Yesterday, we hit on the top posts of 2010. Today, we look at the top 10 topics based on frequency of use here at MMM. In one respect, this gives you an idea of how we focus on various areas, and in another respect points to areas of interest and notable subject areas throughout 2010.

#10: SMS
Makes a lot of sense that SMS would be a popular topic. Its how it was a popular topic that becomes interesting as you see the various types of posts on the topic.

#9: Software
The software industry is constantly changing, and this year in mobile has been no exception. Lots of viewpoints here from applicaitons to developer relations.

#8: Social Networking
What comes first, going social or going mobile? Hard to tell sometimes with the amount of conversations around both.

#7: Bible
It strikes me as amazing how the Bible stays in the conversation no matter if we are talking reading, communities, software, or successes in this space.

#6: Communication
As with social networking, simply communicating tends to be a common meme within mobile. Lots of potential here for more work.

#5: Education
We’ve been intentional at look at education as a part of the fabric of being mobile, and this year’s posts have fought hard towards that fact. Look for much more in this space in 2011.

#4: Tech
Technology is a term that be be denoted to any tool. Effective technology – especially in this space – is another conversation. We’ve had several of these.

#3: Resources
MMM also serves as a springboard towards research and reosurces in the mobile ministry space. As with education, this is a topic that’s bound to rise higher in 2011.

#2: Community
How does the tech and resources filter into the local community of believers? Plenty of coverage around community engagements such as Lausanne, discipliship, and more.

#1: Mobility
It would almost be obvious to say that mobile would be at the top of the list. Mobility is not just the tools, but the processes, the policies, and the implications. Next year, we might default this one out of the list.

Those areas accounted for lots of coverage here. We are expecting this list to shift a good bit in 2011. What do you think might be some of the topics that would make this list next year here at MMM? Speak up in the comments or on Twitter (@mobileminmag).

Being the end of the calendar year 2010, we thought it a good idea to take a look back at some of the top posts from this year. Here are the top 10 posts which have generated attention and conversations this year.

#10: Agapage – Internal Church/Org Paging
Proving that there’s still room in mobile for past solutions, Agapage’s church/org paging product showed some of the more innovative tools to come into the mobile space for local church communities this year.

#9: How I’m Using My iPad
It took MMM a while to jump on the iPad bandwagon, but when we did, the response here and on Twitter took off.

#8: Book Review – Thin Places by Chip Furr
A brother who has become a consistant supporter of MMM, his book review here has been a common visit not only for its content, but for its impact.

#7: More Accountability Software
An area that’s getting more and more attention as people are going mobile. How do we take steps to be accountable in such a personal domain?

#6: What is Mobile Ministry?
This year, putting forth a definition of mobile ministry. Next year, well, you’ll have to walk with us and others to see what happens there.

#5: Mike Milton’s Lessons from the 2010 Lausanne Conference
One of the largest gatherings of believers from all over the world in the last three decades. Lausanne presented an opportunity to see and learn from the world’s Christian faith community.

#4: The Evangelical Exegetical Commentary As a Sign of Publishing’s Future
We talk a lot about trends here, and this post highlighting the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary seemed to strike a nerve with many of you. Lots more changes like this to occur in this space.

#3: The Future of Bible Software
Similar to the previous item, talking about something that’s been near and dear to digital faith causes some ripples. This post has constantly ranked high in terms of views since it was published.

#2: Compairson Thoughts on iPad and Bible Study Apps
Showing some of the attention that the iPad has garnered, this post not only strokes the aspect of what applications to use but also how we go about studying.

#1: Bibles for Mobile Devices
The best (hey, we’re biased) listing of free, paid, and open source Bible software for mobile devices. This list has seen several updates this year and points to one very obvious entry point for digitial faith initiatives.

That’s our top 10, what about you? What posts or topics from MMM in 2010 have most impacted you? Speak up in the comments or on Twitter (@mobileminmag).

A few notes before the holiday pause:

On December 25th, YouVersion (and others) will be engaging in a Global Share the Bible Day. MMM supports this effort and asks that as you do enjoy any gifts, that you also take the time to share the Word with your friends/family – or if you’ve missed keeping to that reading plan, that you reengage yourself to the Word and the present-gift that it is.

In the same wise, I’d like to encourage you all to enjoy the holiday weekend with one another. And even if you aren’t able to spend it with the people you want to, that you would at least take an effort to rest your spirit, and reflect on the gift of the present. Each day is meant to be unwrapped and enjoyed as a gift from God. Take your gift, each gift, and enjoy the day you have been given.

Melissa, Brett, LJ, and myself will be taking time away to rest; and next week we’ll be back with the usual posting schedule. So that means no updates here, on Twitter, Google Buzz, or in the MMM Nokia App. Email will be looked at on occasion, but this is really a break that’s needed to refresh and retune for the new year.

Thank you as always for your support, and may this Christmas and holiday season be full of joy, peace, and the occasional new gadget. See you next week.

For as much as the holiday is great for family and rest, its also a good time to get some reading in. Here are a few items that have come in recently which might make for engaging reading and reflecting on a new or old mobile reading device:

• Carnival of the Mobilists No. 244 at Volker on Mobile
• Insider’s Guide to Mobile from Tomi Ahonen
• Presentation and Notes talking about literacy in the digital age from Ben Grey
• The Internet in 2020
• Jarbyco, an SMS service for churches, has several case studies
• And a few books from Amazon: I Live in the Future, and This Is How It Works and Smart Things: Ubiquitous Computing User Experience Design

Do you have some interesting reads that you will be engaging in this holiday season? Share yours in the comments or via Twitter.

After a number of conversations, further readings, and a excellent mobile ministry forum (report coming as soon as I slow down), there’s still this lingering feeling that the definition port forth here towards what is mobile ministry while not bad, just might not have gone far enough.

So, in the spirit of how this initiative is run, I want to put out a refreshed subset of that definition that I’ve been sitting on. It is one part just trying to get into a place of better understanding how to best apply a definition, but also lead towards developing and finding the research/case studies that support mobile ministry as an effective tool.

For a refresher, here’s the definition:

Mobile ministry is the skillful use and application of computer technology classified as mobile for the context of fulfilling the Christian (religious?) designation of forwarding the proclamation of the key ideals and history of the faith, following form to and innovating on top of cultural and faith traditions within applied contexts.

And here’s what I’ve been sitting on:

Mobile in missions: contextualizing Gospel messages; business as mission opportunities; technology in politics/global conversations

Mobile in Media: specifications around video/audio/text engagements; mobile applications alongside broadcast channels; mobile service development/infrastructure concerns

Mobile in discipleship/education: curriculum development; special education; educational explorations (OLPC-like initiatives)

Mobile Marketing/Analytics: SEO; security and access; local media channel development; mobile applications alongside and independent of broadcast channels

Spiritual implications of connected spaces: theological constraints/precedents; directions for educators/parents/local communities; psychological/cultural effects of mobile vs other personal/connected technology media elements

Mobile in Moment: use of connected services and applications; SMS/MMS; effects of and effects towards social and linear networks; personal use; theological constraints/precedents

So, in looking at mobile ministry as a tool, practice, or context, its becoming clear that how mobile is being defined determines its best application.

With that said, do you see any areas here where the Body is already equipped to move quickly into mobile? Or, do you see gaps that need to be addressed, before mobile ministry is regarded as wholly beneficial?

There are a few ways that we can look at mobile in respect to this intersection with faith or faith-based endeavors. Usually speaking, we look at mobile from two perspectives: either it is a lifestyle choice, or it is something very much embedded into the fabric of our respective cultures.

One of the challenges that keeps me on the brink of sanity (seriously) is successfully conveying either if these perspectives to audiences that may or may not see mobile in this wise. Mobile as a lifestyle choice doesn’t look at it’s intersection to faith but more like what mobile looks like appended to faith. In this perspective, mobile looks like bible applications, reading plans, communication strategies, and technical pursuits. On the other hand, when mobile is a part of your culture, you less think about these layered interactions but more about enhanced features such as mobile health, mobile finance, etc.

Notice the difference? Hence the struggle and the fun of this endeavor.

Here are some thoughts on approaches from Mobile Marketing Magazine to get you started on thinking and chatting:

• Do you look at mobile similar to the desktop?
• Where are your best practices and specific focuses in mobile?
• Are your users/clients ready?

There are six approach ideas listed there. So, what perspective do you take when you are a ministry or organization leader? How do you identify what is the right approach, and then what steps are next?

Just got the confirmation the other day that my (Antoine) speaking proposal for the 2011 BibleTech Conference was accepted and all signs point to there being a third iteration of MMM presenting at this exciting and engaging conference.

BibleTech is an opportunity to hear from analysts, educators, developers, and missionaries who are in and around web and mobile issues that relate to the study and understanding of God’s Word. In between the sessions are several discussions and engagements unlike what happens at other conferences. And if last year was any indication, there’s going to be a ton of people interested in not just what’s possible with the tech, but where the leaders in this space are going next.

The title of MMM’s topic is “Mobile Ministry: Definition, Contextual Applications, and State of the Body.” As with previous presentations, expect a ton of information, and some neat interactive surprises. This presentation builds on our previous presentations at this event (2009, 2010) and will take what was started here as a definition of mobile ministry and add some context around it.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Going back to some recent conversations, there are always two streams: the technology that is and the technology that is right around the corner. In trying to wrap the the concept of mobile ministry into terms that are both accessible and visionary, I’m often drawn to visions of interactions that look as if we are in a mobile-friendly city of God.

I see worship spaces augmented with virtual components. I see the call to salvation not stopping at a call, but becoming a thread of continuous communication that develops from discipliship relationships to friendships. I don’t see mobile terminals as they are now, but embedded and transformed by context (a screen when needed, voice when needed, etc.). I see the challenge of access and censorship driving private business and policy creation – and the conversations open around causing believers to mature (not just increase in knowledge). The attention to detail in respecting one another’s cultural narrative causing faith to not have a slant (Western, American, Global South, etc.) but respecting the entry point, and cultivating a common faith – not necessarily common practices.

Such thoughts are indeed quite utopian, and can be considered both profitable and unrealistic. But, I think that there is the need for such visionary explorations from time to time. We shouldn’t get stuck in our thoughts (the paralysis of innovation), but engage in utopian thinking when it is best used as a lens for examining our ideas about how we would like to live. Not so much that it is going to happen, but that it is a possibility to happen and should spark imaginations and actions.

One of the statements that describes some of the imaginations that drive MMM sounds a lot like the statement made here. Ours appends things a bit, but carries much of the same reach:

What happens when the experience of faith lived out happens without the differentiation (borders, boundaries) between physical and digital spaces?

In that new space, how are the children of God living? What are they doing? What are we cultivating at the feet of the King? What aren’t we cultivating, and why doesn’t that make sense anymore?

When Jesus had this conversation/encounter with the Samaritan woman (woman at the well) in John, he pulled apart her perception of the current state of things and gave her a vision of His spirit as it existed in a space that was not like the accepted or rejected paradigms of their time. He gave her not just the potential, but the utter reality that His Spirit would endear citizens to live wholly different holy lives.

I believe that many of us dream of these interactions, these spaces. And these are indeed healthy and should be encouraged. When we stop dreaming – or take a break from dreaming to live – what are we taking from that dream’s pronouncement into the lives of people around us? And if it is the King of Kings we are taking, what tools won’t we use to build out the better temples?

In some recent conversations around mobile ministry, one of the more pressing concerns was how to measure the impact of mobile. Frankly speaking, metrics/analytics for mobile aren’t as mature and usually content providers need to be more creative in collecting and more descriptive in interpreting mobile data. Monday Note goes into some great detail towards the challenges here:

…One example of the measurement challenge: a news related application. The first measure of an app’s success is its downloads count. In theory, pretty simple. Each time an app is downloaded, the store (Apple’s or any other) records the transaction. Then, things gets fuzzier as the application lives on and gets regular updates. Sometimes, updates are upgrades, with new features. At which point should the app be considered new — especially when it’s free, like most of the news-related ones? Second difficulty: a growing number of apps will be preloaded into smartphones and tablets. Rightly or wrongly, Apple nixes such meddling with its devices. But, outside of the iOS world, cellphone carriers do strike deals with content providers and preload apps on Android devices. That’s another hard to get number…

Read the rest of Measuing the Nomads at Monday Note.

In those conversations about mobile data and analytics, it has been made very clear to me that this is a major hurdle for some of the larger groups which use these measurements in order to determine how to better support – or even adjust how they are supporting mobile ministry activities. What have been some of the methods that you are finding successful?

Or, if you’ve got a case study towards a mobile ministry initiative and have described some of these measures of success, would you consider submitting that to be posted on our Mobile Case Studies/Research page? There’s still much to be learned from one another and grounds to be plowed in this space. And until we can start seeing consistency in actions/successes/failures, the challenge to collecting and understanding mobile data in the ministry context will go unanswered.

I am known for not charging my batteries. My phone dies, my iPod dies, I forget to put gas in my car regularly. I have in my purse at all times a spare charger for my phone and have used it in the most unusual places. People who know me well just roll with the punches, because this is one of my personality quirks.

My relationship with Christ depends on my being plugged into the Bible.  I have plunged in deep, I have pulled back hard depending on where my emotions lay. I have memorized verses,  listened to audio versions before bed and  gone to weekly Bible studies all in an effort to  recharge the relationship. My many devices have battery meters on them with a warning telling me when to recharge. My relationship with Christ does not have this convenient feature.

I have attended churches and made fast friends and shallow acquaintanceship. I have stayed in attendance in the church till I unplugged my battery. It didn’t happen all at once. One Sunday here, missed Bible study there. But I am not like the mobile units I carry. I need recharging far more often than my many pocket devices. I realize I am very much unplugged from a very real source of power. I did this on my own. I did not watch my battery meter, I ignored my beeping of the alarm till finally one day I realized all I heard was silence.

God is faithful. We are not. We can not promise to ever be faithful because that is a promise we will break the very next minute. God is faithful and when we plug ourselves back into the outlet? Angels rejoice.

“Luke 15:10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”