FaithEngineer

I have been asked several times recently about incorporating text messaging and twitter comments into church events.  Audience participation can be fun and it can provide a way to get feedback during an event or service. Here are several services that I am familiar with that use text messaging and twitter.

YouVersion Live:

This is a new free service that lets you share notes, Bible passages, prayer requests and polls for anyone using a web-enabled mobile device.  I’ll share a little about this service in a future post, but this is an awesome way to interact with your congregation.  The only drawback is that it does require a web-enabled phone or ipod to use.

Poll Everywhere:

This is a text messaging service that lets you take real time polls of your audience.  You can embed the results in a powerpoint file or just view the website in full screen mode to see the results as they come in.  We have used this several times with good results for youth and for some of our special services.  Your audience can send in their answers through SMS text messaging, through the web, or through twitter.

Jarbyco:

This is another text messaging service that many churches have used.  It is powerful and easy to configure.  They also do custom work for clients

Paratweet:

This has been used at the Catalyst Conference and is a great way to create interaction with the audience using twitter.  Paratweet offers powerful moderation features as well to keep unwanted comments from showing up.

Wiffiti:

Wiffiti is like a whiteboard that shows incoming messages.  It can be embedded in a website and you can customize the background images.  This is a very graphical solution that would be great to share prayer requests for a large group.  I think it works best for a younger audience, but I really like the potential.   There are several moderation options and the best part is that it’s free!   (thanks to studentministry.org for introducing this service to me)

Now for the disclaimer, just because the tools are available to interact with audience doesn’t mean that you should use them.  Technology is a tool that can help connect us or it can become a distraction that divides us.  You will need to think through the appropriate use of these services. Some of the free versions lack the ability to moderate the comments, so you can very easily end up with something inappropriate on the screen. You also have to take into account how much time you will have to devote to explaining the use of these services.  Unless you are dealing with teens or a tech-savvy crowd, you will have to walk people through how to use each service.

If you have multiple computers running Microsoft Windows to keep secure and virus-free at home or at church, you know how much of a pain it can be. Churches can get in a tough spot, because some of the “free” programs like AVG anti-virus are not free for non-profits and churches. The cost of keeping multiple computers current on virus subscriptions can be high with both Norton and McAfee. Both have good products, but they can also slow your computer down significantly. I wanted to let you know about a new free option that seems to work well.

Microsoft has released the free Security Essentials program to provide both spyware and virus protection. It is a small program that doesn’t take a lot of your system resources. It is not fancy, but it seems to work well.  And did I mention it’s free

You can download it at Microsoft’s Security website. Here is some info about it from CNet’s review

Microsoft Security Essentials is a lightweight security app that people might turn to for a number of key reasons. It’s easy on the system resources, it’s easy to figure out how to use, and it comes pre-configured. It only works on legally licensed Microsoft computers, which is understandable but potentially leaves a large segment of the unprotected population still unprotected. You can’t opt out of contributing to SpyNet, which isn’t understandable at all. Overall, it’s recommended for those who want something to set and ignore, but users who want more robust configuration choices or don’t want to contribute to the cloud should look elsewhere.

As with any virus program, you still have to be careful installing programs. Don’t trust pop-ups on your screen while you’re browsing the internet. Most are links to malware programs that will only cause problems. If you are on a mac, you don’t have to worry about all of this at the present.  But there will come a day when more viruses and spyware writers will start attacking Apple as well, so don’t get careless. It is also a good idea to run some type of filtering on your internet access as an added layer of protection. I’ve written before about the free OpenDNS service here on the blog, and I continue to use it at home and at church with great results.

Over the last four years at Cornerstone, we have not developed a reputation for planning our services.  We typically showed up on Sunday morning and hoped everything would fall into place.  Most weeks it did, although the stress level was through the roof when the unexpected happened.  I have heard numerous times that we should just let the Holy Spirit lead, and not worry about how everything comes together. But my question was always, do we honor God with our lack of preparedness?

With the addition of our Saturday night service and a second band, it became increasingly difficult to coordinate everything happening in the service. How many songs is the band playing? What song should we use for the response time? Who is doing announcements? What videos are we playing? All these questions and more were asked every week. The other problem was for the band. They needed the ability to share chord charts and songs and even schedule who was playing each week. Based on the recommendations of several churches, we decided to give PlanningCenterOnline a try.

We’re two months in, and I’m loving the service. We haven’t got all our songs into the system yet, but the potential is great. We are printing out a service plan each week for our band, speakers, and audio/video operators. I am even thinking about expanding the use of it to schedule children’s workers and greeters each week. You can check out the video below to find out more.

And finally, the Holy Spirit can move just as much when we plan earlier in the week. Let’s not use the Holy Spirit as an excuse for our own unwillingness to plan and prepare. The schedules are still just a guideline.  In a few cases we have changed up the service as we go because we did feel God leading us to do things differently.  But because the plan was in place, the stress and craziness has been drastically reduced.

Introducing Planning Center Online from Planning Center on Vimeo.

Are you currently having trouble with your email service?  Let me share with you some guidelines on choosing which service to use for your email.

Don’t Use The Email Address Provided by your Internet Company

What if you change internet providers next year?  What if they get bought out?  The truth is that most interenet providers don’t spend much time on their email service.  They offer a limited feature set with a slow web interface and expect you to be happy.  Don’t settle for that.  Choose a service that will go with you wherever you are.

Don’t Use a Service That Puts Ads in Your Emails

This is just my personal opinion, but I consider it tacky and unprofessional to see an email service that adds an advertisement to the bottom of every message you send.

Don’t Use a Service that Doesn’t Have IMAP Support

IMAP support enables you to sync changes across multiple email programs.  If you read an email on your phone, it is also marked as read in Outlook, Apple Mail, or on the web interface.  It also does the same thing with deleted emails.  You don’t have to worry about which computer you used to download the email.  Everything stays in sync

Don’t Use a Service that Lets Spam Through

I don’t want to see ads for medical conditions that I don’t have.  I want to use a service that blocks out spam so I don’t have to deal with it.

So what do I recommend?

I think Gmail is currently the best email provider.  They do a great job with all of the things I have listed. I’ve been using it since February of 2005 and I am glad that I chose it.  I have over 20,000 messages archived in Gmail, and I can search through them and find information that I need.  I have my ipod touch and the Apple Mail program setup to check my email using the IMAP service, so everything stays in sync.  And it has caught over 2000 spam emails sent to me in the last 30 days.  It’s fast, clean, and it just works.

But I don’t want to switch?

Gmail has added the ability to import your old email and contacts from other services.  The details are here.  You can import from  Yahoo!, Hotmail, AOL, and many more.  If you are using another service, I would suggest that you check out Gmail and try it out.  It’s free and you will eventually need a google account for one of their other services.

And if you are within a company, then you need to know that you can setup Gmail to run on your companies domain using Google Apps.  Dump Microsoft Exchange Server and just let Google handle it for you.

I have shared several times in the past about Evernote, an awesome program for  note taking.  The great advantage to Evernote is that it is accesible from your smartphone, from your ipod touch, from the web, and from your computer.  They have now added integration with twitter so that you can send a message directly from twitter that ends up in your evernote notebook.  It’s probably easier to explain by watching their tutorial.  It’s pretty slick, and I can see myself using this to save links that I come across in twitter.

I came across the examen.me website earlier today and it looks interesting.  There are days that I spend quite a bit of time behind the computer, and this definitely gives me a break to regain my focus.   If you are looking for an online devotional, then you need to check examen.me out.  I like that it is not complicated, you simply focus on meditating and journaling through God’s Word.  I like it’s simplicity and design.  You can read the passage, pray, meditate on it, and answer simple questions to get you to think more deeply about what you have read.   The best way to see how it works is to simply try it out.  I have been using youversion.com as well, but I like the simplicity of this site.   Sometimes, we need to cut through the noise and focus on the power and truth of God’s Word.

Competition is good in the software business.  It forces companies to continually innovate and improve their software.   If they wait too long, somebody will swoop in with more features and try to lure their customers away.   I feel like that is what is happening right now in the worship presentation industry.  I have been a huge fan of Easyworship 2007 for several years now.  I have blogged about it several times and I still recommend it to most churches who are wanting to get started with a video projection system.  Even though Easyworship is working on a new version that will be mac compatible, it has still gone about 18 months without any major changes.

ProPresenter for the mac is gaining customers who want power and ease of use.   For anybody who wants to use Apple hardware, this is the software that is revolutionizing the church video world.   And now, it looks like Windows users might have a worthy competitor.   Mediashout has released version 4 and it looks very cool.  Mediashout has always intrigued me because of the power and features it offers.  However, the learning curve has always been steep.   With version 4, the program adds even more features, and it looks like the user interface has been completely overhauled.

Here are some big features that grab my attention:

If you are a church looking to buy software right now, I would seriously consider Mediashout.  I have used it in the past and this new version looks awesome.  I still like Easyworship for it’s ease of use, but if they don’t get a new version out soon, I’m afraid the other companies will pass them by.

Check out the info from Mediashout’s website

One of the easiest ways for churches to get more involved with video is by creating photo slideshows.  You can just take your pictures straight from your digital camera and use them to make a video.   It is easy, effective, and quick.   I have used the free Microsoft Photostory which does a good job of panning and zooming through your pictures, but it doesn’t do anything fancy, and the results are less than spectacular.   On my mac, I like to use iPhoto ‘09 to do photo slideshows.  You have several options, and the new “shatter” theme is awesome.  You can show photo captions, but you can’t really add text slides in the final slideshow.

That brings me to the new kid on the block, Animoto.com.   I’ve blogged about it before, but it has gotten even better than before.   You simply upload your photos to their website, add text, choose music, and hit create. That’s it. It’s not complicated or hard, and you’ll be amazed at the end result.  You can upload your own music, or choose from their library of great songs.  Animoto actually analyzes your photos and creates a video to match them to the music.  Animoto then provides you with the finished video file, embed codes, and several ways to share the final video, so you can easily incorporate the video into your website or show in your church.

Videos under 30 seconds are free, but you’ll have to pay $3 per video, or $30 per year for unlimited use.  I’ll even help you get started with Animoto. If you sign up for the one-year pass, you can get $5 off by using the referral code DPQIVMCW.

Here is a recent video that my wife created for our local community-wide Bible school.  I’ve done enough video-editing to know how hard it would be to create a video like this.  You could use videos like this to promote upcoming events or show highlights from past events.  We’ve even thought about making announcement videos for church using it.  What are some ways you have used Animoto?

I’m meeting with a group of young pastors and leaders this week and I wanted to share some of the software tools that help me stay organized.  Here’s a quick list of the software I use the most on a day-to-day basis.

• Evernote – this is an incredible note taking software that I’ve blogged about before.  It allows you to sync notes from your laptop to your ipod to your phone.   It even recognizes and searches the text in imported pictures.  I keep folders for sermon notes, meeting notes, and sermon illustrations.  It’s a great program that you should definitely check out.
• Remember the Milk – this is an advanced to-do list.  It has tons of options to keep you organized and on-track.
• Youversion This is one of the best online Bibles. There are iphone and blackberry versions and you can even contribute notes and videos.
• Biblegateway I also use this online Bible when I need to find stuff fast.  I also like the IVP New Testament Commentaries that they have available.
• BlueLetterBible I use this online Bible for Greek word studies
• Logos – I think this is the best desktop Bible software for serious Bible study.  And they now have a mac version.
• Google Reader – I use this to read through several ministry blogs.
• Twitter – A great way to stay connected with other ministers and friends throughout the day.

What else do you use on a consistently?

Looking back over the past few years, we have seen some incredible advancements in computer technology.  Both the power and ease of use improvements have enabled us to integrate more technology into our everyday lives and even into the church.  But have you ever wondered what it will be like in 10 more years?  Microsoft has put together an incredible video montage of the future.  Check it out and let me know what you think.

from Microsoft,

How will emerging technology improve our productivity in the years ahead? What opportunities will arise from evolving trends and global change? Microsoft has collaborated with customers, partners, and thought leaders across multiple disciplines to develop scenarios that explore how long-term trends, customer challenges, and emerging technologies might converge to improve our lives, both at work and home.

ht to Camron Ware

I’ve really enjoyed reading Anne Jackson’s blog lately. She is on staff at a church in Nashville and she has a new book coming out called Mad Church Disease about burnout in ministry. Anne currently has a simple contest on her blog. All you have to do is leave a comment about your favorite Bible passage and you will be entered to win a chance at getting the Logos Scholar Library Bible software. I use Logos on the mac and my PC and it is an awesome program. Check out the details at Anne’s Blog Flowerdust.

FlowerDust.net | Anne Jackson » » I’m Giving Away $6,100! via kwout

Last night at our First Wednesday service at Cornerstone, we tried something pretty cool. About 5 minutes before we started, Sam asked if there was a way to patch in a phone call through the sound system. We talked about holding up a mic to the speakerphone, but that is less than ideal.

I thought about using Skype, so I quickly thought through how to get it working. I have a Skype subscription for unlimited nationwide U.S. calling through the internet for only $2.95 per month. I don’t use it a great deal, but it comes in handy to keep me from burning up all my cell minutes.

I quickly downloaded and installed Skype on the church video projection desktop computer, and started hooking everything up. The sound output from the computer was already routed through the soundboard so we could hear the phone call. I then ran a cable from the soundboard output to the mic input of the computer. I did a quick level check with the mic to make sure the signal wasn’t too hot, and then we gave it a try during the service. Without testing it first … but it worked awesome and we were able to hear a great testimony about how one of our attenders had led their neighbor to Christ earlier in the week. He could hear everything that was said from our microphones, and we could hear him clearly through the church sound system.

It was a great way to make a live phone call and patch everything through the sound system. As long as you have internet access it should work great.

At Cornerstone we have been using the program Easyworship for a couple of years now. We use it to project everything for our services: song lyrics, pictures, powerpoint files, Bible verses, videos, and dvd’s. I highly recommend Easyworship because it is extremely easy to operate. Even if you are not familiar with the program, you can learn how to operate it in minutes. At church, we have a dedicated desktop computer that runs Easyworship, but there have been several times for youth events or special services where we don’t have anybody there to run the system. I’ve had to run back and forth from the stage to the sound booth to get everything working.

I’ve stumbled upon a pretty interesting solution. At my last company, we used a program called RealVNC to troubleshoot computers from a central location. At home, I use it to control my desktop computer from anywhere in the house using my laptop. I even downloaded a VNC viewer for my ipod touch that lets me control my computer and see everything that is on the screen from my ipod. That made me think, could I do the same thing at church?

After a little experimentation, I’ve got it working. Since the church computer runs Windows Vista, I couldn’t get RealVNC to work, so I had to download the free UltraVNC server. After opening some ports on Windows firewall, it works great. From my macbook pro laptop, I can pull up and control the windows computer from anywhere in the building. So I could be on stage loading images or changing powerpoint files before they get put on the screen. For a smaller church or situation where you don’t have a full tech crew, this is a cool solution, and it even works from my ipod touch. I could envision a worship leader controlling the worship lyrics, or the pastor controlling and re-arranging his powerpoint during the message. Not ideal, but incredibly useful when you need it.

VNC is not known as the most secure screen sharing software, but it is on our internal church network and there is nothing confidential on this computer, so I’m not worried about the security. It is password protected to keep someone from taking control of the computer as a prank. Overall, it is pretty slick to see your entire windows desktop being controlled from another computer.

After posting this and complaining about Google not having a task manager, Google has finally unveiled their newest app. It’s pretty basic, but it’s a start. You can find out the details on the Gmail blog. For me, it’s too little, too late. I’m going to keep using Remember the Milk. At this point, I think Google should have just bought RTM instead of developing their own. But competition is a great way to see both products improve.