Due to a variety reasons, excuses, as some would say, we haven’t been going to church much lately.  We have done ChurchOnline at LifeChurch.tv fairly consistently, but that is not where God wants us to be, it seems.

At one point, we tried IgniteChurch.tv and it was good, however not too close to home.  If you think you are about to hear an excuse, don’t judge me yet, not before you hear the full excuse.

We found out soon they were moving to a new, larger location. Exciting times for a young church but it would actually be even farther from home. For us, who were not eager to commit to a church anyway, that was a death blow.

So, we chalked that up as yet another church that wouldn’t work for us. After a couple of other weak attempts at trying some other churches, we were no closer to getting back in the game.

Skip forward a few months and we had plans one Sunday to go to a church but as we were leaving home, we somehow decided to check out IgniteChurch.tv’s new location. The new building is nice and bigger but the church is definitely not the building. The worship and the teaching were both good and solid, just like always.

Being a network church of LifeChurch.tv, the room is dark, the music fast and loud and the teaching is very much Biblically based. I have even had the chance to have a nice conversation with the pastor and he’s a great guy.

So, for now, IgniteChurch.tv is “our” church and hopefully whenever we do feel drawn away from this church, it won’t be just another excuse!

I’ve had a lot going on in my life lately and I think we are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It will be nice to have things settled down again but that’s still probably about 6 months out. Unfortunately, I still can’t reveal any details, but soon, it will all be known.

In the near future, I can say I will be in Dallas for the next week and a half working on an Active Directory and Exchange migration. That should be fun, but I did hear that the heat index in Dallas today is 110-114!

Trying to get back to writing more, so this is my first step in that direction.

It has been over a year and a half since I have served in church and that is highly unusual for me. The exception was the one Sunday I ran a video camera, which was fun but I never really settled into that role, for a variety of reasons.  Recently, my family and I have been attending LifeChurch.tv OnlineChurch, sometimes as our only church for the week or sometimes in addition to a different church service.

I have been a fan of LifeChurch for many years and watched their online reach grow. I remember when they were first starting OnlineChurch and there was only a handful of experiences and I have watched as more and more experiences have been added.

Recently, I started poking around their website and found a link to opportunities to serve and that really grabbed my attention.  The more I read about what was available the more interested I became.  The roles are as follows:

• Captain: Lead, empower and encourage a team of volunteers as a lay pastor during the Church Online Experience.
• Live Prayer: Pray with people from around the world using one-on-one chat during the Church Online Experience.
• Admin: Moderate chat, run interactive elements and set the countdown clock for upcoming Church Online Experiences.
• Chat Host: Provide a warm welcome in the chat portion of the Experience.
• Live Help: Provide technical support during the Church Online Experience.

I contacted my friend Chase Livingston and asked him some questions about his role with the experiences and he then pointed me in the right direction to get involved.  As I considered the roles and prayed about it, I kept coming back to Captain. So, after completing the application process and talking with Amanda Sims, I got plugged in.

To start, I am serving with the 8pm CT experience and spending time doing each of the roles in preparation of being a captain of my own experience.

Now that you have read this far, here’s the pitch. If this seems to be something you might be interested in, go here and fill out the application. It is a little involved and they do run a background check but it really wasn’t a big thing.  I would encourage you to serve in the time slot that fits your schedule best but I would also like you to consider serving on my team, which will run the experience at 9:30pm CT on Thursday. That experience is non-existent currently but soon it will happen. I have a partial team established but need a few more people, then we will fire it up!

There are over 40 experiences each week so it’s likely you can find a time slot to fit your schedule, plus I know they are adding new experiences all of the time. If you are not familiar with #OnlineChurch, check it out, the first one for the new week starts in about 30minutes or click here and click on Upcoming Times to find a time that fits your schedule. Try it out a time or two and if you feel led to get involved, then go for it! (I would really love to have you on my team!)

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Also posted here.

Where’s Waldo?

If Waldo were a real person in today’s world, we would probably know exactly where he was at all times, thanks to gowalla, foursquare, brightkite and other geolocation sites.  Even Twitter let’s you update your location via their API, and soon you will be able to update your location directly at Twitter, which is the most used twitter app.  Also, geolocation is coming to Facebook soon, as well.

I have played in the geolocation arena slightly but have since pulled back to be a little more anonymous.  I don’t think you need to know exactly where I am, even at the risk of not becoming the mayor of my local Starbucks, which I think I am easily a front runner to win that race.

I have many friends who are mayor of various local attractions or king of their neighborhood or whatever and that is fine. It’s fun to watch and observe, but I choose to not participate and I would encourage you to consider (or reconsider) your involvement.

Why do I care?  Let me paint a picture. It is the height of summer and I am loading my family up to take a vacation to somewhere, anywhere. In my usual manner, I am tweeting my family’s location across the country and even using a site like foursquare.com.  One of the first things I have done is identified my exact address on the site then I use the site to journal my entire trip. Now, you, being less wholesome than I, have paid attention and know that my house is empty, so you can drop by and know you won’t be bothered.  I probably even tweeted that I dropped the dogs off to be boarded, so you seriously have no worries.  Furthermore, I might have even tweeted that the alarm system on my home is not working and I failed to get it fixed before leaving town.

Another example played out in my life recently. My family traveled 2 states away while I stayed at home and I’m sure somehow between my wife and I, we tweeted about their trip and the fact that I was staying home alone for the weekend.  Not a big deal at all.  Well, something came up and I ended up leaving home late at night, to drive all night and essentially rescue my family.  I was cautious to broadcast my travels because for the person very aware, it would have been a slam dunk to know that no one was home for 3 days.

Seems that there is danger both in announcing a trip or even Saturday afternoon errand running.  Some of us might live a good 30 minutes from any type of shopping so if I announce on Twitter, via foursquare, that I am at the mall, you, still being the less than wholesome one, know that you have at least 30-45 minutes to complete the task of robbing all of my worldly possessions.

Can it get any easier than this?

Yes it can. If you haven’t heard yet, let me introduce you to PleaseRobMe.com.  As they clearly state, their site is simply a dressed up Twitter search page giving you info that anyone can get. Their intention is not to help ensure that you are robbed but to actually raise our awareness. They state their purpose fairly well.

The danger is publicly telling people where you are. This is because it leaves one place you’re definitely not… home. So here we are; on one end we’re leaving lights on when we’re going on a holiday, and on the other we’re telling everybody on the internet we’re not home. It gets even worse if you have “friends” who want to colonize your house. That means they have to enter your address, to tell everyone where they are. Your address.. on the internet.. Now you know what to do when people reach for their phone as soon as they enter your home. That’s right, slap them across the face.

It’s perfectly fine if you want to share your location both when at home and away from home but just be aware of the dangers and what you might be inviting.

Am I paranoid? What are your thoughts on this?

For some ideas on how to use geo-location for good and not danger, go here and continue reading.

Read the intro to this post here.

Is it safe to say we are hyper-connected in today’s society? I think so. There literally isn’t a moment in time when I’m not connected somehow. If I’m not sitting in front of my computer (or 2 or 3), with various social media tools open such as GoogleTalk, GoogleVoice, Twitter and Facebook, I always have my Treo Pro on me with GoogleTalk, GoogleVoice, Twitter and Facebook running.

So, if you need to reach me, you can. There are so many options. At this point in my life, I have a pretty good handle on the various social media platforms I am active with and it actually boggles my mind to consider adding anything new.  There are various other social media tools and platforms that I have my finger in but I am probably still trying to find the value in those.  There is always a learning curve with something new and once I push through that, I am looking for the added value.

I honestly don’t have time for anything new and different. I think the only thing that would capture my attention would have to be radically different and at this point, I’m not seeing anything on the horizon.  For the moment, I am content with the social media world I find myself in.

What about you?

Leave a comment or join the discussion at the CTM forum here.

If you read this blog and other blogs, you are somewhat involved in social media.

If you are active on Facebook, you are even more involved in social media.

If you are active on Twitter or any number of other similar sites, you are even deeper in this social media world.

But there is a problem.

Social media is not sticky.

Let me explain what I mean. If you are my personal friend and I tell you that I have a fan page on Facebook, you are fairly likely to be my fan on Facebook. This might be due to our friendship and possibly because you are interested in being a part of my world online.

The next example might be where you have gotten familiar with me online but we have never met IRL. (In Real Life) If I invite you to become a fan on my Facebook fan page, you may or may not and if you do, it very likely is a one time visit to my page.  If you think you might know who I am online or have never heard of me, you are not very likely to become my fan.

Why is that? Well, what’s in it for you? If we are friends, that’s fun and can be informative and a way for us to communicate online but if you don’t really know me, then why should you bother.  That might sound critical but it’s just reality.

I used Facebook fan pages as an example because that’s one of the latest rages and I used an example on a personal level. Let’s take this up a notch.

Suppose I have a fan page for my church or ministry or business and I want you to join.  The same rules apply. You should ask the question, “What’s in it for me?”  Are you interested in my church? Does the business sell a product you believe in?  It’s my responsibility to create my fan page or blog or website in a way that adds value.

I’m good at asking questions, clearly, but what’s the answer?

What draws you to a site?

What are you looking for when you follow someone on Twitter?

What’s going to keep you coming back?

Tell me your thoughts. Leave a comment here or write on my Facebook wall or tweet at me.

I just did something I have done over 700 times over a 4 year span. I published a post at Church Tech Matters.

Most of my readers know this but for the few that don’t, I started Church Tech Matters on a dare. Well, not really, but I didn’t start it thinking it would become anything worthwhile to myself or anyone else and it really became an extension of who I am. And it lasted. And it allowed me to network with so many tremendously talented people in the church IT world and learn so much. (CITRT)

However, I walked away from it. I was done. I don’t know why, but I was just done. My wife and some of my closest friends told me it was a mistake, but that didn’t matter to me. As a result of stepping away, God brought together a team of talented church tech volunteers and leaders who are passionate about sharing about their experiences in their own churches and they are now contributing their thoughts at CTM.

It’s not easy to begin a coordinated effort like this, where the writers span 3 continents, but we are slowly gaining momentum. I handed the site over to these guys and said I would stay involved behind the scenes, but I was not going to write there anymore. I should know better than to say never!

Lately, I have felt drawn back to writing in so many ways and 2 weeks ago, I wrote a post for CTM.  It took me until today to get around to editing it and finishing it and publishing it.  As I was getting ready to publish the post, I was chatting with a couple of fellow writers at CTM and I mentioned how posting back there kind of freaked me out and I guess that sounds surprising.

But it seriously did freak me out, I sat there for several minutes with my pointer on the Publish button and my finger on the mouse button contemplating it and debating about whether it was good enough and whether I should really do it.  The truth is I have to do it.

CTM is still a part of me and I need to be part of this next phase of growth and reach. I guess it really is hard to get back on the horse again, but I’m back!

The post is called Leading Volunteers – No Easy Button and I would love it if you would check it out. Don’t just read it but click on over to the CTM forum and join the discussion.

From the one post I published tonight, 3 other post ideas grew out of that, so you better believe that there’s more to come!

I’m loving the new CTM and I hope you will join in the discussion with us.

I think many of us try to put things in our life in a box, define that thing in our own way and call it good.

Then we can pull that thing out of our box when we need it and show it off and prove to those around us that we meet their standards or we are as good as they are or whatever. Then we put our thing away, back in it’s box and move on to the next box. I do it, you do it too.  What is it that makes us think we can live like this?

We are all so radically different, sometimes in subtle ways, yet we tend to think we have to fit a preconceived mold defined by the world around us and the circles we run in.

• Who are we?
• Who are you?
• Who am I?

Consider this, when 2 men meet and find themselves in a situation where they have to interact, one of the first questions is one of the following:

• What do you do?
• Where do you work?

The question is never:

• What’s important to you?
• What are you passionate about?
• What defines you?

However, it seems like that is the question that we are answering when we talk about our work.  We are essentially experts when it comes to our job, but is that where our passions lie? Is that what’s important to you?  Is that what defines who you are?  Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn’t.

I do know that if I’m able to really talk to people and dig just under the surface, whether it’s at work or otherwise, so many of them will indicate that this isn’t where they want to be.  They have big dreams and one of these days, they’re going to figure out how to make it happen.  I’ve started asking what’s holding them back and there are legitimate reasons:

• family
• money
• time
• fill in the blank …….

I’ve asked myself that same question, probably more than I care to admit.

• What’s holding me back?

My job does not define me but it is where I need to be for right now.   I think I have been in the process of redefining who I am and where my passions lie, so I really can’t answer the question of what defines me.  What about you:

What defines you?

Twikini

I have been using Twikini on my Windows Mobile 6.1 phone for the past few weeks and it is really a slick tool.  Twikini is a Twitter client for Windows Mobile and the most recent version that I have been using handles your main timeline, replies and now direct messages.

Another app I have tried is called Scrub and it helps you to identify missing info in your contacts list, such as phone numbers or email addresses.

Finally, one app that I have not tried yet but hope to soon is called Power SMS. I do a lot of texting, some twitter related and some not.  Looks like PowerSMS adds some nice features, I might write more about that, once I try it for awhile.

There is more apps there too, so check out Trinket software.

If you have a Windows Mobile smartphone, check this out. I can say first hand that I recommend this app. Plus they have several other WM6 apps at their site.

I added a FriendFeed widget to my sidebar.  I’ve had a FriendConnect widget there since the very beginning, yet have not seen much activity since the beta rollout of my site.  Also today I added the FriendConnect Social bar.

Do these things add value to a site?  That was my question at the beginning of this year and that is still my question today. I can say that FriendConnect has really beefed up the widgets in the last 6 months, so it will be fun to see if it helps build community.

Have you joined joined my site via FriendConnect? You currently have 3 opportunities via the Social bar, the sidebar widget and the comment widget.

Are you following me on FriendFeed? Give it a shot, I dare you! I need to understand FriendFeed because there are many people following me.  So fill me in if you use it and know more about it than I do.

Scoble says this:

Google is more like an ant hill. One powered by 20% time which is how the ants find out where the food is. Heck, enough of Google’s ants have left to join Facebook, Twitter, and friendfeed, that it should be clear by now there’s some new tasty food bits that they aren’t yet munching on. Heck, friendfeed should be a major embarrassment to Google since that 14-person team has at least five Google superstars on it (the guy who came up with the idea for Google not to be evil started the company. That’s Paul Buchheit and he also ran the Gmail team. Also on the friendfeed team is the guy who ran the Google Talk team, the guy who ran Google Maps team, the designer for a whole bunch of Googley products, and the guy who ran the backend team on Gmail). Over at Facebook and Twitter I keep running into people who used to work at Google too.

There’s a lot going on out in the social world and it’s time that I got caught back up!

Join me!
the social bar at the bottom

Talk to me!

leave a FriendConnect comment

Be my friend!

via the social bar at the bottom or in the sidebar