FaithEngineer

A great use of a church website is for sharing prayer requests. PrayerEngine is a new web service that looks promising. It allows you to embed a prayer wall directly into your existing website. Anyone can submit a prayer request, which is then posted to your website as soon as it is approved. You can share those prayer requests through email, twitter, facebook, and RSS. People visiting your website can click on a counter that shows how many time each request is prayed for. This is such a great use of social media for the church. If you are interested, check out the demo on youtube. I think you will see more services like this in the future that embed directly into your existing website.

The service costs a one-time fee of $99. Since there is no monthly fee, it’s a great bargain. As an added bonus, you can head over to MediaSalt and pickup an additional 15% discount for today only!

The Prayer Engine – The Best Way to Share Prayer Requests Online

Have you ever wished that you could access your home computer from work? Have you forgotten a much needed file? Do your parents need help with their computer, but you’re miles away and can’t work on it? Need to print something at church?  I’ve experienced all of these situations many times and I have tried several different solutions. But I have finally found a free software solution that lets you login and work on a computer from anywhere in the world via the internet.  I’ve been using it for a few months and it works great.

LogMeIn Free is a software application that you can install on any PC or Mac computer.  Once installed, you can access that computer from any computer with an internet connection and web browser. I can even use my Window mobile phone or iPod to access and control the computers.  I have installed this on my home computer, the church computer, and my parent’s computer. Now if I need to login and check something or email a file, I can do that quickly and easily. Everything is password protected, so choose a strong password and you’ll be safe. This is much simpler to use than VNC or remote desktop connection, and it’s a lot cheaper than MobileMe’s back to my mac.

Here’s more info from their site.

LogMeIn Free gives you remote control of your PC or Mac from any other computer with an Internet connection.

Simply install LogMeIn on the computer you want to access (it takes about 2 minutes), log into your account from another computer and click the computer you want to control. You’ll see its desktop and be able to use all the applications on your remote computer as if you were sitting in front of it -- even if you’re across town, across the country, or across the world.

• Works with Windows PCs and Mac OS X
• Two-minute set-up

They do offer a paid version that adds the ability to share files and print, but I can get around needing that by using the free Dropbox utility to move and sync files between computers.

I finally got around to setting up a good backup strategy for our church computers. Over the Christmas holiday I found a great deal on the Netgear ReadyNAS Duo file server.  I got one for the church for only $239, and it has worked flawlessly. This is a dual drive 1TB network storage device and works great for homes or small businesses. You simply plug it into your network and access it from any computer on the network. I’m using it with Apple time machine to backup my mac, and I’m also backing up our windows computers to it.  It also functions as a great media server and file server.

Let me urge you to think through your backup plan. Eventually you will have a hard drive crash, so what will happen to your data?  By having a regular plan in place, you can save yourself from all the despair of losing important files. I recommend having a network storage drive or an external hard drive as your primary backup, and also using an online backup service to protect your most important files. If something happens to your building or home, it is great to have a backup that is not at the same location.

At home, I’m using MozyPro, which is an online backup solution.  My computer uploads any changes to their offsite servers during the night. It has worked great and is only $4.95 per month.  Other good online solutions are BackBlaze and Carbonite.

Dropbox is also another great way to backup important files. It synchronizes files between different computers. It has been a great way to backup some important files and transfer files from my home computer and my laptop to the church computer.

Whatever you do, DO SOMETHING. Don’t wait until a failure, develop a plan and start backing up. You’ll thank me later.

If you’re interested in the Netgear ReadyNAS Duo, here is some more info.

One of the most used apps on my iPod is the YouVersion Bible app by Lifechurch.tv. I have blogged about YouVersion numerous times in the past (see the posts here), and I am excited about the continual updates that the digerati team at Lifechurch keep pushing out. Last week they announced a new milestone. YouVersion users have spent one billion minutes reading the Bible on mobile devices! But they didn’t stop long to celebrate and now they have added the ability to track a personalized Bible reading plan on your mobile device. The feature came out today for the Blackberry application and is coming out soon on the iPod/iPhone. It is also available on their website.

I have kept a little printout in my Bible for a long time that I use to track my reading progress. It works great until you lose the sheet, which I have done several times in the past year.  I’m planning on switching over and using this to track and guide my reading starting January 1st. There are multiple reading plans to choose from, so what’s holding you back? Will you join me in reading through your Bible in the upcoming year?

If you want to find out more about how this works, check out the video below.

ChurchCrunch had the news about this yesterday.  If you want to utilize technology for ministry, then definitely check this website out. It is a great blog with an active forum of church tech users. Definitely one of my favorite ministry websites. Check it out at www.churchcrunch.com.

For a long time, I have had a passion for helping smaller churches utilize technology. From assisting them with their websites, to setting up podcasts, to helping plan audio and video systems, I have gained much experience over the last 15 years.  So today, I’m making it official, I am offering my services to other churches as a consultant and web designer.

My goal is to help churches develop an overall technology and web strategy.  If we’re not careful, technology can consume huge amounts of money and distract us from our main mission of making disciples. I want to help churches realize how it can create connections between the people inside your church and the community. Technology is an incredible tool to advance the Kingdom when used properly.  Since I am a pastor, I will only have limited time available for consulting and web design.  My focus will be on smaller churches with smaller budgets.  Click on the Design and Consulting Link from my website to find out more about how we can partner together.

I’ve been playing a little with Google Wave.  It could really become a useful tool for ministry in the future.  But it is not there yet.  Google is trying to invent a better way to communicate with groups of people.  If you have ever been in a long email conversation between multiple people, you can understand the potential benefit that Google Wave will provide. I think this will be a great tool for leadership teams to collaborate and share info throughout the day, even if you are in different locations.  The main drawback is that there are not many people currently using it. If your friends and colleagues aren’t on it, then it doesn’t provide much benefit.  It is also complicated to use in it’s present form.

Since the service is still in Beta, you have to be invited to use it.  I have several invites that I can share, so leave me a comment if you are interested in trying this service out.

Here’s a simple description of how Google Wave works

If you want a more detailed understanding of Google Wave, check this video out.

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.