So what is mifi? Mifi is a small (almost thick credit card sized) mobile wifi hotspot device. Turn it on and it connects to a cellular network and provides WiFi access for up to 5 devices. While the price tag is very similar to the iPad 3G and its data plan, the ability to connect more devices (namely my Macbook Pro) for the same cost, seems to be a better deal.

Enter the Virgin Mobile MiFi 2200. The reason I chose this device is very, very simple – no contract. Its data plan is a little more expensive that AT&T’s plan for the iPad alone, but much less expensive than other device’s contract costs. The Virgin Mobile device allows you to pay as you go. You can pay $10 for a 10 day plan that allows you 100MB of data (great for a short trip) or you can pay $40 for a 30 day plan that allows you unlimited data access. You can access these options on the fly and choose whichever you like. There is also an option to charge your credit card each month automatically if your needs are more constant. The 2200 uses the Sprint 3G network, so the access areas are solid. The device itself sells for $150 from the Virgin Mobile website.

So this Christmas when we visit grandma’s house (no internet access) I will still be able to get online and so will my kids. I love this device already. Happy mobile connecting!

One of the great advantages of YouTube is that with a free account you can post videos on the YouTube site and then link or embed those videos in your blog or website. You don’t have to pay for the bandwidth to serve them and other people can embed them or link to them and increase your reach. Again, you may not reach millions, but would you settle for message getting to thousands or tens of thousands?

Here is an example. A friend of mine just sent me a link to a video on YouTube titled, “The Bridge.” The body of his email was simple “Worth your time” and he pasted in the link. I watched the video and was struck by it. So I in turn posted it to my Facebook account profile. People watched it and commented on it when they watched. This small video hasn’t gone viral, but in the roughly 18 months since it was posted it has been viewed over 56,000 times! That is reach! I have embedded the video in this post for you to watch. I agree with my friend it is “worth your time” to watch. But after you what think about how this video has been shared, linked to, emailed and the thousands of people that have received the message.

What are we doing as the Lord’s church to use this tool to get our message out?

Easy to use, no coding (unless you want to) – The online page building system is easy to use and requires no coding knowledge at all to use. But, if you know some CSS, you can tweak a bit deeper to give your site a completely custom look and feel. This flexibility makes Squarespace stand out.

Multiple content managers – This feature is the “game changer” for me. Squarespace allows to to share content management with multiple people. For example, the Youth Minister could be given access to update the Youth Ministry webpage content. Since the site uses a simple online form to build and edit the pages, anyone can become a content manager. By spreading the load over multiple people, you can assure that your site continues to function even as people come and go from the congregation.

Highly Customizable - Everything in your Squarespace site can be tweaked. Colors, fonts, columns, and images can all be controlled through an easy to use online interface.

Create blogs as part of your site – You can add as many blogs as part of your site as you want.  You can create blogs for the preacher, youth minister, education minister, or anyone else you want. And the best part is it only takes a few clicks of the mouse.

Built in statistics – Statistics help you see where your traffic is coming from and what pages are getting the most attention. All of this is built into your Squarespace site from the beginning.

Social media support is on the way – Soon your Squarespace website will integrate with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media sources. This will let you connect your website to larger and larger communities.

You can check out the video below to see a tour of how Squarespace works. It really is a great solutions for churches and it is very affordable. With prices starting at $8 per month for the Basic package all the way up to $50 a month for their Community package, this solution will fit into most budgets. I recommend the Advanced ($20) or Business ($30) packages for most church needs. If you need a better way to build a website for your congregation you need to look into Squarespace.

Once the articles are in your account, Instapaper’s power really kicks in. You can read these articles online later, read them on your iPhone, download them as PDF files, or even download them to your Kindle if you have one. As an iPhone user, now I can read these articles whenever I have free time. The iPhone app (free or Pro version $4.99) presents the text of the article in a very readable style even on a small screen. The Pro version offers some great features including Dark Mode for low light situations (the screen presents the text as white of black), tilt scrolling (simply tilt your iPhone and the text scrolls as you read), folders, star articles you’d recommend and it even saves your position in the document so you can pick up right where you left off later. Now, I can catch up on my reading while standing in line at the bank, while eating my lunch (without getting food all over my laptop keyboard) or any other time I have a few free minutes.

Check out the Instapaper video below and start reading those articles you want to read, when you have time to read them.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F03DMkvSDU&feature=player_embedded]

The Power of Computing
For ministry the power of computing means that we can approach the text of the Bible with tools never before available. Bible software like Logos (my favorite), Bibleworks, PC Study Bible, ESword (free) and more allow us to examine the text of Scripture in more and more detail. We can search, analyze and study faster and more accurately. We can find the Greek words associated with our English translations, discover their meanings and locate them elsewhere in the text almost instantly. These tools can transform our Bible study and help us understand God’s word because of the power of computing. Try that with an electric typewriter.

The Power of Connecting
Listening to the radio recently on my drive to work I was reminded by the DJ of how far we have come in terms of “connection.” He commented that when his grandparents were children there was no television, no radio, no phone, no form of mass communication whatsoever! He quipped, “I realized that the only way anyone could talk to anyone else back then was when they were in the same room together.” I had never really thought about that before. There was no way to communicate to anyone who wasn’t standing right in front of you. How different that is from where we are now! Right now this blog post can be read by anyone on the planet with a simple Internet connection. I can stand in the middle of my living room with a device in my had the size of a deck of playing cards (my iPhone) and can make a phone calls to a person thousands of miles away, access information on the internet, send a text messages to a friend, and all while watching television. We really are connected to the entire world.

But how are we using it? Facebook, Twitter and other social networking tools connect us, but do we really need to know what you had for breakfast this morning? Facebook membership just surpassed the population of the United States and if it were a country it would be the 3rd largest in the world! and As Christians, we have been entrusted with the most powerful message man has ever been given – the Gospel. Yet often we only think to “post” the results of a quiz like What Color Crayon are You? or What Should Your Name Really Be? Really? Is that the best we can do?

So the question is what are we, as the Lord’s church doing about it? How are we as Christians using this “information connection” to reach people with the gospel? It is not up to the elders, or the preacher – how can I reach out? here are a few suggestions:

1. Use Facebook or Twitter to encourage people with the words of Scripture – I know a woman that has started posting a Bible verse that she is reading everyday. Her friends started noticing and commenting and the best part is, now, if she doesn’t post one, people ask her where her Bible verse is for the day! She is using the power of connection to share God’s word with others and she is having an impact.
2. Start a blog – For preachers and ministry workers this is a no-brainer. Preachers can post about information about their upcoming lessons and sermons or provide follow-up information afterward so member can dig deeper. Ministry leaders can post about the affect their ministry is having, what needs they have and what they are doing. Members can write about their spiritual walk and encourage others as we all strive to reach greater heights.
3. Read blog posts and share them with friends – Connect with others who are writing to find encouragement and strength. There are a number of good blogs out there that can lift you up and challenge your thinking. Here are a couple to get you started; Preacherpollard, Thoughts from the Mound, Weylen Words, That Fire Within.  Blog readers like Google Reader, Bloglines and others allow you to “subscribe” to these sites (don’t worry it’s free). It’s like having your own custom newspaper delivered to your computer all day long. When you find a post that you like or helps you or touches you – share it with someone! Spread the encouragement!

Tap into the power at your fingertips. We have been provided with tools here that can change lives (including your own) and can change the world. Let us always as God’s people be looking at how to use these tools for the Lord.

Watch video here – http://ow.ly/HBY7

When I first checked it out a number of months ago I was quickly bored by the posts I read. It was mostly what people were doing at the moment (what TV show they were watching, what store they were shopping in, what they just ate for dinner and so on). It didn’t take long for me to move on to other tools and write Twitter off as relatively useless. But I have to say I am changing my mind. No, I have not gained a new interest in what people had for dinner this evening, but I have found some folks to follow that are doing much, much more with this tool.

I fancy myself a shutterbug and so I started “following” the “tweets” from some professional photographers, whose work I admire. I noticed that for the most part their tweets contained links to blog posts, articles and images they had posted on the web. In essence, they were using their tweets to drive traffic to their main websites or blogs. I started learning by their posts. I was more aware of what was going on in the field of photography and I was starting to pay attention. I found out about seminars and events through tweets before they were even posted on the web! I was able to sign up for a seminar here in Denver before it was available to the general public because the photographer posted a link in his tweet. That is when the lightbulb went off for me. You see Twitter is about connecting people with information. Oh sure, there are thousands (maybe even hundreds of thousands) of people that are going to tweet that they just brushed their teeth, but that is the background noise we must get past. We can drive people to information and if we connect them to information they want (or need) they will keep “following.”

So what does this mean for ministry?
One ministry example to look to is House to House, Heart to Heart. You may know HTH from the direct mail work they do for the church, but they are doing more than that. Their website hosts video lessons, sermon audio, articles, tracts and more. They are also using Twitter very well. Two or three times a day they “tweet” with links to content on their site. Sometimes they link to articles, other times it is a link to a sermon audio, but the point is they are driving traffic. They are “pushing” information out rather than simply posting the content and hoping people find out that it is there. Often times we build it (a building, a website, etc…) and hope people will come. But Jesus told us to GO and teach. The folks at House to House obviously understand that. They are going, and as they go they are teaching. Certainly I suggest that you check out their website, but I also suggest that you follow them on Twitter at @HousetoHouseHTH.

Imagine driving people to your podcast or sermon audio on your website. Think about letting people know that you just posted a great article to your blog on having stronger marriages. Maybe you simply tweet a verse of the day with a link back to your website for more. Tweet about a seminar you are doing with a link to your website with the details. Can you see the possibilities? Check out Twitter, but don’t tell people what you had for dinner – give them food for their souls instead. These tools can help us reach thousands, what message are we sending them?

You can follow me on Twitter at @jmhite.

How it works…
Basically once you start an account with Dropbox a folder is placed on your harddrive. As you drag and drop files or folders into the Dropbox folder they are automatically and immediately synced to your account online. If you have a second computer linked to your online account, the Dropbox folder of the second machine is also updated automatically. That is cool!

Say you are working at home on a sermon, Bible class outline, lectureship manuscript or even some photos from a recent mission trip. You save the files into your Dropbox folder on your computer and your done. When you get to your office you realize that you forgot to put the files you needed on a jumpdrive, but never fear – simply open the Dropbox folder on your office machine and your files are there. Make whatever changes you need to the files and your home machine is updated automatically as well. This can really be a lifesaver!

Another feature that is worth noting is that you can share files and folders with other people as well. Collaborate on a project. Share your presentation files with a colleague. Or place files that need to be accessed by a group of people in your Dropbox. When one person makes a change – all files on all the machines sharing that file are updated!!!

Get to your files from a web browser…
Your are also able to access your files from any web browser. Simply sign on to your online account (this is part of the FREE account when you first sign up) and access your files. The online tools allow for full file versioning (you can go back two or three versions) and recovery. If you delete a file from your computer, you can recover it from your online account. Accessing these files from basically anywhere in the world would be a great benefit for traveling missionaries and lectureship speakers. Update your PowerPoint presentation while you are on the road and know that those changes appear on your home computer as well.

There are a number of great uses for this tool. Check it out and let me know what you think.