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.

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).

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?

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 😉

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?

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.

Here’s another item which is just a concept, but the idea of accessibility isn’t lost.

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

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?

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).

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) .