Just wanted to add a few more notes about what’s happening with the site in the coming weeks:

• Updates to MMM will happen via Twitter (@mobileminmag) as the site will be moving to WordPress. This will be the case for a few weeks until that move is completed.
• The Archives section will appear on the bottom of the page, until that happens, the search buttons at the top and bottom of the page will work towards finding content. Also the Category link is a good resource to search for items here.
• MMM will publish via Twitter some updates about its involvement with Digital Disciples in the coming days.
• Will be looking for a suitable netbook or notebook to replace a desktop that I have so that MMM can get back into creating some unique content and following through on some research.
• Oh, MMM is a full-time gig; look forward to more speaking and appearing at conferences (as budget and travel allows).

So that’s the deal with things as it stands right now. There’s much that needs to be done, and at teh same time a call to me, and to MMM, that needs to be followed through with. You are invited to come alongside and help us till this digital ground together, and at the same time, if you have a need towards understanding how to engage this story of our Christian faith through this mobile lens, well, this is what we do and would like to help you see similar possibilties. A new adventure begins, and a new chapter to MMM starsts now.

As just stated on twitter, MMM has just been through a redesign. This is the 3 major redesign, and probably the 20min minor one 😛 done since this site was conceived 5 years ago. The importance of this update was to get one last redesign in before moving to another platform – which should have the same design – and to better focus on the mission of Mobile Ministry Magazine

(will update the About page hopefully soon).

The New(ish) Mission Statement: Enabling the story and His-story of the Christian faith through a mobile lens.

Its the opinion of this site that how we define and work out living out this Christian faith has signifiantly changed, in part due to the threads that various forms of technology has given us. With this new design and sharpened focus on the story as it comes from you and your engagements with faith and mobile devices, its the hope that this site will keep that story of our faith out front so that present and future generations can see how His story is continuing to be threaded throughout our lives.

The design is based on lessons learned from the Mag+ Concept Video and Project which had been posted some months ago. Some of the core lessons in this video dealt around not making digital content fit older models of reading, but to develop containers for that content which allow digital technology to take a better advantage of how digital tech is being used – specifically with reading devices. Most of MMM has been in long-form blog postings, themed content, and then interactive elements sprinked throughout. Its the hope that attention to the story instead of the various aspects of “chrome” will come to the front, and then using the tools exposed on the site, you’d be able to see just how much can be done when a story is shared.

I am totally sure that there are issues somewhere and with some posts; but being under a tight deadline and with only access to a mobile device, this step was taken to ensure that a move to a new blog/content management system will follow a similar look, but push that interactive story a good bit further.

As usual, comments are welcome and appreciated – and will be answered with a grateful heart.

Just a short post, but I did want to recommend the M3: Mobile post which was posted over at the the BibleTech Conference Blog. Not because it points to MMM – though that is humbling – but because of what was realized for a country when something as simple as a mobile was considered as part of the toolkit for a pastor.

Such moments leave me personally without many words. I would hope though, that for any who have stories of their own, that they too would find some consolation in the fact that in its right context, mobile tech is one powerful minstry agent.

I’ve been sitting on the idea of this post for sometime. To be honest, I’ve really had many times during the past five years where I felt that MMM needed to be let go.

Then tonight, I was visiting with some friends, and it hit me just how important it has been for MMM to be here for the past 5 years. Yes, I can make the suggestion that it was needed for all of you who have come here over the years and gained insight towards life at the intersection of mobile and faith. But really, it was for me to see just how much God values the gifts that we have, and how those gifts are to be used in the Body.

In the course of 5 years, there has been a number of PDAs, smartphones, laptops, and a few tablets that have passed through here. This site has gone through 5 major redesigns, and countless tweaks. Its been on Blogger the entire time, but took nearly 8 months or so for it to find a stable server to call home.

There have been guest posts by journalists, students, pastors, and evangelists. MMM has been noted at the BBC and ABC. Its seen life on Jaiku, Twitter, Mippin, and Mobify.Me.

There has been reviews of devices, devotions, themed series, and the content that started it all – the issues.

This has been one heck of a ride. And I know that there are not many websites out there which can say that they have gone for 5 years on no budget. But man, God has shown me and Mobile Ministry Magazine a whole lot of favor.

I owe Sammy at Palm Addict a big thanks for his encouragement to just start this online, and his countless posts letting people know of MMM. Thanks to the host of folks who are represented in the links section – its amazing what your encouragement has meant over the years. And a huge thanks to LJ over at Trailblazin Ministries – dude, I love you in Christ and because of Christ. Thank you immensely for your words of wisdom, encouragement, and straightening up.

Now, there are some people who would say that they saw MMM going this far. There are some who are wondering still how we made it this far. I have no idea except to say that it has been God’s grace. A whole lot of grace.

Lord willing, before Blogger’s FTP service gets shut down, we’ll get another redesign up and then some stuttering of things as the move to another blogging system has been a lot slower than hpoed for. God, I really wish that I could have done a lot of things faster, better, with more clarity of the impacts etc. This site has been one heck of a learning experience, and I hope that for you visiting, reading, or just checking to see if MMM has finally found an editor, that you can understand that we are only moving forward because of the grace afforded to us.

Its been 5 years, and there are over 1700 posts here of stories which talk about life at the intersection of faith and mobile tech. Wow. Just wow. If God gives this site another decade under my watch, I wonder what the impacts and stories will look like then.

A new mission statement therefore for MMM: Enabling the story and His-story of the Christian faith through a mobile lens. How this is done has been stated for 5 years, but in this next stage of life for me and this site, we dig into this further. Hope you will come and share your story with us.

Internet Evangelism Day is an annual focus day for churches. This year, it is scheduled for Sunday April 25. It’s an opportunity for any church to explore with its members the exciting opportunities for sharing the good news online. Ready-made free downloads – PowerPoint, video clips, handouts, drama scripts and music can be easily built into a presentation of five minutes or 50.

2010’s focus day will be the sixth to be used by churches around the world since the initiative’s launch in 2005. Over this period, digital media have developed dramatically, with the advent of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, and the growing use of mobile phones to access online services.

IE Day’s website is also a one-stop resource covering many subjects including: how to build a church website that is ‘outsider friendly’, using Twitter in evangelism, and ideas for effective blogging.

Perhaps surprisingly, you do not need to be technical to share your faith online. And you can volunteer to be an email mentor to inquirers with several large online outreach ministries.

Internet Evangelism Day is an initiative of the Internet Evangelism Coalition, based at the Billy Graham Center, Wheaton. It is supported by a wide range of Christian leaders and groups. “I am glad to commend Internet Evangelism Day,” says John Stott.

For more information visit the Internet Evangelism Day website.

Much time these days is spent looking at the landscape of internet and mobile and asking about its effects on me personally, spiritually, professionally, etc. Besides the excitement (and financial highs and lows) of seeing mobile evolve, I’ve also seen my own perceptions and core uses change. How has being more mobile – or even just more aware of what mobile has become around you – changed or challenged your outlook on life personally, professionally, and spiritually?

It has been a long while since submitting a post to MMM through email to Blogger. but, since its a bit of a cludge to do this via Blogger, and I don’t have as neat a blogging widget/WRT app as WordPress has for Symbian, I’m rolling with this method.

The good thing about using email though is that the tone of posts changes a bit. Its not just a blog composition window, its an email window which invites more of an incentive to tell a story.

The idea of “story” is one that has effected the perspective of how the intersection is intrepreted here at MMM since the VSN Conference last September. Mobile has this front row seat in all of our lives because of how close to most of our actions it stands. And at the same time, mobile is this window into the stories of other people: voice, text, images, audio, and video all play their parts. It’s through this mobile lens, and really through the method that we use this mobile lens, where this idea of “mobile story” plays out.

MMM hits 5 years old (as a blog) around the 25th of this month. If I can get to a PC, I’ll hopefully have the time to make a small effort towards the redesign that will hopefully thrust MMM into the realm of enabling you to better tell, see, touch, and hear the story of our Christian faith with this mobile lens.

No, the site won’t change in its mission to be at the intersection – we will just make sure that at the intersection that you use that mobile lens to have something to tell.

Where we go from there probably won’t be defined for another half a decade. Then again, if MMM makes it another 5, it really will be a story worth telling, no matter the method its composed.

The third recap article of the BibleTech event centers in on the main presentation by MMM – Mobile’s Christ-Led Encounters. First a bit of background:

One of the reasons for speaking on the topic of mobile as a doorway into Christ-led encounters was to deflect some of the attention off of the newness, or the shiny, that mobile has become. Its a truism that mobile has hit some sort of collective consciousness and tons of folks want to know how to use it to better do ministry or be connected with others.

With this in mind, I made a point to reconnect and listen more to what people were asking about mobile – compared to last year at BibleTech where I did more talking. Here are some of the observations:

• Using mobile alongside social networks efficiently
• Using mobile as an avenue for non-online content
• SMS engagement and service strategies
• Mobile as a personal broadcasting point
• Mobile as a community learning point

There were a few other conversations, but these were some of those pieces of mobile which tended to stick out a good bit.

There were about five presenters total who spoke on mobile directly, with another three or four mentioning mobile as an element to their strategy. By, the time day 2 rolled around, and it was time for MMM’s presentation, the ground was set to chat about being Christ-led and mobile enabled.

The presentation can be broken into two parts, the expanse of mobile, and the intention of the believer with mobile. In the first half, I talked about mobile in relation to statistics spoken of last year, along with some global trends. To that end there were 10 characteristics of mobile that were covered:

• Communication (voice and text)
• Consumption (passive media)
• Charging (monetary transactions)
• Commercials (targeted and response advertising)
• Creation (user generated audio and video content)
• Community (social networking)
• Cool (fashion and psychology)
  Control (telemantics, remote control)
• Context (status, location, environment, adaptivity)
• Cyber (augmented reality, plants, animals, etc.)

Its within these areas that opportunities for mobile to enable ministry lie. I also made mention to reference the presentation from the previous night as mobile isn’t just a technological change, but a cultural one.

And then my phone rang. No. Really. Got a phone call in the middle of the presentation. I had a feeling it would happen. But you know, having your presentation interrupted by an unknown phone number on the projector is kind of funny – and a lot embarrassing. Thanks to the audience for rolling with that one.

Part two of the talk centered more on the believer who takes on mobile as a significant aspect of the great commission. There are a few statements here which are items that will pretty much carry the next (hopefully) 5 years of MMM:

• Go. Teach. Disciple.
• You disciple with the spirit of God and you maintain the connection with mobile devices. (thanks Vajaah for tweeting this one)

The first point we talked about before. “Go.Teach.Disciple.” as a short form of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) and as a long form for the impact that we are to have as we engage a culture that is growing increasingly digital and passive.

Therein lies the meat of things with the second point. Yes, there’s the big mobile-enabled world out there. And there are a ton of needs. But, without the Spirit of God – aka the Holy Spirit – our deeds are just that, deeds. We effectively bring the living Gospel to others when mobile becomes a handshake to something more than just something shiny.

And that’s how the presentation ended. Similar to the VSN Presentation, MMM’s encouragement is to use mobile as a handshake towards inviting others to the reality of Christ’s passion for them. Whether that’s directly in words, or indirectly in creating a cure, this is our mission. And in Christ’s leading, mobile becomes one powerful tool on our belt.

As with previous presentations, this one is available for viewing here.

If there’s one thing that can be said about BibleTech, its that unique gathering of technical-minded and working believers who have a very vested interest in making sure that anything done with these bits and bytes reflects God’s hand in all of our lives. Its only a two day get together, but totally impressive and humbling.

Starting with my running into the Logos team before things got started, until that late night conversation with Logos and Trey Gourley (maker of the in-conference revamped Holy Lamp reading plan site) – conversations were definitely flowing the entire time.

Before highlighting some of the conversations with the presenters, I’d like to point you toScripture Tunes and PixelPew. The ladies that run these respective sites were just attending so that they could get a better understanding of tech and connect with others in the Body. In my conversations with them, I wasn’t just impressed with their hearts for their respective areas of ministry, but in how much that was talked about that they had genuine interest in. These ladies are on the ball even more than us who present.
Side note: am wanting to steal Pixel Pew for her web design services, you should as well.

Then there was an insightful conversation with the folks representing MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship). Let’s just say that what they do with planes and ministry isn’t just encouraging, but brings back memories of wanting to fly like an eagle. They serve all over the world, and one of them talked about their travels in the South Pacific. I can only say that there’s a lot more in terms of information and life sharing that MMM will be doing with them in the future.

Another interesting conversation was had with the person from Interserve. Before BibleTech, I understood how professional services and the persons within them could serve Christ, in that conversation I understood how important that it was that these missionaries, more accurately, these service-supporters of missionary services are very valuable. MMM has a lot more to learn of that area, especially if Inner-Linked is going to become a bit more than just a footnote aspect of MMM’s goals.

Getting to those folks who did present. Well, Bob, Drew, Steven, Jonathan, Gabe, Donny (and wife), Aaron (and wife), Neil, Steven, James, Elizabeth, Weston and everyone else whose names I just forgot while typing this – you folks are awesome. I sincerely hope that its not another year before conversing with all of you. Yes, their platforms/presentation were great, but these folks just life a life in Christ that’s just one to learn from. It was the interaction with all of you that I personally looked forward to the most and was not disappointed.

Jayson Bradley (from Logos and the guy who set up BibleTech) – you are amazing. I wish we had more time. Thank God for your ears and insights. You did a great job, really great. Make sure that you get a window seat in those new offices now 🙂

Just as much as the technology is there to bring us together, the theme of the conference seemed to be to not forget the face time as well. And there was a lot of that all around. I even got into a number of conversations with the folks at the Sheraton San Jose where the conference was – great service, solid food, and just a general friendliness that was very nice to have.

So yes, there was a lot of talking going on. And there will be more. We’ve still got to talk about the main presentation and the other technical snaffu that happened during it. Stay tuned.

Well, if you don’t have one (I don’t), and haven’t paid attention to the news anywhere for the past month or so, then I won’t pester you with details. The Apple iPad has been released and folks are in the mist of playing with them. And now, there’s a YouVersion application to go along with it. Here are the details from the