed that my phone could do that and asked why it was that her 3555 was not able to do the same things even though it was a Nokia phone as well. I explained to her that while they were from the same company, that they used different operating systems. One of the applications that she'd become a bit intrigued about is Jaiku; especially its ability to link with the address book for presence notification. That was something that she wanted for her phone. I led her to Yahoo, and there she learned about Yahoo's oneConnect service. Unfortunately, she does not have a mobile [data] plan, and does not see getting one; so downloading that was out of the question.

he problem that she posed to me was how to get more out of a phone like mine without being online. Considering that I do so much online via my N75, that really left me without many words. Other than the Bible, voice, and SMS, the rest really is the Internet. Making my phone compelling towards those who don't need that functionality will have to become another search of mine.

Episode 2: The Church Admin

Monday night is usually bible study at It's a Grind Coffeehouse and that is where I was again this Monday. Having had a successful demonstration of the Mobile Web Server running on my N75 earlier Monday, I decided to pique the interest of one of the administrative workers of my church and get her idea on such a solution.

First, I gave her a small demonstration of the software on my device, and then used my N800 Internet Tablet to show what the site actually works like in a web browser. At that she was impressed, but I could see not convinced at its usefulness. I then changed modes to talking about how there is always some information that one wants to keep personal, but other things, like pictures and availability that would come in handy for some people to know.

I then set my Gallery to show the pictures from my memory card and showed her how that page could be set with permissions. I then showed the Contact, Presence, and Calendar screens and showed that these can be controlled with a simple group that is created on the phone.

She looked at the phone and said "that's interesting. Your phone is a powerful little thing." Powerful indeed, but as a device that connects, its hard to beat.

Related Items:

• Nokia's S60 Ambassador Program
• Nokia's Mobile Web Server
• N75 Live-in Review Update
• MMM's N95 (via Nokia Blogger Relations) Review
• Yahoo's oneConnect service

Labels: Bible, church, community, device, family, Jaiku, mission, mobile, mobile accessories, Mobile Web Server, mobility, N75, Nokia, phone, software, tech, urban, usablity, Yahoo

The last two posts, we've talked about extending your mobile office to help mangage the tasks of doing ministry easier. But there's nothing like real world examples.

So what do you do to extend your office capabilities? And what hurdles have you encountered either personally or with your team?

(Lord willing, a question like this in the future can be met with some kind of giveaway to help some of you on who are doing this already)

Labels: church, community, mission, mobile accessories, mobility, tech, urban, usablity

Cynthia Ware has taken a look look at how Christian missionaries are using new media as parts of their efforts to connect and share news of their connections when away from their "roots." Here's a snippet:

...Today's missionaries are using blogs, facebook, shutterfly and other social media to extend their connectedness, reward their supporters and create archived memories of their unique adventures. Whether missionaries are serving on short term teams or serving in long term posts, they need no longer be disconnected from their points of origin, hometowns, partners, sending churches, extended families, etc. In fact, if they have internet access, there's virtually (no pun intended) no reason they can't be very connected...

Read the rest at Digital.Leadnet and also check out Cynthia's site Digital Sanctuary for more views on ministry, media, and their convergance.

Labels: accessiblity, Bible, church, community, email, gospel, mission, mobile, mobile accessories, mobiles, networking, phone, podcast, software, tech, usablity, worship

Just read a really good article where CBS Mobile chief Cyriac Roeding said something really important that not only speaks to the area he was speaking, mobile advertisiting and how to maximize it, but to the Body and how our endavors need to be shaped around the fact that the medium is different. This is a snippet of that piece:

The CBS executive had led off the discussion by saying that advertisers have to understand why they need to be on mobile phones. "If you can't answer that question in 10 seconds, you're out of the game," he said. The answer should be, he went on, that mobile is the only medium that people carry with them 18 hours a day.

Mobile is also starting to provide reach to advertisers as sites gain larger audiences. Roeding noted that during the last quarter, CBS Mobile's sports section drew 75 million mobile page views and 5 million unique visitors during the fourth quarter.

But he warned against trying to promote mobile as a smaller version of the computer or TV screen. "If you are trying to make this the next online page, you will fail...because this is a new medium in its own right. "

I've touched on this in a previous article in saying that mobile is something more than just the sum of previous media endavors; to use it well requires that we not just be innovative, but relevant.

As part of a growing number of believers who understand what roles being mobile plays, its key that we understand what mobile is not. It's not a computer, though accessiblity and usability are there. Its not radio and TV, though video and audio are parts of the experience that should not be overlooked. Its not print either, though the effects are just as long lasting, inside and outside of the box o'bits and bytes. Being mobile is a case of a totally different paradigm, and something that the church is well past the potin were we need to embrace it.

I'd be one to make the argument that being effective in the Body with mobile tech is a matter of getting to the roots of what it means to be effective in the Body - "be distinct and bring fame to God not [ourselves]". I am pretty sure that we are able to do that if we pool our knowledge and gifts together and then step out and do something a bit different. The key is just not trying to be what we used to be in tech, and take things at that intersection of faith and tech, and make a noticable sign to the heart of God for all people.

Labels: church, community, gifts, gospel, mission, mobile, tech

A few things today had me thinking of the verse that says:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Where my thoughts ran though were not so much the going, but of the aspect of making disciples. I read a good deal of news talking about the emergent church, raising the next generations, etc. and yet, I am always wondering of the "how" that people are going about in terms of making disciples to the current and upcoming "connected" Body of believers.

Two conferences coming up will be addressing this. The Internet Ministry Conference and the Catalyst Conference (the latter of which I just found out today by a faith-building post at Church Tech Matters). I see in both of these events that there is some room given to teach new and seasoned disciples of Christ the relevancy of knowing the tools and culture in order to be more effective in ministry. I only wonder what is happening on smaller levels?

When the conferences are over and there is only one or two really passionate people around wanting to reach people in the name of Christ thru various means; where are these people looking to make disciples, or to make an impact in their respective areas using those new fangled tools they have?

Being in a new fellowhsip in a new area of the US (for me), these are some of the questions that really challenge me in terms of making MMM more than just a blog/magazine. I want to build a reputation that says that one can come to me for learning about mobile tech and how it can be used to reach people for Christ. And at the same time, its not the tech that is the hit, but rather that people see the tech and instead of going "he's got that." They can say, "I wonder what God's doing with Him. Let me ask."

In addition, I'd like to be able to influence a generation of developers to think outside the usual paradigms of building applications that just do, but that enable Christ to be more effectively lived and preached. For that, I know that I need training and discipilship, but considering my heart, I wonder how many others do too?

Labels: church, community, mission

Technology is great and all. But amid the buzz of all the news that I come across, I have this (most probably annoying to God) tendency to ignore a boatload of news. As I was looking at the screen on the N800 a few minutes ago, this news item came up.

Before that post of a friend who did a mission trip, I really would have glazed this over. But today I didn't. While there is not much that I know that I can physically do, I do wonder how to pray for people in such circumstances. Ironically, part of the reading that I am doing just now addresses that last part.

Do any of you have contacts in the area reported in the BBC story? I'd like to send an email and encourage those Christians there.

Labels: church, community, N800

A friend of mine recently went on a mission trip to encourage Christians in Israel/Palestine. The letter below is his follow-up letter that he has allowed me to post. I ask that you consider his words, and his call towards unity in the Body.

I'd like to thank you once again for your time, participation and support for our mission trip to Israel and Palestine. The trip came and went without any life threatening or seriously harmful situations and each of the 10 members of our team has both grown and learned a great deal thanks to our experiences in this area. As I promised, I would like to take this opportunity to follow up with you and share the experiences and insights learned during the trip.

After I got back from Israel, people would obviously pose the question, "How was your trip?" I can't help but think that that question is laughably simple. I say that because of the sheer volume of incredible people and experiences that we were exposed to. It's difficult to figure out where to start. But to answer the original question, the trip was great!

I'll start with a quick summary of our group's mission statement. We did not go to evangelize, or build a school, or to administer medical supplies as some might expect. 1 Corinthians 12:25b-26 says regarding the church, "...there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it." As a group, we wanted to go into the Palestinian territories and stand with the Palestinian Christians there, to try to experience the sufferings that they are going through, and to do what we can to encourage them in the face of hardship or persecution.

The first day and a half that we were in the country was spent seeing the tourist spots in Jerusalem. Some of our members, including myself, were upset about this. We came to get down to business! We are not here to see the sights! However, in retrospect, those moments were invaluable in teaching us an overview of the culture and people in the land.

Specifically in these moments while we were traveling from church to church, we saw how the "body of Christ" interacted with one another. Most noticeably, we saw the distrust between denominations. Each denomination insists on having a presence at each of the holy spots. Sometimes a church was partitioned into different areas operated by the different denominations. Each time a ritual was performed by one group, it was repeated by the others. This seems to me to bear the assumption that they believe that God doesn't recognize rituals from other denominations. If He did recognize them, then there wouldn't be any need to repeat them. Once we had opportunities to speak with them, we were repeatedly told by them that people from other denominations were wrong, that they were not Christians or that they were condemned to hell.. If they couldn't share the same building-which was often-they would build another church and claim that this church was the true holy spot.

This wholesale judgment bothered me to the point where I began to think about this more. And upon thinking about it more, I realized that this is not as foreign a concept as had originally struck me. These kinds of statements are all over the Western church, not just limited to the Middle East. They can be heard from the Roman Catholic Church, Protestant churches, the Church Of Christ, and others. It took a trip to the Israel for me to be able to look back and recognize this situation in my own culture. Since much of the New Testament, and because of that our trip, was focused on unity among Christians, theses divisions seemed much more visible. It was humbling for me to come to these realizations since I was so quick to see the shortcomings in others what I was ignoring at home.

After we finished our tour and meetings in Jerusalem, we began to move in and out of the West Bank nearly every day. As the trip was approaching, I was personally concerned about these transitions and the time we would spend in the territories. The impression is that the territories are very violent and personal safety is at a premium! We found this to be completely untrue. At no point during the entire trip did I feel threatened. In spite of the Palestinian people officially being in a state of uprising, at no point did I see any people acting in such a way.

Quite the opposite, we were constantly in the company of very friendly, very hospitable people. During our stay in the Bethlehem Bible College, we were asked to break into groups of two and accompany a student home for dinner with his or her family. We had a few very intimate and personal interactions like this and I found them to be the highlights of the entire trip. Another team member and I went with a student named Nader. I am typically known to be a picky eater but I can say honestly that his mother makes really tasty food! They would not let us tell them no! They repeatedly piled on food to our plates, served us two deserts along with coffee and tea. When it came time to leave they tried to make us promise to come back and have dinner with them again over the next few days, which unfortunately we couldn't since our days and nights were already booked. When Nader returned us to the College, I told him how great his family was and how much we enjoyed ourselves. He was so pleased that we had a good time that his face was beaming with a joy! It was an enthusiasm that I don't really see very often.

Another such instance was also when we were in Bethlehem and we met with Pastor Nehad and Jamal from the Immanuel Church. These two men spoke for several hours with only an occasional pause or interruption by our group. Their stories are truly amazing and awe-inspiring! After they were done talking, they took us to the church's book store where we had a chance to buy some gifts. I approached Pastor Nehad, thanked him for taking time out of his schedule to come and talk to us and gave him my thirty second summary of our trip's purpose and I saw his face fill with happiness and relief. He told me how genuinely thankful he was that we came and listened to him speak. But in his eyes there was fatigue and I felt that he wanted rest.

He told us how he and other Palestinian Christians feel alone. As I have already said, the denominations do not find solace in one another. The Israeli government is openly unconcerned or even hostile. The Palestinian government is ineffective. The response from other non-Christians is uncertain. Relations with some are great while others resent them for being nonviolent.

Then when they turn to the Western church for solace, they often get shunned in the name Zionism. Some people tell the Palestinian Christians that they have no right to live there and that their presence in the Holy Land is delaying the second coming of Christ. We heard stories of Western churches holding fund raisers to buy tanks and helicopters for the Israeli military for use against the Palestinian people!

I don't want to make a politically loaded statement and I'm not picking a side about whether Israel should be there or not. However, our group got to see firsthand the effects that our churches are having on the Palestinians by asserting these views. Palestinian Christians have very few people to turn to for support. Numerous times throughout the trip we were told that they feel alone with no one to turn to. Some, like Pastor Nehad, are weary from the daily struggle and yet still working. Others told us that they have given up hope in a better life. I like to think that the Western church has everything all right. Yet as part of a group of people that are supposed to be known by their love and support of each other, I am absolutely humbled by the fact that these things come so unnaturally to us.

I believe that is why people like Pastor Nehad were so encouraged by our presence. To me, it seemed like we were doing nothing. Many times before and during the trip I was concerned with our effectiveness since we didn't have concrete goals. We weren't there to convert X number of people or heal Y number of diseases. Success could not be measured in traditional ways. We were just going to go, humble ourselves and learn from these people. And it really was an encouragement to them! Just the fact that we cared about them and listened to their stories visibly raised their hopes and spirits before our very eyes. It was an encouragement to them and it was a blessing for us to be able to do this service for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Each of the groups that we talked to expressed hope that God was working in the land and that was gaining traction. People are experiencing miracles. Non-Christians are coming to Christ. Muslims are seeing dreams and visions of Jesus and are coming to Christians to learn more about him. Opportunities are arising that put the bible and Jesus in the spotlight.

I hope I do not sound like I think that everyone needs to drop everything and run to support the Palestinian people. Neither do I think that people need to abandon their support of Israel. Yet just like every other situation in life, there are two sides to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict that many people don't acknowledge. The great majority of the people we met in the West Bank were just regular people. They don't want war. They don't want Islamic extremism to take over the world. They just want justice, peace and to give their children a better life. As one of our hosts told us, "When people think of us, we don't want people to think of terrorism. When people think of Palestinians, we want them to think of Jesus!"

See the photos of this trip.

Labels: Bible, church, community, devotion, family, Israel, mission, Palestine

Just a few notes as we are entering the top of the hump (EST time anyways).

The ESV Blog reported about the podBible, a ESV downloadable reading Bible for your iPod. Very neat.

In using the N800 and Treo 680, I am having similar thoughts to others of whether the laptop needs a revolution. But if you look at another story, it just might be that the revolution has happened already (it's just not priced right everywhere yet).

One thing is for sure, if we do see that revolution continue towards mobile tech, the change to how we approach community and worship cannot be far behind.

Which, if you think about it, would be neat. especially if we can have praise and worship parties regardless of location.

That's all for now, but isn't it neat to have a though of how God can and will influence tech at this point of the week?

Labels: Bible, church, community, ESV, mobile, mobiles, music, Nokia, praise, Treo 680, worship

One, I love the title.
Two, I agree with the posting on so many accounts, not the least of which is "why cannot people understand how to turn off their cell phones (or at least the ringer)?"

Here is a snippet of KP's post:
...We got to church early to get a seat and proceeded to watch all the people trickle in. We watched a caregiver lady assisting an elderly lady into the pew in front of us. “That’s nice,” I thought.

Until the caregiver lady’s cell phone started ringing. And this was like 2 minutes before the service was about to start. The phone rang once before she even realized it was ringing; she picked it up, then watched it ring again… like “who’s calling me?”…. then realized she shouldn’t have the phone ringing in church. Genius...

Read the rest of the post, and please, please, turn off the ringer before going into service or meetings.

Labels: church, mobiles, usablity