Mobile Ministry Magazine

5 Lies We Tell Ourselves Developing for Need

2010-02-07T10:00:00.000-05:00

In light of all that I read and get thrown my way in terms of software/process opportunities, it was a nice heart-check, ego-stomp, and reevaluation of priorities this article that put be back in front of the Father appropriately.

RomansRoad eTract by Laridian

2010-02-05T10:00:00.002-05:00

Caught up with this neat piece of news from Laridian the other day.

...our RomansRoad eTract is now available for the iPhone. RomansRoad eTract is a Scripture-based discussion guide to help you share your Christian faith. Based upon the familiar "Romans Road" series of verses from the book of Romans, this witnessing tool uses a unique question and answer format to provide a framework to help you share your faith. As each new key verse is presented, probing questions and explanatory answers are also provided to help you both explain the Scripture and answer common questions that arise.

Pretty cool idea for software, though I will caution that its not enough to just get people on the road to salvation, you also need to take up the mantle of teaching/disciplining them through this walk.

Download the RomansRoad eTract from the iTunes Store. Note, it doesn't require PocketBible to use, but it does help the discussion if you have a Bible app of some kind handy when walking down the road with others with this.

Just A (Reflective) Question

2010-02-03T10:00:00.001-05:00

This post is simply a reflective question. But, its something that has been sitting on my mind and heart for sometime, and a recent post at GigaOm concerning President Obama pretty much lead to this point.

Here's the piece in the article which sparked things:

So what does it mean to have a U.S. president who is comfortable (or even familiar) with that new multi-directional, distributed reality, who seeks out his own sources of information wherever they might be, and makes connections directly and in real time, rather than always waiting for a report to be delivered or for a chief of staff to smooth the way?

And here's the question that has permenated my thoughts daily/hourly for the past months:

So what does it mean to have believers who have instant access to multiple resource and communities, who seek answers to the questions of faith and life, evaluating sources in real-time through online and offline relationships, instead of waiting for a sermon or preacher to smooth the message

Have we adjusted to the change in how we live this Gospel?

MMM @ the BBC

2010-02-02T10:03:00.003-05:00

My best friend keeps telling me that it only takes one phone call, and I think he was (again) spot-on with this.

Last week, MMM was contacted by Jamillah Knowles who is part of the team that does the BBC's Pods and Blogs. This week's topic is Religion, Art, Time, and Space and I (Antoine) was interviewed to talk about Mobile Ministry Magazine.

Suffice to say, it was fun being interviewed, and even more to get a bit more word-of-mouth-and-mobile out about the site. MMM comes in at about the 12min mark, but you really don't want to skip as the two others profiled before MMM have some great approaches of their own.

Here's the direct link (MP3) to the podcast. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Skirting the Weather with Mobile and Web

2010-02-01T10:00:00.001-05:00

It the last weekend in January - when a number of churches on the East Cost of the USA have canceled services due to snow and ice that has blanketed the region. What follows are my thoughts on getting around the weather to continue the fellowship in the respect to biblical models and traditions.

Sitting on Twitter, I saw that my former church had canceled service due to the snow/icy conditions that hit Charlotte. This makes a lot of sense, and I'm pretty sure that many churches are doing the same, since the conditions don't make it pleasant to drive safely.

However, I did have a question in respect to the sermon. Many people attend church for the sermon and the fellowship. Missing one of these for a Sunday usually isn't a problem, but both of those present a bit of a challenge for many believers. And so I ended up tweeting the following (two messages):

Given the state of mobile/web, weather shouldn't impact the ability to preach a message (tweet)? But weather can and does impact the ability to fellowship; how does the church create/use virtual ties when impacts happen (tweet)?

Now, Wellspring's pastor did say that he would be recording and posting the sermon - and this is good. But the second question remains, how can we skillfully and appropriately use mobile/web technology in order to keep the ties of fellowship when weather or other conditions dictate otherwise?

I've got a few ideas:

Skype or other type of video/conference call
Sharing an iTunes/Pandora/last.fm/Spotfy/last.fm/etc. playlist at a certain time for "praise and worship," - adding the element of an accompanying blog post on the church blog for those who'd like to post their prayers, "amens," etc.
(Nearly)-Live streaming of the small groups who are able to meet in the home for worship, fellowship, and prayer

Do any of you employ these methods when weather or some other circumstance interrupts the usual flow of fellowship/worship? And if so, what have been some of the positives and negatives of doing this?

Weather is indeed a limitation of fellowship in the traditional face-to-face sense. But, is the traditional means of fellowship strong enough to deny the versatility of the technology that's now at our fingertips?

Note: I'm not specifically asking about a full internet church experience or internet church campus. I am speaking specifically towards using the mobile and web arenas when normal fellowship and worship methods are interrupted. When we speak on an internet church, we can start talking the fun stuff like location-displacement of elements of the fellowship - which is a good bit different when it happens on a continual basis.

Responding to the Pope's Message

2010-01-30T11:25:00.005-05:00

Apologies for the post out of sync with the usual posting schedule, but after reading the Washington Posts' views on the Pope's message, I figured that a response from MMM would be most appropriate.

To those who have been following Mobile Ministry Magazine, you know that we've always advocated the use of technology (mobile and web computing) when it intersects with the daily interactions that we have with life around us. Whether that daily interaction is person-to-person, person(s)-to-community, or personal devotions, there's a response to the intersection of faith and technology that's demanded as part of the context of the times that we live in. There doesn't need to be an official statement from anyone on it - this is the DNA of walking in this Christian faith.

That being said, the challenge is to walk not in the ways of others when it comes to the use of this technology. We are defined by our intense love for God and one another - therefore we model our use of this technology after that, not in light of what others are doing.

Personally, I think that its great that others in the Body are coming around to understanding mobile and web technology. However, to just understand it now, and then dive in without understanding of its implications is foolhardy. There's nothing worse than when the Body of Christ puts on something and it looks like a bad copy of what someone else has already done. And then cannot account for the consequences of that display or presentation. We've got to model not just contextual use, but continual maturity.

I'd like to believe that pastors/layleaders have the shared spiritual and technical understanding to use this tech - but history present and past dictates that not being the case. Those are who enabled in the Body to teach spiritual truths need to come up beside those who are technically able to use the tools of this age and together build on our faith. Sorry, we can't wait for a generation of pastors to come forth who have this shared knowledge - it will be too late.

The voice of Christ will remain constant and truthful in every generation that earnestly seeks Him and His Kingdom. On this site, we've espoused this in our asking of you to take a look at your lives at the intersections of faith and mobile technology. We've already responded to the call and demonstrated the ability He's endowed us with. The next steps are to enable others to preach, teach, and live this Gospel. Anything short of that is just a bad attempt at secular marketing.

Note:
This post is based on the message recently shared by Pope Benedict XVI at the 44th World Communications Day event and the resulting article at the Washington Post (via Smart Mobs).

Apple iPad Thoughts

2010-01-30T10:00:00.001-05:00

I'm writing this on the day the Apple iPad was announced. Meaning that I've probably come back to this post a few times to clarify and to rethink sections - and at the same time, it might just stay very raw.

First off, a blanket opinion - this is a device purely for affluent audiences. Its not addressing a need to anyone except those who've already got mobile solutions, and the wallets to enable them. That's not to say its a bad thing. In light of my first thoughts to any device or service - does it meet a need or a want - its clearly something in the want category for many, and therefore illusions about what it would enable have to be filtered accordingly.*

That being said, its a good idea, and one that has been talked about here before. The tablet does present itself as an interesting, albeit more content-laden solution for those who would like a reader-style device, but would like some measure of productivity with it. The included iWork and iTunes suites make sense here, especially since its meant to consume and lightly annotate, content. The need for adapters hearkens back to the age of PDAs and accessories as the driver for specialized needs - this could have been handled better, but Apple is making a play for a broad range of profit generation here.

I mentioned to one person that this would be a great device for preachers (being semantically specific with the term here). Paired with a wireless network, the preacher would essentially have the slides, notes, text, and ability to control what is on-screen right in front of them. Yes, this can be done with any PDA/smartphone/netbook/laptop (and as been) - the form factor of a slate/tablet device works well here. And the size is nearly that of an A4 envelope which keeps it mobile for preachers who move much.

The other neat audience is of course education. And while Apple specifically spoke towards this area in its announcement, the price is a big bite. A student in the market would have to choose the tablet, and the dock-keyboard accessory in order to make this work. That says nothing for the lack of an expansion card to backup papers/content (hello online services). The prepaid aspect works very well here as an incentive towards working in order to be connected - though WiFi use would most likely reign in this setting.

Thinking from my own point of view: well, I use a smartphone. My N97 plugs into my TV (w/Apple Wireless keyboard) for major tasks at home. On the road, I plug it into projectors for presentations (hint, hint), write a few articles, listen to music, etc. In other words, aside from the larger screen - which would be helpful for the amount of books I read - its not worth the cost to me as I'd need to purchase several accessories in order to meet the basic functionality (and I lose the voice calling aspect). Its a nice device, and similar to many. I would have preferred to see an interface like the Mag+ Concept or 10/GUI Concept, or further ahead like the hardware+interface of the Microsoft Courier Concept. The iPad isn't far enough in the user interface design to significantly enhance/change how I do computing. It may be different for others, and I'd love to hear how as that perspective is needed.

I am looking forward to seeing what Bible publishers will do with iPhone apps that use the larger user interface. Ideally, they would not just copy what a 3.5in screen is doing on this 9.7in one. It would be good to see some richer interactions with content, as well as finger-based interactions that are physically not as efficient on the iPhone/iPod Touch.

But, that's just my thoughts on things. What about you? What are your thoughts? Is it going to be a purchase for you or a friend/family member. What areas do you see as great, and what needs work? And lastly, how did you manage covetousness before/during/after the announcement?

Carnival of the Mobilists #208, Moving Forward

2010-01-28T10:00:00.006-05:00

A bit late with the posting here, but still wanted to share that the Carnival of the Mobilists has been published this week over at my personal website. This week's Carnival is bittersweet as its the last week that the Nokia Mobile Web Server (MWS) service will be operational. Nokia is shutting down the service as the beta/research project has ended (I'll be moving some posts to a temp WordPress location). Eventually, I'll figure out something really cool to move past the MWS in terms of connectivity and information - I think such mobility spoiled me a lot.

Nevertheless, that doesn't mean that I've got more time to write/research/consult under the guise of MMM (would be nice). It does give me a sharper target when those actions do occur. There are some pretty sizable updates to MMM come the 5th year anniversary of the site in April; so the planning and focus with not having an additional site on the queue does help - and sting. Given all the other ways that we can connect and assimilate information, the mobile web server was a good bit of personal deliverance (content not locked to a 3rd party that I didn't control or have direct management over anything except the production of content) and enablement (lots of connections because of doing the MWS). Looking forward to what's next, it should make for a great story ;)

How to Setup an SMS System

2010-01-26T10:00:00.000-05:00

Saw this article over at Mobile Active and thought that it would be really good to link to considering all the attention paid to SMS here lately. Here's a snippet:

...Smart texting is an advanced form of keyword response in which an incoming text message triggers a complex interaction. This may include calling external programmes to process the message, or requesting further information from the user. It can also be used to run an SMS information service, in which the incoming SMS contains a query ('WEATHER cape town', 'CROP PRICES cofimvaba') and the response is retrieved from a database or the web. Example: A basic citizen reporting system could work as follows: Someone texts the word “REPORT” and a description of the incident to a widely publicised mobile number...

Read the rest at Mobile Active.

In what ways could you enable your organizations, or even missions teams, to utilizing this technology (both the SMS and knowledge sharing) as a means to demonstrating the Gospel's effectiveness?

Bible App Idea: The Bible You Hear

2010-01-24T10:00:00.000-05:00

This was emailed to me personally some weeks ago, but thought that it was a good enough idea for a Bible application that it should be posted here:

..a bible reader a [device/software] that reads you the bible every time you push a button, so say you listen to the bible every time you wake up. you can set the reader to 5-10-maybe even 30 minutes at a time. you could have it read to you front to back or you can have it read to you by topics like happiness or by forgivness "you know what i mean"...

Now, the person who emailed me this wants to bring this idea to light. If you are a developer and would like to get in touch with this person, contact us via the MMM Contact page and we'll get you in contact with that person so that this innovative and needed application can come to light.

Calling All Innovators 2010

2010-01-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

This is pretty neat for those of you looking to put your programming knowledge to some good use: Nokia's Calling All Innovators 2010 application development competition is underway.

This year's categories – Life Improvement, Eco/Being Green, Productivity and Entertainment - are bolstered by a teamup with the Sesame Workshop "to help support education related apps in the Life Improvement category with a view to encouraging developers to craft creative and exciting apps (possibly using Sesame Street characters) to teach early literacy on Nokia handsets to people anywhere in the world."

We've talked about before how the Body can put some of its gifts to good use, and this is about as good as it gets. And even if you don't enter the competition, folks like Mobile Active could use enterprising individuals who are willing to devote their technical knowledge to community and education-building causes.

Visit the Calling All Innovators 2010 competition website to learn more and to submit your applications to this worthy cause.

Via Nokia Conversations

Where Tech Is and Will Be

2010-01-20T10:00:00.001-05:00

Saw this over at Mental Floss the other week and it struck a good bit of a chord as to where we need to be thinking in respect to mobile/web use and adoption, and how to prepare for what's next:

The decade according to 9-year-olds from allison louie-garcia on Vimeo.

Having seen this, its important that we don't just think about mobile/web in the context of where it is now, or even where it will be in a few years. We've got to think about the longer repercussions and what that will mean for those kids who are playing with our work devices as simple toys.

Think about the tech context, where will they be and what are we building?

Covenant Eyes for iPhone and iPod Touch

2010-01-18T10:00:00.004-05:00

Ah, now this is some cool software that's really work chatting some about - Covenant Eyes has released for iPhone and iPod Touch mobile devices.

Basically, this is an alternate web browser that replaces Safari and uses the Covenant Eyes service in order to foster accountable web surfing between accountability partners. I've got a friend who's recently downloaded this and he's said that its been a great addition to his mobile lifestyle.

Covenant Eyes for iPhone and iPod Touch is available via iTunes. The application is part of the paid service and cannot be used without it. You will also need to read the follow-up instructions via the Covenant Eyes user guide after installing.

As a side note, MMM is interested in hearing about how software such as XXX-Church and Covenant Eyes has helped your spiritual lifestyle choices. Its not easy to overcome the temptations of web life, but when you have, those stories can encourage others. So do comment here towards your victories and let's hold up one another in this area.

For more information, visit the Covenant Eyes website or connect with them on Twitter (@CovenantEyes).

Group SMS for Ministries with Ez Texting

2010-01-16T10:00:00.001-05:00

Was forwarded a note about another group SMS service for ministries called Ez Texting.

Similar to other SMS services, Ez Texting enables an organization to setup a custom keyword for subscribing. Once a keyword is generated, an organization can begin to use features such as multiple subscription lists, website/blog widgets, and group management features in order to communicate messages and announcements.

Like some others, Ez Texting is limited to US and Canadian audiences. There are monthly subscription plans, and a free trial is available.

For more information, visit the Ez Texting website or interact with them on Twitter (@eztexting) .

The Voice of Innovation Could Sound Very Familiar

2010-01-14T10:00:00.002-05:00

If you are in or near mobile, then chances are you are around a lot of voices. All of these voices vie for your attention - whether its a call, text message, music and multimedia, and even the vibration of something happening towards the former three items. Its because of this personal and very immediate stimuli that mobile has been a disruptive technology for so many people. Its introduction to life has literally changed every culture that it had touched.

Though mobile changes a lot of facets of life; there will be some areas where the technology enables the change that was already simmering, and others where people will find innovative uses of tech that more or less works along with the technology.

What I like though is the understanding that tech isn't the answer. It requires a response, and that response will change our lives. If you will, the tech points the very need that individual and communities would have. I like how this article puts it:

...The mistake both the utopians and neo-Luddites make is by giving too much credence to the idea that technology can fundamentally change human nature. For every article about how Twitter will save the world, a cyber-fatalist will argue that smartphones have turned us all into zombies. Both are wrong. It is not technology per se that has the power to change the world (for good or bad), but rather the innovation and creativity of the people enabling and using it.

Of course, technology isn't the answer - its just a tool, and one that ends up being more or less another manner of bringing the reality of our human-ness (or brokenness) closer to one another. We have to be adept with these tools, but really understand that for that it is, its just another part in that story of how technology has threaded our lives.

Hence why I like mobile (as a tool, media, and movement). It causes us to think about the personal application of technology, and how life ensues afterward.

Hence, why I really like what could happen in the Body. It doesn't take much to see that mobile has and will continue to not just foster new communication activities. It will also add a bit of spice towards how the Body adapts to and molds culture around it. I see mobile merely pointing a way to innovation - so that the voice of the Christ remains not just something people are going to hear, but be able to hear to the point of wanting to do life on different - God's - terms. How the Body uses mobile to tell and share its story will show this voice of innovation, and life around the Body will then be threaded in His effectual graces.

Mobile Trends for the Next 10yrs (incl. The Mobile Church) #m2020

2010-01-12T10:00:00.004-05:00

Mobile Trends 2020

Via IntoMobile

Here are my five (as posted on Twitter a few days ago). Items are posted with a link to the associated tweet so that you could either respond here or there.

Mobile will be the primary avenue for telling the church's story over the next 10yrs (tweet)
Mobile increases the church's need to have cross-functional knowledge of culture and context (tweet)
Censorship and copyright will drive mobile sharing of religious texts to innovative solutions (tweet)
Mobile will be vilified by a significant generation of traditionally-minded church and lay leaders (tweet)
Education + genuine faith + mobile = education and community redefined (L. Amer India, & Africa)(tweet)

Ok folks, given the several trends spoken, as well as the MMM-5, do you have any thoughts on these - especially in terms of what you are seeing in the places you are in. Remember, one of the characteristics of mobile is that its personal and hyper-local. Where is this media going, and how do we steer it within the context of it intersection with faith? Because what we experience as tech in the Body, will not be the same experience of those considered youth now.

*The hashtag in the title is deliberate as I'd like to see this link automatically when this posts to Twitter.

Mag+ and Contextual Electronic Reading

2010-01-10T10:00:00.000-05:00

I know that MMM harps a lot about ebooks, electronic Bibles and such, but there's really a good reason for doing so - there's no innovation there. At the intersection of faith and mobile tech, at the very least, a Bible reader should be enabling the story and history of Christianity to be better engaged. But, we just haven't seen too many folks push enough. So, here's a little bump called Mag+:

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

Forget what is or isn't possible, watch it and think about how you read - and interact - with the Bible on a contextual basis. Does your Bible reader offer this level of engagement? And if not, shouldn't we help them get to this level of simplicity?

Twext by Church Community Builder (CCB)

2010-01-08T10:00:00.000-05:00

Here's a press release about a new product called Twext from the folks at Church Community Builder (CCB). Seems like a solid product for those organizations who'd like to add the additional broadcast layers of Twitter and texting to their church/organizational communications.

Colorado Springs, CO, JANUARY 4, 2010—Church Community Builder (CCB) (http://www.churchcommunitybuilder.com), the pioneer of socially-based church management (ChMS), has released an innovative new communications tool that combines Text Messaging and Twitter - called CCB Twext - that will provide church and small group leaders with leading edge communications capabilities.

"Effective communication tools are critical for all churches. Because CCB highly values the interactive social nature of church communities, adding Text Messaging as a communication option was a no-brainer for us," states Steve Caton, VP of Sales and Marketing. "However, we really wanted to take the next step by providing a way to seamlessly integrate texting with Twitter, thereby adding yet another communications vehicle to the mix where appropriate."

CCB Twext™ Offers the Following Benefits:

Group Texting: In addition to email and mail merge, every Group Leader has the option to communicate with their Group participants via Text Messaging.

Twitter Integration: If a group within the church has its own Twitter account, the Group Leader can add that account to their CCB Group. When utilized, a Text Message sent to the group will also immediately post as a Tweet on the group Twitter™ feed. This further extends the reach of the Text Message to those who may not receive text messages but are a member of the Twitter group.

Member Controlled: Group members have full control over their ability to receive text messages. They must proactively edit their CCB profile before receiving them. This ensures people don’t end up paying for text messages they do not wish to receive.

CCB Twext represents another major milestone and differentiator for CCB’s innovative church management solution. In addition to providing benefits to the entire congregation, CCB also offers the most robust communication tools to your leadership so they can remain connected to those they serve in the most relevant manner possible. For more information or to speak with someone at Church Community Builder about this and other valuable functionality, email sales@churchcommunitybuilder.com or call 1-866-242-1199.

One Day Conference: How Tech Shapes Faith (Feb 8th)

2010-01-06T10:00:00.000-05:00

Via The Digital Sanctuary:

Dallas Theological Seminary’s Center for Christian Leadership is hosting Shane Hipps, author of Flickering Pixels (my review), for a one day conference in Dallas called The Electronic Gospel: How Technology Shapes Our Faith on February 8th, 2010... John Dyer will lead one on controlling technology in our daily lives, Scott McClellan of Collide Magazine will lead a session on social media, and Bill Buchanan of Irving Bible Church will lead one on technology in the worship service.

This looks like a great conference. Don't see MMM going as there's a scheduling conflict (and poor planning on my part), but we will try and get some coverage of it from various vantage points.

For more information and to register, visit the The Electronic Gospel: How Technology Shapes Our Faith website.

Mobile Between the Sundays

2010-01-04T10:00:00.000-05:00

Let's start off this year on the right foot with a simple question (reposted from MMM's Twitter actually)

How does mobile change the behavior of living out the message in between the Sundays?

Since Time Online is calling 2010 the year of the mobile - maybe I was two years early in my prediction - this would be an apt question with which to frame our thoughts behind mobile/web use and how our faith is shaped with/by it.

A Mobile Start Towards Context

2010-01-02T10:12:00.001-05:00

Am writimg this on the Nokia N900 with MaStory (formerly WordPy) and in many ways this device represents a point that some have realized, mobile computing is here to stay. Sure, everyone won't do everything from their mobile, but the capabilities are there to do more than most had imagined. And along with some mobile interations which are specific to this media, life changes.

Thing is, mobile is a personal movement too. It changes according to the user's context and at the same time submits to it. After a good bit of reading and reflecting, it seems the Body is changing likewise. Changing to fit the contexts of tech, new minorities/majorities, and a call to be organic and orthodox-like ridgid. Kind of fun of fun if you ask me.

For this site it means we too will change and adapt. But starting things on a mobile happens to be good enough for now. From here, its all about people and engaging them in their context while giving them Christ's context. For how we do mobile, this is the way forward.

Mobile Giving with mGive

2009-12-31T10:00:00.002-05:00

This is so beyond just a website that its cool. mGive is a very cool serivce that allows non-profits and charities to receive donations via contributors mobile devices. And this is mostly an SMS-based service. From their website:

mGive allows your organization to raise money through text message donations. Supporters of your cause send a text message to your keyword & short code and their $5 or $10 donation is applied to their cell phone bill. Once you create a campaign, you can drive awareness via print, radio, television, online and social network adverts.

mGive provides a campaign-specific keyword, a shared shortcode (for use across several mobile carriers), online reporting and marketing tools, widgets for many blogs and social networks, a volunteer management tool, SMS scheduler, and donor collection reports.

The serivce is limited to US mobile carriers at this time (seems as if carrier billing is enabled). But for the most part can allow many organizations to get started with mobile giving pretty quickly. Check out the mGive website, Facebook, or Twitter for more information.

What's the Best Use for a Website?

2009-12-29T10:00:00.000-05:00

Ever since doing the MMM Mobile Experiment Report (PDF), I've had this uneasy feeling about continuing a website here. Don't get me wrong, in terms of a place for people to see MMM in its most unfiltered manner, a website is probably one of the best tools for this. As a person though, I'm mobile - very mobile - therefore the idea of a website being tied to a person, and therfore becoming more than a website has been something that has just kind of sat on the edge of those things I experiment with, its something that I'm just personally trying to pull off. I do wonder often because of this experience though if I really need a website.

Now, for most ministries, the question isn't so much do they need a website, but rather what's the best use for their website? If you will, how does the website accurately and easily point the way to connecting and understanding the purpose of your organization. And I think that's where the question about MMM's website really comes from.

Sure, there's editorial-like content here; and, this is good for a website to have. But what about those other, connecting. aspects of that interesection of mobile and minsitry. A website doesn't serve as solid a purpose as IM, SMS, picture galleries, and voice. How a ministry/organization is able to use all of these social connecting components to be whom they are - along with the website - is that key point of strategy that I think is missing, or not well executed.

Many of the changes that have happened here lately have been in the idea that MMM might not be a website as much as part of one's social graph to which the website is one of many spokes that can be connected to. And then in this social graph, MMM becomes whatever is needed to those persons and groups that would benefit from the knowledge and connections here.

In light of where we are, and where we want to go, this is one of those questions that sit pretty high. Because MMM is not necessarly trying to go where the trends are, but where they will be in mobile/web/context/etc. Does your ministry/org have the same views towards their website and other outreaches, and if not, maybe that's something of a question to carry throughout the new year.

A Few Pieces of Research and Reading

2009-12-27T10:00:00.001-05:00

There's a lot of data consumed between the pages/posts of MMM. Much of this data is read, questioned, and then makes its way here as posts or tweets. Some of it takes longer than others. Here are some links to some pieces of research and reading that has contributed to MMM content this year:

Mobile as 7th of the Mass Media (Tomi Ahonen)
Mobile Almanac 2009 (Tomi Ahonen)
Open Mobile (Ajit Jaokar, Anna Gatti)
Don't Make Me Think (Steve Krug)
Launching into Cyberspace: Internet Development and Politics in Five World Regions (Marcus Franda)
Plugged In: The Generation Y Guide to Thriving at Work (Tamara Erickson)
The Blogging Church (Brian Bailey)
Smart Mobs (Howard Rheingold)

If you have any research or reading material that you'd think would be great content to contribute to the growing body of knowledge of those things mobile, web, culture, etc., feel free to drop a line - I only ask that it would be electronically available on more than one mobile platform ;)

Just Spend Today in Thankful Reflection

2009-12-25T10:00:00.001-05:00

Call me a bit of a non-conformist, but I really don't so much want to wish you a merry Christmas as much as I just want to thank Jesus directly for gifting Himself to us. Upon enough thankful reflection, I'm sure you'd agree with the perspective. Or at least join in the praise ;)

~video via Smart Mobs