Mobile Ministry Magazine

I think I started with something called a Velo by Philips. It was a little pocket pc, running a version of windows. It came with a very expensive modem which could connect at tiny speeds. But I loved it. I had two of those (they had quite a short lifespan) and an HP PDA of some sort. It enabled me to collect email when I wasn't at home, to carry the odd document, and to keep a synched diary on the desktop.

Then came my first real 'converged' device: a treo600 running palmOS. It was my first experience of Palm, and I can understand the love for it. I was bowled over by what it could do - Bible, book reader, music player, diary, email, I had a programme that told me what the lectionary was and somewhere to make notes on thoughts if I had a moment to spare somewhere. I had programmes for prayer and a whole host of things. I joined a community (My Treo.net) who were all as excited as I was, got to know some of the developers, and even spent a bit of time as a moderator there. I still have the T shirt (literally!) Sadly, my Treo died. The Treo600 didn't have a removable battery, so when the battery stopped holding charge out of sheer over-use, it was time to give it a decent burial. I deeply regretted that – and would never buy a device without a replaceable battery as a result.

The Treo died at an inconvenient moment, leaving me little choice but to rush into the nearest orange store and get a phone, quick. I walked out with a Sony Ericsson k750i. Compared with the Treo, it was a helpless creature. I managed to squeeze a bible on to it (using java) and my shopping list (Smart Shopper). I could sync my diary with outlook, but that tended to goof, so I used a little programme called My Sony Ericsson, from the people at Kyocera.

What I DID gain from it was a decent camera. The k750i boasted a 2mp camera – which for a phone was quite some beast at the time. And it was a cracking little camera. I found myself taking photos in the oddest places. Living in Cornwall, it was not at all unknown for me to pull up the car, leap out and grab a photo. I took to posting them on my blog. I guess that's the nearest I got to a truly 'theological' use of the device. I live in a glorious part of the creation, and I have no-one with whom to share the beauty around me. By always carrying a decent camera phone, I can share the loveliness with friends online. That's important to me: the thankfulness I feel is seldom put into words, but think people realise why I keep taking photos. And people seem to follow my blog for the pics among other things, because it makes them smile.

This is a reader submitted post; well, more like a person I asked about their experience with mobile devices and this was the result. Part one anyways. Stay tuned for part two. To submit your story, use the Contact page.

Labels: camera, Palm Treo, sony ericsson, user contribution

As a Sunday school teacher I had tried for years to make sure I have all the recourses available to teach my students and also answer the questions they have at the moment they have them. The trouble is, it was getting harder to carry all those books. Each Sunday I was bringing 2 bibles, a concordance, dictionary and a few Christian books that helped me teach my class. These books all toted around in a bag got to be real heavy. I had to find a new way to do all this but with smaller books.

Talking to the pastor and a few members of my church I came across this company that offered me all I was asking for and the ability to carry all the books I was bringing each week, but this time they only weighed a few ounces. That right, I said ounces. The website was Olive Tree Bible Software (www.MyPDABible.com).

There are many advantages to this software verses the others out there. For one thing, it was a program that worked on my Palm OS smart phone. Olive Tree has the ability to work on palm, windows mobile, I phones, and even java enabled cell phones. The selection of books is amazing as well. You can find standard bibles, study bibles, even bibles in different languages there. In addition, they have concordances, dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, and even a large selection of Christian eBooks? This software was what I was looking for.

Don't get me wrong, this is not the only software out there, but it is the only software for me. I find while I'm teaching a class I can look something up in my concordance, and then with a click of the stylus the program will open up my default bible right to the book, and verse I was looking for. In addition, when I'm in my personal bible study time, I can open up a bible and a commentary and view them both at the same time. As I scroll through the bible, the commentary will scroll along with me. That way I'm always on the correct section and I can help to find answers faster.

The ability to open up multiple things inside one program and look at them side by side is important, and the Olive Tree Bible program does it for you. Whether you are a laity in your church, a minister, or a bible student, you will get the most out of this program. If you are in the market for an electronic bible, I hope that you would check out Olive Tree Bible Software before you purchase any program. I'm sure you will be just as happy as I am.

This has been a contributed post by Fred J Claus. Direct any comments about this piece to this post. If you would like to contribute a note or two about how you are using mobile technology within ministry efforts, drop us a line via the contact page.

Labels: Olivetree, Palm OS, user contribution